It’s an old Navy tradition — manning the rails of a ship as it leaves port or returns. It’s just not quite the same as when I was a sailor —a quarter of a century ago.
Has it really been that long? — When I left the Navy, Jimmy Carter was the president and the hostages were still in Tehran.
This image is cropped from a photo on the Damascus Road blog — “manning the rails” on shore as USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) departs her homeport at Naval Air Station North Island, Coronado, California.
Post from one of my abandoned blogs – North Farnham Freeholder – recovered from Internet Archive WayBackMachine 2/28/2011; recovered image and updated post 11/20/2017
