The last 365 days have been quite an adventure, to say the least. I’m not one to rate things that happen in my life. Even saying things like “I had a good day,” “I had a bad day,” etc. seem difficult to express and awkwardly subjective. If I say something is good or bad I suppose that I am stating it as kind of a value judgment. And when I do make a judgment I strive for it to be fair and unbiased. Subjectivity in my assessments are not the way I like to do business. Therefore good days and bad days do not exist in my book.

All that said, this year has decidedly been a year of such lows that I would have to rate it negatively. It is the first year in my 4½ decades that I would give either a thumbs up or a thumbs down to. It’s rather disappointing that the first has to be negative, but that’s the way the dust has settled.

Now don’t get me wrong. There have been high moments and mountain top experiences in the last 12 months. I am blessed every week by the weekly breakfast/Bible study I have had with a dear friend since last February. My walk with the Lord was greatly enhanced, especially because of the HeartChange Workshop in October. I had some wonderful weekend getaways with my wife. I have enriched and been enriched by a weekly get together with another dear friend since early summer. This has been a iron sharpening iron experience. I have several men that have come into my life in the last year and made more difference in me that they can ever know. In April, my wife and I attended a weekend marriage conference that was beyond awesome. We have recently started a weekly couples marriage study with two other dear couples. In early summer I began a men’s relational study that consists of a core group of 5 or 6 men. Each week has been intense blessing. We have provision enough to not know one day of want this entire year. The kids are in a great school. My wife is stretching her wings and discovering a richness within herself… and that blesses my heart. We were able to take a family vacation in Alaska over Christmas and New Year’s; experiencing a mesmerizing white holiday season. I am appreciated at work. I have a very close and tight knit group of co-workers. It was wonderful to kick back and enjoy my sons 21st birthday in a patio boat on the lake. This blog itself has been a source of enjoyment as well as outlet.

In the last 52 weeks a lot has transpired, much of it very good. But overall, I’d have to say that vintage 2006 has pretty much been a bummer.

Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born;
Oh night, Oh night divine, Oh night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Behold your King.

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

I’m sitting here in Alaska this evening pondering the weather of the day. It was between 22 to 25 degrees all day. It was such a biting cold but two days ago it was colder, 18 degrees, and it felt so much warmer. Why? Wind was not a factor on either day. The only thing that I can possibly attribute the perceived colder weather to a higher humidity. I can’t confirm that that is the case but it just seems that the air is not as dry as the other day.

I wonder if humidity could have made that much difference?

The first family vacation in Alaska has not disappointed! So far it is warmer than expected. Received a nice blanket of snow in the last 10 hours. When we arrived it was 8 degrees and it warmed up to higher 20’s. Very reasonable, unless you have to work out in the stuff.

Tuesday should be the first mostly cloudless day and we’re hoping to catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis. There might be some ice fishing on the agenda, and definitely snow machine races on the lake.

Yesterday we cut a Christmas tree down from our lakeside lot, beautiful! The ladies spent a good potion of the day doing the “Walton’s” thing and stringing popcorn and cranberries. Hmmmm, not an activities that was completed between commercials. Funny how it was so easy and painless on the show. No popcorn splitting in half when a needle was put through it. We must be living in the wrong era.

Well, I’ve got a few more minor cabin repairs to knock out….

• F Class Submarine
• Keel laid: as USS Carp, August 23, 1909, at Union Iron Works, San Francisco, CA
• Launched: September 6, 1911
• Commissioned: as USS F-1, June 19, 1912
• Displacement: 330 tons surfaced; 400 tons submerged
• Length: 142′ 7″
• Beam: 15′ 5″
• Depth limit: 200′
• Complement: 1 officers, 21 enlisted
• Armament: four 18″ torpedo tubes, four torpedoes

On 17 December 1917, while underway off California, USS F-1 collided with her sister, USS F-3. Her hull torn open amidships, she rapidly sank with the loss of nineteen crewmen. Her wreck was located and photographed during the 1970s.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

An open deck hatch of the sunken submarine USS F-1

• S-3 Class Submarine
• Keel laid: December 4, 1917, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, NH
• Launched: August 27, 1919
• Commissioned: November 19, 1919
• Displacement: 876 tons surfaced; 1,092 tons submerged
• Length: 231′
• Beam: 21′ 10″
• Depth limit: 200′
• Complement: 4 officers, 34 enlisted
• Armament: four 21″ torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes, one 4″/50 deck gun

On December 17, 1927, while conducting submerged trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts, S-4 was rammed by the U.S. Coast Guard destroyer Paulding (CG-17). Holed in the starboard side, just forward of her deck gun, the submarine sank immediately. All of her officers and men were able to reach unflooded compartments as S-4 went to the bottom in 110 feet of water. However, the majority, who had gone aft, soon succumbed. In her torpedo room, forward, six men remained alive. In extremely cold water and tangled wreckage, Navy divers worked desperately to rescue them, but a storm forced the abandonment of this effort on December 24th.

During the first three months of 1928, divers and other salvage personnel were able to raise the sunken S-4 and tow her to the Boston Navy Yard, where she was drydocked and repaired. She returned to active duty in October and was employed thereafter as a submarine rescue and salvage test ship. Work with her helped to develop equipment and techniques that bore fruit a decade later, when 33 men were brought up alive from the sunken submarine Squalus.

In April 1933, following experimental service in New England, Gulf of Mexico and Hawaiian waters, USS S-4 was placed out of commission. She was stricken from the list of Naval vessels in January 1936 and disposed of by sinking in mid-May of that year.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Interior view of the S-4 (SS 109), Crew’s Quarters (Battery Room), December 25, 1919. Taken by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine. Note folding chairs, table, benches and berths; also Christmas decorations.

I’m just about off to the reaches of the great north. Still some last minute preparations and planning to do but time is short. Alaska, here I come. I don’t think many would go to Alaska in the winter, guess I’m a little crazy. Maybe next summer I can plan a trip to Death Valley.

I do have one surprise though, I’d have thought that airfare would not be the killer that it is. Seems that travel would be down so fares would go down to fill those planes. Guess I need to see how full the plane actually is.

For any that are interested, I’m headed to our cabin that is referenced in the “Links” section of this blog, our vacation rental. The current temperature is 7, tomorrows high is 3. But then it warms up to 20 and snow flurries on Saturday, better take the shorts.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get an Internet connection and do a little blogging during my vacation. If not, see you later.

There is a time to help out, there is a time to stand back and let someone help themselves. Sometimes the line is pretty blurry.

Initially this looks like an easy decision point for me. My thought process goes something like this:
- If the person has a reasonably managed life but is hit by bad circumstances by all means help them out.
- If the person has a reputation for moving from crisis to crisis, the best thing that can be done is teach them to help themselves. Invest in them - but don’t assume responsibility for their problems - be their mentor/encourager. Love them without conditions, be there for them but don’t let them suck you into fixing their problems. If you fix their problems it’s almost a sure bet they’ll head down that same path again.

Now the hard one, what about the person that manages their life poorly and then circumstances hit them? Obviously “circumstances” happen to all of us. I could take the path of saying, “It happens to everyone, suck it up.” That’s one approach. But what about mercy? You know that thing that they don’t deserve but I do it anyway.

Can mercy “help?” I say that if it is used judiciously it certainly can. Also, as I think about it, maybe there has been or might possibly be a time when a little mercy thrown my way could make all the difference in the world.

• Sargo Class Submarine
• Keel laid: June 20, 1938 at Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT
• Launched: May 25, 1939
• Commissioned: November 27, 1939
• Displacement: 1,400 tons surfaced; 2,350 tons submerged
• Length: 310′ 6″
• Beam: 27′ 1″
• Maximum depth: 250′
• Complement: 5 officers, 50 enlisted
• Armament: eight 21″ torpedo tubes, 24 torpedoes, one 3″/50 deck gun, two .50 cal machine guns, two .30 cal machine guns

The first submarine victim of enemy action was USS SEALION (SS 195). The start of the war on December 8, 1941 found her, along with USS SEADRAGON, in the final stages of overhaul at the Navy Yard, Cavite, Philippines. Both ships were scheduled for completion on December 12th.

The air raid alarm sounded at approximately 12:30 PM as 54 enemy planes zeroed in on the shipyard. A wave of bombs hit the ship almost simultaneously, one striking the aft end of the conning tower. The bomb exploded outside the hull a few feet above the control room, which was occupied by the majority of the crew who would surely have been killed, had the bomb exploded inside.

Seconds later another bomb passed through the main ballast tank and the main pressure hull and exploded in the after engine room, killing four men working in the compartment. The explosion also flooded the aft engine room causing SEALION to settle in the mud aft while the forward engine room and torpedo room slowly began to flood as well. When the ship had finally settled the remainder of the crew escaped to safety while 40% of the main deck was underwater with a 15-degree list to starboard.

The damage to the ship would normally have been considered non-fatal had there been overhaul facilities available for repair. SEALION wasn’t so lucky. The bombing that wrecked the ship had also destroyed the Navy Yard and the closest repair facility now lay 5,000 miles due east at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Considering the war situation at hand, it was impossible to tow SEALION that distance. On Christmas Day, 1941, after the removal of all gear of value, such as gyro, radio and sound equipment, three depth charges were exploded inside the ship to prevent her from falling into enemy hands.

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.

Does anyone find it disconcerting that September 11, 2001 is so closely tied to December 7, 1941?

I agree that there are a lot of similarities but the events seem more different than alike. A war against terrorists is not a war against a nation. I can wrap my mind around an aggressor nation as a tangible entity but not around a terrorist organization. These are different times, these are different wars - they require different methods.

Which leads me to my topic. Iraq is a nation, the U.S. is in Iraq. That is tangible, I can put a face on it. I’ve been asking for years now, “Why are we in Iraq?” There is no question in my mind about whether there were atrocities being committed by evil people. There is no question in my mind that given the chance Saddam would commit aggression whenever he thought he could get away with it. But I ask again, “Why are we in Iraq?” Why aren’t we fighting this war on terror instead of expending all the resources we now need to keep Iraq from imploding.

Didn’t the panel that studied the situation in Iraq come to an all too obvious conclusion? The best we can do is to get a stable government in place. Democracy or not, stability is needed. Hmmmm, wasn’t that what Iraq had before we went in there? It was not the terrorist hotbed it is now, it was not bordering on anarchy. It was not great, but it did keep a level of peace that is currently unknown. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating pulling out before the job is done. We went in, we need to finish what we started. We need to give democracy every chance to succeed. But at the same time I am still scratching my head. “Why are we in Iraq?”

So why did we go into Iraq instead of mobilizing against Al-Qaeda worldwide? Maybe we needed a face, maybe to have a nation war against an ideal was too hard for the people to grasp. Maybe we wanted to show the terrorists that we meant business.

Whatever the reason, let’s stop pretending connecting Iraq and the war on terror they are as disconnected as 9/11 and Pearl Harbor in both time and place. I am tired of hearing the “War on Terror” & “We’ve got to stabilize Iraq” in the same sentence. They weren’t connected then, they are not connected now.