The Day after Pearl Harbor

The day after Pearl Harbor was still a chaotic day for most in the Hawaiian Islands. Rumors of an invading Japanese force were widespread and panic was probably just below the surface. The brilliant and gleaming fleet was awash in black residue and blood. Shipwrights and common sailors frantically were trying to rescue men […]

FBM Blue and Gold – The Beginning

Originally posted on theleansubmariner:
Thanks to shipmate Tim Lutes STS2(SS) USS George Washington SSBN 598 for finding this little gem and posting it on FB. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HGrDJSHmXZU#! I sailed on the GW when she was about twelve years old and had clear memories about how old she was (at least every time something broke). At different…

I’d like to be a submariner. How hard could that be?

Caution: Some salty language may be found in this post I belong to a number of very fine military organizations that all have special purposes. The Navy League for instance is a group that supports and promotes the sea services. I think this is important because of the dangers still present in the world at […]

Submarines; Scourge of the Seas or Sentinels of Liberty? (It depends on who is at the helm)

At the outset of the war between the states, the weight of sea power rested with the Northern states both in actual number of existing ships and the capacity to manufacture new ones. The industrial capacity of the north had matured because of many reasons up to that point. Availability of raw materials and capacity […]

Navy Proud: It’s in the blood

On the sixth of April 1917, the United States Congress declared war on Germany. The declaration came after the German government increased its belligerent actions against the United States. President Wilson who had campaigned on the strength that he had kept the US out of war from 1914 until that very moment had relented after […]

A Highland Festival of Note

The sky was exactly what would be expected for a festival that claims to celebrate the highlands of Scotland. Sunny one moment and dark grey and foreboding the next. The weather didn’t deter the faithful though as people from all over Western PA and anyplace within reasonable driving distance headed out to the Ligonier […]

Lean on me – Boot Camp Memories from 1972

It is with a very heavy heart that I join so many others in saying farewell to Bill Withers today. His song “Lean on me” was the theme song for my company in boot camp and every time I hear that song, I am reminded how much we need each other in troubled times. Rest […]

April 24th, 1972: The Oath

April 24th, 1972 is a day that I first raised my hand. Like most kids, I was cocky, self centered, in too much of a hurry to be grown up and not as disciplined as I should have been. But everything began to change on that day. Up until that point, my recruiter had been […]

How Hef saved the world from Communism

I first published this post in 2012. On September 27, 2017 Hugh Hefner Passed away at the age of 91. When asked how he would like to be remembered he said: “I would like to be remembered as somebody who has changed the world in some positive way, in a social, sexual sense, and I’d […]

But look at all the money we saved…

With the current drive to save money, the post Cold War Navy is being reimagined once again. This exercise in policy is as old as the nation itself, but has had some very dramatic consequences over the past 61 years. Studying a white paper recently, the role of the Navy has always been dependent on […]