Two-fer Tuesday.

Yeah. I'm going to try some kind of "marketing" schtick, and see how it goes..

So Tuesdays I'm going to ramble about whatever takes me fancy, then come back later, and try something else!

Let's see what you all think about that one!

Anyway..

Back when I was in the service, I enjoyed going out on the cruises. I mean, life had this structure.

Up at 6am, Shit, Shower, Shave (now to be known as the 3S move), get to the duty station for work. Work 8 hours, duty-free until 6am the next morning!

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner were all taken care of, there were movies and TV to watch, unless you preferred your radio or TV and video game system that you could smuggle aboard the ship.

Plus, you got to see some amazing ports and sights.

I was singularly lucky in that I got to go on two amazing world-wide cruises in my shortened time there.

First, after my schooling was done, my boat was slated to do a Caribbean run.

This isn't as posh as a normal cruise, but it's still an amazing area to see and explore when you've got the time. I'm a big fan of the whole swashbuckler era, so being around the seas where pirates once roamed free really brought some nostalgia home to me! I also got some GREAT souvenirs!

Once we got back from this cruise, we did some manatory down time, and then headed for our "sister" port over in Scotland. Once there, we did some shakedown drills, and I got a chance to find out that Scotland reminded me of my home state. Foggy, rain, and green. Made me a bit homesick for a while, but I loved the accents and scenery.

This immediately was followed by a posting for us to do a "Med Cruise".

Yup. You read right.

Mediterranean Cruise.

I got to see Italy, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

It was amazing.

And it was only overshadowed by one thing..

A trifle, really..

It was called...

Operation Desert Storm.

Near the end of the cruise, our battle group was activated, and we went down through the Suez Canal, and into the Indian Ocean to participate in operations in the Gulf.

Heck, I didn't mind. I was a bubblehead (aka submariner), and there wasn't much of a chance of someone being able to hit US underwater!

Being the rate and rank I was also gained me some airtime on CNN, as I was able to watch a few of my missle actions followed on TV! Sure, they tended to be a few weeks after the fact, but heck, I could still recall the entire operation! Now, my face wasn't shown, but you can still hear my calm, matter-of-fact voice repeating that litany of catchphrases during the live-fire.

The biggest let-down to all of this?

It was one man.

His name?

Bill Clinton.

Yup.

Clinton.

I was one of many servicemen who lost a job when he made his cutbacks.

Because of my age, and the time in grade for my position, I was going to basically be busted down from an E-6 position back to an E-3! And all I'd get for it was a campaign ribbon!

I politely refused to do this, and was given a partial retirement from the United States Navy.

Since then, my monthly stipend has given me some nice spending money each month, but thanks to this financial crisis we're having, I've been getting notices that even more of this partial pension of mine might be taken to help offest budgeting in the bank it's being held at!

Can you believe this? The US bank that I've got my military pension held in wants to charge me even more to keep my hard-earned service cash so that they can cover their own losses in this economic spiral we're in.

I don't know about you, but I'm really hoping for someone else to ask me to hold their money, so I can charge them more for what I'm losing!