Day Too

One of the most painful parts of deployment (aside from saying goodbye to Janell and the girls) is getting onto the boat and sitting off the coast of southern CA for several days almost in range for a cell phone call, but not quite.  All of the fixed wing aircraft must regain their carrier landing currency while there is still an available "divert" field in case they have any problems with their jets.  Once we start heading west, they have no where to land but back on the boat after they are shot off the bow, so they'd better be good and current!  So, we sit here, drilling holes in the water tantalizingly close to home, yet so far away.  A few lucky folks get to fly home for a few hours to pick up forgotten parts or to send sailors on emergency leave back to the beach.  Perhaps they aren't so lucky.  Once you've said your goodbyes, it's tough to do it all over again.

I got my Smallpox vaccination this evening.  I'm told it will scab up and look pretty nasty for the next 3 weeks.  The site on my arm will be highly contagious for that whole time.  Me and several thousand other poor suckers are walking contagions all stuck together in this floating petrie dish.  Don't you wish you were here?  Next up, Anthrax shots.  More on those at some later date.

I was able to go to the Protestant worship service this morning.  They set up a power point projector for the first time so we could all read the words for the songs.  During all the work-ups they just put song sheets in the bulletin (yes, even Navy Chaplains put together a bulletin for church!).  Unfortunately, technical difficulties attempted to foil the celebration, but the Lord was still praised loudly and joyfully!  One of the ship's chaplains is a friend of mine from the Baptist Student Union at the Academy.  He was a couple classes ahead of me and joined the submarine force after graduation.  A few years later, he got out of the Navy then rejoined to become a Chaplain, ordained by the Southern Baptist Church.  It's been fun to re-unite with him (we hadn't seen each other in over 13 years!).  Janell and I had the opportunity to host him overnight when the ship was in port in San Diego during workups.

I guess I ought to give up my spot on the computer.  As the Maintenance Officer, I lead approx 150 officers, chiefs, and sailors who keep our seven helicopters mission ready and in excellent condition, yet I don't have a dedicated desk as I do back on the beach.  Such is life on the boat, where space is at a premium.  I do have a desk in my room, but there is no network connect there (no email).  I have to borrow other officer's computers whose job requires them to have a dedicated computer.  We also have a couple of computers in the ready room that are set aside for email only, but I try not to clobber those too much, so the Junior Officers have access to them. 

Good night and God bless.  Thanks for listening.