Trina Letter - What's a "mahan"???

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Hey, Navy:

I said that I would get another letter to you and here it is. Speaking of which, several non-Moores saying they were going to write you, other than Murphy, including Elaine. Have you gotten any of those?

I hope the last letter didn’t freak you out too much. It’s okay to be a little freaked, but you know that YM and I are taking care of things here. She was not a fan of letting you know all of the seester crap, which I completely understand. IMHO, even though you’re out there in Navyland, you’re still a member of this family and I don’t want you to feel that you’re on the outside looking in. You’re one of us forever, no matter where you are (Yes, that’s a repeat from the last letter, but it’s a good point.)

The weather in northern Nevada is very crisp and cool now, with the possibility of precipitation tomorrow, and the vehicles have to be scraped free of ice in the morning before being driven. There’ve been deer in the yard across the street. The four that wandered by the house yesterday looked well-fed and healthy, not like the ragged, slightly-singed survivors from last year’s fire.

Looking at RTC weather, you may get snow tomorrow (12/8) then it’ll clear out and just be darn cold for a week. You might see snow again on Sunday, but it looks cold enough to keep the ball cap in the locker.

The new hospital opened over the weekend and the place is humongous. Everything is new, clean, and modern. Everyone has a private room and when they finish the rooms, there will be internet access for guests. The chapel of this big piece of modern medicine is about the size of Lara’s room, if even that big. BTW, I said “finish” because there’s still much to do, such as the landscaping and little things…like clocks. How they can open a hospital without a supply of wall clocks is a little weird, n’est pas?

Today was the first day of work for me in a week. I was on sick leave for my stinking ear infection, then took family sick for your seesters. Did I tell you that I took the week off between Christmas and New Years? I figured you guys would want a daddy-taxi, which I’m cool with. YM didn’t take it off because she wanted to save her annual for Uncle Dennis’ wedding in Ireland. Even though that’s not happening now, it’s probably too late for her to request the time because everyone else in her office is taking those days off. Maybe we should just kidnap her.

Got to mulling about your phone call, and this will probably further embarrass you, but I'm not apologizing: it sounds like you've turned a corner in your life. You've found direction and you're liking having people depend on you for important things. In the grand scheme of things, perhaps laundry is not going to change the world, but it is your first "real" Navy job and it sounds like you're the best at it, so go for it.

It's good to hear so you have so many people on your side, from your chain of command to your shipmates (if they'd only shut up for 5 minutes (small grin)). What you're experiencing is a snapshot of the United States military at its best: working together to get the Mission done. In this case, some folks sound like they've made it their unofficial Mission is to get Trina past PT, which is so cool. Please don't lose sight of The Real Mission, though. It is your chain of command's job to make the best sailors possible and available for further training. If they have to make hard decisions about you or your shipmates, please do not take it personally. The Navy is a dangerous place and the RDCs have seen first-hand what happens when sailors fail on ship/shore: people get hurt, sometimes badly.

(Here comes the history lecture. Try to stay awake. :))

Historically, the Navy is the measurement of a country. If something happens and the United States has to project its force, you and your shipmates around the globe will always get the first call. Not the mud-eaters (Army/USMC) or zoomies (USAF). You've probably heard the name "Mahan." He wrote a book on world power and made the case that the country with the fleet to protect its shorelines and harass its foes at sea is the dominating force, and this has been proven repeatedly through history from the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Spanish, and the English. One of the reasons the USSR failed is because they had few to none warm-water ports (look it up sometime). Today, there is only one country with a world-wide navy and it's the best trained navy in the history of the world. If you need to know who hey are, look down at the uniform you're wearing.

So hard choices have to be made about who and who cannot be part of that mission, and boot camp is the best place for those decisions. You've seen the results first-hand and it may be hard not to think there's something personal about it and that a chief or an officer is being just plain mean, but you know deep down that's not true. Just like you, it's their job to protect their shipmates out there.

(disengaging lecture mode)

You may have heard about this:

"CHICAGO (Reuters) - A big boom anticipated by thousands of spectators in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Saturday turned out to be a real bust. Crowds gathered outside the Zip Feed Mill -- the state's tallest building -- to watch officials demolish the nearly 200-foot- (60-meter-) tall building. But things didn't go as planned. "It is kind of a bust. It didn't get knocked down," said Regan Smith, Sioux Falls risk emergency manager. "It took the first floor out and it is leaning at about a 30-degree angle."

In major cities, where tall skyscrapers are common, demolition of a building the size of the feed mill may have gone unnoticed. But in Sioux Falls (population 140,000), the feed mill gained celebrity status among the locals. Prior to the event, residents raised $100,000 to fight multiple sclerosis by selling T-shirts emblazoned with "BOOM!" and conducted a raffle in which the winner got to detonate the explosives. A wrecking ball may be used next week to bring down the building to make room for office and retail space."

Realized this morning that this was an anniversary for the Moore family. On December 7, 1988, the five of us left Nebraska via the train. In any ways, those days were the best of my life. They weren’t perfect by any means, but they were fun.

Just the letter you wanted: old people reminiscing about the past. :-)

All my love,
Air Force