by Rupe | Jul 4, 2009 | Mad Musings
We celebrated the 4th of July yesterday – I had duty. Pretty tough duty day yesterday, I think I might have corns and bunnions all over my feet right now.
Lots of moving part being on and having duty on the largest US Naval base. It was almost as though we needed to have twice the number of people.
At any rate, we were able to dress the Ship; and dressing something that is about 3 football fields long by 1 football field wide. That’s a lot of real estate to cover.
Quite tired now, gonna head home, get a quick nap and spend some time with the youngums!
by Rupe | Jul 2, 2009 | Mad Musings
For anyone who has ever felt the deep lost of a loved one, it seems almost unbearable in the moment. We question things such as love, God and even our very existence itself. We try to cope in many ways, some good and some not so good.
The hurtful memories of such times either fade into the pass or we purposefully turn away from them, pushing them to another place. We can choose to hurt forever, or we can transform the deep hurt, created by such lost, into something much bigger and more lasting.
Doing this is not as easy as one might think; it requires steadfast focus and determination…it requires tough minds for those few and very tough times.
by Rupe | Jul 1, 2009 | Mad Musings
Day 3 started out pretty eventful. We started testing the Countermeasure Washdown System only to find out that some of our piping was not in such good shape. We had between 2 to 3 major leaks throughout the ship, with anywhere from 4-6 inches of water on decks. We were able to eventually get everything under control and finish up the testing. Kudos to a lot of great teamwork between Ship’s Force and some of our civilian comrades.
Addtionally, we did a few additional high speed runs and hard turns without any negative effects. That pretty much capped the day off for the most part.
All in all I would say our Sea Trials phase went quite well. We got through most of our evolutions, we had one somewhat major glitch (sucking up of a piece of nylon rope in the James River) that prevent us from doing Astern evolutions, but nothing else beyond that.
Good livin’
Aside: Finish struggling through my National Security 460+ page book. Intend to take the test either tomorrow or next Tuesday. Then it is on to “Strategy and War”. National Security had some good moments, but the flat policy stuff put my a** to bed. I literally struggled throught that book. Got to give it to the Airforce, they concocted one “sleepy sonovagun.
by Rupe | Jun 20, 2009 | Mad Musings
Well we (my family and I) have been discussing going to Bahrain pretty much for the last year or so. That was until quite recently, we started to reconsider. Reason: I think that I am nearing my end…ready to call this life on the run quits after this assignment. And so instead of taking the family overseas for 2 years and then making the leap then, we agreed it would be best to have them settle back down in Florida now, I do a one year stint and then come back. We will have lots of time to do the world travel thingy afterwards…hopefully. Now don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy what I do, but the realities of the profession and the emotional needs of my family are proving quite the challenge.
Now, there still remains a possibility that I might hang in a bit longer, but that will depend on the selection board next year. If selected, I think…I would probably opt for the war college followed by 6th Fleet in Italy…(not sure if I want to be a ship’s IO)…that would require a bit of brain time.
At any rate I spoke to my detailer and switch back from 2 years with my family to 1 year by myself this week and he gave the ok. I think that’s the best move for my family because financial, we can put some other things in play before I jump ship; furthermore wife’s mother is not doing too well and I would hate to have her fretting about her from so far away.
I am pretty familiar with the area and since I am a bit more senior I am hoping that I will get a few more perks than the last time.
In a few months when I am re-reading this from there, I might think then it was a bit naive to redo this again, but for now, I am pretty optimistic. I don’t have the heavy stiffling cloud of career doom hanging over my head anymore and my family is relatively set. I have a few more promises that I have to carry out and then I will be complete. More about that later.
Links to line up expenses:
– DOD Rate Lookups – Find official rates for oversea living, BAH, etc…
– Florida Zip Code Lookup
– Lifelines – Awesome resource for information specific to Navy.
by Rupe | May 16, 2009 | Mad Musings
Every person has four individual responsibiities:
-> Know your job
-> Be situationally Aware
-> Be healthy and fit
-> Treat every individual with dignity and respect
We Set the Example!
-> Complaining solves nothing.
Think through problems and let me know what YOU would do if
YOU were in my position.
-> Keep a sense of humor, enjoy your families, and have fun.
by Rupe | Apr 24, 2009 | Mad Musings
So you’ve got some good news today huh?! By the way…that is not what you think…it is freaking!
