Another assignment in my “Personal Legacy” writing course was to describe my major life work, followed by the advice I would give a young person seeking a career. Here’s what I wrote: My major life work is being a leader. It’s an unlikely calling for a bashful farm girl who didn’t talk to people and […]
I recently took a “Personal Legacy” writing course, in which our lives were compared to trees with numerous branches. We were assigned to write about a branching point that changed our lives. This is what I wrote: The major branching point of my life occurred in 1972, when I joined the US Navy after college, […]
Good afternoon, I am retired Navy Captain Diane Diekman, and my relationship with the Navy Memorial goes back to the time when the Lone Sailor was standing all by himself outside. My greatest day here at the Navy Memorial was my retirement ceremony in 2004. I’d always had a dream of having a retirement ceremony […]
Today I attended a Mary Kay training session conducted by a multimillionaire national sales director (NSD). She spoke on mental attitude and how we become what we think about. Although I’d never heard of her, I could see why the others had excitedly waited for her visit. She was knowledgeable and motivating and responded well […]
Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — July 16, 1997 From USS Boxer (LHD 4), a new ship on its first deployment, I went to USS Independence (CV 62), the oldest ship in the Navy. Too large to tie up at the pier the Boxer had used a week earlier, it anchored several miles […]
[Excerpt from Navy Greenshirt] I had completed almost two years of a tour in a Navy training squadron, and my current job assignment was that of assistant maintenance officer (AMO). When the maintenance officer (MO) went on leave, I ran the Maintenance Department and thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks in charge. Everything went smoothly and […]
With goggles pulled tightly across my face, I waited for the signal to step out onto the USS Independence flight deck. Five men and I stood in the tiny entranceway of the aircraft carrier’s “island,” a seven-story superstructure that towered over the flight deck. My helmet muffled the engine roar outside the metal bulkhead. I […]
Navy Greenshirt: A Leader Made, Not Born Chapter 1 “Captain, United States Navy, Arriving” Chapter 2 Maintenance Officer School Chapter 3 The Professionals of VT-23
[Excerpt from Navy Greenshirt] Before going to Japan, I had called Faron Young, and we’d held a long enjoyable conversation. As always, he had an opinion on everything and didn’t care how people reacted to his comments and actions. I enjoyed his wonderful sense of humor. He said he’d stopped smoking–again. (He had […]