Happy Birthday to the World’s Greatest Navy!

Sunday, October 13th is a day to celebrate the birthday of the U.S. Navy and the freedom it guarantees our country.  No other force for so long has been projecting power across the ocean and around the world to ensure America’s protection, provide humanitarian assistance to struggling countries… and sometimes to drop a Tomahawk on someone who deserves it.  The Navy exercises a unique ability to extend our borders further from our shores and buttress them with steel and hardened warriors.  Thanks to the Navy, Americans rarely have to consider the possibility of attack on our own soil.  This is a benefit of American citizenship that is such a rarity in history.  America is so blessed to wake up every morning under the blanket of protection provided by the United States Navy.

Speaking of the hardened warriors standing watch around the clock on our Nation’s warships, these Sailors are the smartest, fittest, most educated Sailors in our history.  They work long hours whether in port or in harm’s way.  They leave their families for 9 months at a time and can’t tell their families where they’re going.  These Sailors are reminders that America is made of strong stuff; America’s greatest generation made some good kids!  These kids are going to college part-time while learning to repair electrical circuits embedded in a motor required to operate a sea water service pump so the ship has flushing water.  And thank goodness for their excellent multi-tasking capability because never has America demanded more from them.  Warfighting has evolved rapidly in the past decade.  Despite the evolution, the joint operations of the U.S. military hinge on the ability of the Navy to be on site, on time and put warheads on target.  Who else could pull that off?  A Firecontrolman Third Class Petty Officer on a Guided Missile Cruiser operating in the Arabian Gulf is trained and empowered to pull that off, that’s who!  The fast evolution of war and new terrains on which we fight complicate every operation and every maneuver, requiring even faster and more intelligent action at every level of the Chain of Command, from a 4-star Admiral to that Firecontrolman Third Class during the “mid watch” on her ship.

So take a minute to raise a glass to the World’s Greatest Navy!  If you know a Sailor or veteran, give them a hug and say thanks for standing the watch.

For your viewing pleasure, here’s a great video put together by Today’s Navy:

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Meaghan Murray graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2008, served an engineering tour in San Diego, CA on USS BUNKER HILL (CG 52), then joined the wardroom of USS SAN DIEGO (LPD 22)–also in San Diego, CA–by way of Pascagoula, MS. On shore duty in the D.C. area, she is immersing herself in our nation’s capital, cultivating strong interests in politics, government, God and national security.