The gray cuts through the blue

By SKC (SW/AW/SS) Richard A. Ward

Your life begins aboard the gray, a journey far and true.
A road of boundless adventure paved with waves of white and blue.

Sun-up to Sunset and on I have stood the watch with you. The watch of Liberty under
a flag of Freedom, one Nation under God for all, as the gray cuts through the blue.

We grow and learn aboard the gray, we tend her needs every day, pride and knowledge is yours from within.
Every sailor that stands with me a Surface Warrior soon will be, your accomplishments rewarded with a pin.

Maturity comes quick to some and leadership is due, increased responsibilities, in-charge of others, accountability…
and so it goes the gray cuts through the blue.

As quiet as the sunrise comes a turning of the tide, the hand that guided yours is gone, now your hand is the guide.
To show the way for those today who seek their journey too. Teach them all; show them the way… the gray cuts through the blue.

And when my time has come and gone “The Mission” days are through, I look back and see the truth in me, how the gray cuts through the blue.
The blue of life, the joys and strife and all that comes in view. That’s when you’ll see the reality of how the gray cut you.