Monday, January 31, 2011

Call to action

"Man has a large capacity for effort. In fact it is so much greater than we think it is that few ever reach this capacity. We should value the faculty of knowing what we ought to do and having the will to do it. Knowing is easy; it is the doing that is difficult. The critical issue is not what we know but what we do with what we know. The great end of life is not knowledge, but action. I believe that it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him...we must live for the future, not for our own comfort or success."
Admiral Hyman Rickover

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

He would have made the perfect engineering contractor. He disliked the academy and he hated wearing the uniform. He should have retired in the 60s and then stayed on as a civilian. Rickover's biggest problem was that he stayed at the party too long.

Anonymous said...

Captain Lambert,

Adm. Hyman Rickover was one of my personal heroes and I am not even a nuc. The first time he saw me he knew I was the one, he and his team were in Holy Loch in 1974 or 75 to give our boat an Operational Reactor Safeguard Inspection (ORSE).

I may have submitted the following information before, but it is well worth repeating, new folks might even learn something from this. Adm. Rickover served the Navy for 63 years active duty. This is how some have described him; Hyperactive, political, blunt, confrontational, insulting, flamboyant, and an unexcelled workaholic who was always demanding of others – without regard for rank or position – these opinions he applied to himself as well.

He headed the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program that probably only he could have managed and made possible the success it achieved. It is felt by many career Navy individuals that the FBM Submarines brought a successful end to the cold war.

I mentioned that the Admiral knew I was the one, he asked me if I would give him my foul weather jacket, as it had COB 628 stenciled on it and he said “these Sailors would pay more attention to him if he wore it”. I did not request that he give it back to me when he and his team departed the Boat.

Very Respectfully,

Navyman834