Exceptional – Does it matter to you?

Look up the word exceptional in the dictionary and a few of the words stick out right away: Rare Unusual Superior Extraordinary By extension, the word exceptionalism is the condition of being exceptional which includes all of those superlatives. It is the belief that something as large as a country does not have to […]

“A kiss is still a kiss” – Wait, do chicken kisses count?

Ah, Louis Armstrong singing “As Time Goes By”. There was a great voice for the ages. But the most famous rendition of the song As Time Goes By came from an obscure little movie filmed at the beginning of the Second World War called Casablanca with a couple of big name stars filmed seventy years […]

The Roanoke Revelation Versus the American Revolution

It is a season of words Words are used by the two opposing camps in America to try and define the other side. Rarely, we get a glimpse into the true hearts and minds of the people who would lead us into the next part of the American journey and what many are now calling […]

600 Ships – The Path to Victory started on the 711

After the upheavals in the Navy caused by the end of the Vietnam conflict, you can imagine how discouraged many people who wore the uniform were by the time the Carter years were at the three and a half year point. Blend in the miserable economy, high unemployment, interest rates never before seen and you […]

Uncharted waters

Its hard for me to imagine a submarine setting out on a journey without a chart. The modern Trident boats today cost between 2-4 billion dollars depending on which group is trying to defend or decry their existence. That’s a lot of money to risk on an adventure where charts are not accurate or available. […]

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link

I am not sure what philosopher first uttered the words in the title of this post It may have been an old Navy Boson’s Mate Chief trying to square away a young non-rated seaman about ship’s lore. Ultimately, the phrase has been used in more stories and tales about life than most of the alternative […]

On Wisconsin (bring on the fall!)

Just a short message this week to the Followers of the New Freedom Underground Deep disappointment for the dirty dogs of war… David Ax-man denied In the dying days of democracy dozens of devious democrats demanded debilitating deals while denying the details of its descendant direction. Decadency caused by deleterious debutants disguised as “lawyers” who […]

Services For the Dead

The War Between the States had ended in April 1865, 58 years before the Service manual I have in my collection was printed. May of 1927 (four years later) the roll call was getting smaller and smaller. Just as they had for every year since 1874, The Post Adjutant was tasked with calling that […]

How committed are you?

15 Million dollars in one evening from a group of elite Hollywood “celebrities” and their friends. George Clooney has set his course very visibly in the public eye to show that he supports all of Obama’s policies. There is a clear choice on his part and the part of his friends to continue on this […]

No wonder the bust went packing…

I have highlighted a bit about character and leadership recently in theleansubmariner. Its been refreshing to see the support from so many readers but I have also received my share of criticism for trying to put a smiley face on bad behavior. Fair enough. When reading someone else‘s opinions it can be easy to chip […]