US Navy Sailor Volunteers Link their future to a Maritime Heritage

 Here's the picture: Four United States Navy Sailors,, more specifically, Petty Officers ETN 2d Class Lance Halderman, Maxwell Dale, Alexander Molaison, and Nolan Clunan, all (Nuclear)Electronics Technicians, have day jobs, as Instructors at the Naval Weapons School up the Cooper River.  But on their own free time, they are deckhands aboard a wooden traditionally rigged 19th Century replica Pilot Schooner.

I get it,, I"m a retired US Army soldier, and I still like to mess around in History, Military and otherwise, and period fire arms, black powder muzzleloaders. These guys like to mess around in ships their great-grandfathers would've crewed. Actually me too, but never mind. 

Boatswain Bryan Oliver (LTC USA, Ret)
administers the reenlistment oath to 
US Navy Petty Officers Alexander Molaison,
 Maxwell Dale, Lance Halderman,
 and Nolan Clunan

These four took it to a new level when they requested permission to conduct their first Reenlistment Ceremony on the deck of SSV Spirit of South Carolina, and offered me the honor of administering their Reenlistment Oath. 

Any servicemember of the Armed Forces can choose, within reason and professional protocol, the location /scenario of their ceremony wherein they are promising anew, four or six years of Service to the Nation. They may also request who will administer their oath, as long as it is a Commissioned Officer of the United States Armed Forces, Active duty or Retired.

All Professions, and the military professions in particular, are defined by values, principles, knowledge, experience, standards accumulated over centuries. The maritime professions are founded on values and principles that can be lumped under the label of Seamanship, as relevant today as they were centuries ago in the age of Sailing Ships and Galleys. 

It's official. 

These four sailors chose to recognize that link to their professional history by marking this  significant occasion in their careers, and I was especially honored to be part of it.