24 years ago, I was in Boot Camp. I was desperately trying to shoehorn the basic Navy knowledge course into a reluctant brain already mostly-filled with song lyrics and visions of pretty girls. Intellectually knowing what was coming had not remotely prepared me for the stark reality of it all. Here I was, with 80 complete strangers, being told that they were now my family, my Brothers, and that what we were all learning together could someday save their lives or our own. Scary stuff for a smart-ass 18 year-old. In hindsight, I wish I could sit down with every single one of the members of Company 026 today, have a few cold ones, and catch up. Because in a very long line of people I now instinctively call Brother, (or Sister), those were the very first ones. The first ones to provide that little extra boost, (or boot), needed to propel me further along than I thought I could go. The first to instantly give me a full measure of grief if I goofed, and the first to help me fix it. Our Brotherhood was forged by a mixture of insanely cold, snowy weather, lousy chow, mass confusion, and a deep and abiding fear of being the one who got the rest mashed for an unavoidable error. So today, nearly a quarter-century later, I raise my glass to my first Brothers, the men of Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, Company 026, November 1990-January 1991. I toast AME1 (AW) Dehne and ET1(SS) Heywood for taking on the unenviable task of turning us into Sailors. I toast my Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister, Uncles, Aunts, and other relatives who held up their hands before me. I toast the men and women with whom I served on a daily basis, making some of my most treasured memories. And I raise the highest toast to the men and women who wrote that final check, and paid up when the marker came due. Heres to all of them, from those of us who can never repay the debt. Cheers, Sláinte, HOOYAH, and Thank You.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 17:04:54 +0000
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