March 7, 2006

Mr. Michael Castle

Operations Manager

U.S. General Services Administration

1099 14th Street NW, Suite 200 

Washington, D.C. 20005

Re: Retirement of Robert Armstrong

Dear Mr. Castle:

Please consider the following to be read at Mr. Armstrong’s retirement dinner on March 30, 2006.

Bob Armstrong, or “Dex” as he is known to his extended submarine family, is beloved, respected and admired for his ability to tell swashbuckling tales of life on a diesel submarine.  Most folks are happy to utilize a single adjective to add flavor to a noun but Dex, in his mastery, takes adjectives four levels deep – you had better keep a scorecard if you want to ride the train to Dexville.

Dex paints pictures of submarine life that are shinier than a boot camp belt buckle, saltier that bucket of seawater left for weeks in a Caribbean sun, and more carefree than draggin’ your toes in the water behind a slow boat to China.  

Dex takes us back in time and allows us to recapture some of the finest moments of our youth.  And there are most colorful descriptions of foreign ports, stale beer, cheap cigarettes and hey, where the hell did that new tattoo come from?  And then there is the unmistakable rumble of diesel engines welcoming the setting sun - and throwing your lip over a hot cup of black-n-bitter on the cigarette deck at the crack of dawn. Or is it his recollection of the white-knuckled memories of a lookout in dark, stormy seas that never fails to put a little shiver back in our old timbers?

Dex is one of a kind. No one has told that tales so well before him and perhaps no one will ever recapture the essence of submarining again, to the degree that Dex has done. 

Thank you Dex, for loving your country, your family and friends, and most of all, your shipmates.  May this next stage of your life bring a new compass bearing and may the needle of that compass point unwaveringly as you continue to sail forward in life!

Submarines once, submarines twice, shipmates always.

Very respectfully,

Don Gentry