When the Cuban Missile Crisis began to heat up in September 1962, the ROOSEVELT (CVA 42) had just left NS Mayport for its umpteenth Med deployment. The newly married JO’s (junior officers) would gather on the fan tail to watch the wake that pointed towards the brides they had left. Misty eyes were the uniform … Continue reading Cold War Dark Operations: Soot, as a weapon? Revenge of the Snipes in the Cold War
Flash: the U.S. Navy plans return to teaching celestial navigation. In my view, this is one of the smarter moves the Navy is making to ensure its ability to safely navigate no matter what and no matter where. In the early 1960s, at OCS, we learned the basics of both piloting and celestial navigation in … Continue reading U.S. Navy and back to the future Star Power
The Captain’s Night Orders are directives prepared by Commanding Officers for watch standers regarding the safety of the ship when they are not on the bridge, typically when they are resting or asleep. U.S. Navy Regulations require Commanding Officers to prepare instructions for the Officer of the Deck who will be responsible for the navigation … Continue reading Carrier Captain’s Night Orders: “Call Me…”
We were “the stick” in case the “talk softly” part was not successful. When the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV A-42) was towed toward the oblivion of the scrap yard in 1978, she consisted of some 65,000 tons of obsolete steel and equipment–but she left many more tons of memories with the tens of thousands … Continue reading Memories of the Fru Dee Roo
From the Main Gate at NAS Jacksonville to Moussorgsky’s “Gates of Kiev” Just before I graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in 1957, I had been offered an appointment to Annapolis by Congressman Charles E. Bennett, but a physical was required. When the Navy Corpsman told me that Annapolis required at least 20/100 correctable to … Continue reading Jacksonville University Vision: to provide the means and the mentors where we could fulfill our dreams
The Navy has announced it is reestablishing the Second Fleet. A lot of us who served proudly in that Fleet, are thinking “told you so.” A more fundamental question is where are leaders like Burke, Rickover, and Metcalf (21st Century Navy) to speak up, call out, and decry strategic decisions that undermine or threaten our … Continue reading Navy Gives Second Fleet Second Chance
Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back, and, instead of bleeding, he sings. —Robert Benchley On that note, this recollection might be considered an aria, or at least a simple arpeggio sharing some thoughts and perspective on a topic we all probably know a great deal about – rejection. An email I … Continue reading Rejecting Rejection: being thrown back to the future