Trying to understand the basics of life.....

Actually, after reading Ecclesiastes (that is how the spell checker spells it, though I wonder) I have to agree with The Preacher, the basics of life are mere vanities. If we follow the guide, we should be alright at the end of the trip but how many of us travel that way? Most of the time we get off the course we set out on and BAM, we wind up somewhere unexpected. As The Hub used to say, and I quote "Oh Very Well."  (that would be Senior Chief Hubble, for the uninitiated)

For example, I joined the Navy in '71 planning to do 6 years and getting out and working for one of the oil companies as an electronics ( radio ) tech. Would have doubled my salary but would have never made a trip to Okinawa, Iceland, Spain or Sicily, not to mention Israel, Italy, or the south of France. Nor would I have seen any of the "Spanish Riviera." Such is life, 22 years later. 

Mind, traveling on the government nickle is ok, but you wind up with lovely things like "Shore Patrol" or flight deck duty { if you have never been there, you really can't imagine. The Discovery Channel has a couple of shows on carrier duty, but they can't put the taste of burning jet fuel in your nose and noise that is greater than a Grateful Dead concert. And they don't really cover liberty launches and 12 on / 12 off 7 days a week. } I'll have to warm up the old scanners and select a few pics. More later as it is now bedtime.....