SSN 697 USS Indianapolis – An unexpected stop along the journey

Post number 697 : Serving on the Indy In 1988, I had applied to the Navy’s Chief Warrant Officer program and had a good feeling about being accepted. I had taken a number of hard assignments along the way with a broad range of experience. Machinist Mate, Career Counselor, Master Training Specialist and a lot […]

I was…

I was… The title of our daily devotion this morning was “I was.” The story was about a man’s reflection when he heard another person talk about what they were before they retired. It occurred to me that at a certain point in all of our lives, we become that person. All of the titles […]

Submarines: “from a boy to a giant”

One of my favorite pastimes is discovering unique stories about the United States Submarine force and the development through the ages. There is no better witness to the phenomenal growth than that of one of the most profound influences on submarine operation and development: Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. The most fascinating thing about this man […]

Excellent leadership isn’t hard… but it can be difficult.

Excellent leadership isn’t hard… but it can be difficult. There are probably hundreds of thousands of books on leadership written in every language on earth. In these books you will find words like “character”, “strength”, “wisdom”, and any number of words that define what competencies a leader should possess. What makes an excellent leader? It […]

“The sea – like life itself – is a stern taskmaster” The Story of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz

The sea – like life itself – is a stern taskmaster. This was the early childhood lesson taught to the boy who would later become one of the most influential leaders in the United States Navy. He was significantly influenced by his German-born paternal grandfather, Charles Henry Nimitz, a former seaman in the German Merchant […]

It was never easy

It was never easy On the day I retired from the Navy, my crew presented me with a shadow box. That box sits on my desk and I look at it from time to time when I am not typing stories or checking out the latest on the Internet. It’s a nice box with beveled […]

How the US Navy almost missed “The Boat”

Prior to World War 1, the General Board of the United States Navy was the primary instrument used for directing the strategic future of the U. S. Navy. This General Board had been instituted in 1900 as a way to provide expert advice to the Secretary of the Navy and was made up of nine […]

Gunfighters on the Java Sea – May 28 1945

I have been chronicling the actions of the US Forces in the Pacific fleet for a number of months and in doing so have found some really great stories with a lot of detail about how the war was progressing in mid 1945. One of those stories started with a small footnote about a wolf […]

America as a leader – Truman’s April 16 1945 Address to the Nation

On April 16, 1945, Harry S. Truman, newly appointed President of the United States gave an address to a Joint session of Congress and to the American people via a radio address at 1PM. The speech was designed to let the people of this country and the world know that the legacy of leadership that evolved […]

How to fight a war… or conquer the enemy in your life

I read a lot. Maybe too much according to my wife. I have been chronicling the events of March 1945 on my Facebook page “World War 2 in the Pacific https://www.facebook.com/WarInThePacific19411946 Some of the reference materials are amazing in their accuracy for challenges we face today. I truly wish that the powers that be could read […]