LUCKY TO BE ME

My wife says that to me all the time, and I have to admit it’s true more often than not.

Just back in from the West Coast where I spent time with the men and women of the Coast Guard’s National Motor Lifeboat School (NMLS) at Cape Disappointment, Washington on the Columbia River, home to the infamous Columbia River Bar – the Graveyard of the Pacific.

I get to work with the military in various capacities – generally at least once a year – and I always come away proud to be able to say that these folks represent the cream of the crop when it comes to exemplifying all that it really means to be an American. Honor, duty, service, responsibility … all the words that people pay lip service to without ever understanding what it takes to back them up. These are the people who put money where the rest of our mouths are.

Thanks for allowing me into your world last week.

I wish all the staff at NMLS, all the students I met from the Coast Guard stations around the US, and the Guardsmen of Station Cape Disappointment, best wishes for Christmas and the holidays.

Thanks for the jobs you do.