Spending too much time "AT SEA" We have a PROBLEM!

 

USS INDEPENDENCE CVA 62  My home at sea for a couple years

So for today:

If you have seen the news you have heard of an Aircraft Carrier that has been at sea for 200-250 days without pulling into a port!   The US Navy is unique among our military, Our Sailors live in a moving steel home that has no street address. In my Life I have experienced life in three branches of the military. USMC, USAF & USN

Our military bases are NEVER empty, due to 'Duty Sections'.  Most are run in 4 section duty.  Meaning the soldier, marine or airman, must stay on board every 4th night and every 4th weekend.  The USN is the same when in port. You must stay aboard the ship every 4th night and 4th weekend. The member can get some time OFF BASE, have a beer, visit friends, go to church or go home if his family is near by.

Right now we have a ship with over 5000 men/women, and they have not left that moving ship in 8 months.  These sailors are used to 'Hitting the beach' , OFF THE SHIP at least once a month.  The ship pulls into port and when your section does not have the duty you can go into town and relax off ship.  The Skipper tries to always pull in for at least 4 - 8 days to give everyone a few days off.

The longest I have ever been to sea without any shore time was 5 weeks.  That is the longest  average for all sailors,  Even at all out war, a ship is seldom out over  2  months without pulling into some port.  Skippers KNOW their men, their minds, need time ashore.

I am speaking about something I KNOW.  The moral on Carriers is normally great. For a period in my career, I was an inspector.  I spent  time on most carriers on  the East Coast for inspection tours. I only inspected the Intelligence centers,  I even met many men and officers I had taught at NIPS (Naval Intelligence Processing).

I have paid attention to the Pentagon in the last couple years.  The Generals and Admirals who understand this sort of thing have been fired and replaced by inexperienced leaders. YOU CANNOT LEAVE MEN ABOARD A SHIP FOR 8 MONTHS WITHOUT SOME TIME OFF THAT SHIP!!!

Mail also keeps sailors' moral up, The ships for some reason have out run their mail,  And  some letters are 2 months old.  Shoot, I got concerned if I missed hearing from Sherry for 2 weeks.

I am trying to say, NO INTELLIGENT LEADERS KEEP MEN AT SEA FOR MONTHS,  I really think I could have handled it, but I sure would have been very upset at my leaders...

In Naval history I doubt if you will find ANY ship being at sea for 8 months without pulling into a port.  Most sailors have been on a 9-month cruise, But that is ALWAYS broken up by time on liberty. Time ashore is needed for sanity.

I took this picture in Taranto Italy, in the boot heel of Italy. while on liberty

Please think of those sailors, say a prayer.   I sure am.

Nite Shipslog

There is one thing for certain, PLANS CHANGE! Past plans you cannot change.

 If I could go back I would take more pictures of Paris and even visit the Louvre.   I was thinking maybe next time, LOL

But for now:

So, We had hoped to head for Pennsylvania soon, now plans have changed.  WE wanted so much to see our long standing friends   Dal (Dallas) and Marian.

 Life has strange coincidences.  Both couples are nearing 70 years of marriage. WE have stayed in contact since 1956, our USMC times.  Dal and I were in the same platoon on Parris Island. Not sure but I think Dallas enjoyed PI better than I did. LOL  Our permanent duty stations just happened to coincide, and we lived in the same barracks most of our short MC careers.  WE became close friends he was sure he had the prettiest girl, but I KNEW I did.  I will gladly admit Marian was pretty, still is, but...  Anyway, their marriage lasted and ours did too.

Now after all these years both couples are experiencing medical problems. I hear Dal's problem is he has too many 'PLATES' in his blood. He has always amazed me at the things he has accomplished but sticking too many plates in his blood beats them all.  ;-O  ......... Also  the girls (Sherry & Marian) are both experiencing bad KNEE problems.

WE are forced to change plans, I think we will go South,  and take a break in Florida. Here, Sherry finds tooooo many things to do with church and friends to give that knee the rest it needs.

At least a day in the RV she can be in a recliner or  stretched out on the couch. during the day's drive.

Maybe we will get up North this year, but it would have to be soon.  You guys that live North of Mr's. Mason and Dixon's place have CCCCold weather in the winter.  WE remember, we once lived in those latitudes in North Missouri. ;-)

The shot below is just below that Mason/Dixon line

The parking lot where we lived also, Just about 3 miles from the Pentagon

Of course there will be More very important stuff tomorrow.  LOL ???

Nite Shipslog

Never Twist.......... the truth

 

For today:

I have enjoyed most phases of my life.  My sweetheart has followed me and never complained, whether I asked her to live in a rebuilt chicken coop, a 27' trailer,  a house with no indoor bath or toilet or a nice home with an indoor pool. LOL

Once I learned I enjoyed story telling. I fell in love with that too. LOL For many years Sherry and I traveled entertaining kids.  Most of that was at Boy Scouts, churches, camps, and individuals.

WE did that from key West to Canada. Even a week in NYC and a couple times in Cuba.

I was a magician some nights, chalk artist or ventriloquist others. 

Once a Youth Director called me needing a week, 4 classes a day, but I have no money left. I laughed, can I at least use your Zerox  machine?  Remember them?

Of course, so I wrote my first book, 7 page.  It was 1965 and the dance "The Twist" was big.  I titled the book "Never Twist" and on the first page I put.......THE TRUTH.  The book did very well.

AT least 40 years later a lady walked up to me and asked, "Are you Jack Darnell?"  I answered something like, 'Does he owe you money also?'

She laughed big and said,  "You must be him, you will never change.  I just wondered if you have a copy of 'Never Twist?'"

I had to think for  a minute, then realized what she was talking about.  WE talked. She asked would you like a copy? YES!

She gave me her copy saying 'that was one of the best experiences of my childhood.  I want you to have it and Thank You for a great time; all the girls in my group loved your classes.'

I had the back page for their friends to sign. 

Enough of my stuff, I found this going thru an old box I had not unpacked yet.  It was fun.

Nite Shipslog

Going to church

 It is Wednesday Morning, we are headed for church.   WE have attended many churches in our about 70 years of marriage.  After a hitch in the USMC and the USAF,  I even thought I was a preacher for a few years and pastored a church in Missouri, got to know some wonderful people, some we still are in contact with.  Then we moved back to NC, to pastor one, a little later we organized and built another.  It is hard to believe that when the church was doing great, going from about 20 up to about 80 in attendance, I lost my faith.  Looking back that is hard to believe even for me. but I resigned the Sunday after I realized all of a sudden, I saw no answered prayers, and I had lost it all down inside, I was going thru motions.

After resignation I tried attending Surveyor's School. nada, I finally returned to the life I loved, the miliary, I joined the Navy.

I continued to attend church with Sherry.  Usually thinking of my next project or  planning the rest of the day......Years later I regained my faith. We were actually in a church service at the same church My dad pastored when I met my sweetheart; when it happened, a light just came on and my FAITH was back!

Now after many years we are back attending that church.  The church is far different now, years later and having had good pastors came covid.  The Attendance back has averaged 175 to 250. (Once many years ago, my dad promoted Sunday School and we had over 850 one Sunday, Blocking streets)

BUT now it has dwindled to  35 to 55, mostly all us OLD people. Our resources have dropped that we must dip into church savings  each week just to pay a pastor and keep the doors open.

Older pastors kept their finger on the pulse of the times. The churches that are growing in today's world, are doing that;  the rest of us are just biding our time.

WE enjoy the pastor and people, we have some great folk.  So since our church is old, evidently leadership accepts what it is and has decided to just have a slow death. So we have one Sunday morning service and a Wednesday Morning service. You  know that no working families can attend mid week services in the mornings, just us old folk.

So WE will be there and I will get a few smiles and maybe a laugh or two.  This is what I found in my closet:

In 1976 Gas was about 59 cents a gallon.  Yes we voted for Jimmy. We once lived about 20-25 miles from him in Georgia.  Of course we never knew him. He was in Plains, and we were south a few miles in  Albany, Georgia LOL

I found this shirt and button along with buttons of FDR and Stevenson.

Yep a Jimmy Carter shirt. My sister Shirley bought that in Plains when She and her Husband Jim went to the Campaign HQ there.

Enough, gotta go.  I might attach more shots.  No more shots but I got a lot of laughs and some NONONONOS AND SOME yeaS!

Nite Shipslog

RAdiation close to sensitive areas

 MOTOCROSS in Cuba

We enjoyed about 4 years living aboard the USN station GITMO bay Cuba.  The boys raced Moto cross. I have a funny story of how we got the bikes to GITMO.  Maybe later.

BUT so for today:

Over all, today went well.  It is amazing how 'a very short action' is so complicated for which to prepare.  It took almost an hour to prepare me for a few 'seconds' of radiation. 

BAD hearing caused me to THINK that some form of eye drops were going to be used to prevent damage to my eye by the radiation.  Those special 'eye drops & solutions I purchased at the pharmacy were NOT replacing the lead that would prevent damage to my eye, BUT they were only lubricants and deadening drops, to make the insertion of lead or other preventers, less painful.

They inserted materials around the 'eyeball' before the actual radiation was activated.  AND YES, it was definitely a tough time to endure. :-(

But  good doctors have decided this was the most effective path for preventing the spreading of the Merkel Cell Carcinoma. 

I do hope and pray the radiation worked it's miracle.  I am not sure if I could have handled that insertion around my eyeball for 25-30 applications, as the Dr. prescribed. 

AND NOW that action is over!  I still think my approach is logical; so now, maybe I will be able to aggravate my sweetheart a few more years to the 100 mark.  LOL

Thanks to EVERYONE for the support, love and prayers. I have been very blessed; after this entire few month's process, I just took a pain pill, the first I have needed.  That is only due to the aggravation at my eye due to the insertion of  the materials to prevent damage to my eye, a very small price to pay to save my sight in that eye.

Nite Shipslog

PS:  And they also said, DO NOT SCRATCH THAT AREA IF IT ITCHES!!!

I am not scratching, but I sure am rubbing pretty regularly.  LOL

Monday is the day.

Now playing at Sight and Sound, we think!

for today

 Monday is coming up.  I now have my super special eye drops I picked up today, they somehow prevent radiation from effecting my eyes..... Being deaf hurts, but to think of something effecting my sight really makes me think.

I am checking on reservations for our trip to Pennsylvania.  Sherry checked what is going on at 'Sight and Sound' near Lancaster.  They are doing 'Joshua'  I hope we can arrange that between my appointments and Sherry's.  

She is still fighting blood pressure problems with many ups!  Now when I got lost on our last trip to the hospital we had to walk a lot and I did not know we were about ruining her knee, and she did not complain.  I blame myself because it was my fault that we got lost.

AS of now the knee is easing off.  I am doing my best to keep her off her feet to let that knee heal.

A trip would be good just now.  She would have to stay off her feet and relax in her recliner on our way north.

I would like to thank MA for the SS information.  That verifies what a good friend of mine at church told me.  She too gets her deceased hubby's Social Security since his death.   So that easies one thing on my mind.

I can say one thing positive, I did get that crazy zero turn mower fixed.  And I come up with a good meal today. Sherry is easy to please, but said this was the best meal in months.

Son Mark brought in 2 chicken 1/4s. I cleaned the bones and saved the meat.  I boiled carrots in sweet syrup, honey and brown sugar for about 14 minutes. then let it set. I made some potato pieces in lots of butter (after boiling them for 10 minutes.). I drained the carrots and dumped them with the chicken into the home fries. I steamed them all while I prepared a  loaf of bread saved from our last trip to a steak house.

I hear  her  on the phone now, bragging on that meal.  LOL

Nite Shipslog

Some times

 There are times that  hearing the news makes one feel sick.  Remember the Shah of Iran?  During that time Iran and the USA were 'buddies'.

Now we are killing Iranians because we do not like the present 'SHAWs',

I heard an interview with what was called 'just an Iranian guy'.  He stated , 'we loved America.'  Now it is confusing because you guys are bombing and Killing us.  What happened?

I will apologies to you that smile at our present condition, saying it is just temporary.  Hey, I am paying close to $4 a gallon for gas that I remember most of my life was less than $1.50, much of my life gas was less than $1 a gallon. 

No one wants to be hit with an A-Bomb!  I am afraid we have bit off more than we can chew. Did we need a war we could not win?

I guess I wouldn't be so frustrated but recently I bought gas for my lawn mowers and paid more than a fill up on our Honda, normally.

I have always smiled at how blessed we were in the USA when paying for gas in Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain and seeing the price in the UK and Caribbean.   I cannot imagine the prices in those areas now.

I might be blind sighted, but this present war that has upset the world's oil industry is the first war I can remember that WE STARTED.  WE have been in wars, but seldom did we start them.

A a former military man with the majority of my time in and Teaching,  Intelligence Processing, I am amazed anyone THOUGHT a middle eastern country would capitulate to our demands. Hey remember, those fools knew they were going to die crashing into the twin towers, and many other places. Death is an honor to them.  OR something to that effect.

I am sorry, I really do not mean to offend you who back our present Commander in Chief, but personalities of those who require praise just seem to nip at my heels.  Even if it is my own party.  ;-)

Nite Shipslog

PS  Maybe it is time for me to just stop and take a few days off and relax.  I am hoping to take a vacation after my next Dr. appt. anyway.  I would love to be eating some Pennsylvania fresh corn....

RAin? great, but hey I am outside!

 

A care free sailor. sitting in the safety nets around the flight deck of the USS Independence CVA62, in the Mediterranean Sea. Sherry and I were up on technology, we were now communicating with cassette tapes, and I could hear her voice, She sounded wonderful, even thousands of miles away! In the safety net no one could hear her but me!

That from the past, now today!

WE need the rain, however our deck at our favorite swing needed repair.  About $80 of lumber and a few hours I finished with one screw left, when the rain came.

Yeh, I did get all the tools in and cleared the area.

I cannot help but think of my life,  and possibly leaving my sweetheart.  ME and EVERYONE else says what I say, "NO one can say when this life will end.  Yeah I KNOW that.  But when someone who is  of the medical profession gives you a date, you pause and THINK!.

Of course the pastor says, "Bro. Jack, you will leave this world when HE is through with you and not before!"

An answer I would and did expect.  What else could he say?

Honestly, and I MEAN this, "I really do not care!"  That may be hard to understand, but I can say that. AS a matter of fact, it is easy to say. At present I do not have a pain in my body that is life threatening.  Now, I might say different if I was suffering as some folks are.

But LOGIC tells me, prepare for what future you have, so I plan to.  I am thinking of my sweetheart and what she will have to live on when I am gone.   I need to check with SS to see how much her SS will increase.  I hear she can draw off mine.  I get a little more than she does  at present.

Anyway I am thinking of the future MUCH DIFFERENT than I did 2 weeks ago when I thought I had a simple 'skincancer', LOL

Love you guys

NIte Shipslog