Master Chief Wilbur Witt III retired last week in San Diego. When he joined the Navy back in ’93 we had no idea he would take it that far, but we should have. At two years old he would put his fireman’s hat on and race around our living room going to “work” every morning. In high school he played in the marching band his shoes were always shined and buttons gleamed. Then he joined the Navy.
Master Chief’s career was a mirror image of the schizophrenia that has overtaken America in the last twenty years. One day he was throwing the enemies of our nation into the Persian Gulf, and the next he was fishing them out. Still, as I mingled with his shipmates I came to realize that the “old Navy” is still there. They’re smart enough to keep their heads down, but as they walk down…
