Happy Veteran’s Day

This federal holiday, I had the luxury to once again wake up at 3:45 to get out the door by 4:30 to catch the ferry by 5 to sail for 2 hours to the ship to work all day.  Thrown into all the work were drills - lots and lots of drills.  That man overboard drill is about to send somebody overboard for real.  In between the meetings to prepare for the drills, the drills, and the debrief meetings after the drills was the work - including a guy who has decided he’s not going to go to work anymore.  I mean, he’s on the ship, he just doesn’t come to work.  Like, ever.  I’m really confused.  Do you go back to bed and lay in your luxurious twin-sized coffin rack?  Anyway, who knew you could stop paying someone while they’re in your office…the things I learn!

I have been working on a project for our office lately, utilizing my IT skillz (they’re so much more than skills-with-an-s) to put together a webpage on our ship’s intranet.  I have worked hard on making it not suck, and that’s a feat when the customization options are limited to choosing blue and orange or brown and tan themes.   I did manage to make it into a pretty good looking and very useful site and at the end of the day I got wind that the page made it onto the commanding officer’s radar and he was very impressed with our webpage.  Considering we’re the smallest department on the ship - a whole 8 people strong - there’s something to be said any time you do something to be noticed by the rest of the ship.  Especially good is the attention didn’t come from any of us crapping off the fantail.

So anyway, the day came to its usual sudden halt at 3:30 when we have to leave in order to catch the ferry back or else you’re stuck there overnight. Because it’s Veteran’s Day, there were a few good deals to be found for free dinner for veterans.  I was looking forward to dinner at Applebees, but by the time I got home and changed into regular clothes it was already 6:15 and the prospect of waiting in line for a free burger in a military town where every other person is a veteran suddenly didn’t seem so appealing.  So it was McDonald’s and a glass of wine, and off to bed at an unusually reasonable hour.

But today I, as most people, have thought of the meaning of the day.  Both of my grandfathers, my dad, both of my brothers, and numerous uncles and counsins have all served our country, and I’m proud to come from a family that has set the example in serving our country.  I hope that someday my children look at what our family has done and are proud of the family they come from.

Thank you to all the veterans out there - we all sacrifice something to be in the military, whether it’s for 4 years or for 20 years.  I hope those of you who are young enough perhaps consider giving a few years to serve your country - it’s one of the most important things I’ve ever done and I’m proud to continue doing it.

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