I am off to therapy in a little while and have to get cleaned up and be presentable. I am very interested to see how this will go. The incision looks pretty good this morning, I am walking a little better and don’t feel like I need the crutches or the cane. Very liberating. The […]

Sorry, I have been up since two-thirty or so. I chose not to try to go back to sleep- my cycle of somnolence has been so screwed up with the amount of time I have spent flat on my back lately- and plowed through Town Hall and the same beloved NY Times before turning to […]

(Air Vice Marshall Ky arrives on USS Midway (CV-41) during the evacuation of Saigon. His lavender jumpsuit and white silk scarf are impeccable. Official US Navy photo.)   This is a recollection from a shipmate and Midway Sailor who was in the middle of the craziness that went with the end of the war in […]

(The appendage in Question. Photo Socotra).   The Master Chief sent me a neat account of his participation in Operation Frequent Wind, and I was going to get to it this morning, but I walked around too many mental rosebushes to get it together this morning.   I was up way too early, so there […]

(The famous Tower at Walter Reed from which the first SECDEF James V. Forrestal leapt to his death. It is said that he thought that Israeli agents were following him. Later disclosures indicated the Secretary was correct. Photo courtesy Historylink 101).   At the beginning of this process of healing, I used to try to […]

(Perched on the lush coastline of Ocho Rios, Jamaica—this glamorous all-inclusive resort seduces with sweeping water views, a wide sandy beach and its very own namesake island. Discover the delights of snorkeling among the reefs or windsurfing on the waves. Enjoy a game of tennis, a round of golf or a tranquil afternoon on a […]

(VADM Bob Kirksey, Mister Indian Ocean. Official Navy picture.) I remember an endless line period on the Good Ship Midway a long time ago, when the world was young and I was a sailor. We had been gone from our home port in Yokosuka for an endless time, and had no idea when we would […]

(USS Midway in the Indian Ocean. Steel Beach Picnic. Photo Socotra). The Bad Old Days are starting to look pretty good. I mentioned that I arrived in USS Midway three years almost to the day after Operation Frequent Wind. I was a junior partner (the junior-ist of JOs) in Medium Pursuit Squadron 151 (The World […]

USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) was the lead ship of her class, and the first to be commissioned after the conclusion of World War II. Active in the Vietnam conflict, the Navy’s Overseas Family Residency Program (OFRP), the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Operation DESERT STORM, she is the only remaining non-Essex class aircraft carrier of the World War […]

07 April 1979   (USS Midway (CV-41) in dry dock at Yokosuka, Japan, 1979, in between Indian Ocean deployments. Photo by young Socotra.)   Yeah, you read the date correctly. And dammit, I am not lazy. I was going to go one way this morning, and then I thought I might as well set the […]