I Wish I Stayed (sometimes)

If I had a dollar for every time I've wished I had stayed in the Navy ... I'd be a rich man. I'd be willing to bet that for most of you, that's a thought that comes around almost daily.

It seems like the older I get, the more I miss the Navy. Of course I miss my shipmates, the exotic ports, the sights, the beaches... the music of those days... and probably a dozen other things. But I find myself also missing some things that I never would have imagined I would miss back then. Things like the 11 month deployments, being on the open sea for days or weeks on end, the long mostly boring hours on watch interrupted by the occasional call to battle stations... or a fire drill... or those sometimes comical man-overboard drills. Things like... the card games in the birthing compartments, movies on the mess decks... swapping stories about what we did on liberty... or some fine restaurant or bar that we found... or some sweet young lady that we just met ashore. Things like the sweet sound of the boatsn's whistle announcing "Liberty call, Liberty call, now Liberty call!!" Who could forget that?

That's the thing about being young... everything is either new, exciting, and different... or it's boring as hell. We were still finding out what's really important to us. And we hadn't yet learned to fully appreciate the things that we now miss.

Somewhere along the way we also learned some things that we never expected. Things like honor, commitment, integrity, sacrifice, dedication, and courage. If we were a part of real action (or even came close to it), those lessons came hard and fast... because it meant your survival... or your buddy's survival. But the lessons stuck either way.

Back when I got out, there was a common saying among sailors that went something like this, "You couldn't give me a million dollars for the things I did in the Navy... but you couldn't give me a million to do it again either!" But now... decades later... I'd happily do it again... just for that crappy little pay chit... and the camaraderie. And yes... for the innocence and the youth that came with it.

I was a carrier sailor back in the early 70's to 80s ... a proud member of the United States Navy's Seventh Fleet. Bootcamp at RTC Great Lakes Illinos, "ETA" -school at NTC Great Lakes, and home ported out of Alameda California aboard the USS Oriskany CVA34 and USS Longbeach CGN9. It was a hell of a ride... for all of us.