Author: Eric Saretsky

Lessons from Manzanar, part 2

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Human Rights and the public good

At the visitor center at Manzanar National Monument, my wife and I spoke with a docent about a book of images available at their store There were images that Ansel Adams, the famous photographer of landscapes, had taken of internees over the years. Apparently, another famous portraitist, Dorothea Lange, also had taken a series of images that captured the human pain more succinctly (only such images that reflected positively were published; the others, subsequently, were not released publicly by the Government). Forty years later, after incremental policy reversals and President Ronald Reagan publicly apologizing to survivors and descendants, these sites were turned into monuments to make future Americans remember.  However, racism finds other targets.

 “After the attacks of 9/11, when people angrily singled out people wearing Muslim headscarf”, she said, “it was the Nisei – the children of those who had been in the relocation camps, who defended Americans of Mid-eastern decent.” They did not want the painful lessons of the past to be repeated.  She identified a child’s photograph on display there in the center, from the Manzanar camp, as one who defended a Muslim woman after September 11th. Like the refugees of the last few years who fled civil wars in Libya, from ISIS in Syria, crossing the Mediterranean and interdicted in Greece and Italy, Ukrainian women and children fled the Russian invasion there. With these emigrants joining those who have been resettled in several countries including the United States, the competition for services only gets more competitive. However, these recent immigrants are learning valuable skills to support themselves, notably in healthcare, which after the global COVID pandemic have seen a large need but few new workers among the native born. In the fifty years since Vietnam, Americans of Vietnamese ancestry hold public office. Americans of Philippine ancestry serve in the military and in public services. Americans of Middle Eastern ancestry hold public office. Americans have elected and reelected a black President, Vice President, congressmen and mayors. However, the public is still being persuaded through government institutions and media conglomerates that racism is the single most prevalent problem in America.

Lessons from Manzanar

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For what they “might do”

A road trip north of Los Angeles on Highway 395 went past a monument to one of the ugly chapters in Twentieth Century history: the Manzanar War Relocation Camp where eleven thousand Americans were imprisoned during World War II for what they ‘might do’. It was one of ten such concentration camps in the American West incarcerating 110,000 men, women and children. Here, in the Owens Valley of California, the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains present a stark contrast of geologic beauty and human shamefulness. The United States Government, abetted by local politicians and the media, unconstitutionally deprived Americans of their rights without due process. With racist laws in western states, particularly in California, people of Asian ancestry were prohibited from owning real estate or businesses.  While incarcerated in these camps, these men, women and children were publicly humiliated, lost property (through unpaid leases and property taxes), and forced to live in dusty, cheaply constructed conditions.  During the war, these people were subjected to “loyalty interviews” and eligible men were expected to accept being enlisted in the military to prove themselves. Once FDR realized that the Supreme Court was going to hear a case that would publicly shame him and the policy of internment, the Government initiated a plan to release the internees, comprising $25 payment and a bus ticket to another inner part of the country.

To be continued

540 acres housing 11000 people
memorial created by internee, 1943
plaque dedicated to those in America’s concentration camps -for Americans

Information on Pensions, Disability & Annuities

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One of the tools any recruit, officer candidate, enlistee or veteran should develop is financial planning. Married or single, at age 19 or 39, we all need solid finances. Whether the military is only for a few years, a career, or the member has been injured and receives a disability pension, becoming educated and then disciplined about finances will help individuals and families plan for and respond to changing economic conditions. An organization, annuity.org, based in Florida reached out to us last month to include the linked newsletter article in that theme of planning your career and post-military years to remain fiscally strong.

VA Retirement Benefits: Pensions, Disability & Annuities

Editor’s note: This information is provided for self-education only. Truth, Half-Truths and Sea Stories has received no compensation from annuity.org for hosting them.

Port o’ Call: Cape Canaveral, Florida

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Performing a maintenance routine for equipment topside on the USS PETERSON as it arrived in port on a sunny Spring morning thirty years ago was actually fortunate timing. We were just tying up at the naval pier not far from the launch site where NASA’s missions to the moon had flown. But that morning was an unexpected treat. At nearly the same time as we moored, a Space Shuttle roared off the launch pad.

I had been a fan of space flight ever since I the middle Sixties when I had watched the Gemini and Apollo launches on a television wheeled into our elementary school classroom. In the 1980s, I had been with a group of college students touring the Johnson Spaceflight Center near Houston during a national convention of the Theta Tau engineering fraternity. Living in Tucson, Arizona in the early Eighties, I also saw an early Shuttle (the Enterprise(?)) being flown piggyback on its modified 747 airline as it routed through Davis-Monthan AFB on the way back to the Cape. And in four years prior to my assignment aboard the PETERSON, I was stationed in the Washington DC area, where one of the tasks our department performed was to install a mobile van with equipment to communicate with the Shuttle as it orbited the Earth during a particular mission. Being in the Capitol region also gave me opportunities to visit the Air and Space Museum where visitors could walk into a mockup of the first orbiting space station, SkyLab, and to see many exhibits, including items returned from the Apollo Moon missions.

With my grandchildren not yet old enough to appreciate the excitement I felt watching spacecraft launching toward the Moon, I am glad that the first ARTEMIS mission to the Moon is still a few years away. Perhaps when they are my age, they will not have thirty- or fifty-year old memories to recall when we reached for space.

Ask the Chief: an entrepreneur never ceases learning new things

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Becoming self-employed is not as difficult as keeping your enterprise healthy (and hopefully profitable) a few years later. A few decades ago, my venture into self-employment did not account for the market changing, making my side gig unprofitable almost at the start (consumer electronics and small appliances became cheaper to replace than repair). Fortunately, during the ’90s my Active Navy service provided a decent living for a single man. In 2001, I married shortly after I became a Reservist. That Navy Reserve income plus my civilian job kept a roof over our head, children fed and contributed to our retirement savings. However, when I turned sixty, my wife and I decided to start a business. It was a niche opportunity that she and I both were suited to fill. Before “burning our boats” and committing to self-employment fully, my wife continued to hold a jobs for several months.

keys to a successful enterprise

The first advice we had learned years before, was to not stop working for someone else until we had continuing income from our new project. Additionally, receiving a small pension from the Navy beginning that year allowed us to keep the dream going. With most of our income servicing businesses in a segment of the healthcare industry, And then, the global pandemic caused businesses to falter and many to fail. But the fact that nursing care and supplying new nursing workers was “essential”, kept our business services fully engaged. And now, after four years as an entrepreneur, the small business my wife and I started has regional and national clients.

a business mentor

While together we had years of expertise in various aspects of our services, developing a business plan, obtaining financing, organizing, then streamlining the infrastructure, cutting costs and determining how to be more efficient in operation took shape over a few years. While experience is a great teacher, and failure often breeds a “never quit” in those whom are destined to be successful, it is easier for entrepreneurs follow other successful entrepreneurs, including having a mentor or coach who is trusted to give constructive criticism as well as advice. We took advantage of resources available to get our business started by getting needed guidance from the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA funds advisers to help entrepreneurs, at no cost (the local offices are funded by the government) in many communities throughout the US. Other resources exist including a national organization of business professionals who volunteer through SCORE, conducting seminars and mentoring small businesses. And businesses can find assistance through networking in local Chambers of Commerce and Rotary Club.

formal and Non-Traditional Education

Formal education may be an option though challenging for the self-employed. Several sailors when I was on Active Duty, attended classes which were paid for by Tuition Assistance. Reservists and veterans used the GI Bill, and veterans with certain VA disability ratings were able to complete baccalaureates or post-graduate programs tuition-free. For most who intend to be self-employed, it comes down to what is required by a particular industry, and what the market dictates is required to be successful. In a technology sector, a self-employed engineer often must have a certain education level and industry-recognized certification to be a contractor. A welder who demonstrates the requisite skills, may be fully employed without a college degree. Continual education, through reading, attending seminars, participating in industry conferences and sitting on corporate boards, never ends for a business leader, or those who are working toward self-employment. Many universities offer continuing education programs, for executives, managers, and entrepreneurs, online, off-campus, and in evening and weekend formats. (Peers at my former employer gained various Program Management Institute credentials through such training and passing a certification exam.)

Informally, I know several who became successful through intensive preparation by reading textbooks, trade publications, study guides, and practicing in home workshops and computer labs. They passed certification exams easily, found employment, and with additional skills, became employed at higher levels of responsibility until becoming entrepreneurs.

education for the self-motivated at low or no-cost

For the last twenty years, a cooperative project between universities and the government has made thousands of college course available online tuition-free. Recently, I accessed MIT’s Open CourseWare (OCW) for a graduate course, Managing and Volunteering in the Nonprofit Sector. These have lecture notes, assignments and readings. With a little research, articles and books which are in the reading list, can be found through libraries, read online or purchased used from online retailers. (A personal favorite has become alibris.com).

reading is fun-damental

I have purchased books on several different topics, from language, biblical resources, gardening, and business from several sources:

  • alibris.com
  • thriftbooks.com
  • amazon.com
  • Goodwill
  • libraries

Having completed the first book I obtained in the above mentioned course, Managing the Non-Profit Organization, by Peter Drucker (1990), I am becoming acquainted with the principles and practices that not only apply to my for-profit company, but also with a non-profit organization, a church, I wish to aid. Other books in the university course focus on leadership, vision, communication, marketing, and employee (volunteer) performance. Access to books in any number of subjects is available in libraries, through stores selling used books, and through Internet access which is generally available throughout the world. Books can overcome the is one of the oldest avenues to learning that does not require large investment, nor computer access. For those who have computer and access to the Internet, a course syllabus from a free course (OCW) is easy to find.

As someone once said, “if you aren’t learning, you’re dying” (William S. Burroughs, paraphrased). There is always someone who takes advantage of tools and materials to advance his or her goals. If you still want to wing it, remember a young man in Sierra Leone, in Africa who taught himself engineering and is helping change his world.

Port o’ call : Cyprus

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On a Mediterranean deployment aboard USS PETERSON (DD-969) thirty years ago, I visited an Irish pub in Limassol, Cyprus. While a tourist destination for many British and Irish citizens, the island has had its share of trouble and even war, with the northern part of the island dominated by Turkish Cypriots and in the south, Greek Cypriots. For decades, the United Nations has maintained a truce between the two halves of the disputed island as a result. Though I got to see firsthand the uneasy relations between the two NATO countries (while conducting naval exercises with one country’s navy, we were overflown by jets of the other!), the port city of Limassol catered to tourists as well as the UN troops on liberty. Although my 2 shipmates and I were as versed as any about the political situation (given we were cryptologists), we followed command direction to blend in with other tourists (ballcaps, collared shirts, and short hair) to not stand out as Americans and to avoid any discussion of politics or our missions. We were just looking for a few beers and to explore the beach after several weeks at sea since our last port.

Sean’s Irish Pub was run by an Irishman and his daughter, serving both British and Irish beers and liquor. Talk about soccer teams was as peaceably divisive as with any sports fans in the USA. One of the patrons we chatted with was a Dublin businessman who amiably offered that Muammar Ghaddafi was a pleasant fellow he had business dealings (this was 1994, eight years after the US retaliated against him for sponsoring terrorism). It was best to let that slide. Being of Polish descent (dad) but Irish on my mother’s side (I neglected to mention they were Protestants), Sean made a couple of toasts over good Irish whiskey. We met and had a couple of drinks with one of the UN troops there – I forget whether he was Irish or British. The thing I do remember is that this pub catered to both the Irish and the Brits, but they came by at different hours. And the pub would either have a more “independent Ireland” or “welcome British” atmosphere (both Irish and UK flags displayed, ) depending on the clientele hosted.

Port o’ call: memories of Cartagena Spain

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“JOIN THE NAVY AND SEE THE WORLD”

Navy recruiting slogan in the mid- 20th Century

Several years of High School Spanish, as well as years living in southern Arizona near the Mexican border, made travel in Latin America easier. Traveling to Spain, on the other hand, was a little more of a challenge. Though I had a Freshman year of castellano, Madrid-dialect Spanish, I soon found that they do not necessarily speak “Spanglish” or the Sonoran (Mexico) dialect there.

My second Mediterranean deployment on the USS PETERSON, a SPRUANCE-class guided-missile destroyer, began in October, 1994. One of the first ports we visited was Cartagena, Spain. Located in the state of Murcia, it is a port city that has seen sailors on its streets for a few thousand years. Having lived in or visited modern cities, from San Francisco to New York City, seeing a Roman-era coliseum and medieval architecture – much of it incorporated into modern structures- made some of the oldest American buildings practically new.

I ventured out on liberty alone, trusting that my Spanish would help me get around. Being adventurous and with an affinity for foreign languages, Europeans were more open and chatty to me (Except for a Northern Italian shopkeeper who must have assumed I was an arrogant German -but that’s for another story). A family-run cafe, Restaurante Casa Pepe, (a small lighter I kept all these years in trinket box, reminds me of that port visit), welcomed me. I learned that eggs and bacon are served a little differently there. Chatting with the family, the son who was about my age, offered to show me around his city. He enjoyed correcting my pronunciation, teasing my accent. I teased him that he didn’t speak Spanish either. Murcia has a distinct dialect from Castilian or other Latin dialects, where “c”s often are spoken pallatized (a “th” sound), e.g., “Mur’th’ia ” . One of the buildings in the older part of the city near the waterfront was elevated to display a site that I recall pre-dated the Roman times. It may have been Phoenician. I should plan to visit the places I saw while in the Navy. Now that I am thirty years older, I imagine my acquaintances have long forgotten one Spanish-speaking American sailor, but I still long to revisit these ports of call with my wife. Though I think I will upgrade our mode of travel to a cruise ship. With no intentional disrespect to the Navy, anything will be more luxurious than a destroyer.

Cartagena, Spain, a bit more modern after thirty years (image via web)

Ed: this revised post was originally published here in August, 2021

A Navy career is what you make it

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At age 17, I enlisted in the Delayed Entry Program, to pursue training in electronics and an accelerated advancement upon graduation. I had only some idea of what I was selecting from a few courses in my last year of high school. After completing a career in the Navy, the experiences and the training I earned have provided me security and satisfaction with the career I was afforded. Young men and women today have many more opportunities to learn life-changing skills and gain experience through military service. Yet, the career a young person embarks is still to a large degree dependent on the goals, aptitude and motivation of each individual. Though I know few who regretted their choice of career, with a well-reasoned, thoughtful approach to potential careers, the military does enable many to avoid the pitfalls of a loan-financed education with few real-world opportunities.

In 2023, the lure of a college education as a means to provide more security and career options to young people is recognized by many as failing to live up to the billing. Those whose aptitude and college credentials provide them access to biotech, engineering, computer programming and related careers will do well generally. Many of these students in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields have opportunity to intern with companies, and get real-world experiences prior to graduation. The Navy, as well as the other military services, as well as other government organizations offer internships to highly motivated young people, even before deciding to embark on an enlisted or commissioned career.

Here are some of the opportunities that exist today in the Navy:

  • STEM internship for select high school or college students
  • Warrant Officer (Aerial Vehicle Operator) program for current enlisted personnel to attend OCS and become advanced technical specialists
  • For those students seeking post-graduate education in the medical or dental fields, a Navy scholarship program can pay those costs, so students can focus on their education and providing real-world experience in the Navy or Marine Corps
  • Current college undergraduates whose career ambitions may be in the Active Duty or in the Reserve, seeking a Commission, or to pursue Nursing, Civil Engineering, or the nuclear power field have options

generosity

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I began an early draft of this post discussing the merits of self-employment, and about small businesses finding a niche in which to grow more successful. Coming home from a meeting of a local Rotary Club today (a friend is a member), I found another “why” for growing our business which is also a tenet of our faith: being generous toward others. Organizations like the Rotary Club donate time and money to a variety of causes. This week, we heard from a local charity chair, about a national effort, sponsored by a celebrity benefactor (Dolly Parton), to encourage literacy among children and young adults. I had believed, that this was an issue for other parts of the work, yet a surprising percentage of the population in the United States does not meet the literacy standards predicted by completion of Grade 12. This charity seeks to reverse the limitations that illiteracy holds over people. Another community program, funded by donations and community grants, helps feed and connect with isolated seniors and disabled adults. And lastly, we heard from a Rotarian who has spent a lifetime supporting an organization that, in one of the world’s poorest countries. directly educates life skills and provides training in a trade and material support to engage in self-employment.

I wonder what good news I will learn about the next time the Rotarians meet.

Ask the Chief: barter economy

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Ask any Navy veteran about the barter economy, and most of us have engaged in it. We knew it as “comshaw”, which was anything we obtained outside of official channels, generally by bartering items we may have more abundantly, or obtained as something we might use to trade with another division, department, station or military branch for an item we needed. I experienced this firsthand when I was authorized by my department to shop at the DOD/ GSA store at the shipyard for items we needed before deploying. A fellow Petty Officer on a ship across the pier needed an item we were authorized to purchase, but his shopping manifest did not authorize it. We managed to do a little third party transfers with other shoppers to trade up to what he needed. And it came with a guarantee to provide me with something when needed in return. Sometimes, a supply Petty Officer must use forward thinking to anticipate what is a good trade and whom to count on to return a favor.

What brings this to mind many years later is the current state of our economy. It seems that just about everything that homeowners and entrepreneurs may find necessary (or effective) is either prohibited by the State, too costly, or comes with excessive taxes, permits or other fees. A solvent for a barbecue grill, legal in many states, was returned to the shipper, and my purchase rescinded (Amazon). Or another example, a preservative that is effective for concrete in extreme environments is not legal here; however, a less-effective preservative with many of the same “aerosols”, is legal, but requires double or triple applications during the same multi-year effectiveness of the former single application. Sometimes it is just a little difficult to obtain something – the toilet paper or meat and egg supply issues in recent years come to mind- while others may have a sufficiency. Perhaps they might be willing to trade these for another item or service of value? It was not all that long ago that I read about a champion of barter, who had started with an older but valuable item (I think it was a musical instrument) and successively traded up to obtain real estate.

Many years ago, our accommodations in the seaside Mexican town where my buddies and I went scuba diving were paid for with equipment and other goods from the United States that then were difficult to obtain in Mexico. Today, as the cost of maintenance and repair for household or mechanical items escalate, and the government continues to find additional ways to collect sales and income taxes from the middle class, I wonder whether a barter system that circumvents cash and credit transactions will become more popular.

Comshaw may be the way of the future.

Ask the Chief: an entrepreneur’s approach to social media

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As my wife and ISIC (Immediate Superior In Command), reminds me, opining, responding to, or worse, instigating a diatribe via social media is bad for business. In the last century, word of mouth, newspaper, radio and television advertising, storefronts and mail order were means to get products and services to consumers. Developing repeat business from clients was more easily obtained and was often a local market. It is almost exclusively through social media or websites that consumers are aware of an entrepreneur’s product or service today. Social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Meta (Google), Tik-Tok or distributors such as Amazon are the primary means to advertise an entrepreneur’s wares. Inciting negative publicity can diminish a product or service’s availability on these platforms. (These companies also depend on consumers to regularly return to their platforms for profitability.)

As a result, when an inflammatory post, or even something innocuous that may appeal to an entrepreneur’s morals and personal beliefs, social media can quickly become a murky pool in which the original intent or comment is lost. As we have seen frequently, companies such as Facebook or Twitter can limit exposure for certain content. It might be a battle of wills with one claiming censorship and the other inflammatory rhetoric, but small businesses cannot afford loss of market share. This is the unfortunate reality today that we be friendly toward all.

Legal tender has no morals.