Caryl Banks dragged a kitchen chair beneath the overhead light and climbed onto it with a bucket of warm, soapy water balanced on the countertop. She wrung out a sponge, lifted it toward the ceiling, and began working it in slow, deliberate circles. Water slid down her forearm and dripped onto the kitchen floor. It […]
Navy
Posted inReflections
Tuition, Training, Housing: How to Sell the Military as the Path of Least Resistance
When I reported for duty in 1985, neither the Nevada submarine nor I was ready to go to sea. The submarine was under construction in the shipyard, and I was an unqualified third-class petty officer. By the time I left the USS Nevada nearly six years later, I was a salty first-class petty officer who […]
Posted inNewsroom
Q&A: How Did the U.S. Patrol the Caribbean for Drug Smuggling Before It Started Blowing Up Boats?
For decades before the Pentagon started blowing up alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, the Coast Guard tracked, intercepted, and boarded the little skiffs that carried cocaine and marijuana across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to the U.S. The dramatic escalation this fall, which has killed at least 99 people as of Wednesday, including 12 […]
Posted inReflections
Forced to Leave Because of Her Gender Identity, a Sailor Found a New Way to Serve
Transgender sailor ousted from the Navy due to the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy goes on to help repeal the act and christen the USS Harvey Milk.
Posted inNewsroom
30 Years On, Veterans Recall the Desert Storm Air War
People tend to remember Desert Storm as a short, easy war. Compared with the “forever” wars, that makes sense: a 100-hour blip in the annals of history.
Posted inReflections
“Pulling the Crazy Card”—Choosing to Show Empathy for a Suicidal Sailor
Thibaut Delloue rushed a suicidal sailor to shore after he asked for help on deployment only to see his shipmate ostracized and labeled a malinger.
Posted inReflections
A Sailor Signs Up to Escape Poverty, Finds Terror Instead
His blue shirt was not enough to hold back that much water.
Posted inReflections
Minding the Ship During a Storm of Poor Leadership
Even with sound decision-making by a capable and loyal team, the wrong leader can make any mission feel doomed.
Posted inReflections
Thinking Brainlessly With Their Spinal Cords
Tim Patterson was attending the Naval Academy when the 9/11 attacks happened. He deployed on submarines and to Afghanistan. Now he wonders if it was all for naught.
