Navy

I normally put something up relevant to Pearl Harbor Day on the blog, but not feeling it so much this year.

"Are you melancholy, T-Bolt?"

No that ain't it so much.  Maybe I don't feel the urgency to reinforce the memory of an imminent ongoing threat from history to support current focus on imminent ongoing threats.

Wait, is this Trump's fault?

Maybe.

Maybe it is Secretary Mattis' fault.  That guy... I don't think he ever takes his eye off the ball.  And say what you will about Trump's methods he does lean on his SecDef and give him his head.  So far that is working out.

I worry about the Navy's recent woes, lack of funding, leadership, and deadly fender benders in the 7th Fleet is disconcerting.  I shouldn't feel like 30 year old watchstanding and seamanship skills are better than a currently serving Officer of the Deck.  All this is only tertiarily concerned with this anniversary, however.

I've had millennials come up to me this month and tell me, "T-Bolt!  Did you know there is/was a conspiracy theory about Pearl Harbor?  That the gov't knew the attack was coming and let it happen to galvanize public support to enter the war."

Yes, young man.  I did know about that theory.  I probably first heard of it in the 70s.  But the 1970s were a great time to disseminate conspiracy theories into the wider culture.   It might have been Spock that told me, too, but I am not sure.