It’s difficult to feel any sympathy. If you sign up you gotta go when they call you and do what they tell you to do. That’s the Military: if you don’t like it, be a civilian.
The pirates should have been pursued and destroyed.
Still a good job though.
Granted the baseball money would be nice, but sailing the high seas chasing pirates would be an adventure like no other.
Mr. Johnson...let me check...nope...my Give a Damn Meter ain’t moving for ya.
Shut-up and CTM.
Dial 1-8-0-0-C-R-Y-B-A-B-Y.
“I'm not going to some riot in Detroit, I'm a musician for crying out loud and my band just got a year's contract to play at our local Fire House.”......or.......
I have no sympathy for this person. One can’t pick and choose when to serve and when not to serve once the commitment is made. My son is a Navy lieutenant and is currently on the USS Kearsarge. He came up through the enlisted ranks and has been on sea duty for most of his career. Being away from his family for extended periods of time is difficult, but he serves without complaining and has the support of his family.
I feel just about as sorry for poor little johnny as I would for the lottery winner that was whining he only got an annuity instead of being able to get it all at once.
The Navy is just as beaurocratically inflexible as ever. When I joined, I served 23 months on a destroyer then was let out on a 1 month early out that was created for Navy budgetary reasons. I then went to college. No GI Bill because I hadn’t completed a full 24 months on active duty. Four years later, with 3 months left for an engineering degree, I got yanked and sent to Vietnam for 2 years. At 22 month in my Vietnam experience, the US was pulling out and I was to be part of the reduction. They wanted to release me early because it was not economical to send me to a ship for just 2 months. I stood my ground and pleaded my way into finishing a full 24 months in-country. When I finally did get released, I was now eligible for GI Bill benefits. I finally finished my degree.
Do the names David Robinson, Napoleon McCallum and Roger Staubach ring a bell? Seems to me they also graduated from the US Naval Academy, and were professional athletes of some repute—yet they were able to balance their commitment with their athletic careers. Johnston has yet to enter that class. I’d hope some crusty old Chief Petty Officer will have a heart -to-heart talk with the LT to advise him of his error.
That said, I’m thankful for all of the Naval Academy grads who embody the Navy Values of Honor, Courage and Commitment.
OK, this article says the boat was under attack and we let the pirates go. Does anybody else see a problem here?
Sounds like Johnston signed a contract
and now he wants to get out of it.
He just wants his “bailout”.
Maybe this guy would like the same deal Pat Tillman got?
Give me a break, you freakin' wussy.
You think you're the only one that ever had to respond to the call?
You're an Officer, a leader of men?
Turn in your stinking papers, quisling, and go back to your silly little county-wide baseball league.
I got no sympathy for you.
A Ted Williams Jonathan isn’t!