SHAKO: Labor Day 2017

Hard Work.

Oops, we missed our annual Labor Day Tribute to the hard-working folks in the armed services again. However, a quick look at the blog’s archives indicates your 4GWAR editor has had this mental lapse every other year, or so.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Franklin R. Ramos)

As we’ve said in past Labor Day posts, 4GWAR likes to pause and take a look at some of the jobs people do in the military that don’t get a lot of attention. Not everybody in the service hits the beach, fires a missile, flies a plane or jumps out of one. So here is a short look at the less glamorous — but still important — jobs that keep the U.S. military ready and able to meet the next challenge — whatever and wherever it is.

Our first photo (above) shows Airman 1st Class Matthew Martinez tightening cargo chains onto a truck at Osan Air Base in South Korea. The photo was taken Wednesday (September 6, 2017). Martinez is a vehicle operator assigned to the 51st Logistics Readiness Squadron. Even the Air Force needs ground transportation.

(Army National Guard photo by Sergeant 1st Class Malcolm McClendon)

Our next photo shows a Texas National Guardsman helping load hay onto Texas and Ohio National Guard helicopters. The hay was going to livestock stranded near Beaumont, Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. This photo was taken Tuesday (September 5, 2017). From hurricanes and tornadoes to wildfires and overseas deployments, the National Guard has got to be ready for anything these days.

(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Alexander P. Akre)

Like the airman in our first photo, these two sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis are using a simple tool and elbow grease to get the job done. Seamen Layton Prado and Daniel Ridley tighten bolts with a torque wrench during maintenance on the carrier flight deck. This photo was taken August 28, 2017 when the Stennis was in port at Bremerton, Washington, training for future operations.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Tyler W. Stewart)

We haven’t forgotten the Marines. Here is Corporal Natasha Williams helping build a structure at Landing Zone Plover at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on August 11, 2017. The structure will be used by students at the Marine Corps Engineer School to practice breaching procedures (like blowing open a door, when kicking it down doesn’t work). Williams is a combat engineer assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion.

(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jordan Akiyama)

We didn’t forget the Coast Guard, either, although they do so many daring things on, above and off the water, it was hard to find a photo of someone doing something “routine.”   Here we see Petty Officer 3rd Class Zachary Hensley, a machinery technician stationed at Galveston, Texas with a Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team. He was repairing a range light channel marker when this photo was taken on Sunday (September 3, 2017). The marker was damaged during Hurricane Harvey on Bolivar Peninsula, Texas. Take a look at the background to get an idea of how high up he and his teammates have climbed.

Well that’s our story. Hope you had a good Labor Day holiday and if you’re traveling near the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, or the southeast Atlantic Coast this weekend — be smart, stay safe.

*** *** ***

SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.

(U.S. Army photo via Wikipedia)