Navy Pride
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2005
- Messages
- 39,883
- Reaction score
- 3,070
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Very Conservative
Navy Pride said:This pretty much tells it all:
I WAS A SAILOR
>
>
> *** I liked standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray in my
> face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of the
> globe,
> the destroyer beneath me feeling like a living thing as her engines
> drove her swiftly through the sea.
> *** I liked the sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of the
> boatswainspipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship's bell on the
> quarterdeck, the
> harsh squawk of the 1MC, and the strong language and laughter of sailors
> at
> work.
> *** I liked Navy vessels -- nervous darting destroyers, plodding fleet
> auxiliaries and amphibs, sleek submarines and steady solid aircraft
> carriers.
> *** I liked the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington, Saratoga,
> Coral Sea,
> Antietam, Valley Forge - - memorials of great battles won and tribulations
> overcome.
> *** I liked the lean angular names of Navy "tin-cans" and
> escorts - -Barney, Dahlgren,
> Mullinix, McCloy, Damato, Leftwich, Mills - - mementos of heroes who went
> before us.
> And the others - - San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Chicago - -
> named for our cities.
> *** I liked the tempo of a Navy band blaring through the topside speakers
> as we pulled away from the oiler after refueling at sea.
> *** I liked liberty call and the spicy scent of every foreign port.
> *** I liked the all hands working parties as my ship filled herself with
> the multitude of
> supplies so as to carry out her mission anywhere on the globe where there
> was water to float her.
> *** I liked sailors, officers and enlisted men from all parts of the
> land, farms of the Midwest,
> small towns of New England, from the cities, the mountains and the
> prairies from all walks of life.
> I trusted and depended on them as they trusted and depended on me - for
> professional competence,
> for comradeship, for strength and courage. In a word, they were
> "shipmates"; then and forever.
> *** I liked the surge of adventure in my heart, when the word was passed:
> "Now set the special
> sea and anchor detail - all hands to quarters for leaving port,"
> *** I liked the infectious thrill of sighting home again, with the waving
> hands of welcome from
> family and friends waiting pier side.
> *** I liked the hard and dangerous work. The going was rough at times;
> and the parting from
> loved ones painful, but the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the
> "all for one and one for all"
> philosophy of the sea was ever present.
> *** I liked the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship's work, as
> flying fish flitted across the
> wave tops and the sunset gave way to night.
> *** I liked the feel of the Navy in darkness - the masthead and
> rangelights, the red and green
> navigation lights and stern light, the pulsating phosphorescence of radar
> repeaters - they cut through
> the dusk and joined with the mirror of stars overhead. And I liked
> drifting off to sleep lulled by the
> myriad noises large and small that told me that my ship was alive and
> well, and that my shipmates
> on watch would keep me safe.
> *** I liked quiet midwatches with the aroma of strong coffee -- the life
> blood of the Navy
> permeating everywhere.
> *** And I liked the hectic watches when the exacting minuet of
> haze-grayshapes racing at flank
> speed kept all hands on a razor edge of alertness.
> *** I liked the sudden electricity of "General quarters, General
> quarters, all hands man your
> battle stations", followed by the hurried clamor of running feet on
> ladders and the resounding
> thump of watertight doors as the ship transformed herself, in a few brief
> seconds, from a peaceful
> workplace to a weapon of war -- ready for anything.
> *** And I liked the sight of space-age equipment manned by youngsters
> clad in dungarees and
> sound-powered phones that their grandfathers would still recognize
> *** I liked the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who made
> them. I liked the proud
> names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut, John Paul Jones
> and Burke.
> *** In years to come, when sailors are home from the sea, they will still
> remember with fondness
> and respect the ocean in all its moods - the impossible shimmering mirror
> of calm waters or the
> storm-tossed green water surging over the bow. And then there will come
> again, the sound and
> laughter from the mess deck, a faint whiff of stack gas, a echo of engine
> noises, a vision of "Old Glory"
> snapping in the breeze. As they have gone ashore for good they will grow
> wistful about their Navy days,
> when the seas belonged to them and a new port of call was ever over the
> horizon.
> *** Remembering all of this, they will stand taller and say...
>
> "I WAS A SAILOR ONCE, AND PROUD OF IT"
>
FinnMacCool said:Maybe this will make you like me a bit more.
My entire family are all a bunch of sailors. My grandpa was actually in the navy and he chased a russian submarine down to South America during the Cuban Missle Crisis. I kind of grew up on sea stories and shanties. Just remember that the next time we get into a debate.
:shock:
I don't dislike you and thank your grandpa for his service to our country.......
FinnMacCool said:Never said you did. I don't dislike you either your political beliefs are just a little messed up:doh
I was trying to be nice, but your a youngster and as you grow older and wiser, get married and have a family your political views will change.......Lets hope so anyhow.......
FinnMacCool said:You can stop saying that now because you know I won't :doh
If I am young enough to debate with older people on here now, wait till I'm 70. You guys won't stand a chance. I'll come back like 55 years from now and mop the floor with you all. :lol:
Navy Pride said:Never say never my friend...............
"Any man who is not liberal when he is twenty has no heart, and any man who is not conservative by forty has no brain,"
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