Memorial Day , I miss you my lost shipmates ! Inspired by my 20 years of Miliary Service..

I miss my shipmates , Inspired by my 2o years of Military Service..
   Well Hello and I want to thank everyone who reads my daily , weekly blogs,, I have to admit this has been the most appreciation and members making comments to me , then the first 8 years of The Source!!.. Thank you I love you all!
  Now to my Memorial Day tribute to those many Sailors , Marines, Sodiers and Airmen , Coast Guard and the National guard reserves units.. Each of you have a mission to accomplish! Keep America safe!!
.I was part of the Persian Gulf war , and all the operations you can think of. Operation enduring freedom , Operation Iraqi Freedom . The southern Watch.. The 7 , deployments that ;lasted anywhere from 6-9 months, so I was a Sea Warrior. BUT I know I give tremendous credit to MY loving Wife Mona.. her love and devotion to keeping our family alive is amazing.. ! Well its the shipmates I  cried , sweated , curse our asses off during the most stressful times.. It was only the deployments that were so ,,,,stressful, it was the work ups.. Ok civilians , that's where you go to sea and train , train , to DEATH!!!  , to the point you can fight  a fire in your sleep and secure the ship with constant drills.. It was freaking drills that were painful.. Sweating , hurting our backs, and necks.. Being so damnm tired,, we always thought why the hell am I doing it? Well yes, love for our country.. but its our family, with out them at home belieiving us.. We couldnt do it. ! But really it was our shipmates , our bunkmates.. , our liberty drinking buddies, Yes , we worked hard but we played hard too. I will always chersih all those wonderful memories we shared, but its when we lost one of shipmates, that hurts so much still does? To be honest , I feel so guilty , that I survived those times when they didnt. I mean I was put into harms way like them.. I stood the long watches port side in dangerous countries. I did Security force watches along pipelines and protecting supply lines because the Marines were being killed, yes,, Those Marines that were lost hurt me so much too. They are so young , well the ones I saw on  some of my ships.. Well I want to give a big salute to the many shipmates I saw perish through my years .. 1993-2013.. 
         My commands were USS CAMDON AOE 2 , NAF MISAWA JAPAN, Navy Security Forces , OKINAWA ( TAD = Temporary assigned duty ) ) , USS PRINCETON CG 59 , USS NiMITZ, (TAD) , NAS CORONADO , SUPPLY DEPT. , Recruiting Duty ( PENSACOLA , FLA ) ( TAD) , USS PELILIEU , ..During those years I was part of crews that lost shipmates that commited suicide, were killed in action , DUI , crashed their planes or helicopters , or just the ships mishaps with dangerous equipment.. I must say , The Navy tried its best to comfort us, but after such ordeals, he had to man up and go to work. For alot of us it was too stresfull, thats why you see so many vets, struggle with civilian life. Like Me,, I have been fired so many times because I keep forgetting I'm no longer the LPO ,( leading petty officer) I'm no longer in charge,, So when I went to my first job,, I was fired right before my 90 day mark.. I should blog about that its funny when  think about it now.. But anyways, I recallthe first death I saw, It was my firts ship , and we were in the Gulf, an older shipmate was work in the freaking hottest place onearth, but he fainted and pretty much died in front of us. I was so upset , I was so disgusted with the medical team.. But he had some underlying conditions, he was over weight , high blood pressure etc.. But still to me dying on a ship in the middle of no where has to be the lowest.. It hit us hard especially me, I'm an emotiional guy. But the Captain, told me. They did the best they could do and your a Sea Warrior , we have to let go of things and move on.. It sounds to mean, But he was right, after that I was able to deal with the suicides about one every deployment. I leanred to just let it go!! Funny, MY good friend at the Casino , said that to me months ago, its funny how things come full circle.. Life is like that, we all are going to live and die one day. 
\  My best advice is to be happy and dont worry about things we cant control. Everythin in life happens for a reason? Like this Covid 19 , deal, it has taught to be cleaner , to be more sensitive to all people , older people , but also take care of ourselves and loved ones.. We will overcome this. Just like the shipmates I lost during my Navy Career I want to salute you for doing your service to this great Nation, because military life is very stressful and often times unnatural thing to do.. We sacrificed our time, our emotions, our brains, our souls , our morals, we had to be warriors with no regrets, We had to fight the fight and if called upon again. I would go back into the fight , thats how much I love Amwrica and the people who honor our Bill of rights and the OUR AMENDMENTS.. We Military folks fought for the rights to Freedom of speech, Freedom  to bear arms, the right to asssembly , We should honor those who fought for the rights by making sure other Americans protect and fight for those rights. 
   To my fallen Shipmates, I miss you every day and I love you guys and gals, we fought the fight and if theres a Heaven , I pray I'm side by side with those I served with and lets enjoy!! That my friends would be one the greatest gifts in life,,, To be along side my fallen heroes and My Mama, who to this day is in my thoughts and prayers. I'm not perfect everyone, but I'm trying.. 
 Be safe everyone and together we will beat the shit out of the Invisible Enemy.. Covid -19.. 

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