Entries on Sunday will be delayed due to my deployment on the Cutter U.S.S. Taney (USCGC Taney (WPG/WHEC-37)).
My eldest son and I are scheduled to sleep over on the Taney on Saturday night. The Taney is a United states Coast Guard Cutter and is the last surviving warship present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On that day, it was berthed at Pier #6 in Honolulu Harbor and was one of the ships firing on the attacking aircraft. It was used on patrols in World War II in both the Pacific and Atlantic Theaters of Operation as well as in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.
The crew this weekend will be composed of the brave boys of Cub Scout Troop 1127 and their Dads. After I return from the service, I will be posting again — absent post traumatic stress issues of sleeping in cramped crew quarters with sleepless 10 year old boys and snoring fathers.
Obviously, you and your ‘swabbie’ survived. Does the troop have their sea legs yet? That must have been fun and educational-good for you!
Indeed, it was. We slept in the crew quarters and made dinner and breakfast in the crew galley. Hard bunks, bad coffee, but great fun. With bunks of ten years old, however, the fathers were waiting for shore leave by the morning.
I did that once on the USS Yorktown and once on the USS Alabama back when I was in Scouts. Good times. Now I feel old. Damnit.
The trip aboard the Taney sounds like my sleepovers with the Indian Princesses “tribes” that my daughters attended. I needed a real rest after that experience. But it was something that the girls and I never forgot. Enjoy that age while you can.
Rafflaw:
I was indeed a great deal of fun and Ben said afterward that if he had a choice of living on the best house on the planet or the Taney, he would pick the Taney.
I can tell Ben is a terrific kid who obviously loves you a great deal and will always cherish your special times together.
It sounds, to me, like he is simultaneously telling you that what he enjoyed was the sense of ‘Community’ he felt on the ship.
Perhaps he is also letting you ‘off the hook’, in terms of how hard you work for the things that you provide – possibly, maybe?
My guess is that he is beginning to see how things translate because he is ten years old now, and because YOU are his Dad and he loves you
PC
I wish I could be with you. Miss the old girl.
Anyone know where I can get another Taney ball cap? I gave my to a crew member who could not afford to buy one now but I miss my?