It’s been an interesting couple of weeks…
First it was a week of volunteering… And working with a friend, in an ‘unusual’ environment… HERE is his post. But I will take exception to #18, it wasn’t a smile, it was a grimace… 6 miles a day, only a few months after knee surgery. 800MG Motrin was my friend!
Southern BBQ is NOT Texas BBQ… It’s good, but the sauces are entirely different…
This past week was spent in Jacksonville, at a Symposium for the ASW and Reconnaissance community. These two Admirals were my commissioning board, 25 years ago when they were O-6s. I wonder if they would have done it knowing what they know now…
One of them murmured something about a courts martial, but I don’t think I heard him right… LOL
Briefings, dinners, golf and more meetings, including with the WWII veterans made for a truly great week. my TBT post, HERE, talked about the briefings the vets gave…
And meeting the ‘kids’ who have filled our shoes in the community and are taking the various programs forward, including transitioning from the venerable P-3, now going on 54 years old, with the potential to still be flying for another 10 years, to the brand new P-8 Poseidon (a modified 737-800) and the new systems it contains…
We all got a good laugh out of the media fixation that the P-8 is a ‘spy’ plane… It’s primary mission is ASW, which is keeping everyone busy with the Chinese, and resurgence of the Russian Navy. The secondary is search/rescue coordination, e.g. MH370, and the three sailors in Micronesia, HERE.
It was funny, in a sad way last night, when some of us old farts got to chatting at the social about our favorite bars…
The Brass Nut, the Fly Trap, George the Crooks, China Fleet, The Tennis Club, Club Masirah, ‘Po City and VP alley, BC Club, and a few others. Including when the Stag Bar in the club used to have strippers come in on Friday… 🙂
And a young, if thirty-something is young, O-4 said he’d never even HEARD of any of the places we were talking about, much less strippers in military clubs. Sigh…
Come to find out he was BORN in 1982… Double sigh…
And the Lieutenants, I swear look about fourteen! One of the admirals said something to the effect of, “Ghad, did we ever look that young?”
One of his cohorts replied, “No, you were a grouchy old asshole as a LTJG, and you’ve only gotten worse over the years.” That cracked all of us up, and left the younger officers shaking their heads in wonder (They’ve apparently heard stories)…
And might have paid attention the Admiral Harris’ speech on Wednesday night, about callsigns that were in HIS logbook as instructors from back in the day, including three that were in our little conversation…
More and more of us are totally retired, either by choice or due to disabilities, and we were joking about how long it would be before we would be the wheelchair brigade!
That brought up the number of folks that had passed in the last year, and we had a toast to them, knowing we will be following them, sooner or later.
It was a great week, and sadly much too short, but the kids have to get back to work, and us old farts need to get some rest. All that exercise and travel had us reaching for the Aleve on a regular basis…
Can’t wait until next year!!!
Next year will be the twentieth anniversary of my retirement. Scary thought is that if a young person had joined the Navy on the day of my retirement, that young person would be able to retire next year.
I think you heard the “courts martial” statement wrong, it was probably “sports manual.” (smile)
Looks like a good time was had by all.
Again, many thanks!
And I’ll keep you at the top of the list for a stationary location for 2017…
Thanks for the hard work and suggestions for improvement.
See you the clubhouse next month!
TBG
Yah, in comparisons of national BBQ styles, NC-style BBQ consistently comes in last place, with most people’s reaction being “Dafuq is dis?” I have to admit that my own preference is for Texas-style brisket.
It’s good that you can rub shoulders with the youngsters and pass it on. They need the contextual exposure to understand where it came from — and to use that wisdom to guide the ‘ship’ in the direction that it needs to go.
+1
John- It was… BOTH weeks… And getting a chance to mix with the young guys and girls was a blast, although they couldn’t believe how many flight hours we had… Sigh…
TBG- Truly enjoyed it, and the group of folks you’ve pulled together is outstanding!
Robert- Yep… But it’s still GOOD! 🙂
LL- Only if the administration gives them a chance to actually DO the missions… sigh…
Great recap. I’m sure you’ll need another week to recover.
Doctors like like the officers just keeping getting younger.
Three of my doctors look like they belong in high school not practicing medicine.
My wife says I am just getting older 🙁
How wonderful to maintain those connections.
We host a lot of current military people on the Iowa, and I get exactly the same feelings when I meet them.
Namely, they’re all so damn young!
But every single one of them is serious, and have that determined look in their eyes.
From the ones I’ve met, I’d be tempted to say our forces are in good hands. It’s the ones at the top that seemed determined to extinguish the warrior spirit in the young ones that bother me…..
Hey Old NFO;
It is fun to see how things are going, but it is strange when you are part of the “legacy”. It makes you wonder where the time went. Seeing my uniform in a museum made me realize that I am getting older and I am not crazy about that…but it beats the alternative. I don’t regret my experiences, they made me the person that I am…And yes I would do it all over again.
I know what you mean about the aging. At our reunions, the shipmates are in their late 60’s and 70’s. I am sadden to know I will be losing some of the best men I have ever known. Even people I worked with in civilian life that passes doesn’t bother me as much as my old shipmates. I see them as 18 to 21 year old’s.