Verses from God's Word I'm meditating on this election week, as one who counts my primary citizenship in the Kingdom of God, yet lives with civic responsibility as an American...

1 Tim 2:1–6 ESV

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Rom 13:1–7 ESV

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

1 Pet 2:9–17 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Prov 21:1 ESV

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD;

he turns it wherever he will.

Col 1:13 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Eph 2:18–22 ESV

18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Phil 3:20–21 ESV

20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Heb 11:13–16 ESV  Speaking of those who who had died before in faith, not having seen for themselves the fulfilment of God’s promises...

13 ...they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Phil 4:4–9 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Bible Intake Part I

Today's Personal Spiritual Disciplines EQUIP Seminar at LBC was the second in a nine-week series.  I'll use this space to occasionally share resources that I mention in class, and links to things that I don't have time to cover during our time together.  I encourage class attendees to leave comments if there are other resources that you'd like to share with the rest of the class.

Today we covered the first of two lessons on Bible Intake, focusing on Hearing, Reading, and Studying the Bible.  Next week, we'll look at Memorization, Meditation, Journalling, and Learning.

I. As a quick review, we talked about 2 reasons why the Bible is critical to our Christian life:

1. God gives us new life through Scripture (1 Peter 1:23)

2. God sustains us in the Christian life through Scripture (1 Peter 2:2, Deuteronomy 8:3)

II. We talked about 3 necessary conditions to be prepared to profit from our time in God's word:

1. We must revere Scripture, as God's Word: infallible, sufficient, and authoritative. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

2. We must have humility and a sincere dependence upon God (1 Corinthians 2:14)

3. Our hearts must be receptive to God's Word (Matthew 13:23; James 1:22-25)

I mentioned John Piper's "IOU'S", which I first heard about here:

• Incline my heart to your testimonies (Psalm 119:36)
• Open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of your law (Psalm 119:18)
• Unite my heart to fear your name (Psalm 86:11)
• Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love (Psalm 90:14)

This has provided a helpful pattern of prayer for me as I approach God's word to read and study.

III. We then talked about Hearing God's word. (Luke 11:28)

• LBC's weekly sermons can be heard here (Callaway) and here (Leonardtown).
• Bible Gateway has a great resource for listening to the Bible in a variety of translations and formats and readers, including Max McLean.

IV. We then talked about Reading God's word. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

• The first key to success is to find or make the time in your day.  Pick a time that you can be consistent with each day (first thing, lunch time, before bed, whatever works with your daily routine) It's likely you're going to have to carve this time out if you don't already have it.
• The second key to success is to have a plan.  Here are some great options for reading plans...
• Bible.com has a huge variety of plans, including M'Cheynes, which is 4 chapters a day, taking your the OT once and NT and Psalms twice in a year.
• One-Year Chronological Bible
• Jason George's Root Down Plan (my Google-Docs version of this 17-month reading plan.  This is the plan that helped me read through the entire Bible for the first time.)
• Remember, for even a "slow" reader (200 words per minute) it only takes about 11 minutes a day to read through the Bible in a year.  (Follow the link to test your own reading speed.)
• Being familiar with the WHOLE bible is important when it comes to Bible Study, which we'll look at next.

V. Finally, we talked about Studying God's word (Ezra 7:10; Acts 17:11)

• I mentioned several websites that I've found helpful for online Bible study:
• Blue Letter Bible
• Study Light
• Lumina (connected with NET at www.bible.org)
• ESV online (serval add-ons available at reasonable prices.  If you own a print ESV study bible, that content is available for free, with a code that came with your Bible)
• Bible Arc (a ministry of Bethlehem College and Seminary)
• Precept Austin
• Three software programs that are outstanding for Bible study:
• For Windows: Logos or Bible Works
• For Mac (or Windows): Accordance (I've used this for about 4 years and I love it!)
• Here's a good comparative review of the three programs.
• Here are the "Five helpful questions to ask when studying the Bible:"

1. What does the text say?

• Make careful observations of the text
• Notice details

2. What does the text mean?

• Use the grammatical-historical method (seek to understand the author's intent)
• Identify the genre of writing
• Understand the historical, cultural, and literary background
• Unpack the passage’s syntax (identify the grammatical elements)
• Outline the passage 
• Understand what the words mean in context
• Pay attention to the context
• Locate the text in redemptive history
• Understand the text in light of the whole Bible
• Discern how the passage points us to Christ (eg. direct reference, type, predictive, preparatory, reflective—God’s nature / human nature, resultant)
• Use tools: study Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries / lexicons, concordances, etc.

3. What concerns caused the text to be written?

• Grasp the main message of a biblical passage

4. What do I share in common with the original audience or human author of the text? 

• Understanding ourselves in light of Scripture
• Distill the timeless principles from the text
• Understand what the text teaches about God’s character and purposes, mankind, Christ, our response to Christ, our obedience, the church, the world, etc.  

5. How should I now respond to the truths of the text? 

• What, specifically, does God require of me?
• Where, i.e. in what specific situations, do I need to apply the truths of the text?
• How does the text encourage me to obey God?
• How does God enable me to respond to the truths of the text?
• How can I spur others on to respond to the truths of the text?

Some recommended books:

• Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
• For the Love of God (2 vols) by D.A. Carson
• Search the Scriptures by Alan Stibbs
• Bible Speaks Today Commentary Series
• The Welwyn Commentary Series
• According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem

Many of the notes listed here were derived from the Core Seminar materials available from Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

Has anyone seen my quill?

I have been inspired by the bovine musings of some good friends to once again pick up my quill. So to speak. Much has happened since my last post and I'm not going to try to fill in the blanks. In fact, I'm not going to focus too much on events here, except to point out how my experiences get my brain going (scary prospect). I'm shifting my focus away from nautical wanderings (praise be to God for that)... more to thoughtful, philosophical, and spiritual wanderings. We'll see how frequently I can find my quill. No promises. Here goes...

Words to follow...

It's 11pm. I have a brief for my second simulator event in the MH-60S in a mere 8 hours, so I don't have time to write. Here are a few pictures to highlight the last couple weeks to provide a tease. Most of the pictures were from this weekend... camping at Agua Caliente. What an awesome time! More words to follow soon.

Cruise Video

Oh yeah. Check out the top link in the "News items of note" block on the right side. Title is "What the USS John C Stennis Has Been Up To." It has a cool 7-minute video summarizing all that JCS did during the deployment. It's even narrated by the ship's CO, CAPT Johanson (callsign JOHO).

I'm Home.

I write this from my living room at home, in a very quiet, very comfortable late night stillness. There are no pumps humming, no fans buzzing, no catapults shaking me out of the rack. No bells, no whistles, no 1MC announcements to "Heave out". I don't even know what that means! Good thing I either slept or flew through that one most days.

I am home.

Homecoming was awesome. We'll get some pictures on line soon. Nana has several online already. We lifted seven helicopters from the deck of JCS at 0730 and flew them all in together. Six of them were in a beautiful formation. My aircraft, the seventh, was all by itself, making a bee-line from the ship to the the runway at North Island. The aircraft has a severe structural crack and was cleared by engineers for a one-time flight to get it off the ship. Nothing fancy. Minimal weight, minimum time, minimum crew. That was OK with me. We were on deck, waiting for the rest by the time the six-helo v-shaped formation flew over the famous double-domed hangars at North Island at 200 feet. They looked awesome.

We all taxied into the line together, and shut down simultaneously (well, almost simultaneously). A huge crowd of families and friends was there to welcome us. By the time I got all my flight gear off, I had my own small crowd of family running at me across the flight line. I quickly had two little girls in my arms, with tears coming down all our faces. Each of my ladies received a red rose that I had picked up from a strategically placed flower "vendor" while we taxied in.

After a chance to sit at the hangar and relax for a few minutes, we caught sight of the STENNIS pulling into San Diego Bay and hurried over to the pier (also at North Island) to greet our two Tigers who were now all "alone" on the ship. Fortunately, HS-8 and their Tigers were among the first to get off the ship; so after a painful 40 minute wait as the Port Ops guys set up the brow, Nana and Katelynn were soon reunited with the rest of us.

I haven't written during the last few days, as we've spent just about every waking moment reuniting as a family. I've tried my best to stay away from the computer (not always successfully). Janell has made some great changes around the house that I continue to get used to. Homecoming is awesome, but there are always adjustments. So far, it's been awesome. I'm off work until the 4th, then I go back for about a week and a half. Then I'm taking about 12 days of leave. Definitely time that I need to take off.

Tomorrow, we're going for bike rides and a run (that's me) at Rhor Park then I'll take one of the girls out for lunch. I'm going to spend a little one-on-one time with each of the girls over the next few days. We've had some great family time together so far, though. We'll all to Flyball practice together on Sunday afternoon. This week is flying by.

As thoughts occur to me during our transition back to normal life, I'll use this forum to reflect on them. It's an often humorous, sometimes frustrating process. As much as life at sea, often more so, life around here is an adventure! Thanks for sticking around.

Going Home

This will be my LAST blog post at sea. The ready room is a disaster area as we pack things up and get ready to offload on the pier in San Diego. We brief our fly-off in a couple hours and we'll be in the air in about 15 hours. The ship will be pierside in about 19 hours. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have a computer with which to write, so I figure I'd better close out now while I have a chance.

The girls are just about done packing up their stuff in their room. They get to ride the ship into San Diego Bay without me. We'll meet them as they walk off the ship tomorrow. Katelynn won't let me finish this blog post. She keeps smacking my head. Silly girl. Now she won't stop giggling. I didn't know you could have a giggle of girls with only one!

OK, now I'm off to go pack my room up and get ready to fly off tomorrow morning. It's been a long cruise. Full of personal and professional challenges and lessons and growth. It's good to be wrapping up and heading home, though. I need to be with my family as much as they need me to be home. Thanks for sharing in my journey. I'll post more pictures from home when I have a better internet connection. For now, I'm signing off and going home.

Much to do, not much time!

Another busy day done. And tomorrow looks to be even crazier. I still haven't started packing my stuff. That's what I'll be doing tomorrow. We just signed the flight schedule for tomorrow all the way through the 4th of September, so that feels very good. The girls are, of course, in bed. Nana went to bed pretty "early". It wasn't really that early because we changed clocks forward again tonight. Only one hour behind San Diego now. Katelynn hung out with me in the ready room while we worked on the monster flight schedule. I got to talk to her a little about what I do for my job. I think she was thoroughly bored, but it was good time together.

Most of the major Tiger events were cancelled today for a variety of reasons. I took the girls for a personalized tour of the helicopter, the catapult and arresting gear machinery rooms, some of the squadron work spaces, the barber shop, the library, and the chapel. We have church tomorrow morning at 10. I'd better get to bed before too late. Tomorrow's going to be a long day. Lots of packing and moving stuff. Last day on the ship!!

We have some pictures to share, but they're on Nana's camera and I forgot to get it from her before she went to bed. I'll try to share those tomorrow before I shut down my computer. Until then, good night!

It doesn't take long

Remember my post a while back about the science experiments that were done by putting people into caves and limiting their exposure to light? Their body clocks became disoriented and their perception of time became warped. Tonight as we were about to get dinner, Katelynn asked me if we were having lunch or dinner. She honestly didn't know. A few minutes later, Nana asked me what day it was. Yup. They're in the Navy now. And it's only been 3 days!

When we talked about the fact that we were half way home already, Katelynn was actually disappointed. I think she's enjoying the unlimited supply of Dog! Rich, I leave it to your comments to explain that one.

Today, we watched the air power demonstration on the flight deck. Some low clouds caused a few alterations to the intended events, but overall it was very impressive and very LOUD. The ladies visited the ship's bakery and Katelynn made friends with the Baker. She decorated five cupcakes and brought half a dozen back to the ready room to share! Needless to say, she's now a favorite Tiger of all Eightballers.

This afternoon, they toured the Combat Direction Center, and I took them on a tour of Air Operations and Strike Operations. Once again, Katelynn did a great job navigating around the ship. I think they only got lost twice today. But they definitely got out and explored quite a bit. Unfortunately, I've stayed pretty busy, getting the squadron ready to arrive at home and fly off safely. We still have a flight schedule to put together every day as well. Eventually, I'll need to pack my stuff up, too! Only 2 days and a wake up.

Tiger Day 2. On the Move!

Just as I suspected, the girls were beat by 8 o'clock tonight. Of course it didn't help that at 8 o'clock, we shifted our clocks forward one hour and lost an hour! Oh, how I love losing those hours. We're only 2 hours behind San Diego now. Let's see if I can recount the Tiger Adventures for them today...

They started out by heading down to the 2nd deck to tour the Brig. The line was so long for that, they waved off and headed back up to the hangar bay to sign up for a tour of the medical department. While they waited for the tour, Katelynn got to practice line handling with the Deck department, tossing lines across the hangar. She was a natural! She has an amazing sense of where she is on the ship and has learned very quickly how to find her way around. Just like her mommy.

Next we headed up to the foc'sle to see the anchor chains and hear about how the men and women of the deck department use the equipment to put the ship at anchor or tie up to the pier.

The time for their tour of medical finally arrived and just as the tour guide showed up, an actual medical emergency was called away and their tour guide disappeared, running toward the scene of the emergency. Fortunately, it was not a major problem and he soon returned to show them around the clinic downstairs, explaining about the appendectomies, and other surgeries that have been performed on board the ship during deployment. They got to see x rays of some pretty nasty bone breaks and even of a light bulb in some sailor's stomach! Don't worry, everything came out fine in the end.

After medical, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed up to Vultures Row on the 09 level (an observation deck 5 floors above the flight deck) to watch a launch and recovery operations. We also got to watch a practice of the air power demo (aka air show) that will be performed tomorrow morning. Katelynn was very brave and endured some very loud noises for over an hour! I think she liked it. She didn't want to leave, anyway! Nana had tears in her eyes.

Next, we signed up for a tour of the Bridge. While we waited for that, we grabbed a snack at the 7-11 store and watched aircraft get moved around in the hangar, and get moved between the hangar and the flight deck via Elevator 2. It was funny to see what a big deal aircraft moves were to all the Tigers. Such a mundane, every-day task was a major event for all our visitors, who were glued to the scene, often getting in the way of the safety observers! My tigers sought shelter under the stabilator of an F/A-18, knowing that the towed aircraft wouldn't run them over there!

Our tour of the bridge was quick but fairly interesting. We could tell they just wanted to get us out of there so they could get back to work driving the ship. I can't blame them. Next we went up to PriFly, where the Air Boss sits, right above the bridge. He wasn't up there, but a couple of very nice aviation bos'n's mates patiently explained what they do up there and how the tower is run. Katelynn even got to sit in Air Boss' chair! We were invited down to the LSO platform during the recovery tomorrow after the Air Show. Not sure if will work out, but we'll try.

Our last touristy stop was in Flight Deck Control where the "Handler" manages all the aircraft on the flight deck and the hangar bay using a "Ouija Board" mock up of the decks with little cut-out aircraft replica's showing where they are spotted and each aircraft's status. It's a very complicated problem with a very simple solution. For years, engineers have tried to develop a fancy computer program to replace the simple, elegant, and antiquated flight deck board, but they just can't do it.

After dinner, and a short break to rest in the ready room, we headed back up to the Foc'sle to celebrate as one of HS-8's Chiefs re-enlisted tonight. It was a great way to wrap up the day. Tomorrow promises to be just as busy. Hopefully the ladies will be able to sleep well again tonight. The gentle rocking of the ship worked wonders last night. So far, no queasiness, either. Keep praying!

OK... three days and a wake-up. Almost there. Enjoy the pictures...

Katelynn & Daddy at the USS ARIZONA museum, with JCS in the background (our home for the next six days)

Katelynn says goodbye to Mommy one last time from Elevator 1 while we sit pier-side in Pearl Harbor

Getting ready for launch.

Katelynn and Nana in the Foc'sle. Each link of the anchor chain weighs over 600 pounds!

Enjoying lunch today in Wardroom I.

AIR BOSS Katelynn is ready to run the flight schedule. Now launching from Catapult 1!!

Happy Birthday, Beth!

First things, first... HAPPY BIRTH DAY, BETH!! My bright little girl is 4 today!! Shortly before I left home, I tried to help Beth understand how long I would be gone. I explained that when her birthday came in August, I would be home. That seemed to make sense to her. When I got home from work the next day, she proudly announced "It's my birthday!". OK.. maybe she didn't quite get it. Well, today I had the chance to wish her a happy birthday over the phone as I stood on Elevator 3 in the hangar bay, overlooking the pier at Pearl Harbor. We were just a couple hours from pulling out. As I was asking her how her birthday was going, she clearly told me that since it was her birthday, it was time for me to come home. I'm coming, Bethie!!! I'm coming!

We got underway from Pearl Harbor this morning, and are now steaming east. Nana, Katelynn and I were up on the flight deck as we left the pier, rendered honors to the remains of the USS ARIZONA and her crew, and then inched out of the harbour toward open ocean.




I don't think Nana slept very well last night, and she was pretty wiped out all day. Just moving around the ship can be a workout, too. Lot's of climbing ladders and high-stepping through knee-knockers. Today we got down to the ship store to get Nana a coffee mug before they run out. That was a priority! They held off on starting their PQS books today. Maybe tomorrow they'll have the energy to wander around and explore a bit. We enjoyed watching the sun set from the fantail after dinner tonight. Of course, all our cameras were 1000 feet away in the staterooms up by the bow. Oh well. I'm sure the sun will set again tomorrow.

We will have flight operations tomorrow and it will be Nana and Katelynn's day to view flight ops from Vulture's Row, an area up in the island overlooking the flight deck. Different groups of tigers have access to Vultures Row on different days.

They went to bed early tonight, and I look forward to wearing them out again tomorrow!

Aloha!

We're finally all here in Hawaii. I was able to meet Nana and Katelynn in baggage claim at the airport yesterday. We spent the afternoon at the beach and pool and enjoyed delicious fish for dinner at Dukes Canoe Club (right here at our hotel, the Outrigger Waikiki). Don't want to spend too much time hanging out in the hotel room. We only have the rest of today to explore Oahu, so I'm just going to post a few pictures here, then we're going to explore. Today we'll go drop off bags at the ship, then visit the USS ARIZONA Memorial, and take a drive around the island. Perhaps we'll find a Luau for dinner tonight. Liberty expires at 0200, but I don't think we'll need to worry about being late. We were all in bed at 8 o'clock last night. The ladies were beat from the 3-hour time difference and I was beat from only getting 4 hours of sleep. 11 hours of sleep later, we got up for an excellent beach-front brunch at Dukes. Without further ado, here are the photos so far, and we're outta here. We'll write more from sea...

De ja vu

Just when I think life is going to slow down, it never does. We flew a ton of VERTREP today. That's Vertical Replenishment. Moving big loads with the helicopter, suspended on a pendant below the aircraft. Actually we were moving stuff off the carrier onto a supply ship, so that another carrier moving in the opposite direction can receive it. And we have another full day tomorrow of the same. Kind of ironic actually. Today was Saturday, 18 August 2007. Tomorrow is Saturday, 18 August 2007. Again. Groundhog Day is a perfect description of our two 18th's. The keen geographer will realize that tonight our repeat of days represents crossing the international dateline. We go from 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time to 12 hours behind. Time stays the same but the date changes by one day. So now I am simply 5 hours behind San Diego. Not -5 hours, + 1 day or +19 hours, or any such silliness. The math is much easier now. And it gets easier every day. Hallelujah. I am still scrambling to catch up on paperwork that I put off during Valiant Shield and tring to minimize the work I'll have to do during Tiger Cruise. It's coming together. Fortunately, my Tigers will have plenty to do touring the ship and getting their Tiger PQS signed off. See the bloglossary for an explanation of PQS. For those who complete the PQS, they will earn a Tiger Warfare Qualification Pin at the end of the cruise.

Mystery roommate

Another day down, another day closer to home. Just a couple short flights today. Most of the airwing had the day off. "No fly days" are rarely truly no-fly days for us. There's always something for the helo guys to do. Move people around the strike group, cover plane guard for a COD launch, deliver mail, you name it.

When we were in Hong Kong, my roommate (the previous Ops O) flew to Hawaii to be a liaison to the Air Force for our airwing. From there he flew home to meet his two-month old son. So for a few days, I had the room to myself. On the first day of Valiant Shield, as I was getting ready for bed I noticed that there was a duffel bag stuffed in the corner of my room. After a moment of confusion, I realized that the curtains on the bottom rack were shut. Out of no-where I had a new roommate! It was four days before I actually met the guy. Turned out, he was a reservist submariner, here doing his one-week summer vacation, working for the destroyer squadron as a sub liaison. He was on the midnight to noon watch, which explained why I never saw him. By the time I went to bed around 0100 or 0200, he was up and on watch. Then I was up by 9 or 10 and in the ready room or flying before he went to bed in the mid afternoon. Even after I met him, we never really had more than a minute or two that were in the room at the same time. Now he's gone and I have the room to myself again. Until Tiger Cruise, I'm sure.

We have over 1000 people joining us in Hawaii to ride the ship back to San Diego. Among those thousand plus people will be my mom (aka Nana) and Katelynn. Just under a week before I meet them in Waikiki. We'll have one night out in town, about 36 hours to explore Honolulu, and then they get to experience Navy life first hand for a whole week! I know they're both excited about the trip. I can't wait, either.

One of the Officers in Charge of the SH-60B detachments on the cruiser in our strike group is visiting the carrier today, so we spent some time walking around. I tried to explain a little about how we operate over here, in contrast to their much smaller world on the "Small Boy". Tomorrow he leaves and the other OIC from a different ship will visit for a day. I'm not sure why everyone wants to come visit, but I don't mind playing tour guide.

I have the day alert tomorrow, so I actually need to get to bed at a decent hour for the first time in a couple weeks. That brief will come way too early.

Whew!!

Let's see. The last time I wrote was on... I can't remember the last time I wrote. I know I was sitting in the hotel waiting for Janell. Other than that, the last few weeks are a complete blur. I'm sure most have heard by now or read elsewhere that Janell and I were able to enjoy 5 days in Singapore together. We had a great time and spoiled our selves with tours, dinner on the 70th floor, and a spa treatment that left my skin WAY too soft. Nuff said about that. The visit ended far too quickly and I boarded the ship again and she flew home just as her brain had adjusted to the 9 hour time difference.

We had another stop in Hong Kong a few days later. I actually didn't do too much there. The day after Singapore, I finally became the Operations Officer for the squadron. My work load and "busy-ness" quadrupled on that day. Being OpsO on deployment--even at the end of deployment when things should be slowing down--is a challenging job. The puzzle of writing a safe and effective flight schedule and keeping all of the "stake-holders" in our mission areas aware of what we're planning and what we're doing is more than a full time job. As the MO, I had a very large department of extremely bright people who made everything happen. They made my job very easy. As OpsO, I have a hand full of JO's and about 25 enlisted aircrew, but most of the elements of running Ops and making decisions and communicating fall to me. Another element of the busy-ness was our preparation for a major exercise that was scheduled to follow Hong Kong: Valiant Shield.

I spent the first day of Hong Kong on the ship, writing rough flight schedules for the first week of Valiant Shield. It was going to be a very busy seven-day exercise and I knew I needed to get ahead. Leaving a day and a half early to fly into Singapore hadn't helped with that (not that I was complaining, believe me). I did get off the ship for the next four days. I had a custom suit made at Sam's Tailor Shop. I was measured on Tuesday around noon, fitted with a half-contructed suit at noon on Wed, and picked up a completed suite and two custom make shirts at 2pm on Thursday!! I couldn't believe it. Sam said they put all other orders on hold when carriers pull in because of the volume of orders they get. He wouldn't tell me how many orders he had taken while we were there. I imagine it was close to a hundred. Unbelievable. On the last day, I was able to have dinner with an American family who is living in Hong Kong. The ship set up a program called "Sailors in the Home" through which local families could host sailors for a home-cooked meal while we were in port. A group of 3 other officers and I visited our family and enjoyed their company and played with their two young sons for several hours. It was nice to be in the midst of a family again, but it obviously only made me miss my own even more. I really didn't do much else worth mentioning in Hong Kong, other than buying more gifts for the girls in Stanley Market. I went there twice with two different "liberty buddies".

After Hong Kong, we had a few days to finish our preparations for Valiant Shield. The exercise lasted for seven days and involved three carrier strike groups, several Air Force squadrons, and a ton of submarines. HS-8's primary objective during the exercise was to protect our carrier from getting attacked by submarines. Not only did we do that, but we "sunk" many of the "enemy" submarines who were lurking about. In six weeks, our squadron transitions to a new helicopter that is not equipped to do Anti-Submarine Warfare. This was our last push for ASW training and our last obligation to employ those skills. I am very proud of the squadron. At midrats tonight, CAG mentioned that we had earned "rock star" status for our ASW performance. It was a tiring week of flying twice a day, writing nearly impossible flight schedules, and running around tracking down details and coordinating changes when aircraft broke. About 3 hours ago, the exercise officially ended. Now just some wrap-up paperwork, and I'm done.

Life will finally slow down a little. I'll still be busy, but maybe I'll have time to run for the first time since we left the gulf!! Yes, it's been that long. Not that I couldn't, but finding both the time and energy has been a challenge. It's time to go home. One week to Hawaii, then one more week to home. The end is near. It's good to be back on the blog.

Time for a break

I guess it's time to break the silence from the StringerZoo. I know it's been a while since Janell or I wrote anything. It's been a busy couple of weeks for both of us. Lemme see if I can quickly recap the last week...

You might have noticed that I relaxed the security on my site a couple weeks ago for a few days, then tightened it back up again. Stennis started showing up in the news again, with lots of speculation in the media about the ships proposed schedule. Rather than some snoopy journalist finding my blog (or worse), I once again closed it down to invite's only.

On Thursday, we had a cleansing of the ship. We were infested with 2,600 slimy Polywogs. We woke up at 0530 and gathered up all the 'Wogs for a rite of passage which included some fun and games in the ready room, then crawling them through the hangar bay, up Elevator 3 to the flight deck, then through a maze of tasks and silliness--all the while under a constant rain of salt water from a dozen fire fighting hoses, culminating with a blessing from King Neptune, establishing them all as Trusty Shellbacks. The ironic part of the whole thing was that it was completed about 10 degrees north of the equator. The ceremony technically should be performed south of the equator, as we actually "cross the line". Oh well. I don't make the ship's schedule. Our pseudo-Shellbacks had to wait a couple days to complete their metamorphosis.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to be on the only flight of this deployment to take off from the ship in the southern hemisphere. For just a couple hours, the ship bumped south of the equator, then turned northeast bound again. We spent much of the flight, bouncing north and south of the equator. Kind of a weird place to be flying. It didn't look any different, but just the thought of flying right along the line was pretty cool. I'm still trying to figure out how that big black line stays in one place on top of the water.

Last Sunday, one of our enlisted aircrewmen was baptised after church. That was awesome to see and be a part of. As I am just about ready to take over Operations, he'll be one of the up and coming young leaders working in my department. We have a great group of Aircrewmen and I'm excited about my new job.

That afternoon, I completed my turn-over of the Maintenance Department (well, almost). The new guy will take care of all new business and is picking most of the pieces I left in the air. The only thing I still need to take care of are a big stack of awards recognizing people for their great work during the deployment. They're waiting for me when I get back on the ship.

That's right! I'm not on the ship. I'm sitting in my room at the Ritz-Carlton in a soon-to-be-disclosed South East Asian city. In a little less than an hour, Clemmence will arrive at the lobby to drive me to the airport to pick up Janell. Her flight arrives around 1am. The ship isn't even here yet. They pull in tomorrow morning. I had the fortune of being selected to fly in early on the COD to help with the logistics of setting up stuff for the Officer's "Admin". That's the rooms that the officers will stay in while we're in port. They are staying at the hotel next door to Janell and I. I intentionally picked a different hotel from the rest of the guys. We needed a little space. The nice thing is, you have to have a room key to use the elevator here, so we won't get any surprise visits. Not that anyone would do that, but it's hard to predict the actions of inebriated aviators.

So that's been my life in a nutshell for the past week. Lots of paperwork, flying, and job discussions. This break is going to be great! I'm sure Janell and I will post occasionally about our adventures here. The girls are staying with Nana, so I know they'll have a great time while Mommy is away. That's all for tonight. Almost time to go...

Six short blasts of the ships whistle...

Last night, just before I was about to go to bed, just after midnight, the ship called away a man overboard. Two of the lookouts saw a strobe in the water. When a man overboard is called, everyone on the ship must get up and quickly go to their workspace to "muster" or be accounted for. After about 20 minutes, everyone was found to be on board, thankfully. Part of the response for a man overboard, of course, is to be ready to rescue the survivor. That's why we have an Alert 30 crew ready to go around the clock. So our A30 crew was manning the helicopter during the muster, and actually launched to go look for the strobe. They never found anything. Who knows what it was.

After the excitement was over, I finally got to bed around 2am. Then tossed and turned until sometime between 5 and 6. Hopefully the rocking of the ship will help me sleep a little better tonight. The seas have definitely picked up and many of the younger guys are looking a little green. It's so nice to be out in the open ocean again, heading in the right direction.

Lots of paperwork tonight. More tomorrow. In the morning all of the Academy grads on board will take a picture together and send it in to Shipmate, our Alumni magazine. That will be the earliest I've gotten up in a long time! And the picture isn't until 9:30.

And there was much rejoicing

About ten minutes ago, I did something that I've been waiting four and a half months to do. I changed the time on my watch. To be completely honest, I've changed the time on my watch several times during that time period. Plus one hour, minus one hour, plus one hour, minus one hour... The north Arabian Sea and the Arabian Gulf are in different time zones, so as we've moved back and forth, we've swapped time zones several times. But tonight, I added an hour to my watch and I don't have to take it back. In a few days, I'll add another hour to my watch. And another. And another. We're finally moving in the right direction.

I'm almost done turning over the Maintenance Officer job to my relief. Tomorrow I start to learn and take over as the Operations Officer for the squadron. The daily flight schedule and all the enlisted aircrew will be my responsibility. A much smaller group to lead, but a more focused role on my shoulders, with a lot of decision making every day. It'll be a good change, but the learning curve will be steep over the next couple weeks, I'm sure.

This morning I was a little late, but I finally made it down to the church service. We had the first communion service of deployment! Sounds weird in a way, but I guess it's hard to address so many people's differing traditions and expectations when it comes to such a fundamental expression of the Christian faith. The Chaplains did a great job of talking about the reasons for communion and administering the elements in a way that spoke to everyone on equal ground. I'm sure there were little parts that were uncomfortable for everyone because they were different than the way Pastor Brown does it back home in First Baptist Church of Podunk, Kansas. But it was awesome to have us all there together commemorating Christ's sacrifice together, letting go of our minor differences and focusing on what really mattered: Christ created a New Covenant in His blood, by which he has cleansed us and forgiven us of our failures in living up to God's standard. Next week, they will have another Baptism service. And one of our aircrewmen will be baptised!! I'm very excited about that!

A tough evening

Today was a tough day. I had a few meetings and didn't fly. This evening we received an AMCROSS messaage for one of our young petty officers. Her brother is about to die from cancer. She is heading home tomorrow on emergency leave. I only hope she can get there in time. At the same time, I had the misfortune of firing another petty officer. His enlistment is up and we elected to not allow him to re-enlist. His performance had been far below what we expect of a petty officer of his years in the Navy. He's a bright guy and a talented technician, when he showed up for work. It was a tough decision, but he'll be seeking work somewhere else this summer. I'm still baffled at how someone can be late for work on the ship--almost every day.

On the bright side, I was able to make hotel reservations for Janell and I at our next port. Looks to be a good time. And it's not too far in the future. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July. Today was just another day out here. Getting things done and landing safely back on the boat. That was around 2am for me. No fire works. No sparklers. I wish I could say that the picture above was me or that I took the picture, or that I even saw something like that today. It's just a cool picture I found courtesy of Google. This evening before I briefed, I did catch a glimpse of a couple jets shooting out some flares on a flyby. So that was our Independence Day celebration. That's the way it should be. We are here to support our troops on the ground who are working very hard in a dangerous place to establish and maintain stability in this chaotic part of the world. Our guys are overhead, helping to keep them safe. They don't get today off from the roadside bombs or the insurgent raids. So we don't get today off. But... the end is in sight. Not too much longer before we'll start moving toward home.

Yesterday marked 55 days till we get home. 75% complete. We're finally in the last quarter of cruise. In two weeks I get to see Janell at our next port visit. I just have to make sure we don't stay at the same hotel as the rest of the wardroom. I'd like some peace and quiet for a change!

Here's a picture of a group of us from a recent flight into Udairi Army Airfield, Kuwait. When we landed there, it felt like a blow drier was constantly blowing in our faces. At 1800, it was about 115 degrees. But the dinner was good and we got to visit the exchange. They also had phones from which I could call Janell and the girls. After the brief rest, we climbed back in and continued the mission.