Author Archives: frdavid11

No matter where I am, MLB Opening Day is a big day for me. Even on deployment I take with me digital versions of all my baseball movies and a few historic games saved from YouTube. Deployments are certainly different these days than they were back in my enlisted days. The nice things about storiesContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 4 April”

While I admit this tie-in might be a bit of a stretch, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that speaking the truth has become surprisingly difficult to do any more. Ironically, though young people say they value authenticity, they don’t see a contradiction in lying when the motive is deemed appropriate. We don’tContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 31 March”

Few people have less control over the circumstances of their lives than young enlisted Sailors, especially ones assigned to a ship, and especially when that ship is on deployment. They describe the resulting confining feeling to me as “like being in a prison.” It isn’t just young Sailors, though, who can feel trapped by theirContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 30 March”

I am a big fan of Mike Rowe. One of the things on which we agree, but he manages to articulate much better than I could is the obsession we seem to have these days around safety. He calls his idea “Safety Third,” and I agree with him that our obsession with safety has becomeContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 27 March”

Just like anyone, Sailors get used to dealing with things that are less than ideal, e.g. putting buckets under leaks, overlooking trash on the deck or in hull frames, or other little things that are annoying but easy to work around. Cultivating new habits of dealing with things right away and not letting things accumulateContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 24 March”

Amid the hosts of observances that come over the course of a deployment (According to one website there are 837 “holidays” in March alone! Though, I confess, I am a big supporter of National Corn Dog Day.), easily lost are the historically significant moments that form our National Identity, our common heritage. Thus, the followingContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 23 March”

There are stretches on every deployment where the days become routine and repetitive. Standing the same watches, seeing the same things, doing the same maintenance, and you begin to lose track of which day of the week it is. Or at least, you would if there weren’t tacos served on Tuesday. Especially young people whoContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 22 March”

While on station a US Navy DDG will be called upon to escort ships through dangerous waters, a mission these ships have conducted since the Second World War. This particular escort mission was memorable, because much of the crew didn’t know the story behind the name of the ship in our charge. If that weren’tContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 21 March”