COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: My Take on the Value of Tradition
It appears to me, that present day service personnel have lost a lot of their appreciation of what used to be hallowed heritage and tradition. I feel that in my day, lads joined simply to be a part of the service of their choice. Recruiting posters drew you in by simply selling you (A) that service was the patriotic obligation of real men (B) Asking you if you were good enough to qualify to be a part of elite forces...I remember a poster displayed on the steps of my local Post Office that simply showed the silver insignia of a universally recognized elite force and the words "The Mark of a Man"....no promise of obscene monetary enticements, promises of highly valuable technical training that you can put to use in civilian life after your enlistment, no promise of college funds, none of that....Oh yes, there were posters of smiling sailors riding in rickshaws with knockout local girls....Bluejackets with cameras photographing Vesuvius, Big Ben and the Eifel Tower, with a load of obligatory great looking local female personnel.....There were pictures of off-watch sailors reading letters from home, probably from some good looking local girl...or telling him Aunt Daisy won the pie baking contest at the State Fair or Uncle Billy bought a new John Deere manure spreader. There were very inspiring weekly military TV programs like VICTORY AT SEA, MEN OF ANNAPOLIS, THE WEST POINT STORY, 12 O'CLOCK HIGH, COMBAT, and of course, the greatest flypaper ever invented.... Rear Admiral Thomas M. Dykers and SILENT SERVICE...Every week that silver tongued devil rolled out his flypaper that you stepped on and ended up in Barracks 142 at then SubBase New London where you met your new friends "A-End" and "B-End" Gear, Hydraulic Accumulators, 500 Elliot Kw Generators, 1600 HP Fairbabks Morse Opposed Piston Engines, MLA 77-A Wet Lead Acid Batteries and the Goose Neck Header....We joined to be allowed to earn a very special designation, that came with a certifying insignia that proclaimed to the world that we were what were known as then, TWO PERCENTERS...as only two percent of the lads in the Navy were qualified submariners....I didn't join to earn the requisite technical proficincy that would allow me to sell and repair Mk-14 and Mk-16 torpedoes down at my local Texaco station...I joined to wear the uniform, serve with the men who were my heroes in the ships that "won THE WAR". eat the stuff they ate, sleep in their racks and ride around in rickshaws in Hong-Kong with them with those really beautiful oriental ladies (screw taking pictures of Big Ben and the pyramids). I joined to pay the dues I was taught that every man owed his country....Back then recruiters didn't have to roam malls trolling for deadbeats, high school dropouts, loafing out-of-work losers, bums and bottom feeders filling them with stories of easy big buck lures.....Back then, you joined to prove you were good enough and brave enough to be a part of the history of the magnificent fighting forces of the greatest nation on earth...You see, in our youth we had lived through the undisputed greatest military unconditional victory the world had ever known, over two of the most evil. nasty sonuvabitches ever incubated in the Hell...the Nazi's and Bushido Believing Bastards....We had seen the return of our military heroes flushed with victory and listened to their war stories in barbershops and when our fathers got together and explained what they had been doing on the other end of that "V" Mail....We were in the pre-Viet-Nam military. We were lads, that didn't live to get the hell out of our uniform and jump into low rider ass crack revealing Levis and a Greatful Dead T-Shirt and melt into civilian society...We proudly wore our uniform home to strut the halls of our high school wearing SUBMARINE INSIGNIA...Any sonuvabitch who parked his butt in front of a TV and watched SILENT SERVICE recognizrd Dolphins and knew what kind of man wore them.....It was neat wearing something over your pocket that didn't say Ralph's Esso, Good Humor, Wilburs Feed and Grain or Sam's Septic Tank Service....although there were common similarities between working in septic tanks and diesel boat duty. We were proud...gahdammit we were. It was neat to be in the seat of a Greyhound bus and overhear a father whisper to his boy, "Som. that sailor is a submarine man," We didn't get paid enough at the anchor end of the pay scale to afford commercial transportation and the United States Navy's uniform was the best hitchhiking suit ever created...nobody passed up Americas sailors....Damn right, felt good. We valued tradition....we adopted and soaked in the unique vocabulary that set men-of-the-sea apart from the dry ground populations of the earth...WE WANTED TO BE RECOGNIZED BY THE TERMS WE USED...Squared-away, Stand by for a ram, Back to battery, Trim little Daisy, Drop anchor, Hit the beach, Stand by for heavy rolls....Turn to....Stop dragging you anchor....You wannta end up staring down the Long Green?....GANGWAY,One eyed Marine with a baby coming through....Tenshion on DECK....and best of all, Shipmate and Running Mate. It was what we were, what we aspired to be. It is a fact, that you can only talk about the times you lived...that is not intended to denegrate other days and other times in the continuing downline links in the chain of naval history. It's just pride in your era... It was that, when the seed of pride in service is planted and watered for a lifetime with the retelling of memories and continued association with the grown old lads you rode with, the roots of Pride take hold and work their way deep in your heart....When you see the uniform you, your Father and Grandfather were so proud to wear, changed by Madison Avenue marketers to "Appeal to the modern day generation" and designed by light-in-their-loafers fashion industry poofs...the same sissies who design Martha Stewart toilet seat covers...it hurts....When you drive through Arlington National Cemetary and see the entrance security posts manned by sloppy, raggedy ass rent-a-cops instead of Third Infantry Honor Guard troopers rendering salutes with creased trousers and shined brass...it hurts. When you see United States military personnel standing at a graveside service wearing those rumpled pajama looking cammoflage Jiffy Lube mechanic look-alike uniforms, where men used to be not only happy to wear Class A's but were required to, out of pride and respect. it hurts....and when, a present day E-4 guy wearing a rate you never heard of tells you..."Hell yes, I'm glad they're s**tcanning that stupid looking CrackerJack boy goofy uniform...To be honest, I never liked it...I felt silly in it." That hurts....Why didn't some Chief take the time to tell the lad, that that uniform is in many of the boxes resting beneath the sod of National Cemetaries all over the world, that it is a universally recognized symbol of honor, courage, sublime levels of dedication, love of country and heroism and to many grateful people...it is the symbol of liberation.....and that that CrackerJack boy suit can be found in the sidelockers of the rusting hulks of American fighting ships resting on the ocean floor...That boys and girls is what makes it special and ANY man should be damn proud to wear it. Chief Dutch Vanderheiden was with me in Spain when I sat down in a cafe to eat a bowl of soup and one of the tails of my neckerchief dunked in my soup and I said,"Gahdam, the bastards that came u with these f---king things." Dutch said,"Dex whenever that used to happened to me, I always thought about the other guys who wore them whose lives were cut short in service to country and didn't get a chance to cuss the damn things dangling in future bowls of soup and french fry catsup, after the bulkheads caved in" Never cussed a neckerchief again....Any man, be he admiral or messcook who diminishes tradition is a theif, who pickpockets all future sailors. DEX
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Old Salt
Posts: 338
Location: Oak Island, NC | Subject: RE: My Take on the Value of Tradition
Abso-by God-Lutely. Well said.
However, I must point out for what must be the 10,000th time, the crackerjack uniforms, officially known as Service Dress Blues and Service Dress Whites, are not being eliminated due to the rollout of the new E-1 to E-6 service uniform. That uniform is intended to replace only the summer whites (white shirt, white pants) and winter blues (Black Barts, Johnny Cash, whatever you call it).
Edited by rjs2005 2008-10-20 9:12 AM
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Old Salt
Posts: 336
| Subject: RE: My Take on the Value of Tradition
Lately, near the Washington Navy Yard, there seemed to be a whole bunch of Marines, but upon closer inspection, they were just junior sailors. Just today, I stopped one on the street and asked the usual "WTFO?" about the uneeform, and got mixed reviews. First, it is easier to care for than the cotton whites that look good for the first 20 minutes of wear, but then look like you slept in the for the rest of the day. So the good news is the Khaki shirt is easier to care for, and seems to have all the same sewn in creases that the CPO shirt had for years. Of course, the sailor said, he has been saluted a couple time since he first put on this new uneeform.
Me thinks this transition is really to the "One Army" mentality like them Maple Leafers to the north that have one combined 'Armed Force." That said, I cant imagine there being much benefit from transferring a former ground-pounder to a boat and telling hiim he HAS to get qualified or he will be removed. Sure. Go figure.
Stan |
Master and Commander
Posts: 2357
| Subject: RE: My Take on the Value of Tradition
dex armstrong - 2008-10-20 9:40 PM
....and when, a present day E-4 guy wearing a rate you never heard of tells you..."Hell yes, I'm glad they're s**tcanning that stupid looking CrackerJack boy goofy uniform...To be honest, I never liked it...I felt silly in it." That hurts....Why didn't some Chief take the time to tell the lad, that that uniform is in many of the boxes resting beneath the sod of National Cemetaries all over the world, that it is a universally recognized symbol of honor, courage, sublime levels of dedication, love of country and heroism and to many grateful people...it is the symbol of liberation.....and that that CrackerJack boy suit can be found in the sidelockers of the rusting hulks of American fighting ships resting on the ocean floor...That boys and girls is what makes it special and ANY man should be damn proud to wear it. .. DEX
Dex, that said it all. Our beloved uniform, for all it's weird and uncool looking bits and pieces hanging off it, wrapped around it, stripes and 'those effing stupid 70's style bell bottoms' were changed to a more cool looking uniform sometime in the 90's all because of the modern sailor's dislike for the uniform that did all the above but of course, for the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy for countless years ( more so the RN ). I heard guys referring to the Bell Bottom trousers as 'something out of the 70's' I always thought it was from the 1770's... who knows, even further back perhaps.
It was a uniform that I loved, I grew up longing to wear. There was never anything 'uncool' about it. You knew just exactly what that man was when you saw one wearing it. More importantly, so did the girls in ports around the globe. Now it has been reduced to a 'Ceremonial Role'.
Yes, it was a sad day for the Jack Tar of yesteryear when they threw away Tradition in the Royal Australian Navy as well. 
Blue *_* |
My Take on the Value of Tradition
