The real Sentinel News, Notes for today 200422

The Sentinel All the news that's fit to print and some that's not.
It's no Secret This reporter is a World War Two student. With the things I have read and documentaries by the dozens I have watched I believe I have a decent understanding of events during the war. I found some similarities between that war and our current Covid-19 war. WW-2 took nearly 2 years to fully ramp up full production of war materials. Covid-19 will take that long to gear up and start winning the war. WW-2 started in Europe and residents in the U.S. did nothing at first, thinking it was just something happening over there and would not come to our shores. Covid started somewhere else (this is still up for debate) people here thought it would not reach our shores. Both cases people were very wrong. We were losing WW-2 for almost a year and we are losing this war for the foreseeable future. In WW-2 the entire country was deeply involved overseas and on the home front. With Covid Americans overseas are certainly involved and here at home we all should be doing our part to win the war. The war ended in Europe, but as long as the Japanese were still fighting we were still in a desperate war. Covid may end in places around the world, but as long as one spot on the entire Earth has cases, the war will not be over.	Typhoon! I remember one time we on the Kitty Hawk were caught at sea in a typhoon. I was up in the shop alone and sitting in a roll around desk chair pondering the mysteries of life. The ship was pitching and rolling constantly and I has an amusement park ride in that chair, rolling from one end of the shop to the other and then back to the start. The other guys were all down below where the effects of the storm were less than on the upper decks. This link is a 1 minute video showing the same ship years later after I left the navy. Note that the flight deck (0-4 deck) is about 80 feet above the sea level and waves are crashing over the deck. No one was out on deck during either of those times. No one could hold on a deck like that.USS Kitty Hawk riding out a typhoon at sea Army, Air Force and Marines all have their stories they like to re-tell and I always like to hear those stories. One of Joyce's Father's stories was when he was in Little Creek Virginia for training in WW-2. I can still see his eyes as he said that place was so bad that even the Chaplin went AWOL (absent without leave) a highly punishable offence in peace time and far worse during war.I always wonder if the Chaplin was ever caught and what punishment was metered out for the event?	Memory Corner This memory just came to me today. Back in my navy days we had something called Cruise Boxes. They were steel sheets that folded flat when not in use. When we went aboard ship we had to take all of our tools and test equipment onto the ship. The steel sheets unfolded and formed a large box, perhaps 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet high There was one hinged handle on each side of the box. Those boxes were very heavy when loaded. It was all two men could do to lift and then carry them up the gangway and then to the shop. Once in the shop it was a matter of where to go with several full boxes of tools and test gear. The shops were small, slightly less than a bedroom. Because we ran 12 hour shifts and we averaged 24 men in the shop, that meant 12 were always working in or out of the shop. There was one chair and a desk at best so sitting was usually on the stacked rows of tool boxes. If we had an all hands meeting in the morning all 24 men wouldn't fit in the shop, some had to listen from the passageway. Though I was still very young there were a few times I balanced as I laid down on those tool boxes for a short nap. The shop chief was usually in the chiefs mess hall, doing his paperwork I imagine. I took the chief's exam 3 times and passed it all three, but due to the weighted scale with what was called "Multiples," which consisted of time in service, awards, time in rank and other things I was getting further back in line, especially after Vietnam started winding down and things got tighter for promotions.