Stories from lockdown

Del Mar, CA

April 8, 2020

 

 

The Captain Crozier saga continues to unfold. My hope is that a thorough investigation will reveal who is responsible for what. Questions to be answered in my mind are:

 

How prepared was the Navy for a pandemic?

Why was the carrier sent to Vietnam?

What was the response to Captain Crozier’s initial requests for help?

Why was there not a more thorough investigation before Captain Crozier was relieved of his command?

Why did the Secretary of the Navy feel he had to immediately fly to Guam to disparage Captain Crozier and make his case? 

Why did Captain Crozier write his letter without exhausting all channels of communication to his superiors?

 

Twin Mountain, NH (continued): A few years ago, Vicki  and I visited my brother and his wife in Hancock, New Hampshire before driving two hours north to the White Mountains. We pulled off Highway 302 in Twin Mountain to view our old house. A woman saw us and walked across the street to our car. I told her our history with the town and the home, and, of course, she was Sharon’s cousin. She told us where Sharon lived, and the next day we found the house.

 

 

Sharon knew we were coming. In small New England towns, news travels with speed! We approached her hilltop house and knocked at the door. An aged woman appeared, and it was Sharon. Though many years younger than Vicki and I, she looked older. She lived with her adult daughter, who worked at a nearby hotel, and her unemployed son-in-law. 

 

I asked about her family while gazing at her cluttered home. Brenda and Larry had died of cancer. Ray had disappeared in Littleton, ten miles away, where he spent his time alone. Lorraine and Michael, like Sharon were on disability and lived close by.

 

So how do people of promise end up dying young or on disability? It is a complex issue but certainly life in rural, northern New Hampshire is not easy. The winters are cold and long. Work is scarce and opportunities few. As I drove away from Sharon’s home, I tried to make sense of it.