My July 4th Navy story

There are several Navy stories I like to tell. This is one of them.

The date was July 4, 1996. I was 2 and a half years into a 3 year contract--considered a short-timer by some. By this time, they had thrown all the shit they could throw at me, and I was still standing. I hadn't quite reached the point where I no longer had to give a shit, but I was getting close.

Our ship had been in San Diego for 6 months after a 6 month cruise, and we were doing a lot of boring jobs like painting, swabbing, and bullshit maintenance. Time was going slow, and the Navy routine was getting old.

On this one particular July 4th, I happened to have duty, which meant, while everyone else got to go to the beach, drink beer, and have fun, I got to stay onboard and work, which sucked. In addition to doing the regular work, everyone who has duty is assigned a watch. My watch assignment was color guard--one of the easiest watches. It takes a grand total of 10 minutes out of your day. Actually, it beats the hell out of standing on the quarter deck for 4 hours having an endless stream of people ask you if they can "come aboard" or "go ashore"--I'd take colors any day of the week over that.

Raising and lowering the Stars and Stripes is a big deal in the military. It's part of the daily ritual. If you're outside when the colors whistle blows, you better stop whatever you're doing, face the flag and salute until the whistle blows again a minute later. If you think no one's watching you, and you fuck around, you might earn yourself a 1st class ticket to see the Captain--I've seen it happen.

Holidays are special in the military especially the 4th of July. There's a huge holiday flag--it's twice as big as the normal flag. It's also cleaner and brighter because it only gets used on holidays--duh.

On this particular July 4th, I stood on back of my ship and saluted the American Flag before I took it down. The sun was setting. The breeze was blowing. It was another beautiful day in San Diego, and there was this big flag with the wind flowing through it. I could see on either side of me ships with sailors giving the same salute to the flag on their ship. I knew at that moment I was never going to have a better understanding of everything the American Flag represents. It was at moment when I realized why I joined the Navy.

It is an honor and a privilege to be an American.

As soon as I took down the flag, I knew immediately this was a moment I was never going to forget, and I realized how lucky I was to have duty on that day.