After graduating from high school in 1991, I really had no idea what I wanted to do except have some fun, but having moved out of my father’s house, I had to work to pay rent and get food. i was no where near prepared for adulthood. I had liked school because of the access to reading material, but couldn’t stand the structure and the expectations of compliance and obedience. college would have been cool, except to pay for it was beyond reach. I didn’t really know anything about scholarships or grants, so I signed up for the Navy (the only branch that had a job consistent with my high ASVAB score), and headed of for boot camp at Great Lakes in May of 1992. In August of 1992 I got married, and a week 
later reported on board the USS America in Norfolk, VA. In January of 1993, my first child and daughter was born, and 3 days later headed out for qualifications. in August of 1993 we off to relieve the Roosevelt in Operation Deny Flight, then over to support “peacekeeping” efforts (with bombs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shortly after, we headed through the Suez Canal to support “humanitarian” efforts (with guns) in Mogadishu Somalia, then back up to the Mediterranean to participate in Southern Watch, this time support not with guns or bombs, but with an elaborate intelligence network that I think I’m still not supposed to talk about. I later found out that we had covered over 2,500 miles in just under a week. In February of 1994 we pulled back into Norfolk for a bit before being deployed to Haiti to support the overthrow of Aristide. my consciousness of what it meant to defend your country was slowly awakening to the fact that I was defending not my country, but my country’s attempt at world domination, of colonialism.
In 1995 we departed for the America’s final
deployment before decommissioning. It started out as anything but routine, dodging and riding in four hurricanes in the Atlantic, we crossed the Atlantic in half the typical time it takes to cross the pond, 3 days. Once again we were thrown into the Persian Gulf, another “visit” to Bosnia, and the elaborate intel network got even more elaborate and complicated; so much for the final “cruise”. the best part was a port call in Malta, from what i understand a place that hadn’t had a united snakes carrier in a very long time. the people were almost as great as the Italians.
In February of 1996 we pulled into Norfolk a final
time. In March 1996 I left Norfolk for the 2 months of leave I had earned and in May of 1996, despite the objections of several shipmates and officers, was decorated for several acts of “valor” and honorably discharged. my four year endeavor in the navy had a positive and negative effect on me. the negative: when they say people give their life for their country, we really do, in a very naive manner. we lose our souls to the state, I lost mine for several years, even after it was behind me, it was always in front of me. on the positive, I came to many realizations about the sickness of civilization, the cancer. I also met many wonderfully diverse and loving people throughout the world that i would not have otherwise known, and came to know earth as a very small place.
Gene's Community Ramblings 