Saturday, September 15, 2007

Decisions, decisions

So, Yesterday was a pretty good day. Got Aviation Week and the Victoria's Secret catalog in the mail.

On one hand, I wanted to read about the lifting capability of the C-27J Spartan. On the other, I wanted to read (yeah, that's it) about the lifting capability of the VS "Secret Embrace" push-up.

Hmmmm. What did I chose to read? Those that know me probably already have it figured out.

9 tons for the C-27J. I don't think that the Secret Embrace can handle quite that much. Even on a good day.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Old Habits Die Hard

My daughter had the pleasure of meeting her great-grandparents a few weeks ago, along with her aunt, uncle, and 3 cousins from my geographically far-flung family. You may remember my grandfather from this post on Lex's site a few years back.
Lest you think I'm posting another pic of the kid just because I'm a proud dad (I am), I ask that you check out this pic and look closely at what her great grandfather is wearing.







Yup. Those are, in fact, US Navy issue dungarees. For those of you who follow such things, that uniform was phased out and unavailable by 2000 or so. He's worn them as a "civilian working uniform" ever since he retired in 1966, and he returned to the family farm in rural Rhode Island. He plants about an acre-size garden every spring, and chops enough wood to keep their wood stove burning from late October to early March or so. The whole time, he's been wearing those dungarees. When he heard that they were being phased out, he headed down to Newport (or maybe it was Groton) to buy as many sets as he could.

I caught a lot of what it meant to be a good sailor from him. I say "caught" because he never said "to be a good sailor, do...". He did what all great Chiefs do; they teach by example, and help you figure it out.

I also learned the single most important thing that any JO in the Navy should know: The Chiefs run the Navy.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The 2996 Project

I'm remembering Julian Cooper today, in my own way.

He was a reserve IT in my parent command here in Washington. I don't remember meeting him, butI almost certainly did in the year preceeding 9/11. His family wanted to avoid a lot of publicity regarding his death, and the command honored their wishes. We had a small ceremony and left it at that.

In keeping with that, I'll simply post the official biography and photo from defendamerica.mil.


Julian Theodore Cooper
Julian Cooper, 39, was a senior computer analyst for Litton PRC. He had worked in the U.S. Navy Command Center at the Pentagon for five years. Known to his friends as Coop'a, he graduated from Bladensburg High School and attended the University of Maryland. After college he joined the U.S. Navy, where he served for 13 years. Later he was a Navy reservist. He was a devoted husband, a protective son and a supportive brother. He was always willing to help those around him. He was a patriot. He is survived by his wife, mother, grandmother, one brother and two sisters. We will not forget him.
Fair winds and following seas, shipmate.