Posts from September 2009 by Douglas Karr, U.S. Navy Veteran

When I was first enlisting in the United States Navy, I was lucky to have a father who was a career sailor. He understood how recruiting worked and how to pressure recruiters to get a great career on track in the Navy. If I hadn’t had my father, I probably would have been chipping paint for many years.

Chipping paint isn’t such a bad job, though. I respected our Boatswain’s Mates just as much as our Radar Technicians. His or her job was keeping the ship healthy, safe and livable – that’s something every sailor appreciates. As you walk on board, it’s always great to cross a quarterdeck that’s been polished and cleaned with pride.

A group of adult men have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and some have just months to live. You have to ask – how did this happen? Less than 1,900 men in our country will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, compared to over 200,000 women. None of these men had a family history of breast cancer, so their cancer must be attributed to an external factor, right? What did these men have in common?

All twenty lived or worked at Camp Lejeuene in North Carolina between the 1960s and the late 1980s.

U.S. Military veterans have faced hardships that most Americans could never comprehend. And while many chose to put their lives on the line to protect America, many veterans never expected that their time in the service could kill them decades after they returned home.

Many veterans are now facing cancer, and in some cases that cancer was caused by exposures that occurred during their time in the military. For example, veterans suffering from lung cancer or mesothelioma were likely exposed to asbestos while in the service.

Few people know the entire story of the USS Indianapolis, CA-35. For those of you who have seen the movie Jaws, there’s a chilling scene where Quint recalls the USS Indianapolis, “Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer.”

He goes on to describe the horrific details of the USS Indianapolis. The USS Indianapolis delivered the world’s first atomic bomb to the island of Tinian on July 26, 1945 and then was ordered to run escorted from Guam to prepare for the invasion of Japan.

Do you remember where you where when the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001? Most Americans do. And most will never be able to forget it.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, people were arriving at their offices. Children were in school, having just returned after their summer recess. Reporters were on the air. Taxi drivers were shuttling business people to and from appointments. Doctors were performing surgery. No one was prepared for what would happen to our country at approximately 8:46 EST. At 8:46 AM, American Airlines flight 11 hit the North Tower, leaving a massive hole in the side of the structure. Several fires started in the building as a result.

Most people don’t realize that they utilize lingo from sailors on a daily basis. I wanted to share some of the more common sayings that you might use but didn’t even know came from ol’ salts!

Are you pooped out? The aft deck of old ships was also called the poop deck. When a huge wave hit the boat, it often washed the sailors violently to the back… pooping them out!

Fellow vets and friends – I wanted to share this email with all of you, with the hope that you might be able to help.

SPECIAL REQUEST for Diabetic Foot Supplies from a Hero Physician in Afghanistan

Wanted to share this veteran alert with all of you…according to a recent post on Gathering of Eagles, a forum for vets, VA clinics have been handing out fliers warning patients of a new scam. Here’s what was written on the fliers:

While at the Vista VA Clinic on 28 Aug 09, VA staff were handing out flyers warning of a VA Scam. Here is the content of the warning flyer:

My good friend’s mother, Carol, volunteers at the USO on a regular basis. “The USO is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the troops by providing morale, welfare and recreation-type services to our men and women in uniform.” [http://www.uso.org]

When I was in the Navy, the Navy Marine Corps relief society helped my family out a couple times. “Founded in 1904, the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society is a private non-profit charitable organization. It is sponsored by the Department of the Navy and operates nearly 250 offices ashore and afloat at Navy and Marine Corps bases throughout the world.” [http://www.nmcrs.org/]