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Silent Night, Silent Service
Neither my husband nor I served in the military, but our middle child has wanted to do his part since he was small. He was a swimmer in high school; once he settled on Navy, aiming for rescue swimmer sounded sensible.
At some point in boot camp, he figured out “rescue swimmer” sometimes means “Somalian pirate shooter.” The kid is more of a hug-it-out kind of guy, so he asked for something else and got Machinist’s Mate on a submarine.
I would like to wish a very merry Christmas to all members, past and present, of the Silent Service, but especially to those currently deployed and to their families. Thank you for doing whatever it is you do while on patrol, wherever it is you’re doing it. 💙💛⚓️🇺🇸
Published in Military
I think our editor-in-chief was a submariner.
@stad and @exjon served in the Silent Service. My late father was a WWII Submarine combat veteran, and he earned his Silver Dolphins as an enlisted man, as well as earning his Gold Dolphins as an officer after WWII. Another member’s father also served in the Silent Service during WWII.
My Dad’s WWII ribbons with his Submarine Combat Pin
Merry Christmas to your son and your entire family.
Say “hi” to your son for me! I was an electronics technician (nuclear) and worked with a whole bunch of MMs on our submarine.
Deeployed.
The law firm’s IT guy was also a nuc sub guy in engineering. Said he was once down for 111 days before surfacing. And said the food was still ok after 90 days. Since I was a carrier guy addicted to Asian food or steak and lobsters cannot imagine it. One of the dentists griped about not having Kobe beef. Hey, the flyboys needed to be well fed.
That probably means he went through the Navy’s nuclear program, which is no mean feat. It also means he can probably use that knowledge outside the Navy or leverage it going into an engineering trade in college, using his veteran’s benefits.
But if his ambition was to be a rescue swimmer, probably the Coast Guard was the way to go. Since he was already in boot camp, though, when he figured it out, he made the best of a not so good situation (for him). Way to go.
Its not her fawlt.
The son of a church friend was on our son’s boat in the early Teens when it had its longest patrol ever of 120 days. Yeaaah – no thanks!!
I love my boy. Don’t get me wrong. But he’s a big ol’ Labrador Retriever of a fellow in more ways than one. ASVAB score-wise, at age eighteen he wasn’t nuke *or* Coast Guard material, believe me. 🤪
Having said that, he is naturally very handy, and is loving having a wrench in his hand. MM is a good fit for him, and from what I have heard what he learns will always serve him well.
Que?
I remember when I got my gold dolphins, I felt like the baddest bad*ss on the planet!
Merry Christmas to all, and especially you submariners current and former . . .
Merry Christmas!
I’ve never been on a submarine, unless you count watching The Hunt for Red October about 100 times.
We’re spending several hours this week enjoying another submarine drama, the six-part Vigil a murder mystery currently playing on Peacock in the U.S.
The murder takes place aboard a nuclear submarine in territorial waters off Scotland, so a (claustrophobic) police homicide investigator played by Suranne Jones (Scott & Bailey, Gentleman Jack, Doctor Foster) is helicoptered out Red October-style to conduct an investigation onboard. We’ve watched the first three hours and it’s a strong thriller.
It counts. There are a few things exaggerated for dramatic effect, but it pretty much gets it right.
This movie and the full-length version of Das Boot got voted as the best two submarine movies made, modern and WW2. IIRC, the poll was conducted by the US Naval Institute.
Stad trivia:
Speaking of Hunt for Red October, I’ve been on board the real Dallas (700 boat) many times while it was being constructed at the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. I was on the Phoenix (702 boat), two back in the contruction line. One of the things our crew would do is visit the boats ahead of us to find out what problems they had, get help setting up our system, and so forth. It was nice to see what your boat would like like a year in the future.
We are a Navy family. My dad served as a radioman in WW II. He always said that he “listened to the war.” He was on Mindanoa and sent messages back and forth. The Philippines was a long, long way from the dairy farm in Wyoming.
My husband joined the Navy when the draft numbers were revealed in 1972. His birthday was #3 on the list. He saw Memphis and San Diego! The rate he qualified for had him working on computers that controlled training devices. He moved from base to base in San Diego working on flight trainers (both helicopters and jets) and an amazing submarine trainer that was like a ride at Disneyland. But, if you have to be “stuck” somewhere, San Diego is just fine.
Our youngest son then completely surprised us when he joined the Navy at age 22 (he’d spent two years as a church missionary before that in Russia) and became a sonarman in the submarine force. This should not have been a surprise since he loves sound technology and has amazing musical skills.
I visited him in Groton once, and he took me on a limited tour of his boat. I give all my respect to submariners…NO WAY could I do that! It’s just too claustrophobic for me! The movies Hunt for Red October and Das Boot took on a whole new meaning for me! He’s out of the Navy now, and works installing sonar systems on subs.
Tell that non-qual to get hot and memorize his piping tabs!
I spent three Christmases underwater – it is definitely the most subdued holiday when you are underway. Nobody really wants to be reminded of what they are missing. Did pull back into Groton on Dec 26th one time and made a bee-line for the Amtrak station to get back home. The train was full but they sold the dozen of us standing-room tickets (seat assignments that were occupied until we hit NYC). Totally worth it to see my girls that evening.
This is a good post to bring up this prayer:
Bless those who serve beneath the deep,
Through lonely hours their vigil keep.
May peace their mission ever be,
Protect each one we ask of thee.
Bless those at home who wait and pray,
For their return by night or day.
– Reverend Gale Williamson
I never spent a Christmas underwater, but I, along with my fellow single officers, volunteered to take the duty so the married guys with kids could do the Christmas morning thing. I did spend one Thanksgiving at sea, and yes, we had turkey for dinner! Although we weren’t able to grab a Busch and watch football in the den, at least we got the scores when we came to periscope depth . . .