This weekend we invited the participants and staff of our HeartChange workshop over to our house for a graduation. Well, officially it was a graduation but more accurately it was a reunion of dear friends that seemed LONG overdue. Funny it was less than 2 weeks since we had all seen each other, yet everyone was like a dear long, lost relative overjoyed at being together once again. It was obvious to guests that there was some deep, deep bonding that took place. People in which each could find a safe haven. All could be free to be themselves – the good and the bad of it.

For me personally this was a time of lifting my spirits to new heights. I feel energized. Now it’s about taking the concepts into my other circles as they apply.

• O Class Submarine
• Keel laid: December 8, 1916, at Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, MA
• Launched: November 17, 1917
• Commissioned: June 8, 1918
• Displacement: 521 tons surfaced; 629 tons submerged
• Length: 172′ 4″
• Beam: 18′ 0″
• Operational depth limit: 200′
• Complement: 2 officers, 27 enlisted
• Armament: four 18″, torpedo tubes, 8 torpedoes, one 3″/23 deck gun

During the final months of World War I, O-5 operated along the Atlantic coast and patrolled from Cape Cod to Key West, Florida. She departed Newport, Rhode Island, on 3 November with a 20-sub contingent bound for European waters; however, hostilities had ceased before the vessels reached the Azores.

After the Armistice with Germany, O-5 operated out of the Submarine School at New London, Connecticut, until 1923. O-5 then sailed to Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, for a brief tour. On 28 October 1923, as O-5 entered Limon Bay, preparatory to transiting the Panama Canal, she was rammed by United Fruit steamer Abangarez and sank in less than a minute. Three men died; 16 others escaped. Two crewmembers, Henry Breault and Lawrence Brown were trapped in the forward torpedo room, which they sealed against the flooding of the submarine. Local engineers and divers were able to rig cranes and other equipment and lift O-5 far enough off the bottom that the bow broke the surface, exposing a hatch which led to the compartment were the two men were trapped, allowing them to be freed. Henry Breault was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

The Panama Canal owned the two largest floating cranes in the world, each able to lift 250 tons. One, the Atlas, began sailing to the rescue. In this photo, the Canal-launch captain reaches out to help O-5 (SS-66) survivor Henry Breault aboard after the crane Atlas finally pulled the submarine to the surface, from 230 feet, rescuing two trapped crewmen, 28 October 1923. As of June 2006 the Atlas is still operating in the Canal.

Let’s take a minute and look at the energy drink market. It is a highly competitive market that Coke and Pepsi do not dominate. The target audience is mostly 15 to twentysomething males and even within that market group the advertising targets gamers, extreme sports fans, hip-hop fans, and glorifies marijuana or cocaine (with a product the the same name ) usage.

The Cocaine product boasts that it is 350% stronger than Red Bull and that to get more caffeine per ounce you can only top it with an espresso. Tell me, why does anyone need a rush of that much caffeine? Something to that level of excess just doesn’t feel good – either for the physical or psychological.

The comforting thought is that when I hit retirement these young men and women will be constitutionally old enough to become the leader of the strongest world power on Earth.

• Balao Class Submarine
• Keel laid: January 15, 1943, at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA
• Launched: August 17, 1943
• Commissioned: October 15, 1943
• Displacement: 1,526 tons surfaced; 2,424 tons submerged
• Length: 311′ 10″
• Beam: 27′ 4″
• Operating depth: 400′
• Complement: 6 officers, 60 enlisted
• Armament: ten 21″ torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 5″/25 deck gun, one 40mm gun, two .50 cal. machine guns

USS Tang, a 1525-ton Balao class submarine, was built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Commissioned in October 1943, she deployed to Hawaii in December 1943 to begin an intense and eventful combat career under the leadership of Commander Richard H. O’Kane. Tang’s first war patrol, conducted in the central Pacific during January and February 1944, removed five ships from Japan’s logistics system. A second patrol, into the Palaus, resulted in no direct losses to the enemy, but was very important in another way. In three days of lifeguard duty during U.S. aircraft carrier raids on the Japanese base at Truk, Tang rescued 22 downed Navy aviators, a “score” of a positive sort that was unsurpassed until very late in the Pacific War.

In June and July 1944, Tang made a very productive patrol into the East China Sea area, sinking ten ships in a series of daring attacks. The next war patrol, her fourth, was in Japanese home waters, where her torpedoes sank at least two more enemy ships during August. Late in September, Tang departed Pearl Harbor to begin her fifth patrol. Operating in the vicinity of the Formosa Strait, she struck a convoy on 10-11 October, sinking two ships. Other convoys were the targets of night surface attacks on the 23rd and 24th, producing five more sinkings. However, Tang’s last torpedo made a circular run that the submarine could not evade. She was hit aft and quickly sank in relatively shallow water off the China coast. Nine of her crew, including Commander O’Kane, survived the accident and were taken prisoner.

Tang was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations for her exploits, which included officially recognized sinkings of 24 Japanese ships, totalling nearly 94,000 tons. Among U.S. Pacific War submarines, she thus had the second highest score in terms of numbers and the fourth largest based on tonnage calculations.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Originally contributed by Mike Smolinski.

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way. You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.
James 4:1-4 – The Message (MSG)

As I re-read this passage, what strikes me right between the eyes is: “You’re cheating on God” or as the King James puts it: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses.” There are no punches pulled. When I let my passions rule I have made myself god, there is no room for God. As I look into myself I see that there are many things I don’t ask God for and the reason is exactly as James spells out in this letter. I do not ask because I know my desire is wrong, I know I want for myself. Material possessions, control over situations, sensual delights all for my own benefit.

The irony in this is that like Solomon who concluded that all was a “chasing of the wind,” that’s all the pleasure I’ll get. It’ll be there for a moment then it’s gone never to be fully realized, never to be grasped.

Lord, cleanse my heart of these motivations. I know that what you have for me is far superior to what my selfish heart desires.

• Gato Class Submarine
• Keel laid: October 20, 1942, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT
• Launched: June 6, 1943
• Commissioned: September 7, 1943
• Displacement: 1,526 tons surfaced; 2,424 tons submerged
• Length: 311′ 9″
• Beam: 27′ 3″
• Operating depth: 300′
• Complement: 6 officers, 54 enlisted
• Armament: ten 21″ torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 3″/50 deck gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns

In the early morning of October 23, 1944, both DARTER and DACE contacted and tracked a large enemy force heading north through Palawan Passage en route to engage our forces in the battles for Leyte Gulf. They attacked while the enemy were unable to alter course appreciably and in brilliant pre-dawn submerged attacks, sank the heavy cruisers ATAGO and MAYA, and so severely damaged the heavy cruiser TAKAO, that she was useless for the rest of the war. During daylight, DARTER tried a submerged attack on TAKAO, which had been stopped, but was driven off by screening destroyers. Thus a night coordinated attack plan was drawn up by the two boats.

Since she could not surface to take sights, DARTER was forced to navigate on a 24-hour-old dead reckoning plot. At 2200 TAKAO got underway, and DARTER began a surface attack. Detecting two radars sweeping, she decided to do an end around, and then make an attack at radar depth. At 0005 on October 24, 1944, DARTER grounded on Bombay Shoal, and making 17 knots at the time, rode up to a draft of nine feet forward. Efforts to get off the reef were unsuccessful, and a message was sent to DACE requesting assistance.

DACE closed DARTER and, after confidential gear had been smashed and classified matter burned, the men of DARTER were transferred to DACE. This was all done before dawn, and there were no losses of DARTER personnel.

DARTER was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for the last patrol.

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Originally contributed by Lester Palifka.

• Balao Class Submarine
• Keel laid: January 28, 1943, at the Electric Boat Company, Groton, CT
• Launched: October 17, 1943
• Commissioned: February 14, 1944
• Displacement: 1,526 tons surfaced; 2,242 tons submerged
• Length: 311′ 9″
• Beam: 27′ 3″
• Operating depth: 400′
• Complement: 6 officers, 60 enlisted
• Armament: ten 21″ torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 5″/25 deck gun, one 40mm gun, one 20mm gun, two .50 cal. machine guns

Shark’s second war patrol, off the Volcano and Bonin Islands in July and August, produced no sinkings but did result in the rescue of two Navy airmen from a downed torpedo plane. Her third patrol, to the waters south of Formosa, was another three-submarine “wolf pack” operation. Shark left Pearl Harbor in September and, on 24 October 1944, is believed to have sunk a Japanese ship carrying American prisoners of war from the Philipines to Japan. She was not heard from again and may been lost to enemy antisubmarine attack on the same day, possibly while attempting to rescue some of the POWs. Shark’s entire complement, nearly ninety officers and men, perished with her.

SHARK is the second U.S. Submarine to bear the name in WWII – An earlier SHARK (SS-174) carried the name part of her life and was also lost.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Originally contributed by Mike Smolinski.

What is it that creates a special bond between two people? What is the source of our affection for one another?

I think sometimes it’s pretty simple to define, and pretty superficial. Sometimes we like another because they like us. This ‘like’ can be manifest in different ways. Maybe it’s liking what I like; maybe it’s valuing me as a person; maybe it’s some common goal.

The times when affection is not so easy to pin down is when it doesn’t like because it gets. What is the real source of an affection that likes even when it doesn’t get? The kind of affection that can care deeply for someone that is not particularly beautiful, but cares nonetheless. It’s the kind of affection that can share it’s heart freely and without fear and receive another’s heart without judgment. This affection is hard to come by, yet cherished above all. Like a mother’s love.

Every one of us craves this kind of affection in the very core of our being. We yearn to be loved, freely and without judgment with our imperfections. That’s why we spend so much time guarding our true selves from others. “If I am a better person others will find me more loveable and give me what I crave.”

But isn’t this exactly what keeps us from receiving deep affection from others? We put up a front that is many times very believable. Another person looks at us and knows their true self. The are forced to do one of two things, assume that we are lying or assume that we are a notch above them. Don’t both of these options cause them to distance themselves from us? We all know that when the deepest affection develops, it develops in a climate of transparency. Somehow in our mind we are sabotaging our efforts to be loved by pretending to be what we’re not.

These are the special relationships in life. These are the ones to cherish.

There was a time in my life when a young boy locked himself away to deal with the great big world. This weekend was the reawakening of that little boy! It’s something that is normal as someone moves from child to adult; sometimes to assume responsibility; sometimes to shelter themselves from pain. I think often it usually a combination of both.

I attended an INTENSIVE 4 day workshop which gave me the tools to dive deep, deep inside myself – then once that was done to explore the person that God intended me to be. I have a long way to go, but I have a vision of who I was created to be. It was truly a heart changing workshop.

In 4 days I spent more than 49 hours digging, probing and exploring. It was grueling. It was necessary.

HeartChange is the name of the workshop. It will give tools to find that child and lose the things that put that child to sleep in the first place.

• Balao Class Submarine
• Keel laid: June 10, 1942, at Cramp Shipbuilding Co., Philadelphia, PA
• Launched: April 18, 1943
• Commissioned: June 2, 1944
• Displacement: 1,526 tons surfaced; 2,424 tons submerged
• Length: 311′ 8″
• Beam: 27′ 3″
• Operating depth limit: 400′
• Complement: 6 officers, 60 enlisted
• Armament: ten 21″ torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 5″/25 deck gun, one 40mm gun, two .50 cal. machine guns

Escolar had her final training for combat at Pearl Harbor, from which she put out for her first war patrol September 18, 1944. After topping off fuel at Midway, she joined Croaker (SS-246) and Perch (SS-313) for a coordinated war patrol in the Yellow Sea which she directed. On 30 September, she engaged a small craft in a surface gun action, and reported to her sisters that she was undamaged, without mentioning what her gunfire had done to the enemy ship. Her last communication was with Perch on October 17th; she was never heard from again.

Since Japanese records consulted after the war show no antisubmarine action at that time in the area where Escolar is believed to have been, it is assumed that she struck a mine and sank with all hands.

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Originally contributed by Mike Smolinski.