Posted on 11/27/2009 7:18:29 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham
you have to love the stars on petraeus chef hat.
Yes, a great touch.
That man will be my president one day......
I hope so! God Bless him and all of our troops!
2012!
How about 2012 or sooner.
Oh yeah, and the coasties too!
Second thread today on Thanksgiving with the troops. No Il douche. Guess the CinC was playing golf?
who knows what the different color vests do?
The different colors are for specific job duties:
Differentiates job responsibilities on the flight deck.
If so, why he would be in the lineup is a mystery.
Are there that many women aboard ship now or are they just photographed more?
Yes, I was a green vest. I remember Thankgiving 1990 aboard the USS Tripoli. Great meal, Those Navy chefs can cook good when they want to. Shure bear the roast beef and rices we were served every other day on the way to Desert Storm.
Petraeus is one of my fav heroes of all time. great leader. I would love to meet him.
Been there, done that. But the sailor is delivering a left-handed salute...
http://www.cffc.navy.mil/customs.htm
Salutes
The hand salute is the military custom you will learn first and use most while in the military. It is centuries old, and probably originated when men in armor raised their helmet visors so they could be identified. Salutes are customarily given with the right hand, but there are exceptions. A Sailor, whose right arm or hand is encumbered may salute left-handed, while people in the Army or Air Force never salute left-handed.
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeohzt4/Seaflags/customs/trads.html
Tending the Side
When a senior officer or official formally visits a ship of the Navy, he or she is normally “piped over the side” by a boatswain’s mate and a number of sideboys corresponding to the visitor’s rank as shown on the table of honors. This process is a ritual throwback to the days when coming aboard a ship meant either climbing up a rope ladder or being hoisted aboard in a boatswain’s chair. Sideboys were mustered to assist if necessary in pulling the visitor bodily over the side. The tale goes that the more senior the officer, the greater the weight to be lifted, and accordingly the more sideboys mustered. Sideboys were first formally prescribed in the U.S. Navy by the 1843 Rules and Regulations, but had clearly been provided from the very birth of the service.
Well before the visiting dignitary arrives, the boatswain’s mate of the watch sounds the call “Pass the word” over the shipboard loudspeaker system, known as the 1MC, and passes the word “Lay to the quarterdeck the sideboys.” The sideboys line up facing each other in two rows, with the boatswain’s mate positioned behind the outboard sideboy in the forward row. The boatswain’s mate then pipes “Alongside,” timing it to end when the boat reaches the foot of the accommodation ladder or the car arrives at the shore end of the brow. When the visitor’s head appears at the level of the quarterdeck (or when he reaches a designated point on the brow or accommodation ladder), the boatswain’s mate begins piping “Over the Side” and he, the sideboys, and all other persons on the quarterdeck salute. If the boatswain’s mate uses his right hand to hold the call (pipe), he may salute left-handed. The piping continues until the visitor has passed between the two rows of sideboys and is greeted by the officer of the deck; salutes are held throughout, as well as through any musical honors and gun salute that may be rendered. The process is repeated in reverse when the visitor departs, with the boatswain’s mate piping “Over the Side” as the guest passes through the sideboys and “Away” as his boat or vehicle gets under way.
Sigh. How refreshing to see a real man, doing a real man’s job, rather than that panty-waist jug-ears joke-of-a-present playing a round of golf.
One can hope...
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