I have always been a fan of Navy. I was born in a Navy hospital and grew up as a Navy Brat. My dad was a Navy Chief Petty Officer and retired from the Navy in 1974. However my dad for all of his virtues, love of the Navy, distain for the Army was not a fan of the Naval Academy during the Army Navy Game. I remember asking him about this and it turns out that as a kid he was a fan of the Military Academy sometimes known as “Army” at this time of year. He was a man of of principle and never wavered in his support of Army football during the Army Navy Game.
As for me I have been a “flip flopper” in much of my life. I grew up as a Navy brat and entered the Army because Judy said that she wouldn’t marry me if I joined the Navy but that the Army was okay. No to be truthful I did ask the Navy ROTC unit at UCLA about the possibilities of entering the Navy but to do so they wanted me to change my major in my senior year of college from History to something in the hard sciences, Mathematics or Engineering. Since I had no desire to repeat several years of college I asked “who will take me?” I was told to “see the people in green down the hall.” Thus I ended up in the Army.
Now when I was in the Army I remained faithful to the Navy. I had a “Go Navy” button that I would keep in my uniform pocket especially during the weeks leading up to the Army-Navy Game. Well after 17 1/2 years of service in the Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve I declared free agency and resigned my Army Reserve commission as a Major to enter the Navy, reducing in rank to do so. Judy was not pleased because I basically made the decision without consulting her, even though she probably would have agreed if I had asked her but what can I say? I am a man. A manly one at that. However Judy has remained with me for all of these years she has been a military wife for over 28 years now and probably has another 5-8 or more to go. God bless her and the other military spouses that choose to endure the career choices of their husbands or wives. But I digress…
The fact is that through thick and thin and despite the fact that I was a military service “flip-flopper” I have always been true to the Naval Academy in its rivalry against the Army and the Air Force. The fact that I was in the Army for many years never took away from the fact that as a kid I loved the Navy and always was for Navy in the Army-Navy Game. The fact that my dad who was a career Navy man always cheered for the Army is inspirational to me. My dad was a man of character and never abandoned the team that he cheered as a child. Like him I have not wavered in my support of the team that I cheered as a child. The irony is that I spent nearly a full career in the Army before going to the Navy.
As for the “Go Navy” button I gave it to my best friend in Germany a now retired German Army Officer who spent the first three years of his military career in the German Navy. Gottfried never left his navy roots and I gave the button to him many years ago. He may have spent most of his career in the German Army but still is a Navy man at heart.
On Saturday the Midshipmen of the Naval Academy will play the Cadets of Army. The Navy Goat will face the Army Mule yet again in this great American tradition. While we may be adversaries on the gridiron we are brothers on battlefield and in the defense of the United States and our friends. I have served over 30 years in the Army and Navy. Though I admire and respect my friends in the Army I can only say one thing about the Army-Navy Game….
GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY!
Peace
Padre Steve+
The Inglorius Padre Steve's World 