Lots of reasons to love the shot...the rainbow leaping from the center of the picture, the contrast between the ocean and sky...but what makes this old Sailor's heart beat fast is the ship on the left.
She's USS MOMSEN (DDG-92). More than 3 years of my life are invested in those 9200 tons of sovereign US territory. James attended the christening back in August 2003. He still has the post about his experience and the ship's namesake in his August 2003 Archives.
If you want to see more pics of her and other ships, just check out The Destroyermen, the first ever blog by a Navy ship, USS RUSSELL (DDG-59), created to describe life aboard a modern warship at sea.
It's groundbreaking - the Navy's "information" enterprise is still grappling with things like podcasts, blogs, etc. as part of our advertising. While the "official rules" will be forthcoming, hats off to RUSSELL's Executive Officer for blazing the trail, her Commanding Officer for approving the concept, and her Strike Group Public Affairs Officer for approving it.
2 comments:
That IS gorgeous. And I agree with your hat tips. This is a great way to make the military world more real and more accessible.
It's a sad thing, really, that it needs to be done. In 2007, DoD surveyed 4000 citizens, asking them to rank, in order of importance, the 4 services in winning the "War on Terrorism". The Navy ranked dead last, and only 8% of those surveyed were aware of the Navy's mission.
It's not surprising, seeing we're locked in a drawn out land war, but I personally think it shows both a tremendous short-sightedness on the part of the public, and a tremendous failure of the service to ensure it remains and is perceived as "relevant" in the eyes of the public.
And "The Nav" is suffering for it. But that's a whole nuther (and very big) post!
I hope their blog helps to restore some of that "relevance".
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