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Updated Saturday January 29, 2005

 

01/29/05 - I am making space available on the Jack's Joint BLOG to Free Lance Coast Guard Writer  J.C. Carney to strongly comment on an article appearing in the February 2005 American Legion Magazine regarding the loss of the Troop Transport Dorchester in the early part of World War II. The Magazine Article can be accessed and read by going to the following URL http://www.legion.org/?section=publications&subsection=pubs_mag_index&content=pub_mag_chaplains

 

 

January 29, 2005

Mr. John Raughter, Editor

American Legion Magazine

700 North Pennsylvania Street 

P.O. Box 1055

Indianapolis, IN 46206, State

 

Letter To The Editor:

 

Dear Editor:

 

Regarding the article: “No Greater Glory,” by Dan Kurzman, in the February ’05 issue.  I enjoyed the article very much but noted a number of discrepancies.  I do hope the following will clarify these errors.

 

The CGC’s Escanaba and Comanche were capable of flank speeds of 13 knots—not 11 knots only.  Furthermore, even when iced the 165-foot Tribal Class cutter could still maintain 12 knots flank speed.  The former-liner, Dorchester should not have been placed in a slow convoy (SC) as she was in truth capable of much greater speed then the usual knots required [9 knots] of the ships in slow convoys.  Why she was thusly routed is anyone’s guess.  She should have sailed with the larger and faster 327-foot cutters in a fast convoy (HX).

 

The three cutters in question did—for the most part—harbor modern armament.  In fact, their depth charges and K-guns were as modern as could be gotten at that time, as were the “mouse traps” used to shoot forward to attack U-boats on the approach.  Their main battery consisted of 3”50 cannon and various machine guns.  The main problem associated with their ability to hunt and destroy the enemy in early 1943, was the given fact that they did not have radar installed, which may well be the only true drawback to their efficiency.  They did employ sonar and high frequency direction finders, lovingly called “Huff Duff.”  These direction finders could (and usually did) find U-boats through the constant chatter they [U-boat personnel] put out when planning an attack.  The major question remains as to what was a moderately fast liner doing in a slow convoy?  Certainly, the Navy Command (ComEastArea) should have been aware of this discrepancy and re-routed the liner.

 

As I too have written an article on the Escanaba and personally served aboard the Esky II (WHEC-64) [nickname] in the late 1960’s, I have learned much about both ships.  I also have the logbooks of the Escanaba I on hand.

 

Mr. Kurzman’s Article was, for the most part, factual in every other sense.  I just thought I would clarify the information on the proud little cutters.

 

Sincerely,

J.C. Carney, Esq.

Freelance Nautical Writer

Former US Coast Guard

 

 

113-½ West 3rd street # 1 • Park Rapids, Minnesota • 56470-1572

Phone: (218) 237-1346 • Fax: Same

eMAIL: jimbo@unitelc.com


 

NOTE The Cutter ESCANABA I referenced in the article and Mr. Carney's letter was lost during WWII.

                         

 

01/19/05  - Jack's Joint will be in business for six years comes next April. Hundreds of people have contributed to the stories found on this site. Unfortunately because of four major computer calamities over the life of the site, most of the snail mail and email addresses have been lost. Several people have crossed the bar. In an effort to reconstruct our authors list I am posting a listing of all of them in alphabetical order. I would greatly appreciate it if you and all of the readers for that matter would take a few minutes off and send me what you know and/or how to locate each of these people. As I amass the information I will indicate who has crossed the bar and line out each person who I have relevent information on. I am not compiling a mailing list to sell spam-wiches. That list will not be published, however I will pass on the name of anyone trying to contact an author to him/her and they can respond. I don't want to interfere with anyone's privacy.  Go To JACK'S JOINT All Author's List

01/10/05 - Much to my surprise the Web Trends program came back on line. I reviewed the most popular pages, where my visits were coming from et.al. I can identify the servers but have no idea who within these servers is checking in and perusing Jack's Joint. I was amazed that one of the most popular pages was the Ocean Station's Forum http://www.jacksjoint.com/ocean_stations-forum.htm . I worked on that about a year ago. Once in while I will lurk around Fred's Place in the Point-Counter Point area and find something of interest. I found it, some forty pages of chatter about Ocean Stations. I contacted Fred Siegel the webmaster and asked his permission to clip it out, edit it and then repost it for all to see. Glory Be !!! I cut out a lot of the email addresses (to protect the innocent of course) and cleaned up the language a bit and posted it.l Believe me - It is a classic. These pages really captured the  world of the weather ships from the Cabin, to the wardroom, the goat lockers, the forecastle, pineapple alley, and every nook and cranny of the old cutters. There are entries by snipes, deckies, twidgets, leading seamen, grumpy old chiefs, George junior ensign, sparkies, overburdened warrants, mess cooks, and even weather birds. Do yourself a favor and visit the old guard on these pages http://www.jacksjoint.com/ocean_stations-forum.htm and let me know your thoughts about this world that has passed before us and will never be seen nor heard from again.

01/08/05 - The other day I decided to see if I could get some sort of discussion going about naming our new cutters after former Commandants and  Master Chiefs of the Coast Guard rather then after former Treasury Secretaries, heroes, plants, and what have you. I had a secondary motive and that was to see whether or not anybody comes over to this corner of JACK'S JOINT and reads the BLOG, Without having Web Trends to tell me what the activities of most interest are I am working in the dark. I suggested within my spiel that someone start the conversation on FRED'S PLACE and I would track it from there. I checked PCP on FRED'S PLACE today and saw nothing which leads me to several conclusions:

Go figure.

01/06/05 -   The Naming Of New Cutters - Going back into antiquity our cutters have been named for Treasury Secretaries, Heroes, Plants, Flowers, and sometimes just words like Resolute, Confidence, Active, Alert, etc. I think that renaming new cutters after old cutters has it's merits although building an overgrown Buoy Tender ala Storis and calling it Mackinaw is ludicrous. There will never be another icebreaker that can be named Mackinaw. That old lady was a "oner."  Someone in the Ivory Tower can come up with a more fitting name it would seem.

The practice of naming the major cruising cutters after Secretaries of the Treasury should cease. There were only a few Transportation Secretaries and their names should be put on planes and trains. There has only been one confirmed Homeland Security Secretary so it would seem that using that name would not be the best idea.

What I believe the best source of names for major cutters would be is former Commandants. There were a few really outstanding ones, some good ones, some so-so ones and a few caretakers. This would really honor the memories of the better ones. I would put Waesche first; then Rowland; Hamblin; Richmond; Loy; as a start. The next tier of smaller cutters could use the names of former Master Chief Petty Officer's of the Coast Guard such as Calhoun; Theile; Patton; and so forth. In this way we would be memorializing our own and not have to borrow names from others or engage an English teacher to come up with some appropriate names.

I would be proud to serve on the USCGC WAESCHE (WHEC=***) or USCGC CALHOUN (WMEC-***)

How about it? Does anybody have any better ideas? If so take up the discussion on Fred's Place and I'll check in every once in awhile to see if anybody really cares.

12/27/04 - Last week Jack's other website, JACK'S SHACK was reopened. The intent was to have an unrelated  corner devoted to my local activities. After developing a special BLOG for it and seeing the results it obtained, I decided to decommission JACK'S SHACK permanently. The purpose of JACK'S JOINT is to have a place on the www for Coast Guard, Lighthouse, and Military stories, articles and poems to be libraried. Publishing related newsletters and links falls into this realm but  local political activities do not. There will be no more spin-offs of that nature from this site.

12/23/04 - Refer to my comments of 12/16/04 about, "Cumshaw." This editorial speaks for itself and requires no further amplification from me.

Editorial: Clemency for Kaus

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Posted: Dec. 22, 2004

Soldiers who get Bronze Stars for exhibiting “initiative and courage” don’t belong in the brig, particularly for exercising the initiative that allowed them to complete their missions.

Yet this is apparently the case for Army Reserve Maj. Cathy Kaus - who grew up in Casco - and five other soldiers. Kaus has been spending much of the last six months in a Navy brig in San Diego.

Her crime? She allowed members of her unit to scavenge three trucks and two trailers that enabled the unit she commanded to safely accomplish its mission of supplying combat units with fuel during the early part of the Iraqi war. They believed the trucks had been abandoned.

Yes, she should have reported that her soldiers, faced with too few trucks to accomplish their mission, first appropriated two trucks and trailers left unattended. They later took a third disabled truck and cannibalized it for parts to keep their unit running.

For allowing the first vehicles to be left in a lot to avoid having them traced to her company, she pleaded guilty to theft and wrongful disposal of property. For failing to report that the third truck had been taken and dismantled, she pleaded guilty to willful destruction of military property.

Before that, however, she was lauded for her unit’s performance. It suffered few casualties and no fatalities while operating in some of Iraq’s roughest and most dangerous terrain in the Sunni Triangle during the first phase of the war.

Kaus, a single mother of a college student and a 28-year Army reservist, will be released some time this month and will likely return to her home in Dayton, Ohio.

Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) has already intervened to ask for clemency for Kaus and Darrell Birt of Columbus, Ohio, who were convicted with four others of the 656th Transportation Co., based in Springfield, Ohio.

Kaus’ family in Wisconsin has now asked members of this state’s congressional delegation to also intervene, and GOP Rep. Mark Green of Green Bay has indicated that he will.

Clemency could restore Kaus’ military benefits and reverse her dishonorable military discharge.

Both should be done. Kaus’ actions were not for personal gain. They were done in response to being inadequately provisioned to do the job she was tasked to do, a matter that recently came up again when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took questions from troops. One intrepid soldier wondered aloud why they were scavenging for armor in landfills.

Kaus, as her medal attests, served her country ably. She made some wrong decisions in the process, but they were decisions that, no doubt, saved lives, those of members in her unit and those they supplied with precious fuel.

Green should not be alone in the Wisconsin delegation requesting clemency. He should be joined by the others in the House and by Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl.

Her punishment doesn’t come close to fitting the “crime.” Clemency is in order for her and all others convicted in this incident.

12/21/04 - L'il Abner listed his occupation as a "mattress tester" in the local mattress factory.

12/17/04 - I am surprised by the number of emails that I have been receiving about this page. It isn't viewed frequently enough to be listed in my "Web Trends" report. If people are sending me their comments then it must be read at least here and there. I think I'll keep the page open so that I will have some place to periodically vent my spleen.

I have been asked by one communicant why I use the background on this page that I do. Go back a few years and a number of old Sears catalogs ago and take a serious guess as to where you are sitting. If you look a bit further over to your right you may even see a crescent cut into the boards. It may have been cut in there by Pappy Yokum (L'il Abner's Pa) as that is what he listed his occupation as - "Crescent Cutter."

Do you remember what L'il Abner's occupation was?

12/16/04 - The ancient crime of cumshaw is alive and well. I didn't get the whole story off of TV News tonight as I wasn't listening that closely,  The gist was that a veteran lady officer, either Army Reserve or National Guard has been arrested and is presently confined to a military prison on the charges of trying to use old either wrecked or discarded army vehicles for repair parts and armor improvements in Iraq. According to the report, she will receive a Dishonorable Discharge for her efforts. I don't know what part of the old Coast Guard most people were in but it was common practice in the fifties and sixties to cannabalize anything that could be scrounged up to fix the ship to make the next patrol. Fortunately old age and a cloudy memory dims the specifics of the hundreds if not thousands of venial sins committed in the name of trying to make something run that should be broken down. Naturally there are those who will deny this today. If every sinner had been caught and court martialed, the prisons would have been filled and only a self righteous few would have remained as a cadre of new Coasties who are unfamiliar with the "can do" spirit in which we operated.  Now we know that  "cumshaw" is no longer just venial sin, it is mortal sin. Enough on this topic!

12/13/04 - The appointee for the Homeland Security Chief's job, Bernard Kerick sure looked the part, he seemed to be Andy Sipowicz with a decent haircut.  A recent Drudge Report was very damning of him.  Employing a Nanny without a  Green Card is not that unusual a venial sin. It is too bad that is what caused him to withdraw his name. I join with many others in hoping the person selected ultimately for the crucial Homeland Securities position is not some political hack that can pass all of the politically correct litmus tests, but a person who is highly qualified and universally respected. Retired Admiral Loy, our former Commandant shouldn't be overlooked. Another excellent possibility would be Senator Joe Lieberman. The wrong person could turn the Department into an American Gestapo.

12/4/04 - Here it is almost time to change calendars and I haven't even designed our Christmas Cards or written the annual Christmas letter. I have received several to date so I am positive that it is December. I have always looked forward to receiving people's annual Christmas letter. These seemed to have fallen out of favor over the last ten years or so. It is such a pleasure to read something from the hand of a person or persons that have been in my past lives. It must be as I get older I get more nostalgic. So far this year about half of the cards we have received have contained a short letter. Things may be looking up. At least to this point I have bought the number of stamps that I will need for our annual mailing.

12/3/04 - I am sorry to learn that Governor Tom Ridge is resigning from the Department of Homeland Security. He is to be congratulated on taking on a tough job like he did and doing so well with it. Let us hope that his replacement will be half as good as he is.

11-25-04 - A couple of months ago Larry Stefanovich, President of the Coast Guard Sea Vets drove up to Port from Lake Geneva and spent the day with me. He brought along three old issues of the now defunct Coast Guard Magazine, two from during WWII and one from shortly thereafter. He let me copy pages from each of the three as I didn't have time to read them then. In going through the magazines I saw that there were articles and features that might be of interest to the people visiting this site. I picked out a story or two and posted them a while back. I sent the August 1944 pages down to Don Gardner and asked him to go through them and see what he thought was worthwhile posting. This week he emailed several of the articles back, I reformatted them, Jack's Jointized them and posted them. I will gradually get around to working on the other two magazines and extracting what looks like interesting material. 

Normally I would try to seek out the publisher and/or author(s) and get permission to use the articles, poems and stories. Sixty years have passed, the Coast Guard Magazine ceased publication in either 1956 or 1957. So I will take the chance and post them without the release of the copyrights. I don't know what the succession to the old Coast Guard Magazine was, it may have been Navy Times. In any event, I don't think anybody is going to get too excited about articles written that many years ago.

I remember the Coast Guard Magazine from my early years in the Coast Guard. It came to the ships and stations I was on and it was passed from crewman to crewman until it was dirty, dog-eared and raggedy. I wish I could get some more of copies of the magazine because, while it read like a house organ, the articles and features were of great interest and I know it introduced me to other parts of the Coast Guard the I had never been directly exposed to.

It is gone now, almost all but forgotten, These articles that I have just posted should resurrect it for now and give subsequent Coasties a glimpse of another Coast Guard in another time. Semper Paratus

 

11-16-04 - On November 16, 1948, 56 years ago, Jack enlisted in the Coast Guard on the Green Ticket.

11-16-04 - On November 11, 2004 I opinionated on the PBS production, Battle History of the U.S. Coast Guard. Within my comments I was critical of the use of two old warhorses telling war stories. One of those old Warhorses was QMC Resnick. The following article appeared in Navy Times:

 NAVY TIMES November 22, 2004
FRONT LINES
IWO JIMA FLAG'S FATHER

The Coast Guardsman who gave Marines the flag they raised on Iwo Jima - a scene captured so famously by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal - died Nov. 6.
 
Robert Resnick, 82 of Boca Raton, Fla., was a quartermaster on Landing Ship Tank 758 during the battle for Iwo Jima.  On Feb. 23, 1945, after the deadliest fighting was over, Marine Pfc. Rene Gagnon came on board Resnick's vessel looking for a large flag to raise over the island. 
 
The Marines had already put up a smaller flag but wanted one that could be seen from a distance.
 
Resnick located a flag and gave it to Gagnon, along with a 21-foot steam pipe to serve as a flagpole.  Gagnon, helped by two Marine buddies, including Pfc. Ira Hayes, carried the flag to the top of Mount Suribachi, where it was raised by Gagnon, Hayes, Sgt. Michael Strank, Cpl. Harlon H. Block, Pfc. Franklin R. Sousley and Navy Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John Bradley.
 
In an interview earlier this year with Coast Guard public affairs, Resnick said his boat was leaving the beach when he heard "a tremendous and sudden ovation" from everyone there.
 
"There was whooping and hollering - a tremendous cheer as the flag went up.  Every ship tooted his horn," Resnick said.
 
Resnick, who kept quiet about his participation in the historic event until recent years, said he wanted the country to realize the significance of the Coast Guard's participation in the battle and victory.
 
Resnick was buried in his native state of New York.

        THANKS TO FORMER MCPOCG VINCE PATTON FOR THIS INFORMATION - Jack of Jack's Joint apologizes to those two old war horses.


 

11/12/04 - A publisher has shown some minor interest in an anthology of some of the better stories found on the pages of Jack's Joint. To this end my partner in crime, retired RMCS Don Gardner has compiled some of the stories into an approximate 200 page book. It is not anticipated that we will make any great deal of money in this endeavor. What if any money flows my way will be plowed into this website to keep it afloat as long as I can.

For the most part we are in the process of contacting several of the authors who's stories we are using and re-requesting their permission to use the stories for this purpose. The following is a listing of these people we haven't contacted directly. If any have any objections to our use of their work, please state your objections now. As I said, we don't expect to make much money on this so there wouldn't be too much to spread around.

Jerold Wanek

Pat Varallo

Al Schreiber

Jarard Powers

Harold Doan

David E. Riffle

Rory Schultz

Larry Welker

Joe(“Sharky”)Morales

Dave Moyer

Stan Barnes  JaySchmidt

Jack Fletcher

John Russell

Gene Blackwell

Chuck Kircher

Jack Morrison

Ted McCormack

Ken Patrick

Pat Glesner

11/11/04 - OPINION - There was a lot of Coast Guard hoopla over the two hour History of the Coast Guard presentation on the History Channel tonight. There were some interesting narratives particularly by the CG historians, Admiral Loy and former MCPOCG Vince Patton. It was descriptive of the political events that led to the merging of the Revenue Marine with the Life Savings Service. But there were areas where the documentary fell short. The role of the Coast Guard in Vietnam was played up but most of these film clips were of Navy Swift Boats. Only a small percentage of the Vietnam era clips were of our stock 82 foot patrol boats and only a very passing reference was made of the Ocean Station vessels that were deployed there. When they got to the part of the first Desert Storm the documentary shifted almost entirely to a narrative by a Lady Reserve Captain who played but a bit part in the overall scheme of things. When addressing icebreakers only the Great Lakes bound Mackinaw was shown. Nowhere were the loran stations, AMVER, lightships and buoy tenders to be found. Conspicuous by its absence was the major acquisition of the Marine Inspection Service in 1947.  The Bark Eagle popped in and out a few times and there was a brief allusion to the Ocean Station programs.  But the overall problem was the untimely advertisements that were hammered in to the point of distraction.  My overall opinion of this production was that a lot of the better parts wound up on the cutting room floor to give time for a few old war horses to tell their sea tales. Too bad, a first class production of the history of the U.S. Coast Guard has been long over due. This was not it.

11/09/04 - MINOR UPDATE - I (Jack) have been having serious mobility problems caused by mucho pain in the lower back. Yesterday I went to the local hospital and received a very painful shot in my lower spine. Last night the pain doubled. It is beginning to abate now. There are several items on the back burner at Jack's Joint that will be brought out later when the pain subsides and things can again get into focus. Of late just the newsletters have been posted.

Tomorrow we celebrate the Marine Corp's birthday. We also celebrate Jack's 73rd birthday - "Had I known I would have lived this long - I would have taken better care of myself."

11/01/04- BOOK REVIEW - “SEADOG, A Coast Guard Memoir” By Eric Greinke©2004 Published by Pres A Press, P.O. Box 792, Rockford, Michigan 49341

The 179 page book is available in both hardcover at US$30.00 and soft cover at US$15.00 from the publisher.

The book reflects with reasonable accuracy what life was like in Boot Camp and on two Great Lakes Coast Guard Lifeboat Stations in the late nineteen sixties. These were the days of the “Donald Duck Hats” that preceded the great sanitation of the Coast Guard which occurred in the late nineteen seventies. The “Donald Duck Days” were the last days of the Hooligan Navy when the Coast Guard was full of rugged individualists and characters who could get their act together long enough to perform dangerous rescues on the water with a high degree of professionalism. Many like the author were jokesters and clowns. Their everyday dress was not always military, beards abounded, dungaree liberty and wild civilian clothes were the rage. The Donald Duck Hat only came out on rare station inspections. Unpressed chambray shirts and dungarees were the dress for every day work around the stations.

The title of the book, Sea Dog, is somewhat deceptive until you read the book. Yogi, the Golden Retriever mascot, enters the story after the main character, SA Greinke, finds him swimming in heavy seas on Lake Superior. The dog is accepted as the station mascot and pops in and out the main thread of the story. When SN Greinke transfers to the Muskegon Station, Yogi comes along. In the last chapter Yogi sees BM3 Greinke in the water after a speedboat cut the station’s 16 foot skiff in half and in spite of his hatred of the water swims out to Greinke and pulls him ashore. The story ends just after that.

A number of people come and go within the story. Most of these characters are quite well developed and you feel as if you know them after awhile. The events occurred but true names were not used because parts of the book might be embarrassing to those still living.

This glimpse of the “Donald Duck Hat” Coast Guard through the eyes of a 17 year old enlistee, through boot camp and two stations during his four year enlistment, is well worth an afternoon’s read. Only the detailed sexual encounters with the Group Commander’s daughter detract from an otherwise well written portrayal of the “Sweet Water Sand Peeps” of the Coast Guard during that era.

The publisher can be reached by email presapress@aol.com

Reviewed by Jack

 

10/28/04 – About the second year that Jack’s Joint was on line I had a section accessible off of the front page that concerned itself with book reviews. It was a section that I was having difficulty keeping up with. I was spending more time reading then I was devoting to the website so I decided to discontinue it.

I really didn’t know how many people were interested in my comments about a book or a film. When I dropped it I only received one complaint.

I will not resurrect the page in the form it was in. I will as time permits, review a book on this, the BLOG page.

Today I received a short Coast Guard Memoir called Sea Dog, written by Eric Greinke. I have read about half of it this afternoon and if time permits, will finish it tomorrow and write my comments about it on this page.

10/24/2004 - Will it ever be over? I am talking about the election. If I believed everything that I am hearing on radio, on television, across the internet, ad nauseum, I believe I would stay home on election day. Everybody seems to be a scoundrel. I think I saw a new low today in a TV spot advertisement (or are they public service announcements?) One of the presidential candidates was alluded to be like Herbert Hoover. How could these admen go back 70 years plus to dredge up that bilge?  Mr. Hoover was really something as president, he single handedly and without help from anybody plunged the world into a deep depression. I don't think that many of those watching the ads voted for him or his opponent, Al Smith, let alone remembered either. Next there will be allusions to the Teapot Dome Scandal. What a mess! Isn't it nice to have a refuge like Jack's Joint to go to where you aren't beat to death with political public service announcements?  Maybe that accounts for my jump in visitors per day this last month.                      .

10/14/2004  - Oh woe is me! Just for the heck of it as I was waiting the other night for a pill to kick in before I went to bed. I decided to make a search on the internet for, "Jack's Joint." The results were startling. There is a tavern website,  a home for photo-journalism, an Australian Bar, and a porn site. The latter is found by dropping off the "s" making it jack joint. Very disgusting!

I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone dreamed up a new and original name for their site. I checked everything I could 5+ years ago before I went on line to make sure I wasn't copying somebody else even if inadvertently, and found nothing. I wish those who had decided on using the website name I selected would have had the courtesy to do the same thing. A pox on them, particularly the porn site.

The origin of the name is simple. My name is Jack. I could have used Jack's Place but that would have looked and sounded like I was emulating Fred Siegel, a man I admire and who was the pathfinder for many of our Coast Guard oriented websites. I checked with Fred at the time and asked him if he objected to my using the name, "Jack's Joint" and he said, "no, no objection on his part" as a matter of fact he indicated that he was somewhat flattered that I went this way as a form of site emulation.

Since those days when our websites were in their infancy and adolescence we have taken different directions. Fred has tied in with Military Dot Com. I think, but don't know for sure that it was a matter of economics.  Believe it or not a website offering the amount and variety that Jack's Joint offers is very expensive. I do not want to get into begging and I hate advertisements all over everything. I will continue as I have as long as I can.

Some have asked me why don't I give the site a face lift. I know it is not the new, modern, glitzy look that is the rage today. I have the programs to do this but prefer not to now. I believe in keeping things simple if I can so that the site is easy to maneuver and things can be found. Making changes is almost instantaneous. No programmer needed.  So you are going to get the same old presentation in large, easy to read print, consistent in format, with just enough variety to prevent sheer boredom.

I wish someone would volunteer to do the indexing for me. It is a huge job and definitely needs reformatting.           

 

10/7/2004 - It is time to set this page into being. Back in the "old Guard" I would use the word, "promulgate."

The "Joint" is doing it's level best to remain non-commercial and non-political That is not too easy.

Seldom does a week go by that I am not contacted to put up advertising on these many pages. It is tempting as this "hobby" has become quite expensive. I started this site with the intent of providing a place for Coasties to tell their stories. Never did I dream of how successful it has become. Thus the attraction to potential advertisers. I also decided quite early that I did not want commercialism to pollute the pages. Admittedly there is some advertising on the newsletter pages and on some of the links but it has not found on the main and story pages and I don't intend to change that in the near future.

In this Major National Election Year I am sorely tempted to express my political views. It is hard not to. I could use the site as my bully pulpit but I wont. I am a local politician and I do not even use the web site to promote my campaign every election year. We shall remain non-partisan.

This does not say that I won't speak out on Coast Guard and other military issues from time to time as I have in the past but they will always be identified as OPINIONs. Please note I am not setting up any sort of chat room for followup. There are enough of them on the internet without my starting one.

5/1/2004 - Everybody is doing it, why should I be the exception?  Thus begins my BLOG.

 

 

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