Perspective- From a much different angle...

When people learn that I served aboard submarines (and after the usual comments about claustrophobia and how did I fit in a submarine), they ask WHY I picked submarines.  My answer may surprise you, but it certainly lays a unique foundation that would impact my chosen career greatly.

During the Vietnam war, I remember watching the daily death toll given to us by Walter Cronkite in the nightly news.  I remember my mother saying that she prayed that I would never have to endure such an event.  As a young man, I pondered what I would really want to do if drafted when I became of age.  I knew one thing for sure- that men of high rank make decisions that place men of much lower rank in harms way (Like my father who served on LST-360 in WWII at Anzio, Normady, and many places I would not have wanted to be).  These high ranking (professional) people made recommendations and choices that assigned RISK to those people they made the choices for.  IF they made the wrong choice, however, the penalty for that wrong recommendation was paid for with wounds and fatalities of those brave men and women while they remained insulated and safe in their headquarters.

On a submarine, the Captain makes many recommendations and decisions.  Those items are carried out by many people of many different ranks and specialities.  The big difference is that the risk is shared equally by all shipmates- regardless of rank.  A poor recommendation can mean peril not only for the lower ranking sailors, but for the Captain and fellow officers as well.

In the movie Pearl Harbor, Jon Voight plays the part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The original idea for the Tokyo raid came to him from a former Submarine Commander- Admiral Francis S. Low.  After hearing the idea for the bold move against Japan, he comments in the movie, "I like sub commanders- they don't have time for bullshit and neither do I!"

My point is simple- submariners have a much different perspective on many things than do other people.  I place a much greater value on risk that the average person as a result of my Sub experience.  Risk is quite a different thing when it effects not only the end user of an idea- but also the originator.