Military Page
Page Maintained by
Jeff Finlay |
The Navy
I am an Officer in the United States Navy, currently
serving as the Weapons Officer on the USS SANTA FE (SSN 763), a nuclear
powered fast attack submarine stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In the
summer of 2009, I completed the Submarine Officer Advanced Course at the
Naval Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut. Before, that I was studying
Defense Focused Financial Management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
California. By trade, I am a submariner and spent almost three years
aboard the USS LOUISIANA (SSBN 743)(GOLD).
Heroes
I have had the privilege of serving with some great
sailors, soldiers, marines and airmen during the last ten years. I have
also been blessed in that, given the conflicts our military is currently
involved in, most of the men and women I have worked with are still
alive. I feel the need to devote some space here to those who gave all.
I met both Fred Pokorney and Jeff Ammon while I was assigned to Oregon
State University's Naval ROTC unit. Fred was killed in an ambush in Iraq
near the beginning of operations there in 2003. Jeff died from wounds
resulting from a home-made bomb while working with an Army unit in
Afghanistan in 2008. I have strong memories of both men from the time I
spent working with them. They are great examples of the heroes that I
have the opportunity to work with everywhere I go in the Navy. I think
often of their families and pray for them. Both were married, Fred had a
child and Jeff had two.
The Military Family
I have been blessed by the support I have gotten from
all the members of my family during my career in the Navy. I would like
to specially point out both my parents, my sister, and my in laws, all
of whom have put up with my frequent moves and extended periods of not
hearing from me. I am also grateful for the unconditional love and
support of my two young daughters and, of course, I need to specially
point out my wife who not only has to go without my help during the
times I am away, but must also fill in for me while I am gone.
There is no soldier or sailor who is in the military by
himself (or herself). Even the bachelor has some form of support network
that he must leave behind when he deploys. I think being underway is (in
a way) easier for the sailor than the family he leaves behind. When
underway, it is possible to get into a routine and cut off
the outside world.
Our families, on the other hand, do not have that
luxury. When my submarine gets underway on Wednesday morning, Jody will still have to go to the grade school on Wednesday afternoon
to pick our daughter up. That night, Jody will sit in the house
alone after our children go to bed. For the Navy wife, life must go
on—almost as normal—after the ship leaves port. The submariner, on the
other hand is now in this whole "other world." While I loves
my family and miss them more than words can describe, I am separated from
everything that I would consider a "normal life" and that can make the
separation slightly easier.
I have, on more than one occasion expressed my
amazement and gratitude for what Jody does every time I get underway,
and want to state it again here. Below is a post from the "Support
our Troops" group on Facebook. The poster said that she found it on
someone's blog on MySpace. I repost the entire post from Facebook here unedited (that
means any misspellings in the gray text aren't my fault).
READ THIS: This woman who wrote this is SO sincere and I honor that.
I would like to meet her and shake her hand or even give her a hug.
I am warning you have a tissue ready, its got tears in my eyes.
Dear Military Wife,
I am an American woman that has no idea what is going on in
the military other than what I hear on the news.
I have never had to let go of someone so that they could go
fight for people that they didn't know, people that
sometimes do not appreciate or understand what they are
fighting for.
I have never had a sleepless night of worry because of a
report that another bomb has exploded and I still haven't
heard from my husband.
I have never had to wait for months on end to hold the one
that I loved so.
I have never had to tell my children that daddy wasn't
coming home tonight because he was so far away fighting for
something that they aren't yet old enough to understand.
I have never had to hold my head high and suppress the
tears as I hear that it will be at least another six months
of separation before my loved one gets to come home.
I have never had to deal with a holiday away from the one
that I thought I would share every day of my life with.
And I have never had to feel the panic rising in my heart
at the sound of a ringing phone or knock at the door for
fear that it is the news that everyone is terrified of
getting.
For the reasons listed above, I can not tell you that I
understand how you feel.
I can not tell you that you must be strong.
I can not say that you shouldn't be angry, because you
"knew what you were getting into when you married a military
man".
I can not say these things because I have never had to walk
in your shoes.
What I can say for certain is that because of your
unselfish acts of bravery and your husbands willingness to
stand up for those who see him as "just another soldier" - -
I will never have to walk in your shoes.
I do understand that as a military wife you are expected to
uphold a certain amount of control, but I never understood
how you could do it, until now.
I have figured out that you are not like other women.
You are of a special breed.
You have a strength within you that holds life together in
the darkest of hours, a strength of which I will never
possess.
The faith you have is what makes you stand out in a crowd;
it makes you glow with emotion and swell with pride at the
mention of The United States of America.
You are a special lady, a wonderful partner and a glorious
American.
I have more respect for your husband than I could ever tell
you, but until recently I never thought much about those
that the soldier leaves at home during deployment.
Until this moment I could never put into words exactly what America meant to me.
Until this moment, I had no real reason to.... Until I
heard of you.
Your husband and his military family hold this nation
close, safe from those who wish to hurt us...but you and
those like you are the backbone of the American family.
You keep the wheels in motion and the hearts alive while
most would just break completely down.
Military families make this nation what it is today.
You give us all hope and you emit a warming light at the
end of a long dark tunnel.
Because of you and your family...I am able to be me.
I am able to have my family.
I am able to walk free in this great land.
Because of you and your family, I can look ahead to the
future with the knowledge that life is going to be okay.
Because of you and your family, I can awake to a new day,
everyday.
I realize that you are a stronger person than I will ever
be because of these things and I just wanted to take the
time today to say thank you to you and your family for
allowing me that freedom.
I will never be able to repay this debt to you, as it is
unmatchable.
However, I hope that you know that no matter where you
are...
what you are doing...
what has happened today...
or what will happen tomorrow...
Your husband will NEVER be "just another soldier" to me....
And you, dear sweet lady, will never be forgotten.
You are all in my prayer's everyday and I pray that God
will bring you back together with your loved one safely.
May God Bless You
If you are a
Military Spouse or know one, repost this and say THANK YOU.
They too make daily sacrifices while their spouse serve our
country.
GOD BLESS OUR
TROOPS
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Military Service
The following is from an email that I received from
one of my co-workers at Naval Postgraduate School. I think it is a good
read, so I have "copy and pasted" it here to share:
When in England at a fairly large
conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of
Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of "Empire
Building" by George Bush. He answered by saying, "Over the
years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and
women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders.
The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is
enough to bury those that did not return."
You could have heard a pin drop.
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Then there was a conference in France where a number of
international engineers were taking part, including French and
American. During a break one of the French engineers came back
into the room saying, "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush
has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help
the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?"
A Boeing engineer stood up and replied
quietly:
"Our carriers have three hospitals on
board that can treat several hundred people; they are
nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to
shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the
capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day; they can
produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea
water each day; and they carry half a dozen helicopters for
use in transporting victims and injured to and from their
flight deck. We have eleven such ships. How many does France
have?"
You could have heard a pin drop.
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A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that
included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian
and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself
standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel
from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in
English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral
suddenly complained that, "Whereas Europeans learn many
languages, Americans learn only English." He then asked, "Why is
it that we always have to speak English in these conferences
rather than speaking French?"
Without hesitating, the American Admiral
replied, "Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and
Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German."
You could have heard a pin drop.
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A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France
on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived
in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to
locate his passport in his carry on. "You have been to France
before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr.
Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously, "Then
you should know enough to have your passport ready."
The American said, "The last time I was here,
I didn't have to show it."
"Impossible! Americans always have to show
your passports on arrival in France!"
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long
hard look. Then he quietly explained, "Well, when I came ashore
at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I
couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to."
You could have heard a pin drop.
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What Is A Veteran?
A "Veteran"--whether active duty, discharged,
retired, or reserve--is someone who, at one point in his life,
wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of
America," for an amount of "up to, and including his life."
That is honor, and there are way too many
people in this country today, who no longer understand that
fact. |
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