I live in Israel. I was born in the USA. We moved to Israel in 1972. When e started out, in Haifa, we used to say that to get anything done, especially at a government office, it takes three separate visits, That was based on our experiences doing various errands and making arrangements like getting … More Adjusting to a new place
Scrabble is one of our favorite games. We play it on the Sabbath, when anything involving writing or electricity is not allowed for orthodox Jews, It isn’t writing, because the tiles have letters pre-printed on them. It also doesn’t make real words because the positioning of the tiles is not permanent and disappears at the … More A Scrabble Diversion
There are several Merchant Marine Academies in the US. Graduates of these institutions can accept a naval reserve officers commission if they so choose. When I was on active duty around 1970 my ship played host to a pair of midshipmen from the Maine Maritime Academy. The idea was to have them serve aboard a … More The Maine Midshipmen Caper
Sukkot is the Jewish holiday where the Children of Israel are enjoined to live in flimsy huts for a week as a remembrance of the way things were when their forefathers traveled for 40 years in the desert. Many Jews today not only take all their meals in their sukkot or huts, they even sleep … More Sukkot Holiday at Sea
When I started this blog one of my earliest posts was about joining the Navy. I mentioned that I had wanted to visit Israel, but my local draft board made it difficult. The redult was that I planned to go to Israel when I finished my initial required active service. The plan was a bit … More A regular student at Hebrew University
I did not get along well with the Captain of the Nantahala. There were probably a few others who also suffered as I did. But I thought that he reserved his worst for me because I was Jewish. This is an example from when we were assigned to the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. The … More Because I Say So.
When a naval officer is transferred to a new ship or station there is a social protocol for making a formal call on the captain and the next senior officer in the chain of command. It is a formality, but it has roots in a very practical approach to making the newly arrived officer and … More Formal Calls – made and returned
In a previous post I told about being aground because of the captain/ This time there was some damage, but no one was hurt. It was also purely the fault of the captain, and no one else. The story started with our ship being one of two oilers supporting combined exercises between the US Navy … More A Collission!
Having your ship sunk is probably the worst thing that can happen at sea. The next worst things are being in a collision and running aground. I’ve experienced both of those. Here is how one of the incidents occurred. USS Nantahala was in here home port of Newport, Rhode Island. She had been undergoing some … More A Strange Way to Run Aground
The Elokomin wasn’t the happiest of ships. At one time I thought that because of the Vietnam War the best officers were sent to the Pacific fleet and the Atlantic had to make do with what was left. Discipline wasn’t exactly one of the areas where the crew of the Elokomin stood out. Fortunately, my … More Decommissioning
Wetherhorn 