Salute A Sailor Today, It’s The U.S. Navy’s Birthday

Believe it or not, there are a lot of young people who head into the U.S. Navy from this area. I guess they've just had all the "dry" they can handle by the time they reach the age at which you can enlist.

Just the one recruiting office I called yesterday gave me the ballpark figure of about 50 enlistees this year. With four offices, it's pretty safe to say that there are a lot of recruits coming out of the South Plains.

The roots of the Navy go way back, all the way to 1775.  This was technically the "Continental Navy", but the full fledged U.S. Navy still celebrates that formations origin on October 13th 1775 as it's birthday.

My dad was in the U.S. Navy and worked as a minesweeper (I never really asked him how that worked). The thing I remember most is the initiation he got when they passed the Prime Meridian.  According to my dad, all the fresh fish were welcomed by being smacked with rubber hoses.  Now, I don't know if this was true then, and it's probably certainly not true now, because my dad was as full of poo as I am.

When I called the local office to first say happy birthday, they said they would be having cake tomorrow to celebrate the occasion. Still, it would be awesome of you to say Happy Birthday to any sailors in your life.