The following is a "Post" that I authored on Ron Martini's BBS. A discussion of Ceremonies prompted my response. I'm not sure where the words came from but after reading them again, I think they are typical of us all.

The Tolling of the Bells

To be a submariner you must give up a lot. You are away from your family and friends for long periods of time. You live in conditions that people today would file lawsuits over. At times you have been taken to your physical and mental limits. You are force to live with others that are so much like you it's madding yet they are totally different. You have been put into situations that practically scares you to death but still you won't leave. You try to explain to others what you do and they look at you with blank stares. There is absolutely nothing normal about the way we have lived. The Submarine itself is nothing but a hunk of cold steel without us. We laugh and make jokes about us, the boats, skimmer's, the Navy, Ceremonies, Officers, Enlisted, and just about everything is "fair game." We use levity to hide our true feelings because we don't want others to know how we truly feel. Some just ride submarines and others become part of the submarine. Either way, we have been there. Once there you can't leave. "It" becomes part of you.

Some feel that we have made light of "The Tolling of the Bells" Ceremony with our light-hearted use of the words. What we did was use the words not the ceremony. (A play with words, maybe.) Do we make light of each other? Do we make light of "things" we don't really want to think about? Would we be the first ones to answer the call? Does the "Tolling of the Bells Ceremony" mean something to us? If you don't know the answers, you weren't there. There is not one "Submariner" who would not have given his life to save that "Cold Piece of Steel" or lay down his life for his brothers. What I have written is not a "Play on Words", but the TRUTH.

I for one feel very fortunate to have been part of the this "TRUTH."