Navy Day 2019
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You might say I was a Master Skate of the Navy.
When I was a child, one of the highlights of my life was going to the various places of mooring and seeing the ships upon which my father worked.
Later, I became somewhat jaded with disdain ... my father would refer to naval ships as "multimillion dollar yachts" while I called them "floating gray prisons".
I tried to lose this attitude over time, however because I came to realize just how difficult my father's career path was and in his decline I wanted nothing but warm feelings for him and everything he was.
Today is Navy Day. Here in the United States it was first held under the auspices of the Navy League on October 27 but was changed by Elmo Zumwalt (a rather controversial leader in the Navy) who changed the day to October 13.
Needless to say, many of we who served continue to observe the original day.
So I take the day to consider my shortcomings as a sailor — seeing how there were SO many of them. I try to adjust my attitudes toward the world in general. I try to remember my late father who would be most proud of his grandson who just made Chief Quartermaster.
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