Navy life had me for 11 1/2 years, but it took me almost 15 outside before getting my 1st tattoo.

Just Breathe has become my mantra. It just fit me at this time in my life. A friend helped me make the decision; she’s well inked.

Care to show me your tattoo, and tell us a story about it?

Note: This is personal. Tag Jordan is my brother. He’s ex-Army.

MT. VERNON PROFESSIONAL
FIRE FIGHTERS
BBQ COOKOUT

PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT TAG JORDAN

WHEN: FRIDAY, JULY 16TH, SERVING BEGINS AT 11:00am
WHERE: MVFD FIRE STATION 1, 1100 MAIN ST. MT. VERNON, IL
WHAT: OUR FAMOUS SMOKED PORK BBQ, BEANS, CHIPS AND A DRINK.

DINE-IN OR CARRY-OUT, WE’LL GET YOU SERVED QUICKLY ON YOUR LUNCH HOUR!

PRE-ORDERS ARE AVAILABLE BY CALLING
242-6880 PRIOR TO THE DATE. ORDERS ON THE DAY OF THE BBQ SHOULD BE PLACED TO 242-2299. DELIVERY IS AVAILABLE TO BUSINESSES IN TOWN, SPECIFY PREFERRED DELIVERY TIME WHEN ORDERING.

Tag Jordan is a Mt. Vernon man who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — ALS, which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a year ago. All the proceeds from this BBQ will go to him and his family to help with medical and household expenses.

(My friends, if you’re in Mt. Vernon Il, be sure to stop by Friday and enjoy some BBQ.)

What was your underway must have?

I was that guy on the boat, the one always reading something. Bible browsing, men’s adventure novel, or 3M manuals, I covered all the bases while underway.

Reading books helped me escape for minutes or hours.  Drifting off to sleep with visions of dragons in your head or even scary clowns was better than pondering oil temps and midrats.

What else was good to have on long runs?

Playing cards takes my #2 must have on the boat. Long runs found us playing endless spades and pinochle tournaments. (okay, maybe on fast attacks we weren’t bright enough for cribbage)  Bonus time with cards is you rarely played alone, though I just have spread the cards for solitaire hundreds of times.

Any creative outlets?

Writing took up a noticeable portion of my off time. It seemed I started more stories, and journals than a guy should admit to. There were poems, diary entries, and rants at people and God. (He gets His own post some day soon.)

Many shipmates were artists of sorts. I was amazed at drawings and sketches more than once. Art for me at the time was doodles during training.

What else?

Board games? Magazines? Collections? And what sort of books? Mens adventure? Love stories? How to guides? And not to be left out, how about you closet musicians?

“As you celebrate the Fourth of July, please keep in mind that many of our Sailors are deployed and can’t be with their loved ones, but they do so in order that our fellow Americans can spend it with theirs. Currently, we have more than half of our ships and submarines underway, including five carriers and six large-deck amphibious ships, and more than 10,000 individual augmentees deployed ‘boots on ground’ around the world in support of overseas contingency operations.” from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON)(SS/SW) Rick D. West Independence Day message

Missed many holidays?

Holidays, they are the high points of the year, where everyone celebrates. The Fourth of July is the largest national holiday of the year in the US. Many people plan for months for the perfect evening out.

Neighbors and even friends of a Navy family may miss the fact a loved one won’t be celebrating. Those sailors most likely aren’t just docked in Norfolk or San Diego. Carriers, slow boats, and more are deployed around the world, holiday or not.

Missing the big ones

Deployed for Easter might seem a small loss to some in the Navy, but to many Easter is a sacred day.  I was fortunate when not home for Easter weekend to have captains that encouraged Easter Sunday services.  Our spouses did a video of an Easter party during one deployment. It was a big hit.

Deploying never caused me to miss Christmas. Having duty did infringe a bit though. Not sure how I got lucky over the several years on two boats.

Finally, Fourth of July celebrations were occasionally missed. I never put much value on celebrating until I didn’t celebrate it at all. We did nothing special on either boat.

What did you miss?

So which holidays did you miss? How about beyond that? Miss a bunch of birthdays? Anniversaries perhaps?

(disclaimer – photo by bestrated1 on Flickr licensed as CC)

Beer.

It’s a beverage just about every sailor has consumed. Liberty or those beer rations perhaps, old and skanky or fresh from the tap, it’s all but synonymous with squids.

Growing up in the home of Budweiser and Falstaff, your idea beer gets a bit skewed. Heck, even in Great Lakes the primary beer was Bud Light.

Sailing to foreign countries and along the Eastern seaboard opened my eyes to lots of new things. Beer varieties were no small part of that. Who knew about Moose Head, Guinness, and more existed?

A truly novel experience for me was my first taste of Guinness stout. Sure man, you’re a six pack drinker in a night. That’s about one Guinness. It’s a good thing I could walk back to the boat.

Few things compare to watching the head settle on a tall pint of Guinness the first time. Dark, rich, and heady, it hits the mouth hard. The stomach harder.

Taste romping didn’t stop there.  I sampled local brews wherever we landed. Usually a bottle was all I could afford; sometimes that was plenty.  The big exception came in Belgium. Someone should have warned me Brussels has a brewhouse on every corner, and sometimes two.

Our couple of days in Brussels, we sample exquisite pastries and chocolates, bought teddy bears from one of the oldest manufactures in the world. The locals made us welcome at shops and restaurants but one group was especially welcoming, the tavern owners.

Two days, over a dozen beers, and only my second hangover ever.  It was a rough recovery but I was amazed. The idea of microbrews was still unheard of back home, yet I’d found more varieties of beer in one section of this town than I’d had in a dozen port calls or nights out on the town in St. Louis.

Post Navy

After that began my lifestyle of moderation and sampling. Opening my eyes to beer those many years back has kept me on the lookout for that perfect sip of beer.  Not just one either, but one for a thick steak, one for nachos, and one for sipping at a cafe in the hot sun.

With a glass here and there, I’m proud most of my most recent experience, a beer pairing.  It’s about finding the right beer for different food tastes. Good stuff for another post at my main blog.

What about your tastes?

What’s your most eye opening food, beer or whatever dining experience? Did you first eat seafood while away? Have your first pig’s Spill the beans!

(* the picture is of my wife and yet another beer)