When I was a midshipman, I stood bridge watches , including the helm. Did the same in the fireroom, including spending twenty four hours in the firebox rebricking and recasting the firebox in the boiler, also engineroom - CIC -Sonar, etc. Each ship I served on I would make a point of steering the ship and learning from the master helmsman/woman. Carrier/LHA/LHD aviation CO's do not have that kind of experience and probably think it is beneath them. Point is, it is essential and professional to be involved with training and qualifying watchstanders. Their job is as important as the Captain's. In some ways more important because if the hundreds of actions and checks and details that watchstanders do routinely are not done, everyone is at risk. One of the reasons I love sailors in general and any who I served with in particular.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
I have decided that if I am going to tilt at windmills, I need to do it on my blog. Facebook is not the place to express my views, opinions, hopes, and dreams for this country, for this world. I am not seeking affirmation or challenging others on their views, but I welcome any feedback.  I have discovered that many of the men and women that have crossed my path, both professionally and personally, are out there and because of our time together have established a connection that I value and am grateful to be able to engage.  We all share the oath we took, some many times over, and believe so very strongly in the core of that pledge, to serve our country and to defend it using our combined strength and will. I hope that my shipmates, friends, and family will use this blog to discuss, argue, and seek solutions and answers to the things/issues/concerns that need answers and our commitment to see through to resolution. 
Read more

Men of Annapolis TV Series 1957-1958

http://www.usna63.org/ tradition/history/ MenofAnnapolis .html I decided to go to the Naval Academy when I was 7 years old, I remember the moment clearly. I was standing in our yard on 81st Street in Virginia Beach. It was 1954 and I was very conscious of my dad being in his uniform when he came home from work and this created a deep association and identity for me. It was when I first spent the night aboard a US Navy ship, USS Muliphen , an amphibious cargo ship, when my dad had duty. I remember how much fun and how thrilling it was to eat in the wardroom and tag along with my dad when he made his rounds and watching a movie at night after dinner. I loved ships, the smell and sounds of a ship settled into my consciousness and have never left. It was later that I saw the Men of Annapolis TV series and it made a very powerful impression on me about what a midshipman's life was, and what a special experience being at the Naval Academy represented. We were living in Washington DC
Read more

Are we exceptional or do we need a little more humility?

Image
Above - Map showing Indian Tribes in US Estimate population pre-contact for all of the Americas as high as 112 million indigenous people Map of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade https://worldmap.harvard.edu/maps/1374 The USA has a history that is often glamorized for our robust and vigorous democracy and opportunities afforded for people to live in freedom, and with rights and liberties. Actually, it is a country that began with European contact by white people who actually invaded in the 1500 and 1600s, established colonies, prospered with the institution of slavery and indentured servitude, wrested lands away from the Native American's by forced removal, genocide and false treaties, fought a Civil War over the institution of slavery, which ended slavery, allowed the southern states to terrorize negroes through agencies like KKK and created segregation laws and practices, suffered an economic depression, fought WW II interning Japanese Americans while utilizing
Read more