The Real Patriots. . .

Today I find myself in Gulfport, Mississippi at the Naval Construction Battalion Center monitoring the placement of a concrete slab in one of the many new buildings being constructed here. Now, I know many of you are saying, "but, aren't you a chef?" and the answer is in fact, yes. Just not a the moment. It's a long family story for another day. Hey, they still call Bill Clinton, Mr. President, don't they?

Anyway, during all the mayhem which usually transpires during concrete placements, all of the sudden the work stopped and a lot of hollering ensued to which most of us ignorant civilian types responded with a curse or two wondering WTF is going on!?!?

Well, it was The Star-Spangled Banner being played on loudspeakers across the facility. So, we all stopped, removed our hardhats and turned to the flag over at the training facility for the remainder of the song. I noticed two things.

First, The Star-Spangled Banner is the most beautiful song ever and should be played daily all over America, not just in military forts, bunkers, camps, bases, barracks, foxholes, command tents, underground command centers, rappelling towers, kwanset huts, ammo dumps, PX's, guard shacks, helicopter landing pads, and slit trenches but everywhere, every morning.

Secondly, not only were the proud men and women of the Navy and other arms of our military and us civilians paying tribute to our flag, so were all of the immigrant, mostly Mexican, workers. I thought it was a great sign of respect for them to join in, with hardhat over heart facing the flag and enjoying the beauty and importance of our national anthem. Good for them! They probably appreciate it's meaning more than a lot of Americans. Ahem, liberals.

Man, I'm glad it's Friday and I wish I could take a picture of the base, but there are rules, naturally, and the last thing I want to do today is go to the brig, where I'm sure I can hear The Star-Spangled Banner there too.

Have a good Friday everyone and I leave you with this curious photograph to ponder. . .