Fleet Plan of the Day
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Everbody knows how powerful smells and odors can be in provoking memories. Walking down the city street, if you catch that perfect combination of diesel smoke, rancid river water, and grilling meat, you are instantly transported to the streets of Olongapo (or any of a hundred other ports), no matter what city you are in. All that's missing is a frosty bottle of San Migoo, and the sing-song chant of "I love you, Joe! Buy me a drink?"
A picture, we know it is said, is worth a thousand words, and by that measure, we have close to two million words worth of photographs on the site, which are pretty good at bringing back memories as well.
Somewhere in between photographs and odors, sounds from the past can be pretty evocative, and thanks to Neal Degner and his trusty tape recorder, we now have been able to add audio to our collection of memory prompters.
1 comments- Details
- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Neal Degner tracked me down a few months ago and sent some new photos and documents my way. Thank Neal for generously sharing. His generosity is your gain.
First, three new official Navy photos of the boat. They can be found at:
The Boat >> Official Navy Photos
Then a couple of real gems - actual Navy Unit Citation letters from 1975 and 1976. These are available at:
Logroom >> Archives, or by clicking through the links on the Honors >> Unit Awards and Citations page.
While it's a hoot to admire the photos and official records that others contribute, the real message is for you to get off your duff
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Veterans Day.
November 11th, 2011.
11-11-11. Some say that's significant, even auspicious.
I say they're right, but not because of a triplet of elevens. I say this day is significant because of what it represents.
A day of recognition. A day of honor. A day made honorable by the men and women for which it is named.
Veterans Day.
Born as Armistice Day in 1911, President Woodrow Wilson said it well.
"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations."
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Phillip Saul has come through in a big way with his recent contributions. Somehow, through all those moves (and all those years!) he managed to hang on to some real treasures from the early days of the boat. He packaged them up and sent them to me recently for scanning and archiving, which was generously trusting a precious heirloom to a near stranger, even if we had served on the same command.
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Half-way through a Monday, most of it spent developing a website for a project I'm managing. There is too much to do, and not enough time, and so I find the holiday is pretty well booked. Not much R and R, sort of feels like a duty day in port, if you know what I mean. My going-to-be high schooler daughter, and my graduating son, both marching band members (percussion, both of them!) are off to march in the parade and play at the cemetery memorial service. The family goes with, and I'm left alone with six flat-screen monitors, and pages of code. Normally I'd be with them, but as I said before, well, I've got the duty.
It doesn't mean I don't remember. I've grown to appreciate a little ritual now and again, especially regarding Memorial Day, and penning one of these short updates seems to be part of the ritual now. Prompted by an email from Denise, formerly wife of John (Johnny) Shive, I took a few minutes to update our Eternal Patrol page. Johnny's now moved to the confirmed roster, which seems no great honor, at least by those of us who know our names will be there one day, but today of all days, I take a few minutes to run down the list, my own silent ritual of honor for those that served with us, and for us.
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Some of you may remember MMCS(SS) Phillip Saul. A plank-owner from A-gang, he was one of the first COBs of the Bates.
He recently sent me a handful of photographs that are now posted under his name in the Up Scope! >> Crew Gallery. The images include such notables as MM2(SS) Norman Pettersen, MM3(SS) Dave Burks, LT Macros, CDR Arthur, RM3(SS) Vancleve, MM3(SS) Tisdale, MMCS Phillip Saul himself, LT Reed, CDR Houley (CDR Arthur's relief), and XO LCDR DeHaemer. There are also a few yet unidentified shipmates, that won't remain anonymous for long, if you'll swing by the Crew Gallery, click on Last Added, and identify the poor souls.
That reminds me, get your old dusty box of photos out and get your images uploaded ASAP.
I've always got room for more on the dink list!
- Details
- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Sometimes I discover little things that really make life easier on this website. Today I found a little plug-in that adds some new tabs to your user profile that really make sense.
If you've updated your User Profile recently, (you have updated your User Profile, right?) or viewed someone elses, you know that there are tabs that let you see the threads you contribute to in the Scuttlebutt, any articles or sea stories you have contributed, and that sort of thing. It makes it easy to find what you have written.
