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.

Happy Anniversary, Janell!

Unfortunately, it's officially past my anniversary for me. But, it's only 5pm back home, so hopefully I'm not late with this post. Today marks 12 years of marriage for Janell and I. I know I've mentioned in past posts some of the things that I appreciate about Janell but I thought this would be a great opportunity to expound on why I love being married to her. So here goes...

1. Janell knows my strengths and weaknesses. She leans on my strengths, which makes me feel valued and respected, and she encourages me through my weakensses and continues to demonstrate love toward me, even when my failures hurt her.

2. She is the most patient mother I think I have ever met. Granted, our girls are very well behaved most of the time, but that's not by chance. She has invested an incredible amount of love, wisdom, and training into our kids. I wish I could take credit for their maturity, but Janell is with them all day, every day. Her influence in their lives is unmistakeable and undeniable.

3. Janell has an adventerous spirit. All you have to do is look back over the past four months of Janell's blog entries if you have any doubts about this one. Who else in their right mind would attempt a monster road trip like the one she pulled off? And she had fun doing it. She has flown half way around the world by herself to meet me before, and she's about to do it again. When we first met, Janell had lived in the same house her whole life. She had moved bedrooms once. Now, when we've been in a town for more than two years, she starts to get the itch to move on!! When we first met, she had dated guys who had gone on to join the Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard (and they never wrote). Then she meets this guy who is planning to join the Navy. You can imagine what must have gone through her mind. I remember vividly sitting in the bowling alley in Thousand Oaks, CA, on our first "unofficial" date in early July 1990 when I first shared my plan with her. I remember the immediate dejection in her eyes as she related her past experience with "military men". Doubt crept in for just a moment. Seventeen years later, here we are. It's not just a Marriage, it's an adventure.

4. Janell is an awesome navigator. In Janell's blog I'm sure you've noticed a few entries that talked about her GPS steering her wrong on a couple occassions. It's only recently that we invested in a navigation gadget for the car. Whenever we go on road trips (and we go on lots of road trips), Janell has always been our navigator. She has an excellent sense of direction and loves maps almost as much as I do. That's not to say that she never drives, either. Many times, when I have grown too tired to drive safely, Janell has taken my place in the left seat to get us through the last 30 minutes of the drive, usually with a Vente Mint Cafe Mocha in her hand. Obviously, she does very well driving even in the worst of conditions. It's only when we try to let the GPS guide us with no knowledge of the area or route that we tend to get into trouble. Usually with me driving and Janell navigating, it's smooth sailing on the road (and in marriage).

5. Janell has the sharpest mind I know when it comes to numbers, dates, and events. She often jokes that with the birth of each child, she loses one half of her mental capacity. So, that would put her at about 1/16th of her 1997 ability. Focusing on preschool third grade each day with limited adult contact also can't help. But still, her ability to process numbers amazes me. I know she enjoys quilting and baking so much because they are so number-intensive. They give her a chance to stretch and flex those mental muscles that she was gifted with. She has reminded me on many many occassions of coming birthdays or events that I should have known about, but completely forgot. Like I said, she compliments my weaknesses to tee.

6. Janell laughs at my corny jokes. Even when she knows they're not funny and no one else is laughing. That's love.

7. Janell and I share an amazing level of trust. I've never had any cause to doubt Janell's ability to handle our finances, our home, our children, or our time apart. At the same time, she is aware of her own limitations and knows when to ask for help. Her maturity and humility are astounding and I learn from her all the time. I know she trusts me in the same way, and that trust is one of the bedrock foundations of our marriage. We both know we're not perfect and we don't expect each other to be. We learn from our mistakes together and grow past them. Sometimes slowly, but we do.

8. Janell is my best friend. As a guy, it's important to have other guys I can turn to as friends and brothers. No woman can fill that role. But Janell truly is my best friend in the sense that I can talk to her (or not) and she will listen (or just be there) and I can be totally transparent with her. I love spending time with her, sharing new experiences with her, and remeniscing old experiences with her.

9. Janell is an artist. Her artistic and musical talent are truly gifts from God. She brings a touch of class to anything she does and makes our home a pleasant place to be (when she's not fighting against the 4 winds blowing Barbies and Little People all over the house, that is). Her artistic talent was one of the qualities that attracted me to Janell when we first met. Sure she was a band geek. But at least she was the queen band geek. The sergeant major. or majorette, or major floutist; -- oh yeah-- the drum major! Can you tell it's 4:20 am? Anyway, I loved the fact that she was a musician and an artist. I still do. She's traded in her flute for hand bells, and her oils and pastells for crayons and fingerpaints, but her gifts still shine.

10. Janell makes me a better man. I've said it before, but she brings out the best in me, and helps me to make my rougher edges sharper. Her encouragement, comfort, accountability, and honesty all lift me up to accomplish things I never would have done on my own (from laundry to Masters Degrees).

11. Janell is my perfect mate. I can't imagine anyone better suited to be at my side for my entire life. Eve was presented to Adam as his "helper suitable". Janell is so much more than my helper, and she is immesurably more than suitable. I know beyond a show of a doubt that God built me to be with her and her to be with me.

12. Lastly, and most importantly, Janell is an inspiration to me as a Christian. She is a godly woman. No, she's not perfect. She makes mistakes and doesn't always live up to the standard she strives for. But she keeps getting up, knocking off the dust, and returning to her knees in prayer. I should be the inspiration for our family, but more often than not, Janell is setting the example for me. She is great about reminding me or encouraging me to get some quiet time in God's Word. She sets a great example for our girls to follow. The fruit of the Spirit are evident in her life. She is sought out by other women for her wise counsel and she is respected among other homeschooling families. I love how much she loves the Lord.

I could easily go on, but I think 12 qualities for 12 years is a good place to pause for now. Come back in 30 years and I'll have an easy list of 42 things I love about Janell! It grows all the time.

I love you, Janell!! Happy Anniversary, sweetie!

Worn out but worth it

It's been a long 24 hours. I starting preparing yesterday afternoon for what I knew would be a long day today. In fact, I didn't finish preparing until about 3 am last night. I was the aircraft commander of the 2nd aircraft in a two-ship flight that ended up logging 7 hours today. Fortunately, somewhere in the middle of those 7 hours we were able to take a break at a shore base. While there, I had a chance to call home briefly and wish Janell an early "Happy Anniversary". Tomorrow (today for me) is our 12th Anniversary. I'll write more about that tomorrow. But it was a nice surprise to get to talk to her and the girls. Sort of an odd break and mental shift in the middle of such a hectic day. But well worth it.

We landed tonight a little after 2300, very ready to peel our selves out of the cockpit and our soaking wet body armor. Turned out to be a very productive flight, having met all the items from our broad list of objectives. My copilot, one of our senior JO's, shared with me during our debrief that this was the best flight he's had so far this deployment. It's nice to fly with a fully qualified crew, and not have to focus on training so much as just getting the job done.

I've been on deck for 2 1/2 hours now and I'm no where close to dry yet. And boy do I stink. A shower before bed will definitely be in order. Not much else to write about at the moment. My brain is starting to shut down. Tomorrow will be a paperwork day. My box is crammed full of stuff that I couldn't get to the last two days. Never good for the MO to take 2 days off from paperwork.

Snapshot of me

Last month some time, the Gough's tagged me to come up with some random things about myself. My time for blogging was very limited, so I put it off. Well, here goes...

1. First off, I have multiple personalities. I took the personality type test featured on 50 toes three times and got three different answers. The test is only 53 questions and taking it once is of relatively poor accuracy. Supposedly, the more you take the test, the most frequent answer you get gives you a more accurate picture of your personality type. Back when I was in college, I tested multiple times as an INFJ using the Meyers-Briggs test. Tonight, I tested variously as:

INTP - "Architect". Greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 3.3% of total population.

ISTP - "Engineer". Values freedom of action and following interests and impulses. Independent, concise in speech, master of tools. 5.4% of total population.

ISTJ - "Trustee". Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.

They all seem accurrate to varrying degrees of accuracy. If that makes sense. I'll have to go back in a couple of days and take the test a few more times, see if my personality settles down a little.

2. I am a chronic procrastinator. Unfortunately, this is a bad behavior that has rubbed off on Janell. Once upon a time, she was a pretty squared away planning and doing kind of person. I'm doing everything in my power to teach the girls to avoid my bad habits, but as always, more is "caught than taught", I'm afraid.

3. I've never lived by myself as an adult. I went straight from high school to the Academy to marriage. From the few weekends I've had apart from Janell, alone at home, I know why God meant this to be. I'd be a terrible bachelor. I need Janell! That's not to say that I can't cook or clean. Actually I'm quite proficient at both. When I get to them.

4. I have a chronic addiction to web surfing. This is probably a bigger problem that I really give credit. It's not the content that I surf, it's the time lost looking up things like the definition of "quiescent" or the history of the Intellivision gaming system, or maps of Singapore, or the latest news from Luxembourg. OK, maybe I haven't spent too much time on that last one, but I do spend too much time here and here.

5. I sunburn every summer. Despite years of Grandma Beitzer warning of the dangers of the sun, I am terrible about forgetting to put on sunscreen.

6. I soloed in a 2-seat Cessna airplane before I had my driver's license. Aug 5, 1989, Camarillo Airport. It wasn't until the end of the summer that I earned my license to drive a car (on my second driving test).

7. I learned to scuba dive in 1993 in a Quarry in Pennsylvania. I earned my advanced diving certificate in Key West, FL, during Spring Break, 1995. I haven't scuba dived since. But I still own two 1960's vintage scuba tanks I borrowed from my dad (I think I still own them).

8. I climbed Mt. Whitney on Sept 11, 2001. Most surreal experience of my life.

9. I wore braces for seven years (Haloween of my freshman year of highschool until my third year at the Academy). Along the way, I had three sessions of oral surgery as well. My kids are dentally doomed.

10. I always have to wear a watch. Even when it makes me look like a geek in the pool or on the beach, even on vacation when I don't want to know what time it is, I have to know what time it is. Drives me nuts not to know. See #1. Plus, lets' face it. I'm a geek. See #4. And if you're still reading this, there's a pretty good chance you have a streak of geek in you, too.

Obviously, I blew off the "rules" from the Gough's post. Sorry. I don't know eight other people, and I couldn't stop at eight. I guess I'm more of a decimalist.

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday, I was getting up and briefing at this time of day. Now, 24 hours later, I'm just about to go to bed. Somewhere in there I've gotten a couple hour nap and seven hours of sleep last night, but my schedule is back to the "night" schedule for a couple days. I've stopped trying to keep track. I did get to see the sun today, during the afternoon FOD walk down on the flight deck. My 20 minutes of sun. Other than that, the only way to tell whether it's day or night is by the color of lights in the passage ways. At night, most of the lights go to red. And around this time at night (about 3am), many of the passage ways up here on the O-3 level get taped off by sections to get rewaxed. It's often a maze to find your way around the wet wax areas. It's always good to have two or three routes to get anywhere. I wonder what guys do when they wax right in front of their stateroom door. I've never had to deal with that problem, thankfully.

While it's early Monday morning for me, back home it's still Father's Day. Today didn't feel much like a Father's Day. No more than Valentines Day, Easter, or Mother's Day felt any different than any other day. Chaplain Callaham had all the dads stand up in church this morning. There was a cake at the brunch. That was about it. Another work day, guys up on the flight deck sweating for 14 hours, engineers standing eight-hour watches somewhere down below. There's no real rest at sea. That's what we signed up for. I'm proud to be here, but this was one day I would have loved to be home. I miss coming home from work and hearing Beth yell "Daaaaaaadyyyyyy!" I literally would have three girls run at me at the door (on some days, anyway), with a fourth crawling not far behind. Of course, I guess it might be four running now. I know those days are few when they will be excited to see me come home from a normal day's work. Soon they will have many of their own concerns and practices and friends and dates and phone calls and homework and you name it. I know I'll always have a special place in their lives, but I'm sure I'll never have a big a portion as I do right now. When I'm home, anyway. I cherish the time I have with my girls. I know I don't always set the example I want to. I'm definitely not a perfect dad. But I certainly don't lack for want of love of my girls. They are everything to me and I can't put into words how much I love being their daddy.

A relationship between a man and his daughters is different in a lot of ways than the relationship between a man and his son. Although I'm learning a lot as I go, I had great head start on how to be a dad from my own father. He taught me what it means to love unconditionally. He taught me what it means to be a leader in the home. He taught me how to be compassionate yet firm. He gave me the freedom to make mistakes and helped me learn from them. He taught me to enjoy life. Most of these things I learned from him were simply by living with him, by watching him, by listening to him. My dad has never hesitated to give me a huge hug when we meet or when we part. I know that he loves me because he told me so. I don't take those things for granted. It's hard for a lot of men to express that kind of emotion, but because he taught me, I am able to pass that kind of tenderness on to my girls who need it ever so much more. Maybe my hugs to them are not quite so bear-ish, but sometimes they are. There's nothing like sharing a hug with the girls after I get back from a run! One guess where I learned that. I could probably write for hours about the lessons I learned from my dad. I can't put in words, though, how much I appreciate how he taught me to be a man, how he prepared me to be a father, and how he set me up for success. I hope I can pass on the legacy. Thank you, dad. I love you, too.

Finally, success

Today was another early morning, starting with a 0250 wakeup call. I launched at sunrise for an FCF on the aircraft we've been struggling to get fixed for a couple weeks. Our masterful mechanics finally nailed it today, and we returned to the ship 2 hours later as an "up" aircraft. Enjoyed a little breakfast after our debrief, then I took a brief nap. I managed to get a run in this afternoon as well. Overall, a pretty slow day, but rewarding after finishing what has been a painful FCF. Tomorrow morning, for the first time in over a month (except during the port call) we don't have an FCF on the schedule! Today we are 2/3 of the way done with cruise. I'll feel better when we are eastward bound again, but we're making progress. That's about all for today.

Off and Sprinting

OK, no slow spool up time for us.  We're back in action now, having enjoyed 6 long days in port.  On our first full fly day today, we had 3 aircraft break!  That makes for a very busy and frustrating day for the maintenance department and tries our good relationship with the ship.  Our guys did a great job flexing and pulling out new aircraft to keep the flight schedule moving, but it was tough.  It's now past midnight and I still haven't finished the paperwork I wanted to get done today.  I was up at 0400 this morning to get an FCF completed.  We were actually done at 0800 with an up helicopter!  Of course 14 hours later, the aircraft was broken again.  Ugh.

While in port I was able to work out almost every day.  We played tennis most mornings (around 10am), under the 100 degree, humid heat.  Brutal, but fun.  I also ran 30-60 minutes most days, but my runs were on a treadmill.  It was sort of depressing to run on a treadmill on the beach, but it was so nasty outside that running would have been miserable.  Early morning was out of the question.  Plus, we had a requirement to always be with a "liberty buddy".  There's no way I was going to find anyone sober enough to go running in the cool hours of the early morning.

We also enjoyed the 25th floor lounge at our hotel on several of the nights, listening to the sounds of Tulla ("toolah") and the "Online Band", which consisted of her and a keyboard accompanyist who also played their background tracks from a laptop.  Originally from South Africa, they seemed to enjoy having our big crowd up there each night and interacted with us between their sets.  A couple of nights, I called and talked to the girls from the balcony of the 25th floor while the rest of the group was inside listing to Tulla's smooth vocals.

Most days I played tennis and ran in the morning, maybe a little pool time, maybe did a little shopping in the afternoon, then enjoyed a relaxing dinner in the evening.  On the last day, I went skiing at Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates.  The ski run took about 45 seconds to go down.  During my 2 hour pass, I estimated that I got about 16 runs done.  It was freezing cold inside the indoor mountain.  Pretty amazing.  A friend took some pictures and when I can get them from him, I'll post them later.

I managed to get a run in today as well, after a short nap before lunch (which I skipped in favor of the run).  About 30 minutes is all I can take in the hangar bay.  The heat and humidity is almost unbearable.  Every time I run down there, right about 10 minutes into the run, I start to sweat profusely and by 15 minutes I'm completely soaked.  My heart rate steadily climbs throughout the run.  Avg HR for the first half was about 130.  For the second half was about 145, peaking around 152, even at a nice slow 9:30 pace.  It was nice to run in new running shoes which I also found during my last day in port.  I had to give up my search for Asics shoes, which are my favorite.  Saucony had to do this time.  They're pretty comfortable, and much better cushioned that my old beat down shoes.

That's the latest on me.  The schedule remains very busy for us, especially with the rate of maintenance issues we've had recently.  I'm also preparing to turn over the maintenance department and to move into operations during the next several weeks.  That will be a big shift for me.  Never a dull moment.

R&R, once again

I only have 11 minutes left on my internet time in the room (no free internet this time), so this will be quick, but I'm sitting in the Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa in ... yes, you guessed it, Dubai, UAE. Like I've said before, it's the liberty stop of choice for carriers in the 5th Fleet AOR. So here we are on day 5 of a liberty marathon. We'll be back at sea soon, though. I've played tennis every morning in 110 degree heat. I actually bought a new racket two days ago. I've enjoyed the pool, done a little shopping for Janell and the girls in the local Souk's, including the spice Souk and the gold Souk. OK, 6 minutes left. I'm hoping to get back into more regular writing when we get back to sea. This break has been a nice chance to recover and relax. No 80's music this time, though. I know I still owe you stories from the last port visit. May was a tough month. Maybe I can cover that some time while we're heading home. Maybe not. I'm joining some guys for dinner downstairs in about five minutes. We're going to hit the hotel's steak house tonight. Italian last night. Trader Vic's the night before. Thai before that. It's easy to get spoiled in port. OK, only 3 minutes left. I'd better wrap this up before I get cut off. I'll write again from the boat. I'll sure miss this high speed connection. Like I said, it's easy to get spoiled. On that note, I'm off to go find a ribeye or maybe a strip.

Toto...

I'm still here, sorta kicking. It's quarter to 3 in the morning. Based on the frequency that I'm tapping the Backspace key, I must be tired. I'm too wiped out to tell. I landed from a 3.2 hour flight just before 2am. It was my copilot's first night landing on the carrier and second night flight since he got to the squadron a couple weeks ago. We stayed pretty busy during the flight, showing him what the carrier visual landing aids looked like and practicing some approaches to landing, practicing search and rescues, and chasing Iranian boats around the carrier. As I wrote to Janell recently, we definitely not in Kansas any more.

Church starts in about 6 hours. I'm not sure I'm going to make it tomorrow. I can't afford to get that far behind in my sleep. I have some pretty good teaching sermons on my iPod so I might take advantage of one those later in the day tomorrow. Not the same, but sometines it's the best I can do.

Memorial Day

Yes, I know, the rest of America celebrated Memorial day five days ago. As you might imagine, it was just like every other day for us. We worked, we flew, we sweated in the 120 degree heat on the flight deck. I haven't had a chance to write since then, so I'm going to write a piece now. I really appreciated 50 Toes' tribute last week. Especially the piece about the Class of '95 heroes who gave everything they had for their country. Megan McClung and I went though Plebe summer and much of our four years together at the Academy as company mates. She was a tough Marine with a heart of gold. I had lost touch with her after graduation until I learned of her death last year. I ask that you also remember these heroes in your prayers:

LTjg Laura Mankey from West Hills, CA
LT Adam Dyer from Lafayette, LA
AW1 Cory Helman from New Richmond, WI
AW2 Chris Will of Warren, MI

CDR Michael Shehan from Augusta, GA
LT Richard Anderson from Virginia Beach, VA
AW1 William Weatherford from Witchita, KS
AW2 Jared Rossetto from Corralitos, CA
AW2 Andrew Bibbo from Clinton, MA

The first crew, from HSC-3 in San Diego, perished when their MH-60S helicopter crashed into the water off the coast of San Diego on Jan 26, 2007 during a training flight from the USS Bonhomme Richard. This was less than a week after we left port in San Diego. The BHR is now here with us in the Gulf, having deposited their Marines on the beach to help with the stability and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. The detachment of MH-60S pilots remains on board the BHR, with a replacement crew covering the gap left by these awesome Americans who gave their lives in training for deployment. I flew with Petty Officer Helman while I was assigned to HX-21, working on new systems for the MH-60S. Our new XO is the senior member of the investigation board responsible for determining why the crash occured. Four months later, that investigation is still on-going.

The second crew, from HS-7 in Jacksonville, FL, perished on May 7, 2007 in the desert mountains east of Fallon, NV, during a Combat Search and Rescue training flight. Their SH-60F helicopter impacted a set of high tension power lines. The crew included the Commanding Officer of the squadron, who was a close friend of our new XO. They were flying a training mission on a route that we are all very familiar with under challenging conditions.

Since I left for deployment, nine brave pilots and aircrew gave their lives in training to do what we are out here for. I am continually reminded of the stakes we face and the responsibility that we are entrusted with as pilots of these machines. The job isn't easy and I honor those who are now gone by doing everything in my power to bring my crew home.

That's part of the reason I haven't been writing much lately. As Janell posted a couple days ago, it's been a tough week here. Our "mission set" has expanded a little, and I wish I could explain in a little more detail but suffice it to say that it's nice to not be flying plane guard every day, but wearing body armor for eight hours at a time is very fatiguing! Add to that, one of our helicopters has been down for over 12 days now, as we continue to battle the vibrations. While that's going on, almost every day we've had one or two other helicopters break, sometimes found during preflight, sometimes resulting in an emergency landing. The maintenance department has been very busy--thus I've been very busy. And the paperwork doesn't let up either. So, when it comes to writing in the blog or getting some sleep, sleep wins. See above paragraph.

For the first half of last week, I was getting up at 3am for 5 days in a row, working on the FCF. For the last couple of nights and continuing tomorrow, I'm flying until midnight or 2 in the morning. I just love those 12 hour circadian shifts. That's why I'm up writing now. I'm too tired to work on awards and evals, but I need to stay up just a little longer so I can sleep in late enough to stay awake late enough for my long late flight tomorrow. Follow? I think that sentence is my cue that it's time to wrap up. My brain is officially shutting down. Sorry the writing has been sporatic, but it's not for lack of things going on. I just wish there was a little less going on right now. As always, we'll continue to fly safe. Keep praying, none the less. Thanks.