Fair winds and following seas

I might as well go ahead and finish up the tale of my U. S. Navy days.  My job in Norfolk was unique and as a result I probably had a lot of privileges not afforded most Yeomen of my rank.  As a flag writer, I was assigned to a person rather than to a particular billet.  In an admiral's case, the writer is posted wherever the admiral is posted and is a permanent part of his or her staff.  Unfortunately, Captain Fair was a wonderfully outspoken individual with a lot of personality and some strong opinions.  Somewhere along the way he had raised the hackles of someone higher up the food chain, and it was obvious he was never gonna make the admiral promotion list.  So, instead of me going with him wherever he went, he chose retirement and served out the remainder of his career as the Commanding Officer of a Naval Facility somewhere in Alabama.  I was reassigned to the next Captain who came in to take his job.


That was Captain Lindsay C. McCarty.  He and Captain Fair couldn't have been more different from each other if they had been born on different planets.  But Captain McCarty was a terrific man in his own right, and I also became quite attached to him personally.  I can't imagine how Captain McCarty might have gotten on someone's shitlist, but he also found himself in the position of not being selected for promotion to Admiral.  However, when he got ready to retire, Admiral Holmes (you remember the 4-star who helped Captain Fair shanghai me) asked him to stay on for awhile on his personal staff to complete a "few special projects".  When Captain McCarty vacated the J3 Director of Operations post they created a special billet for him on Admiral Holmes' staff,  and Captain McCarty took me with him.  Now I was really in the big leagues. 


I can't say much about what I did while I was stationed in Norfolk.  Yes, it was many years ago, and yes, most of the stuff that was considered top secret at the time is now available for anyone to read in Readers' Digest.  But I still take security clearances seriously.  I probably don't know a single thing of importance any longer, but what I do know will stay with me until my dying breath.  A lot of my job was long hours and stressful situations.  We went on alert whenever anything happened anywhere in any place in the area of the Atlantic Ocean.  We had some really serious concerns in April of 1971 when Papa Doc (Francois Duvalier) the President of Haiti died unexpectedly.  I remember that most particularly because I went to work in the middle of the night and didn't get back from work until three days later.  We also had some "fun and games" -- real war games with silly names like High Heels and Silk Stockings where we fought against other U. S. military who were the "enemy".   But, I still hadn't learned my lesson, and in spite of all the advantages and opportunities open to me in the Navy, I met Steve and fell in love and accepted my discharge at the end of my initial enlistment.  With hindsight being 20/20, it is dreadfully hard for me to believe I was quite that stupid.  I had passed all the tests and requirements to be promoted to E5, but I needed an additional six months time in grade in order to sew on the stripes.  A simple six month extension would have put me in a higher pay bracket, but noooooo, I couldn't do that.  I also had a guarantee from that same 4-star Admiral who had pirated me in the first place.  If I reenlisted, my next duty station was going to be Honolulu.  What a doofus I was!!!!  My entire enlistment was spent in Bainbridge, Maryland and Norfolk, Virginia.  But, I have to believe my life turned out the way it did for a reason, and I am happy with where I am now.  I try to not regret the roads not taken, but sometimes it is really hard.  Still, I will never bemoan one single minute of my time in the U. S. Navy.


I've mentioned before that my sister Cindy enlisted in the Navy after I was discharged.  Her Navy career was very, very different from mine.  She went to boot camp in Orlando, Florida.  Even in the heat of midsummer, Orlando was far superior to Bainbridge -- remember most of Bainbridge had been condemned.  The Naval Station in Orlando was newer, and was a "real" Navy Base, though now they have disestablished it as well.  I don't remember what my sister's rating was -- it was classified.  I could tell people what I did just not very much about what I knew.  She couldn't tell anyone anything.  I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia -- not as bad as it could have been since it was near a beach, but not the best duty station in my opinion.  Cindy's first duty station was Key West.  Excuse me!  Now that had to be a tough life.  Then she was transferred.  Her next duty station was Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas.  Now wait a minute here!  How is it she got all those sandy beaches, warm tropical breezes and laid back lifestyles?  Actually, it was the type of work she was doing, whatever that was.  And, I'm really glad she got stationed at Eleuthera, because that gave me the perfect excuse to go visit her.  And therein lies another story.


So in closing today I'd like to offer Tom Lewis' blessing to my Navy comrades:

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind ever be at your back,
May you find old friends waiting to greet you, there on the outside track
We're gathered together old times to remember, 'tis but for ourselves we would grieve,
So we'll sing you a chorus and bid you farewell - fair winds and a following sea.

We'll sing of 'The Leaf' and 'The Parting Glass', we'll raise up our voices in song,
No sadness today for the one who has passed, celebrate with a voice glad and strong.
A catch in the throat, a tear in the eye, but no funeral dirge will this be,
We'll roar 'Auld Lang Syne' as a victory song - fair winds and a following sea.
And those of us left here will miss a true friend, who shared with us good times and bad,
Raising a glass to your memory we'll say: “We've known you – why should be we sad?”
We honour a life that was lived to the full, we honour a spirit, now free.
You'll long be remembered, whenever we say: “Fair winds and a following sea!”
You'll long be remembered, whenever we say: “Fair winds and a following sea!”