(Chief of Naval Operations ADM John Richardson, USN, provided the WEST Keynote Address). I have been putting my oar back in the water lately, and attempting to demonstrate that there is some creativity left in the old fingers. I don’t have the corporate resources to actually travel to San Diego as I used to, so […]

19 November 1989. This is a business day. Woke up at six, got down to the office to get ready for business. I read the message boards and discovered there was a major meeting in the Mission Planning space at 1030, and had a chance to sit in on Captain Tim Thomassy’s Pre-Sail meeting, since […]

  Annus Horribilis I have been thinking a lot about bygone days, as my weary readers are well aware. It seems safer back there, though when one actually looks at it objectively, there have been a few rough spots in our national life. 1968 was one of them. One correction to Marlow’s magnificent essay “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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

(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 […]

(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 […]

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 […]