Say Goodbye to Sailor Man

By Jack Summer

It was 25 years ago on 31 Oct 1995, that one chapter in my life ended and I moved on to the next one. I retired from the UNITED STATES NAVY.

The ship that I was on left for the east coast to be decommissioned. If I hadn’t already been through the Panama Canal once before I would have stuck around but I put my papers in. It was time to go. So I was transferred to Naval Station San Diego for a little less than two months. There I had to call in a couple of times a week from home and showed up only once in uniform to let them know that I was still alive. It was some tough duty.

On my last day I just had to go to the personnel office on base to sign some paperwork and get a copy of my service and medical records and then I drove home. When I got home I just didn’t want to take that uniform off so I passed out Halloween candy to the neighborhood kids still wearing it. I still have it hanging up in bedroom closet where it hasn’t been worn since. I’m sometimes tempted for sentimental reasons to try it on but I’m sure that it has shrunk over the years, but the hat still fits though.

Do I miss being in the Navy? Yes and No. I don’t miss the BS but the same can be said about everywhere you go in life. The one thing I do miss is the people. From the camaraderie that was developed while on a ship that was rocking and rolling during heavy seas to all of the foreign ports that we hit on the way (I’ll just leave that one to your imagination) it can be a tight knit family.

I haven’t been getting much trick or treaters these last few years though. The neighbors kids have all grown up and moved on and my house is in a not so target rich environment. Who the hell would want to walk to my house up in the hills to get a couple of Kit Kat or Snickers bars, I know as an ex-kid I wouldn’t!!!

But I will be ready for them if they do show up. The wife has bought a big bag of candy and it’s ready to go in a plastic jack-o-lantern that we got years ago. She has even given me a warning (as she does every year) not to touch it and that it’s for the kids. HA!

So from this Sailor Man I wish you all a HAPPY HALLOWEEN and don’t eat all of the candy, save some of it for the day after.