Submarine Chasing

Yesterday morning, Daelyn asked when Cousin Greg was leaving.

"Friday morning," I said.

"When is my fieldtrip?" he asked.

"Next Thursday," I told him.

"OH-h-h-h-h!" he responded.

"Why, Daelyn?" Dane asked.

"I wanted him to go on my fieldtrip with me," Daelyn explained.

I suggested, half tongue-in-cheek, that he take Greg for Show and Tell at school.

Deanna spoke up. "Don't they have Show and Tell on Friday? Greg will already be gone."

"Usually they have it on Thursday," I said. "Daelyn, we'll have to check with Mrs. Phillips today."

Which we did. And Mrs. Phillips said to have Greg there by 12:15 today. Yesterday afternoon, Greg came down to use our Internet Connection and Daelyn asked if he'd be his Show and Tell. Greg laughed and asked me what Daelyn meant. I gave him the whole scoop.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Daelyn, but Auntie Alice wants to go our to Trina's house tomorrow." My sister, Trina, lives about 35 minutes away and, when Mama goes, she stays all day. Daelyn was disappointed but understood that he couldn't abscond with all of Greg's time.

Around 8:30 last night, I got a call from Grandpa. Greg had asked if they could somehow rearrange his schedule so he could be there for Daelyn. Mama and Daddy had worked out the details.

"Greg and I've been talking," my father continued, "and we think the most interesting thing for Daelyn's class would be for Greg to explain what he did in the Canadian Air Force."

Me: "What DID he do?"

Papa: "He was a Submarine Chaser!"

My father went on to explain what Greg's career involved. He was one of only a few Air Force soldiers who tracked down enemy subs, keeping tabs on where they were and what possible armaments they had in proximity to Canadian waters or vessels.

"WOW! He's going to talk about that tomorrow?"

"That's what we were thinking. We thought Daelyn's class would likely enjoy that," my father continued.

A few minutes later, I was sitting in the Den talking to Don.

"Dane's class has already studied sonar. I bet they would love to hear what Greg did." On a whim, I called Dane's teacher and told her what we were doing and offerred to bring Greg around to her classroom. She asked to have him come around as soon as he was done in the Kindergarten.

Deanna was still up. I told her about Greg going to the boys' classrooms and she wanted him to go to her class, too.

"I don't know, hon. It's too late to call your teacher and I can't just bring him in unexpectedly. Why don't you talk to your teacher when you get into school tomorrow morning and I'll check with you when we get there. If she wants Greg to come and talk to your class, we'll add it on the end."

So . . . Greg talked to the Kindergarten class, then the 3rd graders and, last, the 5th grade. The questions got more interesting with the higher grades and I asked the most questions of anyone. Greg was in the Air Force for 33 years and spent 25 as a Submarine Chaser. Their secondary mission was Search and Rescue. In addition, he stopped Drug Smuggling into Canada, made Sovereignty Patrols, looked for violators of the 12-mile Canadian Waters limit, and alerted the RCMP's when he found polar bear poaching or fishing violations.

One of the boys in Dane's class asked if he liked what he did. Greg smiled broadly and responded, "I loved it! It was the best job I could have ever had."

More on Greg's job and our visits to the classrooms tomorrow.