I like the Navy… I like standing on the deck on a long voyage with the spray of the sea in my face and the ocean winds whipping in from everywhere… and the feel of a giant steel ship beneath me… its engines driving against the sea.
I like the Navy… I like the noises of the Navy… The clang of steel, the ringing of bells… the foghorns and the strong laughter of Navymen at work. I like the ships of the Navy… The nervous darting destroyers, the sleek silent submarines, the plodding heavy cruisers, the majestic battleships and the steady, solid carriers.
I like the names of Navy ships: Hornet, Ranger, Enterprise, Iow Jima, Wasp, Intrepid, Shangri-La, and Constitution… Majestic names for majestic ships of the line.
I like the bounce of Navy music and the tempo of a Navy band, and "Liberty Whites"… and the spice of a foreign port. I like the Shipmates I sail with… the kid from the Iowa cornfield, a pal from the East Side of New York, the Irishmen from Boston and a drawling, friendly Texan.
From all parts of the land they come… from the farms of the Midwest, the small towns of New England, the cities, the mountains and the prairies. All are Americans… All are comrades in arms… All are men of the sea.
I like the adventure in my heart when my ship puts out to sea… and I like the electric thrill of sailing home again, with waving hands of welcome from family and friends on the waiting shore. The work is hard… the going rough at times. But there's the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the devil-may-care philosophy of the sea.
And, after a day of hard duty, there is the serenity of the dusk at sea… with the whitecaps dancing on the ocean waves and the mystery of the ocean night. I like the lights of the Navy in the darkness… The masthead lights, the red-green sidelights and the stern lights.
They cut through the night and look like a mirror of stars in the blackness. There are the quiet nights and the quiet of the Mid-Watch when the ghost of all the Sailors of the world stand with you in the night… and there is the aroma of fresh coffee from the galley.
I like the legends of the Navy and the men who made them. I like the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut and John Paul Jones. A man can find much in the Navy… Comrades in Arms… Pride in Country… A man can find himself.
In the years to come, when a Sailor is home from the sea, He will still recall with fondness the ocean spray on his face when the sea is angry… and there will always be the faint aroma of fresh paint in his nostrils…and the echo of hearty laughter of seafaring men who were once his close companions… and locked on land, he will grow wistful for his navy days… when the seas belonged to him… and always just over the horizon, was a new port of call.
Remembering this, he will stand a little taller and say to himself, "Once, I was a Navyman".