Don't Silence These Guns

[unhappycamper]

Don't Silence These Guns
Bryant Jordan | November 16, 2009

The USS Constitution is under attack. In spite of the history that surrounds the waterfront in Charlestown, Massachusetts, a Boston neighborhood, residents who live in the new tawny waterfront development that extends along what was once the Charlestown Navy Yard are trying to silence or muffle the cannon blasts fired twice a day -- at dawn and sunset -- from the decks of "Old Ironsides."

Oh, and for good measure some want the volume turned down during the morning playing of the National Anthem, according to excerpts of the anonymous letters published in The Boston Herald.

"It seems to us, that the cannon charge/noise is excessive," one of the residents said in a letter to the ship's commander, Capt. Timothy Cooper. "Over the summer, we have entertained several times, and we have had guests sit up in shock when the cannon goes off."

Another writer suggested she and her husband could invite Cooper over for a glass of wine "to experience the sunset blast. We are confident you will agree that it is much more disruptive to the neighborhood than you might have imagined."

Really? Well perhaps these writers haven't considered that what they call ‘excessive noise' is a joyful reminder to Boston-area citizens who remember the shipyard before it was an upscale address, and on a larger scale, a reminder of what it took (and continues to take) to keep the nation free.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,205970,00.html?wh=news



unhappycamper comment: Firing off guns at specified times of the day is required to 'keep us free'? Gimmeafuckingbreak.

[JoeyT]

1. Of course the noise is excessive...

they're cannons! They're supposed to be loud! ;)

I remember hearing the National Anthem as a kid on an AF base. I don't ever remember being annoyed by it.
Reveille can come as a hell of a shock the first couple of times, but it isn't annoying either.

Of course since it was an AF base, I doubt I'd have ever heard the cannons for the jets taking off. :P

[benEzra]

2. Oh, heaven forbid that their dinner-party guests might SIT UP IN SHOCK!!!!

"It seems to us, that the cannon charge/noise is excessive," one of the residents said in a letter to the ship's commander, Capt. Timothy Cooper. "Over the summer, we have entertained several times, and we have had guests sit up in shock when the cannon goes off."

Oh, heaven forbid that their dinner-party guests might SIT UP IN SHOCK!!!!

Oh the horror!!!!

:nopity:

[Angleae]

3. Maybe they should have taken this into consideration before moving there.

I believe USS Constitution was there first. It's the same as people who move next to the airport and the complain about the noise of the planes.