By: Larry Young
As a young teenager, I was enthralled with the “The Silent Service”, a TV series about diesel submarines in World War II. I turned 18 during my first year of college, so I had to register for the military draft, right while the Vietnam war was reaching its peak. My dad, a retired Naval officer, advised me to join the Navy to avoid the draft, because the worst food I would get was cold sandwiches. That sounded really good compared to the Army, with bullets whizzing overhead while eating K-rations. So I joined the Navy, and it looked like I would be assigned to an aircraft carrier. Again, my dad advised me to ask the Navy for an A-1 school, because I would be treated better. So I went down to the Navy and asked them for a Navy A-1 school, but they had only one school, and nobody wanted it: Submarine Sonar! Wow, I couldn’t believe
my ears: Yes, give it to me!
I went through Navy boot camp, diesel submarine and sonar schools, fully trained for the very submarines on “The Silent Service” TV series. However, all during this time of my life, the threat of nuclear war was growing quickly, so my orders were changed… to a nuclear fleet ballistic missile submarine, armed to the teeth with 16 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and the very latest in submarine sonar systems. Being an electronics nerd, I thought I was in heaven.
There was one major drawback: we would go out into the vast ocean and submerge, not to resurface for two months at a time (or longer). My big joy as a sonar technician was that I got to listen to all the dolphins, whales, fish, and other marine sounds each and every day. Most folks don’t know that sound under water can travel great distances, even thousands of miles, so there was always something interesting to hear, and I could point precisely to any direction I wanted to listen to.
The second major drawback: my submarine crew comprised 140 men, all sealed together inside a huge steel tube deep in the ocean for two months at a time…and there were no windows, no phones or TV, no fresh fruit after the first week, and only one short weekly note from family via the submarine radio system (ELF). Eggs start looking a bit green after two months.
Our mission was to be absolutely prepared for immediate launch of our missiles to defend our country at the direction of the President of the United States. Through constant practice and trial runs, it took all our crew working together as a united team to carry out our mission successfully. I received a Presidential Citation for what we carried out during one such mission. I am sharing all this with my church family for a truly timely and critical reason. Our mission as Seventh-Day Adventist Christians is like what my submarine crew faced… and what other submarine crews and our nation’s military continue to face every day, including the very real risk of death.
We too need to be absolutely prepared to carry out the mission set before us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through constant practice and trial runs, it will take all our members working together as a united team to carry out the mission of our church successfully. Each church member has been given one or more gifts to exercise and use to the glory of our Lord. As on my submarine, just one person going the wrong direction could have caused serious injury to the safety of everyone or even the entire mission. Each of us similarly need to take decisive action, united together and going the same direction, not just in desire or remaining idle, to our Lord and Savior Jesus, and His mission for us as Christ’s true church...before it's too late.