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Dixon        MERCHANT MARINE

MERCHANT MARINE – Celtae

CHORUS: We're the Merchant Marine and we sail across the sea

As the U-Boats' torpedoes hunt for hulls that they can breach.

We will brave the rugged ocean. Blistering winds test our devotion,

But we'll keep steaming 'til our cargo's on the beach.

1. We arrived in Halifax with all we owned upon our backs,

For we knew a brave man's duty was to labour for the fight,

But it takes more than bravery to survive killers you can't see.

Those bastard wolf-packs hunt by day and strike by night.

2. We have barely any weapons; every day our lives are threatened,

And if we die, the Navy sends no pension to our wives.

Winter on the North Atlantic is hellish, cold, and frantic,

For the sea alone's a challenge to survive.

CHORUS

3. In the war of Hitler's visions, the Allies would get no provisions,

'Cause the war was his decision, sinking ships not built to fight.

The finest liners of our day are now painted battle-grey,

4. Now it's true we had protection, two destroyers in our section,

Three frigates, two corvettes to ship our fifty through the waves.

One destroyer's now debris, both corvettes lost under the sea,

And her sister ship's an underwater grave.

CHORUS

5. Now we mourn our fallen brothers, pray to God there'll be no others

Blown to bits by diving demons deep below,

For the carnage and the thunder that sucked those good boys under

Happens daily, and we've three more days to go.

MERCHANT MARINE – Celtae

I became a United States Merchant Marine in April of 2005 so I could go work on the Pride Of America, the first U.S. flagship built in 50 years for the cruise industry. To be on a U.S. flagged ship you had to be a United States Merchant Marine. For me to become United States Merchant Marine I had to go to a school in Piney Point, Maryland called The Seafarers Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship (“SHLSS” or “School”) to get my preparation for the United States Merchant Marine. While I was learning the skills to survive on the unsympathetic and beautiful oceans of the world I also learned there is a lot more to the Merchant marines then just transport of merchandise from place to place or cruise ships. There was more to them then just a career at sea. I found out they have along and honorably and courageous history that most people do not know about. The more I looked in to the merchant marines the more I was surprise, with what they do and have done for the populace of the world. I am also astonished of how long they have been around in the world. That is when I comprehended that I actually knew very miniature about the merchant marines. Then I started looking for more information on merchant marines. I wanted to know how long they have been around and how important they were to the world.

I discover that without merchant marines what we know today would not be they help map the world. They have been around scents the first days of traded across the waters of this world. They were the people who traded merchandise and shipped others peoples merchandise to all parts of the world. In their movements across the waters they met knew community and got to know new cultures. Also, they help make these country’s greater The Greeks, Roman, and they did it by trade, which brought wealth and knowledge to the people. They transfer goods during peacetime and wartime to all parts of the world and in all parts of time in history.

Merchant marines are in every country today and move all the supplies that across any body of water and also people to one place or another. They work the rivers and our oceans. In ways merchant marines are the truckers of the water, but the water is more treacherous then the roadways. The ocean is a dangerous place and she can bring down any ship anytime she wants to. Sailor refer to ocean as women, because the exquisiteness of her and she is as dangerous as a women. She can be tranquil and sweat and glide you through the sea, or she can bring any man down on their knees and in gulf them so they never make it home. Just like women a sailor would say.  Women can bring the strongest man down or boost them up. That why they call the ocean a women and sailor love the ocean like women. She is the mistress to all married men who sail the seven seas. So even during peacetime they have to deal with extreme risk to make sure peoples merchandise gets where it needs to go. Beside the hazarders of the ocean they also have pirates to deal with and yes there are still pirates out there. People would think there are no pirates on the sea, but there are and seems like they’re always will be.  They still do it even with these risks in shipping during peacetime, but it is important for us with out them there would be no traded with other countries. If we did not have any trade, our economy would fail. That not even the most important thing the merchant marines do. The most critical time for the merchant marines is wartime and how they assistance us.

Wartimes are the hardest of all times for the community of the merchant marines. Beside the pirates, and the demanding living conditions on the ships, and how merciless the ocean can be. They have to deal with enemies out to sink them every minute of the day. Country during wartime tries to demolish the supply line of the nation they’re combating. Well the country supply lines are the merchant marines. They’re the ones that deliver the supplies to the troops and also are the troop carriers. That means they were the number one targets in every war. If you can take all the merchant marines ship down from the other side, then the other side could not get their supplies or troops to combat zone and you will be triumphant. People can look at world war one and two and see how the enemies of the United States targeted the merchant marines.

Throughout War World One America alone lost 197 ships and 629 United States Merchant Marine. (American Merchant Marine at War)  That not even are allies merchant marines that just ours. That is a lot of ships. “The Germanys had Unrestricted Submarine Warfare was biting - in February 1917, 470,000 tons of ships had been Ed Geer and Geer's Country sunk. By April it had risen to 837,000 tons.”(HistoryLearningSite.co.uk). Now during this time United States Merchant Marine were not a fraction of the U.S. military which meant they did not get any benefits from the military like the other braches of the arm forces did. Their widows did not receive benefits of any kind from the military. These men risk their lives against all probability to make sure our troops got where they needed to be, and received the supplies they required to keep us free. These men and their wife’s I believe deserve a gigantic thank you. Now you would think after loosing all those men and not getting recognize by United States and letting the entire widow struggle to survive with out assist.  You think they would not help out in the next war.

Well the next war came like it always does, and the merchant marines did assistance like they always have, and still at this point in time they still did not get recognize by United States. That means if they died or got wounded they were on their own. Just like the first world war, but the men of the United States Merchant Marine still came out and did their part in World War Two. To my amazement while they were doing their part in War World Two to keep us free, they lost a lot of United States Merchant Marine fact they lost more then any other group “Merchant Marine death rate was 1 in 26, the highest rate among the services in World War II” (Mike Francis). That is just ours not even are allies. To me that it dumbfounded they would not be giving the benefit. Just shocking! Why would they not give to them? No one really gave them a reason. They just kept saying no.

I find it shocking because they were under military law (Ed Geer and Geer's Country). That means anything they did wrong they could face a corp. marshal, but they still were not giving military benefits. The heartbreaking part is the men who were taken as P.O.W or even if their ships were sunk at sea their salaries stop at that point. Until they could get back to work on another United States Merchant Marine ship they were with out pay. Where other braches got paid as P.O.W and even if there ships were sunk they still got paid. Even with all that danger and with knowing all the facts that they had to face.  The fact that if they died there wife’s would not get anything and or if they became a P.O.W. the wife’s would not get any money. Then you have to wonder why these men kept going out to sea over and over to make sure the other branches of the arm forces got what they needed. It was because they were patriots. I think about going out to sea to help my country at time war and my country not helping my family or me after everything I would have done. To me that just not right. I would still do it but, I would still think it is wrong.

These men and women of World War Two braved the open oceans knowing the odds were against them. They knew they had very little protection and also some of the ships were not made for crossing the ocean. They knew there were wolf packs (German submarine groups) hunting them the minute they left port. They knew they might not return, but they wanted to-do there part in the war. Just like in song I put up top. Those are the dangers they had to deal with. They had face death every second of the day and have the courage to keep going, and they did throughout the war. I am thinking that they should have been giving the benefits like the other branches of the Arm force. I think there is no question on how importation they were to the war effort.

President Roosevelt agrees and wanted more to be done for the Merchant Maries. One of his address to Congress he said this. “Third, in the event of a war in which the United States itself might be engaged. American flagships are obviously needed not only for naval auxiliaries, but also for the maintenance of reasonable and necessary commercial intercourse with other Nations. We should remember lessons learned in the last war.” (John woolly) The sad part he died before he could change anything for the men and women of the Merchant Maries. With the death of President Roosevelt seem like the chances of the merchants maries getting recognized by the United States would never happen. But President Reagan did get the merchants maries part veterans’ benefits. They got health benefits only. At least it was something. I think they needed more and should have benefits the hole time. I mean why would we let any of are veterans go without? It amazes me that we would not give the United States Merchant Marine the benefit that they needed. I am even shock that more people do not know about them and what they did for us in World war 1 and 2.

I would have to say after everything I read about the United States Merchant Marine that they are one of the most valuable assets the United States have, and they have not been treated that way at all. I think we should really look at them and see what we can do, to tell their story and get them the benefits they rightfully earn in world war two and in every war.  United States Merchant Marine are not asking for any military benefit in peace time. They are only asking during wartime. I think we should give them that. I think if they are taking as P.O.W. or their ships sick they should still get pay and the windows should get paid to. I think after learning everything I have about the United States Merchant Marine I have come with a deeper respect for them.  

Greece

Greece the Dark Ages

After the movie Perfect Storm, the phrase became a metaphor for situations that join together to make the perfect storm. I think that is what happened in Greece. I feel the perfect storm hit the Greek society. They did not see it coming and when it happened there was nothing they could do but change. I think it took them a long time to realize that change had to happened. I think when you look at all theories it was not just one situation was all of them that created the perfect storm for the fall into the Dark Ages.

          Greece fell into the Dark Ages after the Mycenaen palace state collapse. There are many theories as to why the collapse happened and why it sent the Greeks into the Dark Ages. Was it one problem or was there more than one? Various people as have theorized that war or civil unrest or famine caused the down fall. With these theories as to what brought the Dark Age people have to wonder what was the major cause of it. Also, the result of the Dark Age brought us democracy. Did democracy help pull Greece out from the Dark Age? We have to look at all these theories to see if it was one or all of them that brought the Greeks to the Dark Ages. I think that not just one but it all lead to the Dark Ages.

The facts are there was war, civil unrest, and famine. The rich were doing ok but the poor were getting worse. The government and growth of the city became stagnant. Immigrants stopped coming to be part of the Greek cities.

The palace system was set up for the elite class and the warriors of that time. It was not for the people. In this system the poor worked the fields and brought food to the palaces. This system also had the poor beable to take out loans to support their selves. These loans were not good ones, because if they could not pay them back they became slaves to the people who loaned them money. This system had a lot people becoming slaves that were once free men. By making men slaves they became malcontent with their lives. That leads people to change where they’re in their lives.  This system was set up fail and it did. My theory all of the situations brought on the perfect storm.

The storm that ended the Bronze Age started with slavery of the Greek people. The second factor was drought. The drought came to the land and without rain there was a lack of food. The people of Greece were going hungry, but they still had to feed the elite group of people. With hunger growing more with every passing mouth people got tried of feeding the palace people. The people in mass numbers chose to move to the mountains for better lives. The ones that stayed in the cities found hardship. They had to work harder to supply the elite and the soldiers with food. With hunger growing in Greece, so did the discontentment of the people. That discontentment brought civil unrest to Greece.

With civil unrest of its populace, Greece was starting down the path of the Dark Ages. The people started stealing and rebelling against the structure that was in place.  With people rebelling and food becoming more scarce people had to leave to find other resources of food. People working against the system left the cities open for invaders to come in and steal provisions. The Sea People were one of those groups who used the civil unrest to their advantage. They joined in with the people of Greece to plunder the cities of Greece. With the ransacking of the cities and people stealing food for their selves, and the Sea People stealing food as well and anything they could get their hands on this harmed Greece. This lead to the soldiers running short on provisions so they had to go out and obtain work to feed their selves so they left Greece.  Then with Territorial Army leaving Greece it left it vulnerable to assault by other groups.

With less people to protect Greece from rebels and intruders and also, with no real security and lack of resources, emigrants discontinued coming to the cities of Greece. The trade market also slowed down. Then the people of Greece started having fewer offspring. With the population slowing down and the financial system slowing down too, Greece was pushed into stagnation and fell into the Dark Ages. One thing could make a nation plummet, but I assume they had the perfect storm. Everything from oppression, greed, environment, and outside powers lead to the fall of Greece.

With the fall into the Dark Ages the leader of Greece had to find a way to pull out of those tough times. With the people in the cities turn on the cities they lived in and the wealthy losing their prosperity they had to find a way to get back control. With this they figured the way to get control was to let the people have a say. The people having a say and making them a part of government-helped Greece get back in control of its citizens. Greece used the iron to help them gain money. This helped the poor gain money and build for themselves. With the people having a say and the Iron Age coming about Greece developed a middle class.

The middle class growing in Greece and also the citizens become part of the armed forces helped Greece recover from the Dark Age. I do believe if they did not modify the way palace people believe and make the people a part of the administration they would have been in the Dark Age till another nation came in and took control. I believe democracy came as a need for the citizens of Greece and think people in power realized that.

Analyzing what I have read and looking at the theories I have come to the conclusion why Greece fell into Dark Ages. I think it was because of drought, slavery, greed, and war. I think their situation created the perfect storm. I also think that’s what forced them into having a democracy and other places did not follow because they did not experience what the Greeks did. Otherwise I think democracy would spread everywhere at that time.