I had the pleasure of heading up to DC this past weekend to visit with some old friends and attend the Submarine Birthday Ball on Friday night. I can't tell you how amazing it was to see faces I haven't seen in almost 10 years and have a conversation as if we saw each other just last week. If there is any question as to the bonds forged in the military, Friday night serves as a prime example of how important those bonds are to us. Everywhere we are sent with the military as long as we find a group of military persons who have served in our specialty we will find friends. For me it was refreshing to hang out with a bunch of submarine qualified individuals for just a night to remind me of my military roots and see those who inspired me to take the path I am now on.
There were 5 of the 16 students in my department head class, 5 of the 67 in my initial training pipeline, a former boss, one of my sonar techs who is training for an elite sonar designation in the DC area, a fellow instructor from Nuclear Power School, a former JO who is now a doctor and a fellow department head from my second ship, a former student of mine from power school and all of their significant others. I couldn't help but hear the theme song from Cheers in my head as I kept running into people I knew and had no idea were stationed in DC.
It is nights like this past Friday that make me realize just how special this whole military community truly is.
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