Shipmate

This track comes from Aaron's military service — Air Force enlisted, Army Infantry officer, DoD civilian at SPAWAR/NIWC. It tackles The bond between shipmates - people who aren't blood family but become something deeper through shared service and sacrifice. The lyrics get specific — "Shipmate, and I've never heard a word more fit" — because personal tracks on Majik's are personal for real, not performatively. The rock production matches the energy of the confession. It hits emotional and grateful, in that order. Every personal track in the catalogue comes from a real moment, a real feeling, a real person. This one is no exception.

[verse 1] You weren't my brother by blood or by birth But you became my family on this floating piece of earth Steel and salt and sixteen-hour days Turned two strangers into something no one phrase Can capture, but the Navy has a word for it Shipmate, and I've never heard a word more fit To describe the man who had my back at oh-three-hundred When the seas were rough and everyone was humbled By the power of the ocean to remind us we're small But together in that berthing, man, we felt ten feet tall [chorus] Shipmate, that's a word that weighs a ton Shipmate, forged in salt beneath the gun Of a sun that doesn't care about your comfort zone Shipmate, I was never out there alone Because you were there, on the other side of the rack Shipmate, and I always had your back [verse 2] Remember when the galley caught fire, deck three You grabbed the extinguisher while I grabbed the DC team We moved like one person, no words needed spoken That's the shipmate bond, unbreakable, unbroken Remember liberty in ports I still can't name Getting lost in foreign cities, every alley looked the same But we found the bar, we found the laughs, we found our way Back to the quarterdeck before the break of day You covered for me once, I covered twice for you That's not keeping score, that's what shipmates do [chorus] Shipmate, that's a word that weighs a ton Shipmate, forged in salt beneath the gun Of a sun that doesn't care about your comfort zone Shipmate, I was never out there alone Because you were there, on the other side of the rack Shipmate, and I always had your back [bridge] We scattered like shrapnel when the enlistments ended Different zip codes, different lives, but the bond's unended I'll pick up the phone at any hour for you And you'd drive a thousand miles if I needed to Be pulled out of whatever hole I'd fallen in Because shipmate isn't just a word, it's next of kin By choice, by fire, by saltwater baptism The strongest bond that any branch has given [verse 3] Now I'm in Charleston and you're wherever you landed But every Veterans Day I'm reminded, not stranded By the memory of the men and women on that ship Who taught me more about loyalty than any leadership Seminar or self-help book could begin to preach Shipmate, it's a bond no distance can breach So if you're reading this, you know exactly who you are The ones who stood the watch with me beneath the stars Stransky sends his love from the Lowcountry shore Once a shipmate, always a shipmate, forevermore [chorus] Shipmate, that's a word that weighs a ton Shipmate, forged in salt beneath the gun Of a sun that doesn't care about your comfort zone Shipmate, I was never out there alone Because you were there, and I know you've still got my back Shipmate, and that's an unbreakable fact [outro] Fair winds and following seas Shipmate Always