As I write about a meeting we just finished, as we head home on interstate expressways to a placid little town of about 10,000 people where I’m surrounded by lakes and orange trees, I think a person who didn’t see what we saw yesterday might wonder .. what’s everybody pounding their chests for? I’ve felt that while listening attentively to Admirals, commanders and unqualified young teenagers studying systems in order to "pass quals". What’s all this about.? Yesterday a group of us who had been prescreened, assembled at the "Goat Locker" the Chiefs Club. I asked why Is it called the goat locker? The answer left me puzzled, "because chiefs are called goats". Ok. So then a US Navy bus came with 2 Navy police and 1 sailor from the SS Maryland. We got on the bus with no cell phones and no exercise wrist bands.. and we were escorted by a security car to the dock. Where is it? We got over to the water and there she was .. a big dark grey half submerged war ship. That was my first WOW! She is huge! The Maryland is a Boomer. I never understood what that meant until we climbed down 3 levels and our guide, in for 18 years and sharp and handsome, said here they are. I reached out and touched, "is this concrete?" Yes. There are 24 of them. Concrete tubes, missile silos full of nuclear missiles capable of traveling thousands of miles steered by sophisticated GPS tracking. I kept touching it. Our young man "Thompson" took us on to two rooms where constant measurements are underway even in Port… Where we are and where "they" are. Thompson said, "we are constantly hiding. If we pick up any sounds other than whales, we run. We are strictly defensive." In another room full of computers 2 young men told how they are constantly checking the missiles and one of them is making calculations. If they get an order it has to be verified and authorized 3 times before a missile can be shot. By now I’m petrified and terrified. We have young men (ok they are in their late 30s and early 40s) plotting courses on nuclear boomers. One of our sailors said, "we should bring Puten to see this." Needless to say, I had a nightmare last night. We thanked our guide "Thompson" and everybody else we passed (oh by the way, at one point, stepping over beds that protruded into the passageways! )… Thanked and thanked! And blessed them too. We are headed home now. And the news on TV is that some brave young men tracked an ISIS leader into cave and killed him. Pray for peace. Maybe if we ALL pray. God bless us. Angels with us.
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