Anchors Aweigh

Godspeed to Mr. Bob, the Daily Blogster, leaving this week on deployment aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. If you haven’t read it before, check out Bob’s essay explaining why he joined the Naval Reserves after 9/11 at age 38. I have great admiration for Bob and am glad to count him as a friend, a friend I may not have met apart from the strange and fantastic world of the blogosphere.

Fittingly, Bob’s last post before deployment includes photos and a brief account from yesterday’s unveiling of the Danny Dietz Navy SEAL memorial in Littleton. (Also covered at Slapstick Politics and picked up by Michelle Malkin.)

Though raised in a family with many more Army connections than Navy ones (and it’s been a LONG time since the Cadets won an Army-Navy football game), I have made the exception to give the following lyrical hat tips to Mr. Bob as he heads for the Seven Seas to serve our beloved nation:

Stand Navy out to sea
Fight our battle cry
We’ll never change our course
So vicious foe steer shy-y-y-y
Roll out the T. N. T.
Anchors Aweigh
Sail on to victory and
Sink their bones to Davy Jones hooray!

And:

Eternal Father strong to save
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

To Mr. Bob and his thousands of naval comrades: Stay safe, stay strong, & thanks for your honorable service and for your faithfulness to duty and country.

Now, don’t go skipping out on The Daily Blogster just because Mr. Bob is away for a little while. He has two excellent guest bloggers filling in for him: Jim and El Presidente.

Also, please read the excellent tribute from Michael at Best Destiny.