The Deep Sea Reckoning: Tribute to the Old Guard

A TRIBUTE TO THE OLD GUARDS: Mueller, McCain, H.W. Bush

Upon this occasion of the passing of Robert Mueller, who served as a Marine Corps Officer in Vietnam, earning a Bronze Star with Valor, and later serving as Director of the FBI under George W. Bush, and Barrack Obama. I attribute my sense of pride in service to this country through my 24 years of service in the U.S. Navy, to men I looked up to, men such as Robert Mueller, John McCain, and George H.W. Bush; all who I consider not just military, but true American heroes... and I dedicate this to them, the "Old Guard".

I came into the Navy with a long-haired, "fuck authority" sneer and a liver that thought it was invincible. In those early days, my mantra was Muster and Make It. I was a college dropout from Flagstaff who, during my first homeport, had perfected the art of sleeping all day and partying all night, waking up just long enough to sweat out the toxins during command PT. I was irresponsible, I was loud, and I was drifting... but damn was it fun!

Then came Spain. The "Muster and Make It" was dragged out back and shot, replaced by six-days a week, for 8 months, of welding, construction, and the kind of ball-busting labor that forces a man to grow a spine or snap. I worked like a dog during the day to earn the respect of the men above me—men who either quietly or loudly modeled their lives after the likes of George H.W. Bush, John McCain, and Robert Mueller. They were the North Stars. Even when I was out at night, partying like it was 1999 and maximizing every travel experience with a manic intensity, like repeated episodes of losing my clothes in public, their example was the ballast that kept me from capsizing. I didn't always live up to them. I faltered. I slipped. But the compass was always there, pointing toward a specific kind of quiet, sacrificial integrity.

In 2007, they put the anchors on my collar. Being promoted to Chief Petty Officer is supposed to be the moment the morality finally catches up to the rank. It still took some time, but it happened. I finally realized I wasn't just welding steel anymore; I was welding the character of the sailors behind me. But standing here in 2026, looking through the viewport at the current state of the Republic, the visibility is zero and the pressure is crushing.

The very peers I served with—men who once stood on the mess decks and talked about the "honor and courage" of a Marine like Robert Mueller, who volunteered for Vietnam while others sought deferments—have now seemingly traded their compasses for a digital siren song. It is a staggering, hypocritical type of vertigo to watch colleagues who emulated the "Quiet Professionalism" of men like John McCain, now line up to cheer for every erratic whim of the current administration.

We’ve traded the "By-the-Book" era for the "By-the-Tweet" era. Watching my brothers-in-arms applaud the appointment of Pete Hegseth as SECDEF feels like watching a diver ignore his decompression tables because the Captain told him the bends are "fake news". We are currently looking at a conflict in Iran that didn't need to happen, while the ghost of George H.W. Bush—the youngest pilot in the history of the Navy, a man who actually knew what it felt like to have his plane burning, and life in jeopardy over the Pacific, while engaged in a legitimate war—now looking down upon us in horror.

As a retired Navy Diver with 24 years of salt in my skin, I am utterly ashamed. We used to be the champions of character. We used to believe that the office was bigger than the man. Now, I see my colleagues supporting a movement, and a man that mocks the sacrifices of a man like Mueller—who earned a Bronze Star for rescuing his wounded soldiers under fire—while celebrating a Commander-in-Chief who cheered at the news of Mueller's death.

I am not a perfect man. I wasn't a perfect sailor. But I know what a hero looks like, and he doesn't look like a TV personality or a real estate mogul with five deferments, and just as many bankruptcies. He looks like a guy shot in the thigh in a jungle who refuses to go home because his platoon is still in the fight. My resistance today isn't just political; it’s a matter of professional pride, and staying true to the "Oath of Enlistment". If I can be even half the man that Bush, McCain, or Mueller were, I will be satisfied. Because at the end of the day, when you’re deep underwater and your life is on the line, you don't want a "loyalist" supervising the Dive—you want a man of virtue. And those men are becoming a vanished species... all in favor of one who commands social media likes and shares.