Maslow’s Hierarchy

By lex, on Wed – February 2, 2005

You’ve maybe read about it – Maslow’s hierarchy of needs : It starts with the physiological (think: food and shelter) and ramps up to self-actualization. I learned about it, for no reason I can now remember, while a plebe midshipman at the trade school on the Severn*.

We were led to believe that all human life existed on a scale of needs, that satisfying the foundational requirements gave us the opportunity (if not the surety) of progressing up the ladder. Someday, if we played our cards right and were lucky, sheltered, well fed, loved, possessed of adequate self-esteem etc. – someday, we’d be self-actualized. Maybe even highly self-actualized. Could happen.

One could always hope.

Night in the Barrel (Part II)

By lex, on Tue – January 18, 2005

Going from the general * to the specific.

As a young LSO in training, in the summer of 1987, I decided to stroll up to the platform, in order to watch the last recovery. It wasn’t my team’s night to “wave,” but the more experience you get the better you are, and it showed motivation and individual effort. Both of these were considered good to show.

It was a dark night (you’ll never know how many sea stories start this way) with no horizon and poor visibility – standard fare in the North Arabian Sea in the summer time. But the air wing was experienced at the mid-cruise point. Most of the rough spots had been smoothed out. There were one or two exceptions: Your humble scribe, only recently reported aboard, and a Tomcat pilot from our sister squadron, who arrived on the same transport plane.

Night in the Barrel Part 1

By lex, on Mon – January 17, 2005

I’m not sure where the term comes from. I just know that every carrier pilot knows what it means. And nearly everyone who hasn’t had a “night in the barrel” lives in fear of the night that the bill comes due.

And everyone that has, understands…

In the summer of 1987 I was deployed to the North Arabian Sea – a fresh graduate of the FA-18 training squadron, a “nugget,” I was new to all of the experiences of the fleet. My official mentors were the department heads and senior officers: the XO and CO. But my real mentors, the ones who taught me the essential survival skills of the junior officer, were my JO brothers.

The separation thing

By lex, on January 13th, 2005

This is maybe the hardest thing to write about.

I’ve lost a lot of friends along the way – dozens, when I count it up – and I mourn them all deeply. There were things they never got to do, smiles and laughter and lovemaking they missed, children grown to full flower that they never knew the sweetness of holding, and never knew the bittersweetness of letting go. But they all, all of them, died doing what they dreamt of doing, doing what they loved best. Knowing full well that it was a dangerous business, and that it was a certain fact that not everyone got to finish the race.

Message to Garcia

By lex, on January 10th, 2005

One of the very first things that a midshipman receives, once he’s started on his path to a commission, is a small pamphlet entitled, “The Message to Garcia.” It’s a brief, almost ridiculously simplistic tract, first published in 1899, that nevertheless helps to capture who we are as an organization – and the virtues of initiative, dedication and ability to execute the task that we value. This little nothing is an acknowledged first document, a sort of naval Magna Carta, that everyone understands – and it also serve to guarantee a sort of immortality to a man known only as “Rowan.”

Navy showers and the steam cycle

By lex, on January 8th, 2005

Which is a sea story, combining a few of the exquisite luxuries of shipboard life, with some elemental discussion of the steam cycle.

Because I don’t think it’s been done, before.

The first thing you have to understand is that Guilt is the flip side of Duty.

And in the Navy we understand both concepts all too well. Duty of course, is what drives our daily existence – I have duty today, you might say. Or, I must do my duty. And, Duty calls. Do your duty in all things, R.E. Lee advised – you cannot do more, you should never wish to do less.

And off you go, or else you get walloped over the head with the wooden spoon of guilt.

The Empty Chair

By lex, Tue – December 21, 2004

In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture.

Learning to duck

By lex, on November 24th, 2004

When it’s all going horribly wrong…

When I was a young lieutenant junior grade, I was a flight instructor in Meridian, Mississippi. Some of our students were foreigners: Their countries paid their “tuition.” Sometimes we found that language barriers presented an obstacle.

We had Spanish students, for example. From Spain, you know. They fell into two categories, in terms of airmanship: Brilliant, and execrable. We determined over time that the brilliant had been selected for our flight school based on their superior skills, while the execrable had been selected based on their superior connections. Over time, we began to realize that the longer and more hyphenated the last name, the more difficult the student.

Trusting The Public

H/T to one of the Lexicans who posted this to the F/B page.

“It is a cautionary tale of well meaning, engagement-seeking bureaucracy and a cheeky public and it could see a very expensive new research ship given the most ridiculous name ever.” 

As a few told me, “Can you imagine being a crew member calling the harbormaster with your ship’s name?”

Personally, I favor the RRS It’s bloody cold here. 

Reminds me of this post of Lex’s on callsigns.

 

Working your hardest

By lex, on October 18th, 2004

To get somewhere you don’t want to be…

It’s just possible that some of you have heard of Tailhook ’91 – I was there.

Now, you’re going to have to wait a little longer (like: Forever) for my frank and honest opinion on how this fiasco came about. There is a book to be written on this subject from the inside (several have already been written from the outside – sample title: Naval Aviation Neanderthal Frat Boys – Why they Should All Be Chemically Castrated. Or Else Surgically. Whichever.)