Something that occurred to me-and has bothered me for a long time, is the idea that somehow one generation of serving military is somehow superior to another.
I hate to break it to you-but in the Navy, for a LONG TIME, a lot of great Sailors were out there doing the nation’s business. Long before yellow ribbons were in fashion, Sailors were on station-in hazard like LT Silberman, and showing up for watch, for work, for a brief, or for an UNREP or General Quarters.
One particular thing that REALLY bothers me-and military people of the later generations are sometimes guilty of this- is the disdain that some of the current generation hold the Sailors who manned the fleet during the 1970’s. The popular perception is , not unlike some people feel about folks during the Vietnam era, is that we were all drug addled, pleasure seekers-who were somehow inferior to the new “greatest generation”
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!. It is just not true. I’ll let you in on a secret-95%+ of the people on active duty during those years-showed up for work on time, got underway when they were supposed to, and spent a lot of time at sea showing the flag for the United States and launching aircraft, driving ships, or submerging in defense of the United States. I’ll bet if I had the stats- the number of mast cases and other leading indicators was the same or lower. Sure drugs were an issue-but the Navy is a reflection of the nation. And that was the nation then.
And some of them did not come back.
That’s not to diss on the contributions that our Soldiers and Sailors, Airmen and Marines have made in the first decade of the 21st century. But I’m here to tell you that the Sailors of the 70’s worked pretty “f-ing” hard then too-and many of the innovations and safety procedures that today are taken for granted-were bought with their blood.
I made my first embarkation on a Navy ship in 1976-and while there were problems in those days, the USS Paul Foster never missed a commitment during the time I was aboard her. Neither did the USS Nimitz or about every other ship in the Navy in those days. And there were a lot more Sailors and ships.
I’m just saying-everybody works hard.
And that’s all I have to say about that.