Musing #8

Taken Away
this was written a year ago while I was still on deployment...

I was looking out over the Indian Ocean this evening and I saw a beautiful sight. The sea was glassy calm. As the ship passed through the water the phosphor (photo luminescent algae) was glowing brightly in the ships wake. The phosphor was bright electric neon blue - not like in the North Atlantic where the phosphor is neon green and not nearly as bright.
As the waves crashed down and the water churned from the props the ships wake glowed a path into the inky black darkness. It glowed in the foam and created lighting bright strings rippling like plasma across the wave tops.
Then to my amazement, I could hear splashes off in the distance. At first, I could not figure out what it was, then the splashes came closer and I could see huge “blasts” of phosphor spouting into the air. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see more. Finally, I saw what caused those mini explosions in the phosphor. Dolphins were jumping the waves in our wake, merrily playing and jumping giving us an unbelievable light show to the likes few have ever seen.
Taken aback, all the days’ problems and troubles just washed away, if only for a few moments. Tonight was one of those times when I knew in my heart I belong at sea. For only a moment I was taken away, I was no longer onboard the ship I was just watching nature at it’s finest soaking in everything, the sights and sounds of the magnificent show before me. There was no better place on earth, then right here.

Musing #6

Last Sunrise in the Mediterranean

0455 (4:55 AM) Thursday morning May 10^th, the water was glassy smooth the only ripples were from the bow slicing smoothly through the water. The sky was still starry as we headed west. Behind us, the light started almost imperceptibly at first then growing faster a deep rich gold along the horizon. The clouds are still dark and inky, above them night is still grasping firmly refusing to fade away to the onslaught of the new day.

As the light grows, there is Spain off to the north. Rising up from the water not welcoming but refreshing nonetheless, for you see today is our last day in the Mediterranean Sea. After today, I am most likely to never sail on any body of water other than the Atlantic. Standing quietly I think back over the memorable past 17 ½ years I have spent them in the Navy. I wonder what the future holds and what will happen with my life after I retire.

Turning back to the sunrise at hand, the sky is growing brighter and that gold is now showing orange with a purple line above with the night still refusing to fade away. The clouds are lighting brighter by the second moving from purple to fire red with orange below as the sky brightens up there are merchant ships carrying cargo to and from all parts of the globe passing along.

Today is the dawning of a new day and the closing of a chapter. As the sun slides up to the horizon, the night finally relinquishes it grasp. Such a poetic moment should not be interrupted by idle conservation, I remain, fellow sailors have come and gone today; just as they have come and gone through out my career.

I cherish this moment like few others in my life. Looking back for the last 214 days of this deployment and the last 17½ years in the navy, I can truly say wow it has been one hell of a ride. Just as the day takes over the night, it is time for the younger sailors to take over for those of us “old salts” this day is different than every one before and the Navy is different today then it was when I came in a scared kid. Somewhere along the way I became a man, today is the day when the kids of today will need to step up and be men too.

I guess it is finally time for me to start looking west towards that sunset and let the younger sailors have the day.

HOW TO SIMULATE SHIPBOARD LIFE - NAVY STYLE

Speaking today on behalf of those that think that the Navy lives a "TOP GUN" existence. You know, those people that have watched one too many episodes of JAG, and think that Navy life is glamorous! Here are a few suggestions on how to experience the real Navy life, right in the comfort of your own home.

• Buy a dumpster, paint it gray and live in it for 6 months straight.

• Run all of the piping and wires inside your house on the outside of the walls.

• Pump 10 inches of nasty, crappy water into your basement, then pump it out, clean up, and paint the basement "deck gray"

• Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go the scummiest part of town, find the most run down, trashy bar you can, pay $10 per beer until you're hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.

• Perform a weekly disassembly and inspection of your lawnmower.

• On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays turn your water temperature up to 200 degrees, then on Tuesday and Thursday turn it down to 10 degrees.

• On Saturdays, and Sundays declare to your entire family that they used too much water during the week, so all showering is secured.

• Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.

• Have your next door neighbor come over each day at 5am, and blow a whistle so loud that Helen Keller could hear it and shout "Reveille, Reveille, all hands heave out and trice up"

• Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in the back yard at 6am and read it to you.

• Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for three days straight, then lock the bathroom door for 12 hours, and hang a sign on it that reads "Secured - contact OA DIV at X-3053"

• Submit a request form to your father-in-law, asking if it's ok for you to leave your house before 3pm.

• Invite 200 of your not-so-closest friends to come over, then board up all the windows and doors to your house for 6 months. After the 6 months is up, take down the boards, and since you're on duty, wave at your friends and family through the front window of your home...you can't leave until the next day.

• Shower with above-mentioned friends.

• Make your family qualify to operate all the appliances in your home(i.e. Dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.)

• Walk around your car for 4 hours checking the tire pressure every 15 minutes.

• Sit in your car and let it run for 4 hours before going anywhere. This is to ensure your engine is properly "lit off".

• Empty all the garbage bins in your house, and sweep your driveway 3 times a day, whether they need it or not.

• Repaint your entire house once a month.

• Cook all of your food blindfolded, groping for any spice and seasoning you can get your hands on.

• Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, randomly losing every 5th item.

• Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV, but only watch CNN and the Weather Channel.

• Have your 5-year-old cousin give you a haircut with goat shears.

• Sew back pockets to the front of your pants.

• Spend 2 weeks in the red-light districts of Europe, and call it "world travel"

• Attempt to spend 5 years working at McDonalds, and NOT get promoted.

• Ensure that any promotions you do get are from stepping on the dead bodies of your co-workers.

• Needle gun the aluminum siding on your house after your neighbors have gone to bed.

• When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone, and shout at the top of your lungs that your home is under attack, and order them to man their battle stations.

• Post a menu on the refrigerator door informing your family that you are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for at least an hour, when they finally get to the kitchen, tell them that you are out of steak, but you have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they don't pay attention to the menu any more they just ask for hot dogs.

• In the middle of January, place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have you family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4-hour intervals.

• Lock yourself and your family in your house for 6 weeks. Then tell them that at the end of the 6th week you're going to take them to Disneyland for "weekend liberty". When the end of the 6th week rolls around, inform them that Disneyland has been cancelled due to the fact that they need to get ready for E-cert, and that it will be another week before they can leave the house.
  
  Put your family through these, and then let them tell you how glamorous Navy life is.

Welcome home "Big E"

Just in Time For Christmas

Today is a big day for thousands of spouses, friends and family of the sailors embarked on the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and the other ships in the Enterprise Battle Group.

The big "E" pulls in to Naval Station Norfolk just in time for Christmas! I for one want to wish them all a Warm Welcome and Happy Holidays! Pier 12 is a mad house with anxious family and friends all waiting to see the ship on the horizon... counting the longest moments of the entire deployment....
After what seems like an eternity the ship finally came into view the Big “E” looks tired and ready to be home. Sailors man the rails all along the flight deck in their Service Dress Blues, shivering both from the cold and the anticipation of finally being back.
As the USS Enterprise rounds past the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower a roar is heard from the pier and those thousands of anxious friends and family welcome home their sailors. Sliding forward, painfully slow the tugs slide the Enterprise into her berth and finally those words that every sailor longs to hear “MOORED, SHIFT COLORS!” another even larger cheer goes out through the crowd. Moments later the call is heard across the flight deck to dismiss the sailors manning the rails. A mad scramble ensues with everyone running trying to get a better view to find their loved ones in the crowd below. Cell phones and walkie-talkies come out, tears, laughter, cries and shouts. The warmth all but drowns out the cold and wind, no one minds today after the Big "E" is finally home.
Just moments from now the Brows will be across and those sailors that have been gone will finally be reunited with their loved ones. Just in time for Christmas.




BZ BIG E!!!!!!!
Dennis

Musing #5

I have heard numerous words to describe how I view coffee. Some say I’m fanatical, while others will say I am just plain nuts. I have been called everything from a drug dealer to the coffee man. Then there are some, a very select few, which call me a connoisseur. Even though there are many different opinions about me and my coffee the one universal opinion is that I have the best coffee on the ship.
I am sure you are wondering what about my coffee is different. I roast my own coffee beans, every week. Yes onboard the ship. I have over 30 pounds of green coffee beans onboard from every different coffee growing region on the face of the earth. I can tell you the difference in coffees by country and region.
If you simply tell me what you like about coffee I can give you three or four recommendations on the spot. Chances are I have at least one of them onboard and can roast you some the next time I am roasting.
Do I have your attention yet? Did you know that coffee is not supposed to be bitter or sour? Not fresh coffee, fresh roasted coffee that is! I have sailors from all over the ship that come by weekly just to get a bag of coffee from me. The best part, I think, is that the finest coffee in the world can be bought for a fraction of the price of roasted coffee. On average I spend around 5 dollars a pound for coffee. The same coffee from a gourmet shop would cost around $30.00 to $40.00 per pound.
Am I obsessed? I don’t think so, I believe that I just enjoy some of the finer things and I am willing to go the extra mile to get them. Do I mind the name calling and the kidding? Not at all, I know that deep down every coffee drinker onboard wishes they had my “True Brew” coffee in their cup everyday.

Musing #3

Don’t Fight It...

Just the word change makes some people nervous. Why is that? What is it about change that causes us to fight it? Change is inevitable. Not one of us can truly prevent change no matter how hard we fight, Change happens. There is just something about change, which we equate with bad things. Change can be good.

I can look back in my life and some of the worst things (I thought at the time) I can remember about changes in my life actually became some of the high moments. Going to a new school –very traumatic at the time, yet after the hating the uniforms and having school on Saturday, I soon learned that my new school had it good points as well. After all having those Saturday classes made the school year shorter. The smaller class size get me a better chance of getting the extra help I needed in my weak areas. APS (Aiken Prep School) even had a “Sports day” where we all competed against each other. My ninth grade year, the Sports Day was the single proudest moment of my childhood. I had never been a super athlete as a child(heck, I was usually the "Last Picked for Kickball") but that day I actually won. My name is forever on the halls of APS as the senior champion for 1985. The school and the winners list goes all the way back to 1919.

Other changes I have readily accepted, even embraced – getting married, getting divorced 9 years later, getting married again, joining the Navy etc. (Speaking of joining the Navy; now that is just asking for change and lots of it!) From boot camp, to the fact that you are transferred from duty station to duty station, every three to five years. If you did not want change then the military is not for you.

Conversely, if you take a closer look at the military as a whole, the structure and schedule you keep is very indicative of a lack of change. Some people embrace the military for just that reason. The traditions and heritage of the Navy are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to rigidity (used here to refer to lack of change).

Change is constant and well “ever-changing” (pun-intended). We need to learn to accept change and evolve with the changes, to appreciate the changes we experience every day. Some days we don’t want to change and wish that our little bubble would remain exactly the same but once we have accepted the changes that will inevitability happen in our lives, our lives become richer and more fulfilling all the time. There is no reason to fight the change. We should all embrace change and find out how we can use the changes to enrich and better our own lives.