MBR CONVERSATIONS

Bush McRee
US Navy, E-3 Airman
Stationed at Whidbey Island, Washington

MBR: Where are you from originally?
Bush: I am from Washington, DC and most of my family still lives there.

MBR: How long have you been in the military and what do you do?
Bush: It will be 4 years in August. I’m an aircraft mechanic working mostly with EA6B Prowlers.

MBR: When did you enter the military?
Bush: I entered in August 2001, right before 9/11. I was in boot camp, in class, when the attack on the trade centers and the Pentagon happened. When the announcement came that a plane hit the world trade center, I was thinking, how could that have happened. When the second plane hit the second tower, I knew something was wrong. When the third plane hit the Pentagon I was mad. It was like a personal attack because that’s my home. They allowed us to call home and check on our families. At this point everything I knew about the attack was from what was told to me.

MBR: When did you finally get a chance to see the video footage?
Bush: I didn’t see it on video until a few months afterwards when I went home for Christmas because we were isolated from anything going on while in boot camp. I still remember the brief they gave us in boot camp. We had to change our focus because the course of history had been changed.

MBR: What was different about DC when you returned home?
Bush: It felt like home but the community was more close together. I walked around in my uniform and everyone was cheering me on. When I was in boot camp, my best friend was telling me what was happening and told me DC was locked down, the streets were empty you couldn’t go too many places. I saw the rebuilding of the Pentagon. I was amazed how fast they rebuilt it.

MBR: Have you been out to sea to serve in the war?
Bush: In 2002 I went to the Persian Gulf. It was my first cruise. I was on the Abraham Lincoln in support of an operation. On our way back home, we had to turn around and go back to the Gulf. A few weeks later, they declared war. It was Operation Iraqi freedom and we stayed there. I was there until the President flew to our ship and declared the major fighting was over. I actually had a chance to meet the President.

MBR: Who got you started skating?
Bush: It seems as though that most people start skating because the generations before them skated. I don’t know if it is genetic or not but my case is no different. My mother and cousin used to skate. She taught me and my cousin how to skate at Anacostia Park Pavilion around the age of 4 or 5. I also lived in Philly for a year and skated at two rinks; a rink on Roosevelt Blvd and a rink on the west side. I can’t remember the names.

MBR: How often do you get to skate?
Bush: They don’t have very many rinks in this area. I try to go as often as I can but due to my deployment schedule and availability of skating, it’s starting to clash. I talk about skating so much to my commander, that when it is time for me to take leave, they are relieved “Let him go skate”. I take my skates with me whenever and wherever I can because I never know when I’m going to get a chance to skate. Even when I go to different countries, the first thing I ask is, is there a skating rink here? If they say no, I’m ready to go back to the ship. I’ve been to Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain and Australia. I’ve even been to Hawaii. I reenlisted for four more years, I like my job but I’m not too happy about the location. It’s almost time to go elsewhere. I’m trying to come back home to DC. I think I can do my job a lot better in a setting where I’m happy. It’s really depressing here because it is raining constantly and that can be a downer. The consider 80 degrees hot but it really doesn’t get beyond that. It is pretty much chilly all year round. Even when it is nice outside, it is still chilly to me. My base is on an island with small towns and villages (what I call them).

 

MBR: What do you do for recreation since you really do not get a chance to skate?
Bush: I’m still searching for a skating rink. I might go to a club to listen to music, talk to friends back home, or go to the gym. I have to stay in shape.

MBR: What is one of the worse memories you have of being in the military, far away from home?
Bush: I have a lot of friends in the military, some of them I know where they are, and some I don’t. Sometimes, I don’t find out where they are until I come back home. The hardest thing that happened to me was when I found out a close friend of mine was killed while I was on my first deployment out to sea. The last thing he told me when I left was that he was proud of me and he gave me his full support. I went to Japan and purchased a gift for him. I arbitrarily called home and found out he had been killed. It made me wonder why am I out here fighting on an international level when we have so much violence at home. It really made me question myself. He used to skate as well. We were friends for as long as I can remember. We used to skate down at Skate Palace.

MBR: Did you know they closed?

Bush: WHAT! [yelling] I thought that was just a rumor!

MBR: Yes, they closed about two weeks ago.

Bush: That hurts! I didn’t get to make one last skate in. My commander is not going to be happy with me this week. I am not going to be in a good mood! I have a lot of memories from there.
That place actually saved my life. About nine years ago, I was really doing some bad things, I mean some really bad things that I shouldn’t have been doing. I started going skating and everything in my life started to fall into place. That hurts to know that the Palace closed. I even worked there! I would skate at least 5 times a week. I worked there until the last day I could before I went in to the military. Some of the pivoting and marching moves I do in the military came naturally for me because I did those same things on my skates. My skating skills have come in handy for me because the one thing it has taught me to have is incredible balance. I can climb on my jet and perform other military maneuvers with ease because of my balancing skills. I can walk on ice easily. If I happen to slip, I immediately go into a skating move and save myself.

I’m still mad about Skate Palace closing. I don’t know where I’m going to skate when I come back to D.C.

---

"Our Wall, Our Recognition"
African American War Heroes

Clyde Dowell, II, Virginia Skate Connection II, has put together a series of memorial tributes to our African American fallen heroes. Please take a minute to download this PowerPoint presentation and pray for those lives lost in this, for what it seems to be, a never-ending battle.

Our Wall, Our Recognition, Part III

These presentations have been circulating on the Internet.

---

This edition of Mind, Body and Roll is sponsored by
Beatkeeper Skate Products.

SkateGroove.com rolls with the beat!