The recent holidays are a good example of family traditions taking center stage. Whether it’s special dinners, time with family or goodwill to others, the holiday season brings out the best in us.
The Navy also has many traditions, ranging from Change of Commands to crossing the international dateline to the uniforms sailors wear. Tactical Support Center 0389 (TSC0389), a Reserve unit of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, has its own family tradition that began back before any of our current members can remember. The “Nut Bowl,” which began as a joke gift, has become a staple of holiday joy for our unit.
A brown ceramic squirrel bowl, along with a photo album, is passed each year within our TSC0389 family. The Nut Bowl lives the life of the lucky sailor who keeps it for a year, while taking photographs along the way. This ever-expanding album serves as documentation to prove the Nut Bowl continues to be TSC0389’s longest serving active member.
The photo album holds pictures of the bowl’s previous adventures as well as the lives of some of TSC0389’s past members. The Nut Bowl has been dropped and smashed to pieces, only to be repaired. It has witnessed the birth of children, traveled on vacations, ridden a motorcycle, and served on deployment. The lucky winner of the bowl feels obligated to do more with it during the following year in order to top previous exploits already in the album.
This cracked and damaged bowl and photo album are wrapped up like other white elephant gifts at our Command’s holiday party, waiting to be part of another Sailor’s life for the following year. Currently, the Nut Bowl is serving with our Executive Officer, Lt. Cmdr. Annette Washburn, who is overseas performing her Individual Augmentee tour in Bahrain.
Most recently, AWO1 Eugene Houtby passed the Nut Bowl to Lt. Cmdr. Washburn in an official Change of Command ceremony. The Nut Bowl now shares the watch with many of our brave service members overseas.
As we put the holidays behind us and leap into the New Year, let us not forget the brave men and women serving overseas — along with the Nut Bowl!
