Some pics from a friend from Fleet Week 2011
I was walking around downtown NYC on Sunday, saw less than a dozen sailors both enlisted and commissioned. Guess everyone had a grand time Saturday night and all were now in the brig ...
Why do you think that? Could it be that would have been the way you would have done it in that position? Not all sailors are drunks, granted some do go ashore to get drunk, but that seems to be what our future leaders in high school and collage seem to be doing today. Never did care to do much drinking or be around those who do, tried it a bit in the service, but quickly wised up and realized man could do well without it. Very abnormal view it seems.
jud
Lighten up, fella.
Guess everyone had a grand time Saturday night and all were now in the brig ...
I was going to let it lie until your last. Why should I lighten up? I found your comment and assumption offensive. There are some very good young people serving in our military who don't deserve to be stereotyped as drunks and brig rats.
jud
Depends upon where you were when you say "downtown".
Most of the sailors were in MIDTOWN, near where their ships were docked. Various Navy Bands was playing in Times Square all weekend. The Theater District/Times Square is usually the big draw for these folks, as it's close to where the ships are docked, and entertainment is easy to come by, and they can get back before curfew. The City sponsors many events designed to bring residents to the ships where they can mix and mingle with the crew-members.
I was only in Manhattan on Friday, but I saw a few sailors and Marines on the EAST side, fairly far from the West Side Port.
Also, there were quite a few events planned, where they had to be somewhere other than walking around sightseeing, like golf fundraisers, demonstrations, tours, instruction sessions, etc. Sunday was a big day for events....I'm guessing you just weren't the same area where these things were happening.
Sadly, a Marine stationed on the USS Iwo Jima was killed crossing the street to get back to his ship at about 1 AM on Thursday.
A group of shipmates got out of a cab and started to cross 12th Avenue when one of them, identified as Cpl. Steven Jorgenson, started to walk across the street and was struck by a southbound car. The driver stopped a block away and walked back, but the Marine was dead. There were no traffic lights at that intersection and no charges were filed.
Jorgenson, from Corpus Christi had grown up in Montana, and served nine months in Afghanistan. He had been slated to begin a six month course in detection and handling of IED's.
The accident occurred eight years and one day after another member of the armed forces — Naval Petty Officer Phillip Simone, from Garfield, N.J. – was struck by a car and killed during Fleet Week.
Whether the give it up in the jungles, on the high seas, in the skies, in the deserts or the mountains, or on the streets of New York......here's to them all.
As I recall, we started at the Battery, took the Staten Island Ferry round-trip, then went to Times Square where I only saw a few Sailors (other than the singing group), then on to China Town, then to Rockafella (sp?) Center and finally to the Plaza Hotel.
Slept really well that evening.
I saw quite a few young men in Marine Corps - looking uniforms with insignia on their caps that looked like Coast Guard. Didn't know what they were.
Just by way of information, for those who don't know, the building with the two cranes on top near the center of first photo is Tower One.
64 stories so far, now starting to rise above everything around it, until it reaches 1776 feet from base to tip of tower.
The two cranes to the far right are working on Tower Four, which will rise to 975 feet.
