Author: Vic Socotra

Crossings

Editor’s note: The veil between the worlds is very thin this morning, and my pal Marlow hit me right between the running lights this morning. We both can feel it; something in the air, or maybe the vibrations of the earth beneath our feet. I have felt this way before- a sense of foreboding that […]

Two Days (of Bad Boating)

17 NOV, 1989 I ate lunch down in Wardroom Two, clear mistake. It was fried formerly frozen fish, wax beans and possibly the worst macaroni and cheese I have ever tasted. I sat with Skipper Dussman and a couple VF-31 Tomcatters, and listened to tales of Figther Squadron liberty. One of them featured the Skipper […]

Liberty risk

16 NOV 1989: There is a Big Time hangover to greet the new day. The French beer is apparently powerful stuff, particularly effective against the defenseless and recently detoxed system. On FID, the Air Wing Six Staff simulates constructive effort in the morning, pretending to read the boards and discussing the remaining action agenda ashore. […]

Toulon

The TRANSLANT is over. The deployment begins. TOULON, 15-19 November 1989 I make a couple tactical errors leaving the boat. One: I go ashore with the Grownups. That means that the first liberty boat is out of the question. CAG and DCAG have many decisions to make; we have a detachment of people and airplanes […]

Illegal Alien

(USS VIRGINIA (CGN-38) in some exotic Med port- of call (date unknown)). Vic’s recent posts about his experience in the Med have brought back some fond memories of FOSIF Rota during the winding down of the Cold War. The power of memory and the current brouhaha in the press and presidential campaigns about illegal immigration […]

Taps for Meg

(Meg Falk, an American hero. Rest in Peace, dear friend). The news hit me with a wallop as I looked over the mail that came in while I was out. My pals in Tennessee forwarded me the obituary of one of the most dynamic and totally alive people I have ever known. Meg Falk was […]

Men (and the Weather)

05 March 2016 ALEXANDRIA 01-04 MARCH 1990 02 MAR 1990: We are scheduled to drop the hook in the roads at Al Iskandria- the classical Alexandria- by dawn. I arose early to ensure that the 0700 show for the 0800 departure to the historic el Alamein desert did not leave without me. I wanted to […]

Amazing Impromptu Faux Mexican Queso Dip

  Gentle Readers, I have hit a speed-bump on the Daily. All I want to do is rage against the idiocy that is all around us, and that is neither gently ironic, informative or particularly interesting. It is enough to drive one to distraction. I was going to tell you about a trip to the […]

The Book Group

Florida seems like a dream to me now. Or was that Saginaw? A couple observations: if you are heading to The Villages by air, it might make sense to fly into Tampa, which is about the same distance as Orlando, and does not have the throngs of Mouse Seekers. It is always true that the […]

Old Navy

I don’t know why my Lieutenant wanted to get a picture of his Grandfather in his Navy dress blue uniform, but I was happy to dig out a couple pics and send them along. Of course, I was packing in Florida at the time, and naturally wound up sending them to someone else in the […]