Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Launch the ready Command Defibrillator ...

So, there you are Skipper, up to your ears with a challenging ship in challenging times.

You miss the great things of Command at times like this - the basic things - like being underway; the comfortable daily rhythm of a ship at sea. The simple pleasures of a re-enlistment even.

As your mind tries to focus on a dozen different things though your daydream - someone, CMDCM, XO ... you can't quite recall right away, is mumbling something at you that your mind just doesn't process quite right as you re-read something that that same entity just put in front of you ---- then everything becomes sharp and clear; you can hear every breath of every person, every lap of water against the hull ..... and the words in front of you are as direct as the carvings on a memorial.

You understand the fill-in the blank form,
Reenlisting Officer. Date. Location. Refreshments.
The simple banality of the mundane writ large. It is the fill-in that clears all.
"Admiral Harvey. 30NOV10. USS WISCONSIN. Cookies."
To get the rest of the story of fun and games involving a few members of the front porch - you need to click here.