A Christmas Memory

OK it was 30 years ago today...exactly...December 25, 1979...and I was a long way from home...at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and not too far from Oman...

...it was dawn having stood another mid-watch...I try to now imagine working 8 hours on and hours off for 24/7 for a 7 month stretch again and it seems pretty impossible...but that is what we did...and I was tired as a dog and the radio traffic had fallen to near nothing because of the stateside holiday...while a small task force turned in a circle known as "Gonzo Station" for 92 days at sea...the USS Midway, USS San Jose, USS Jouett and USS Bainbridge as a I recall...I aboard the latter...you can probably figure out what I was doing there...

...what troubles me a bit is that few people seem to realize that a standing combat presence in the Mideast started in 1979...long before we ever heard of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney... but Idigress for that is not the Christmas tale...

...the mail service had long since fallen through with maybe 2 or more weeks since the blessed words "mail call" had rang throughout the steel home we had lived aboard for so long...and I was fairly bummed as the task force was scheduled to be in port the Phillipines long before Christmas...I and a bunch of my shipmates had booked flights stateside...as I recall the flight from Manila to Los Angeles was about $175 round trip...a princely sum...

...I had missed every Thanksgiving in my four years in the service...but had made Christmas several times...and was looking forward to the close of 1979 since it meant that I had but 7 months until discharge and my civilian life could resume...with plans to attend either UCSB or Fresno State...wasn't really sure at the time which but had applied to both...but Iran interrupted my holiday plans...never got my $175 bucks back either...

...after it sunk into us in early December that there was no way that another task force could be assembled to relive us for some months...and that all of the sugarplums that had been dancing in our heads had turned to powdered eggs and bug juice...morale was kind of low...and as I recall it was more of a result of not having any clue when we would ever come stateside again...more so than the fact of being stuck overseas...it was lack of leadership and indecision at the highest levels that bummed us out the most...

....so it was dawn over the Gulf...and I leaned against the bulkhead amidships...and for just a moment each morning the desert heat would break and you could feel a touch of cool...and so I recall that I had positioned myself near a vent that was blowing warm air from somewhere deep within the bowels of the ship...and with my fatigue from the night my body ached for rest...the caffeine from the tea I had drank a few hours before long since passing from my system...

...no other ships were in sight...or at least from my vantage...the Midway was probably just over the horizon ten or more miles out...and it was then that a solo helicopter flew nearby...in some kind of exercise or training...and I hope those guys weren't as tired as I was....but I thought it kind of peculiar this stray helo and no flight ops had been called....well go figure...the guys up in CIC knew what was going on...

...and then across the 1MC...throughout the ship...the order was shouted out to prepare to receive a helicopter...which for us was not really to land a helo but rather to be able to exchange supplies or passengers...which I had done multiple times to visit other ships to repair equipment for them...dangling over the sea at 25 knots...oh the things when we are young...a shot of adrenaline hit my heart and I returned to the radio shack to see what was going on...and what idiot called for a transfer on Christmas morning...

...I discovered that what was occuring was bundles of mail...boxes stuffed in canvas bags...letters long overdue from parents, spouses and sweethearts...await us...and the chopper dropped a large cargo net of mail on our aft flight deck...and soon cleared the ship and sped away back to the Midway...

...and in an hour or so shouts were erupting around the ship...from men in their khaki shorts and skivies in various states of dress...most not shaven just yet...the rules being somewhat relaxed in the tropics and gulf back then....

...and a sack of mail was delivered to the shack and a box awaited me...from my girlfriend of four years...a young lady at Westmont named Ruth...

...as far as trees go it was not much...a small plastic tree with some simple ornaments...and a "Care Package" to boot....and me and my buddies set it up atop a small table near the desk...and it cheered our hearts as we read letters, enjoyed some cookies and pretended even for a few moments that all was good in the world...

....now I know in the whole scheme of things that this is not a particularly profound moment...in the league of the prodigal son, a miraculous healing or appearance of an angel on Christmas day...but for me it was pretty special that the folks back home really did care...and that the unknown mail clerks and storekeepers and pilots had worked hard to make our ship a bit more cheery that day...before we returned to another 60 days at sea...before finally seeing land again...

...but I vowed then to not take Christmas for granted...and I have tried not to...and enjoy the family and friends that have been built up over the years...

...so I ask today that you appreciate those near you and give thanks for them...and to ask that you say a prayer for those in harms way...men and women we will never know but who sacrifice so we can have this time together...

...and my Christmas wish is that we appreciate one another...and pray and ask for peace in the world...life is not perfect but it is the only one we have.

Merry Christmas

here is the ship song that sent us on our way many a time...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvqB_go0ZIk