...as I nearly skipped down the pier between the Kearsarge on my right and the Big E, the Enterprise on my left. newly retired my mind was filled with images of over 20 years in the Navy. Not all of it "good time" but a lot of good times, good friends and good shipmates.
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As such my job took me all over the area from Norfolk up to DC to facilitate classes for my young shipmates. On occasion I was asked to ride with a ship for a few days or more to conduct classes. So I was set for my return to the Kearsarge in October 2002, 6 years after I retired, 9 years after I was a member of the commissioning crew. In the 6 years I had been gone the ship had undergone little change physically, but the crew had changed immensely. When I left, the Kearsarge was male only, not any more. Now it was a mixed gender crew. My first experience in that environment aboard ship, disrupting the deja vu feeling.
Man Overboard! Man Overboard! Man overboard on the starboard side! Man the starboard lifeboat Man Overboard!
Well some things hadn't changed. A man overboard drill is standard upon leaving port to make sure that all crew members were aboard. Another thing that had changed was that I was on board as an instructor eating in the officer's wardroom dinner with captain. Not as a mid-management enlisted. I got better food, better accomodations and better treatmen. Plus an old friend from Pearl Harbor was now the Ship's Meteorologist. As a junior officer she had been placed under my tutelage for several months to teach her a few of the finer points of forecasting. It was nice to see her again after all those years. In total I spent almost a month underway with the Kearsarge on that trip. We visited Panama Beach Florida and Corpus Christie Texas. I taught 8 classes to more than 150 sailors. Nothing spectacular but satisfying.
After arrival back in Norfolk, I was gonged off the ship once more "Plankowner, Departing!
Hey, Tag, coming in sideways with my comment. I don't have any Navy experience, but I have man overboard experience, sort of. All the years we bounced around the world's oceans, it was considered great sport to jump from the upper deck into the drink if we were in warm waters. This game was even better if it was warm, crystal clear waters because one could observe the jumpers plunge very deep. I did my share of deck jumping ~ I enjoyed it, too. The first time I watched my 5-year-old take Captain Sean by the hand and jump off, I spent a tense few moments. They fell 30 feet to the water's surface and then maybe 15 feet into the water. I thought the kid would never bob back up! She did, of course.
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ReplyDeleteNice memories Tag.
ReplyDeleteLife is very interesting, if by the time you were retiring from the Navy you were to be told that you will be back some years later to do something totally different, by sure you wouldn’t believe it.
You closed the door, changed the record and cleaned the house, so you could become who you are… great journey, keep traveling it with satisfaction.
loveNlight
Gabi
"Plank owner" is such an interesting description. I get visions of walking one ala Captain Hook. I'm glad you found satisfaction in this most challenging of careers.
ReplyDeleteisn't it interesting how we often end up back where we started, a different person, yet the same?
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