The days of languorous shore leave are long gone. Overnight stays are unheard of and sailor towns a distant memory. In better ports, seafarers head for a seamen's mission.

We still have a mission to perform at Fort Rucker. So we won't just pack up and leave overnight and then set up shop at Redstone the next day. It will be phased in over a period of time, but I can't see that happening anytime sooner than about four years from now.

That will be a distant memory.

Wind to a sailor is what money is to life on shore.

Long gone are the days when hospital stays and surgeries made up the bulk of seniors' annual medical expenses.

There's a melancholy sense of things lost in the shabbier British seaside towns; of comfortable failure and better times long gone.