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 […]

  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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The lady in the adjacent room to mine at the Waterfront Inn in The Villages apparently went to sleep with her television on. I discovered that when the jumble of noises woke me at 0138 this morning. I tossed and turned for a while and finally was inalterably awake. I debated going down to the […]

The wedding was an impressive affair at the First Baptist Church of Leesburg, Florida, at two in the afternoon. My brother and I were honored to be ushers, junior participants in the ceremony. Which is to say we wore black bow ties and white shirts under our jackets and handed out programs, American Flag lapel […]

(R.J. Gators is a marvelous place to while away the afternoon). Now, if you think I am going to go all hipster authentic on you and start bashing The Villages, you would be wrong. Of course it is all fake. The artistically cool shipwreck in back of B.J. Gator’s bar? Sunk there on purpose, naturally. […]