Honoring our Seafaring Services *UPDATED*
Bookworm on Oct 05 2011 at 3:04 pm | Filed under: Military
In honor of Fleet Week (which starts Saturday in San Francisco), I have three Navy/Marine related stories to relate and I want to promote a few of my favorite Navy related blogs.
Story 1:
My daughter has started a new school and is making new friends. The other day, I met the Mom of one of these new friends. (I’m happy to say that both mother and daughter are nice gals.)
“Is your daughter an only child?” I asked. (Go ahead, say it: I’m nosy.)
“No,” she said, “I have a son, too.” Then, with the usual apologetic look one sees in Marin, she added “He’s joining the Navy next week.”
Having said that, the Mom cringed slightly, clearly expecting me to launch into a shocked lecture about the immorality of supporting our armed forces, especially with the blood of our young men.
“Wait! Wait! I’ve got to show you something,” I mumbled as I head to the stack of magazines on the kitchen counter. Ruffling through papers for a minute revealed what I was looking for: SeaPower magazine, which comes as part of my Navy League membership. I handed it to her, along with a statement of the obvious. “We’re big fans of the Navy in this house.”
Needless to say, she was delighted. We talked about boys becoming men in the military. She agreed. Being a mom, she’s a little worried about her 21 year old son (he’ll always be her baby) going into the Navy. Still, she realizes that her son needs a place to grow up and become a man — and our culture isn’t that place. We currently train boys to be perpetual adolescents with feminine emotional traits, rather than encouraging the best aspects of manliness (bravery, loyalty, honor, camaraderie, etc.).
I think the push to become a manly man, in the best sense of the word, applies with special force in their case, because she’s a single Mom living in a low-income, all-black community. Young men coming out of that community do not necessarily fare well in life. Her son apparently realized that sad fact himself, since it was he who wanted to go into the military. After a couple of years at the local community college, he was lost and felt he needed something more meaningful.
When the Mom left, she thanked me profusely. “I feel so much happier now about his decision.”
Story 2:
At the local dojo a few months ago, I asked one of my Mom friends (a second degree blackbelt, incidentally), what her son (also a second degree blackbelt) was going to do with himself during the summer. Her face got that familiar Marin grimace. She ducked her head and spoke softly. “You hadn’t heard? He’s enlisted in the Marines.” Then came the inevitable pause, as she readied herself to be berated (or to get a saccharine and insincere, “Well, that’s nice.”).
“Oh, my gosh! That’s so cool. Wait I minute, I’ve got something to show you.” I dug frantically through my purse and — yes, there it was! — dragged out my Navy League coin. She blinked, startled. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Wow! That’s wonderful.” she said. “I have to admit that this was a surprise to us. He came home one day and said ‘I’ve spent two years at community college, and I don’t know what to do with myself there.’ So he joined the Marines.”
My friend, who I assume is the usual Marine liberal then added something interesting: “You know, I’ve been thinking about this. We should have our best and brightest defending us. I think this will be a good thing.”
That was at the beginning of the summer. A little while ago, the young man graduated from Marine Boot Camp, down at Camp Pendleton. His mom sent me a photo of a young man absolutely radiating pride in himself and his uniform. Mom was also deeply impressed by the graduation ceremony, which she said everyone should see.
Story 3:
My life is carpools. Yesterday, I had in my car a darling 13 year old whom I’ve known since he was a little boy. I stand very high in his estimation. It’s not my charm, beauty or intelligence. It’s the fact that he learned, last year, that I have friends in the Navy, including an admiral. (Actually, I can boast about several admirals, since some of them might actually recognize me at a party if they ran into me.) I am now persona grata, since this young man has as his life’s ambition entry into the Naval academy, followed by a career as a SEAL.
This boy has been thinking about BIG ISSUES. “This is a really good time to get into the military, because I believe that we’re going to be in a very big war soon.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“The way I see it,” he answered, “a few years ago, the news was filled with stories about the war. Now, though, there are no stories. I think they’re hiding something big.”
He was unimpressed with my suggestion that the media might have been trying to embarrass George Bush, whom they didn’t like, while trying to spare Barack Obama, whom they do like, the same embarrassment. “No, I think there’s something big.” He’s not quite sure who the enemy will be, but he knows there’s one out there.
Wrap-up to the above stories:
I think I should start a support group in Marin for those moms whose sons are entering the military. The message would be, we don’t all hate you and we think your sons are doing a good thing!
And now the links
There are, as you all know, myriad mil blogs out there, all of which are a testament to the high caliber of men and women who serve in our military. Since this is Navy/Marine Day at Bookworm Room, I’m just going to list my four favorite Seafaring military (and, perhaps, retired military) blogs:
The Mellow Jihadi
CDR Salamander
Neptunus Lex
Castra Praetoria
If you know of Navy/Marine/Coast Guard/Merchant Marine blogs that deserve recognition, let me know.
Cross-posted at Right Wing News
UPDATE: I’ll start adding reader suggestions here as they come in.
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15 Responses to “Honoring our Seafaring Services *UPDATED*”
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Book, you need to edit your posts more carefully:
That should have been, “It’s not just my charm, beauty or intelligence.”
I can say that since I’ve met you in person!
.
Awww! Now you’ve got me blushing wildly.
Here is something funny, though: At high school, I had a wacky, absurd sense of humor. I was not popular. Now, I have the same sense of humor, and I’m extremely popular with the younger set. Apparently the jokes work better coming out of an older person, rather than a younger one.
Go figure — I had to wait three decades to become popular at high school.
My friend, who I assume is the usual Marine liberal then added something interesting:
And there is the name for your support group, from Marin liberal to Marine liberal. I hope you are not offended but I thought it was an interesting freudian slip.
But it did make me think. Marines are actually the classical liberals. They improvise, adapt, overcome. Not narrow or contracted in mind.
Their training is a liberal education - education that enlarges and disciplines the mind and makes it master of its own powers, irrespective of the particular business or profession one may follow.
> When the Mom left, she thanked me profusely. “I feel so much happier now about his decision.”
That sentence makes me sad. Sad, that the poor woman had been feeling isolated and unhappy with her son’s decision, and I am sure she’d received plenty of negative messaging out there in hostile Marin county.
But also glad! Glad that she ran into you! And now she knows: There are like-minded people out there, and she can quietly and happily believe that her son made a WONDERFUL choice, and she can feel free to respect the holy hell out of him, her wonderful beloved son.
Can I share a somewhat similar– second-hand– story? Thanks. Earlier this year we had the opportunity to have a small thing at our farm for Matt Welch (from Reason) who’d delivered the keynote at the Mississippi Philosophical Association meeting on Libertarianism, for and against.
At the gathering, one of my husband’s colleagues was telling me about his son’s experiences at officer training school, the graduation ceremony from said school, and so on. (I’m not up on all this stuff… details don’t matter so much as the sentiments.)
The kid had done very well. His parents, who by the way are Brits, were very proud. Dad especially was proud that his American kid had chosen, when he had other viable choices, to join the military. To hear him say, in a very British accent, “Daniel wants to defend his country,” brought tears to my eyes. Sons of immigrants.
Matt was sitting close enough to hear every word. I can’t recall what stunning thing I said, maybe it was something like, “Are you listening?” He was.
Here in Mississippi, even if your parents aren’t from ’round here, you are proud of your kids’ service to our country.
Book– could it maybe be that Marin Co. is more fly-over than suspected?
o.k. Here in Mississippi, even if your parents aren’t from ’round here, you are proud of your kids’ service to our country.
Serious problems with this sentence. Sorry. Hope the cross out thing works.
Marica, Florence King always said the south still had some of the beau sabreur swagger that the rest of the country had lost in the 60s. I thank country music. Last time I saw mention of it, the south was completely over-represented in the military and good for “all a y’all.”
I think there’s something to your theory that the left coast is the real fly-over country, completely out of touch with most of everybody else, and the same for the Boston-NY-DC corridor. I lose sight of this from time to time in Seattle, because you can go for days without encountering another conservative, but it’s these coasts that are lost and horribly defensive, not the normal, sane, in-touch-with-reality parts of the country.
Thanks Book’ster for the linkage!
Not sure if you know this, but your Navy League coin is known as a challenge coin. That is, you can slam it on the bar at your next port-call. Anyone who does not have their challenge coin on them has to buy a round.
There, a little military tradition for you. Apologies if you knew this, and have been busy slapping that bad-boy on bars all o’er the world from the Philippines to Groton. . .
An interesting navy Blog is “Information Dissemination: http://www.informationdissemination.net/ A lot of technical analysis on the Navy/marine Corps of today and the future. Lots of analysis on what the upper echelon in the Navy has to say. I rejoice every time I hear of someone outside of the military service family joining. Too many of the new recruits come from families with extensive military experience. Very few from families with no military background. What this sets up is a warrior class where all the people in the service have a different outlook on life than those who are not in the military or have no connection to someone who has been in the service. Years ago everyone had a close family member who once was in the military, not any more.
I knew about the challenge coins, NavyOne, but I didn’t know that the Navy League coin counted. Next time I belly up to the bar in some Navy town, to order my non-alcoholic beverage, I’ll be sure to toss down that coin.
My understanding, though, is that what you really want to use is a “high value” coin. So if I’m serious, I should put down Adm. Patrick Walsh’s coin, right? It’s sitting on my son’s nightstand but, obviously, if I want to party, I need to steal it away from him. (Right now, if my son still wants to go to and gets into Annapolis, he’s got that coin as insurance.)
What I have seen some guys do with their coins: a unit will all carry around their coins individually. Then, one of them will slap it on the bar when the time is right. It is not the highest coin that wins, but the one guy who forgot his that loses.
ADM Walsh, I am indeed impressed. You win! Now buy a round. . .
“A little while ago, the young man graduated from Marine Boot Camp, down at Camp Pendleton.”
I know I’m picking a nit, but I can’t help it given that this Air Force brat has been married to one of Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children for over 20 yrs….
That said, boot camp and it’s *allergy induced* eyes-just-won’t-stop-leaking graduation ceremonies (I’ve seen many a grown man cry unabashed tears of pride) for the west coast is at Marine Corps Recruiting Depot, San Diego, not Camp Pendleton which is actually about 50 miles north of the MCRD. For the east coast, it’s MCRD, Parris Island, SC
Jus’ FYI.
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I thought it was Uncle Sam’s Minions of Chaos…
Same thing. When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight…..
heh
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In other news, I saw Skyline (2010). For a movie that was made by two brothers with their own special FX Company (paid to Do Battle: Los Angeles), and cost only about 10-20 million to make, this seems a very down to Earth sort of movie that was an interesting take on decadence vs survival.
Like District 9, one got the real sense that the main character was under a lot of stress and really couldn’t handle most of it. This added to the suspense, so to speak.
Like BLA, it hinted at interesting values that can be considered anti-Hollywood such as males taking leadership roles and the lead in doing dangerous things while protecting women. Or the military virtues of honor and valour in BLA in protecting civilians and fighting to defend the people of their nation.
Some of the dramatic moments were straight up a reminder of Independence Day, the great highlights.
Looking at the box office stats, most of their money was made overseas, which means they marketed this to overseas theaters, got a guarantee, and then started making it. Cause sure as heck, they wouldn’t have been able to get a guarantee inside the US.
Overall, it had enough draw that I didn’t skip parts and were interested in the plot. Becareful though, there is no right ending. It’s more like part 1 of a movie.