A quiet city would be a broke one

I am writing this letter in response to that woman’s noise complaint about the bugle calls at Naval Station Everett.

I, too, have heard the calls for reveille, chow call, call to colors, the National Anthem, retire of colors and Taps.

To me these are the sounds of our freedom guaranteed by those people who gave freely, that full measure of their personal freedom and sometimes their lives, defending our way of life.

I hope and pray that my nephew, now serving his third tour in Iraq, doesn’t come back to a nation that has turned its back on those traditions that these calls and ceremonies are about.

I retired to Everett from the Navy, not because it’s quiet, but because of the support it has for the many and not the few.

And as to that crack about not wanting to debate the value of the Naval Station Everett, I don’t think she has any idea what kind of hick town Everett would turn into if it was as quiet as she would have it be. Navy gone! Boeing gone! And the railroad too! They make the noise of diversity and tax money that Everett depends upon to exist, not to mention all the families that would have to move out if those jobs quit the city, if they had to shhh! be quiet. Reminds me of “Dogs and Sailors, Stay off the Grass.”

Bruce A. Haseley

USNR – TAR Retired

Everett