The Deckplates

It has been a few weeks since I have written anything, mainly because I’ve been on PCS leave and haven’t had much Navy interaction in the last few weeks.  Well now I do have something to write about and I am pissed about the latest change in the Navy.

Command ballcaps have been around for the last four decades and now with the NWU replacing the utilities, there really is no need to have them anymore.

From the Navy Times:

In early December, when the Navy released its rules for wear of the new Navy Working Uniform, it barred ball caps from being worn with the blue-and-gray camouflage ensemble. Instead, sailors must wear the Marine-style eight-point cover. More…

Well, it is official.  I am off my ship and now out of Japan.  I’ve been waiting for this day for quite a long time and now that it has come, well, I feel how I thought I would.  I do miss Japan, but a sense of relief is on me knowing that it will be a long time before I work for some of the people I did.

It has been almost a week since I detached, but surprisingly enough, I was put into an interesting situation when I did walk off the brow.  I got a ride from one of the ITs down to TPU to get checked in since I was no longer attached, and my flight wasn’t until the following week, so why waste those leave days doing nothing?  When I got there, the MM2 at the door told me that I could only stay there if the ship was underway, while having a big smirk on his face.  I guess he thought this was humorous.  Anyways, I stayed at another friends house for the day to find a way to get things settled so I had somewhere to stay.  We tried the BOQ which told us we could only get a room if TPU was full, which it never is.  They also told us that because I was detached that TPU should take me because I am not attached to any ships out here and I am PCSing.  We then went back to TPU to talk with the BOQ so they can get this whole policy straightened out.  This time, we had an SHSN at the desk who looked a lot more eager to help me out than the MM2.  He talked to a CS2, who happened to be the husband of a CS1 on my ship who just said, “fuck it,” and got me into TPU.  6 days with out being charged leave and not having to be on a ship.  With the exception of the weekend I got while I was there, I did have to clean for a few days, but ultimately it was a lot worth it getting out at 1500 everyday.

I am now home in California on leave finally.  Next thing officially scheduled is my trip to Dam Neck, Virginia for my GCCS school.  Though I miss Japan, it got the last laugh.  It might have been something I ate, but I had not felt that sick in a very long time, plane ride and all.

I was given my first Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for my end of tour award aboard my ship. 3 Years of service on this thing and I got what I earned for busting my ass, not getting into trouble and keeping a somewhat positive attitude. I thought it was funny that when I got it, a lot of people were surprised to find out that I was leaving soon. The CMC looked baffled to find out that I was leaving and asked me to reassure him that I was indeed leaving the ship for good.  One of the Chief’s mentioned that my NAM sounded a lot better than the other 8 people who got awards.  I’m not going to lie,  I did do a lot while I was here.

I have less than a week left on board and my flight is situated and my check out sheet is in progress of getting filled out with the signatures of the appropriate people. The most important one though is that Commanding Officer signature, which I should have in the next few days. After that, on the 20th, I will be heading over to TPU so that I don’t get charged leave for the extra days I remain in Japan until I fly home. Things are falling into place the way I wanted and I will be off in no time.

If you are reading this, and don’t already know who I am, I will be out in the Honch Friday, March 20th partying it up with the crew.  Just ask for DriK and they will point you in my way.  I know I am not as popular as Jim for his website, but if you are still interested in knowing who I am, that is where I will be.

“I swear I can’t stand this place, and whats becoming of me the longer I have to stay, I want to think all unthinkable  things and say what I shouldn’t say, I need a change,” A Call To Arms by Bayside.

March 20^th will be my official detaching day onboard my ship, though I do not fly out until the 26^th via MAC flight. The same day I detach will also be my last hoorah out in the Honch. I still need to sort out the details with Admin to find out if they will put me in TPU because I don’t fly out until the next week, or have to stay at a friends’ house. I really didn’t want to leave until the 23^rd for reason that I can not say, but unfortunately if I did do that, I would have to stand my last duty day on the 20^th.

At most normal commands, you would think that your CoC would do something appreciative like give you your last duty day off in regards to all the hard work you’ve done for the last 3 years, but instead I got something like, “we don’t believe in a last duty day off.” The last IT who tried to request a last duty day off was eventually yelled at because he didn’t feel he should route it to the Captain because anything given to the Captain, according to the command, you are to utilize the CoC for anything routed, especially when it will require the CO’s approval. Because my CoC doesn’t believe in it, they will not route it, and instead requested that I route a leave chit for that day. That becomes pointless since I would have to route it for the whole weekend since it begins on a Friday and my leave would start that Monday anyways, so that makes no sense. I just said fuck it and will detach as normal.

This goes to show how much my command cares about the morale and quality of life of its crew.  I will live on the streets than have to take any extra days on this ship. Only a few weeks left; that’s all I have to say about that!

So I decided to wait a bit to write this to get the words right so I don’t piss off someone.  Well, there really isn’t any way to not piss someone in the higher ups, but I think this is something that I took seriously and my inspector did not.

The Navy conducts spotchecks to make sure that the maintenance man is performing the steps properly, in order and has all the tools, parts and any other items required to perform the check.  The inspectors are all E-7 and above because they are expected to guide and teach in the event a question comes up about a check that the person who did the maintenance didn’t quite comprehend or may not have noticed.

About two weeks ago, I was doing a spotcheck and unfortunately I did get an unsat.  At no point did I not perform the steps outlined in the MRC, but the fact that I made some really basic mistakes that I shouldn’t have.  I admit that I could have done a lot better being senior in the division, and experienced maintenance man, but the same goes to the inspector.  On the spotcheck form, it was annotated what I did wrong and I completely agreed.  It wasn’t until a few hours after the spotcheck that I was accused of another mistake that was not brought to my attention during the check.    Not only that, I was being made fun of and laughed at for my additional mistake.  At no point did I think what I did wrong was anything to laugh about.  Spotchecks are serious, and that goes for the inspector as well.  I felt pretty shitty about getting an unsat, but I was more pissed that they could just laugh about it.  The ship has a 3-M inspection in a few months, which I won’t be there for, and when it’s time to get even more serious about making sure people are doing their maintenance properly, they go down and laugh about a failure?

That is unsat on your part and what respect I had for you is definitely gone Chief!

I am officially on my last month here. I have my TIS completed, my itinerary in hand, and I am ready to roll. Unfortunately my CoC doesn’t realize that I am ready to get out of here. I am still getting the taskings that would be given to someone who will be around for a while. I am not saying that I should not be doing anything at all, but at least less big stuff and more mediocre, bull shit jobs like cleaning. I will clean everything for days until I leave, but it’s not going to fly.

I still have collateral’s that I haven’t turned over completely, mainly because we are underway and all the new people are on the mid-watch and all the senior people on days. When I say new, I’m not talking about seamen, I mean people who just checked in who will be here for a while.  Well, I can’t say that we don’t have one new person on the day watch, because we do have one new person, but I don’t believe that person is motivated enough to take in the information and move on with it.   The others, I would sit with them for hours to go over the things I know because I know they appear motivated to know their job.   Those who have been here for some time, well they already have enough work for themselves and giving those more to do will hurt more than do good.

I am currently on my last underway with this ship and my flight isn’t until after the ship gets underway again.  That means I will be staying at TPU for a few days and don’t have to worry about going to the ship every night.  Also, I get to miss out on 2 certifications that will go on just after I leave.  I did both of them when I first got here and they were a pain in the ass then, and they are already a pain in the ass now.

I am still very nervous about going to my new command.  I am excited that I am leaving this place, but to beat a dead horse, I really am going to miss the people that I’ve known that I won’t be able to hang out with anymore, unless they get orders to San Diego.  It will definitely feel weird walking through being the stranger of the ship.  I will once again be the new guy of the ship, but I think things will be a bit better coming in as an E-5 vice E-2 like I did when I first got here.  Plus, I got my pin, and I am going to another ship of the same class, so I won’t have to requal.

What awaits on the other side of the Pacific Ocean will be a major change for me, though I am from Southern California area.  It won’t take long for me to adapt, and I hope it comes quick.  The last thing I want to do is sulk because of the fact that I am gone.  Leaving Japan will take some time to get used to, but leaving this ship, not so much!

I now have less than 3 months left aboard and I am anticipating the day when I can finally check off this ship for good. Though I have had a rough time while here, I know that leaving I have experienced a lot of great things and accomplished a lot being an IT.

At the end of March I will be transferring out of Yokosuka, Japan and will be heading home to Buena Park, California for 30 days of R&R.  From there, I will be heading down to Virginia Beach, Virginia for a 26 day school for a system I dreaded since the day I heard of it.  Originally I was to go to GCCS-M 3.x and take leave, but my orders were modified and I will be going for 4.x.  Those who don’t know what the X stands for, it is for Xtra Shitty – Thanks Pip for the run down!  The upside of this is that I will be near New Jersey for Bamboozle.  Bayside will be playing there and when I saw them in February last year, it blew my mind and couldn’t wait to see them again.  I get my chance in May, so Jersey here I come!  After that, I will head down to San Diego for my ultimate duty station and be there for just over a year.  I will be able to drive and live in a house, things will be looking up for me back in the great state of California.  Since I will be there for only a year, months after reporting I will be in my window once again to decide where I go next.  This time I will be eligible for shore duty which means no going out to sea for me!

Re-enlistment sounds like an option at this point because how shitty the economy is so might as well stay here with guaranteed job security.  The debate I have is where to go next?  Two options have rolled through my mind; stay in San Diego for shore duty or go back to Yokosuka and get to enjoy everyday knowing that I won’t be going out to sea!  I’ve mentioned this plan to one person already and they were not very happy with that.  I know that I have protested how much I miss my family being out here, but I think my anger was mainly directed towards the ship and people I see and work with everyday.  The schedule is pretty shitty too, but when we get ports, I rarely have a disappointing time, but going around in circles for at least a week, I think we can do better with our time like enjoy it in one of the neighboring countries.  I understand that we have a mission, but doing exercises over and over again does get overdrawn and probably makes things worse for us in the end.  Everyone is capable of defending the ship and our country if it ever came to that, but breaks in between do help build the morale of the crew and makes us want to do a better job at it knowing the rewards accompanying it.  If passing an inspection meant Thailand, you know I’d put my blood and sweat into it.  That doesn’t happen though because just before a port visit, and exercise slips in and it is crucial that we participate so we know what we are doing, so why bother.

Can’t believe it is my turn in line to roll out from this ship.  With all the BMD missions, the carrier and dual carrier operations and to top it off, and complete network upgrade, I think I’ve done pretty well for myself by not blowing my brains out being here.  When it is all said and done, I know I’ll miss this place, not so much the people but definitely Japan.

Recently, in the city of Oakland, Oscar Grant was killed outside a train station by an officer which has lead to riots in the city. To shed a little light on why this led to protest and a riot was because this man was black.  Not to be racist, but I think everyone can agree that had this been any other race, more than likely it would not have led to a riot especially since the black community is the majority ethnicity in the city.  None the less, these people have the right to be outraged but at no point can a riot be justified, especially in the United States which I have voluntarily signed up to support and defend so that they have their rights to protest and be outraged.  As someone who is a resident of the state, I have to voice my opinion to those who are outraged with this atrocity.

From Mercury News.com:

At least 105 people were arrested for a variety of offenses Wednesday night. Police said charges for those arrested included assault on a police officer, looting, vandalism and arson. Some of those detained were found to have drugs, which added another count to the charges.

Angry about the New Year’s Day shooting by a BART police officer, protesters smashed businesses and set fires in downtown Oakland, and confronted Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums on the steps of city hall.

Oakland police beefed up their presence on the streets Thursday morning, with officers in riot gear patrolling the streets as they anticipated more protests. Businesses downtown were cleaning up, dealing with the aftermath of smashed windows and cars.

I am outraged by the way the people of Oakland protested towards this, if this could ever be called a protest.  This is the kind of behavior you would see on the news when reporting violence that occurs in the Middle East.  Those who were involved reduced themselves to the thinking that terrorists do to gain support for the wrong-doings that occur in their countries.

I understand that this shooting was a tragedy, but at no point should violence come across the minds of the American people and shows how weak and pathetic the people of Oakland really are.  Watching the O’Reilly Factor, the city of Oakland isn’t so innocent when it comes to crime.  I read the Morgan Quitno statistics for Oakland, which rates the safest and dangerous cities in the country, and Oakland is the 5th most dangerous for 2008.  How dare you riot and protest those who are there to protect and serve.  Crimes are committed against the innocent to make you the 5th dangerous city in the country and you riot for this?  Protest over the crime rate and make every effort to make your city more livable.

The city of Oakland is a disgrace to the state of California and I am appalled by your actions.

A while back I posted about the micro-blogging website Plurk, because I had starting using it and thought those of you who don’t blog as much would want something small and convenient. Well its rival site Twitter was hacked Monday and a few celebrities were targeted. Why I am writing this was because one person in particular was targeted, President-Elect Barak Obama.

From BBC,

The celebrities, including US CNN broadcaster Rick Sanchez, awoke on Monday morning to find their Twitter accounts – which allows users to post short updates of less than 140 characters – with some bizarre and, in some cases pornographic messages.

The fictional updates included a message from Mr Sanchez saying he would not be in work because he was high on crack, a link to free petrol from Mr Obama and some very personal statistics from Ms Spears.

Though I don’t really use Plurk as much as I did when I started, this goes to show why I chose it over Twitter.

My first post that I wrote about how the Navy is changing the uniform was about my distaste for the Khaki uniforms.  I touched a bit on the other uniforms that were in development for change, but because of the lack in information, I couldn’t really say much about them.  That is a good thing for me because for every new uniform that prepares to roll out, I will give my opinions on the uniform.  The next item out will be the replacement for utilities for E-6 and below, and the wash Khakis for E-7 and above.

From the start, I never really supported the changing of utilities because it is another uniform that has been in the Navy for a long time.  Not as long as the whites and blues that we wear that are being replaced by the Khakis, but they were around before WWII era which anyone can say is a long time.  The utilities were modified not too long ago from dungarees which were the uniform for a long time, but at least they remained somewhat similar besides the material they were used out of.  Now the utilities are being completely removed and replaced by the camouflage Navy Working Uniform.

The first to officially wear these uniforms will be Flag Officers, COs, OICs and CMCs throughout the Navy December 15th.  By December 31st 2010, it will be required by all hands fleetwide.  When first announced, it was put out that you could wear this uniform anywhere just like the other branches, but after review, just like the utilities you can not leave your vehicle in the uniform unless it is a “genuine” emergency.

These uniforms were still in the testing phase when I was in boot camp and at the time, I thought they were decent looking uniforms.  I was hoping that the Navy would decide against the digital style, but instead they did choose them, and that was chosen as the replacement uniform for utilities.  The Navy was close to replacing the coveralls uniform as well with these, but because of the popularity of coveralls, especially for underway time, the Navy decided to keep them around which I am glad the Navy for once decided to listen to the little guys.

My dislike for the uniform is the digital style of them.  We are not marines or soldiers, well the majority of the Navy anyways, and that is what the Navy is making us look like.  All Navy uniforms stood out amongst the rest of the services and now they want us to conform to what everyone else is looking like.  I know we are at war, but the majority of the Navy is out at sea.  What do we need to blend into to keep the enemy from finding out where we are.  The uniforms aren’t going to keep us stealth at sea, because when they see that haze gray piece of metal floating around, I think it would be a hint that it is a Naval vessel patrolling.  Then again we will be wearing coveralls anyways, so what is the real reason behind changing to this uniform?

Master Chief Terry Scott (RET), then MCPON said:

“The intent of TFU always has been to give our Sailors a uniform in which they can work comfortably everyday and is more appropriate for the joint environment in which we operate,” Scott said. “Even better, we’ve created a uniform that’s also easier to maintain, is longer lasting, helps reduce the size of the sea bag, while at the same time recognizing the tradition and heritage of serving in the Navy.”

Conformity is the answer and I have to say why do we have to conform?  When in the Navy’s history was there a time where everyone wore camouflage uniforms?  When we are at war, I can understand wearing of these types of uniforms, but only for those who were sent to the war zone.  What happened to the pride of having a squared away uniform?  To me, the term easier is just a substitute for laziness and that is what the Navy is becoming.

I just don’t like the overall fact that the Navy is changing and conforming to the rest of the branches.  I like being unique and having completely different uniforms than the other services.  I like the idea of earning the Khaki uniform and not having them just given to me.

Well time is getting close to the official start of our Selected Restricted Availability(SRA) period.  During an SRA period, ships either stay pier side or into a dry dock for months at a time for system upgrades, preservation, or a full overhaul of equipment on board.  This will be my second SRA period and unlike the first time, I will not be at school.  In fact, I have been given the task of overseeing our LAN upgrade for the ship.  I am not the only one who will be overseeing it, but I will be doing a lot of it by myself for at least 5 weeks of the SRA period.  As much as I feel honored with this task, I am still very young in my job and it will be completely overwhelming with my experience.

Though I can’t say that LAN upgrades happen all the time, which they probably don’t, those with more time in rate are better to cope with it because they can delegate work to those they know are capable of carrying out tasks.  With my lack of experience and senior personnel to aide with the upgrade, it is difficult to delegate to those under me to lighten the load.  All I can hope for is that when everything is done and our new LAN is up and running with minor issues, because nothing ever works perfectly the first time, that I can spend the rest of my time here relaxing until I check out and move on to my next command.

I didn’t ask for this, I just wanted to help lighten the load.  Now a lot of it is on me.

Obviously as we all know Barack Obama has been selected as the next President of the United States, and with that he will be my our new Commander-In-Chief.  Though there are mixed reviews about having him as our next President, no matter what I think or believe, I will carry out whatever he deems necessary and involves the military because I am an American serving in the Armed Forces, and I took the Oath of Enlistment stating “that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States.”

I do offer my congratulations on his achievement in becoming the next POTUS and the efforts put forth in order to gain the trust of the people of the United States to select him into office.  As a military member, I do not do my job based on race, religion, personal preference, but to complete the mission at hand, be it real or an exercise.  I do it because I don’t know when my Commander-In-Chief will call upon the Navy to carry out a real life mission, but at least I know I will be ready.

To those who refuse to accept Barack Obama as our new President, there is nothing you can do and will accept him like every President before him.  Those in the military who do not accept him, he is your new Commander-In-Chief and you will carry out his orders because you took the same Oath as I did.

Yes, I have my exact dates of arrival to not just to my next command, but to an intermediate stop in between for school.  I will be detaching this place and making a stop in Virginia for school for a good month.  As much as I dislike the east coast, I wont mind a month out there because I will at least get to see places like Washington DC.  Baseball season will also have already started so maybe a stop in Boston to see the Red Sox game.  At no point under my own free will would I ever go to Virginia, but since the Navy is making me go for a month, might as well make the best of it and go to places I would never want to make a living in.

I am going to another ship, but because I am coming from the FDNF, and only have a year of sea duty left for my rotation, I only will be at my command for a year.  Three months on board and I will already be up for orders and I will do my shore duty.  Still not sure what I plan on doing because I will only have a year left before my EAOS when I go to shore duty.  I plan on staying in California for shore, and if I do re-enlist, it would be for 3 years and only if they let me extend on shore for a year and do 4 years shore.  If that is a possibility, then when I complete my shore duty I will not go out to sea again and put in for separation.

We’ll see what the future has in store, but for now let the count down begin for when I leave this place!

I made it to the Philippines and was able to stay the whole time. Earlier this year we made a stop in the PI, but do to an emergency back home, I was flown out and though I had one day to enjoy it, I decided to stay on the boat. This time, all was well at home, and I had a blast, especially having a Filipino liberty buddy to get us to where the fun was at.

Also, I went to Hong Kong for the fourth and, I believe, the last time. Of the four times I’ve visited the HK, I never had a bad time and I will certainly miss going out there. Each time I visited there, I went out with a different group, and new memories were created. Will I ever take my own trip out there? I highly doubt it because the only thing that makes it great is being there with those who truly know how to appreciate it, and those people are Sailors. The best part of it is walking down the street and seeing your buddies holding hands with girls they just met and seeing there face light up with the “this isn’t what it seems” expression.

I am not sure whether or not these are my last port calls for this ship, but either way the ports I have visited were all enjoyable. There were two or three ports that you had to dig deep to have a good time, but I made the best of them.

Port Call List:
Hong Kong – 4 Times
Sasebo , JA – 3 Times
Guam – 2 Times
Pusan, ROK – 2 Times
Brisbane, Aus – 1 Time
Laem Chabang, Thailand – 1 Time
Manilla, PHI – 1 Time
Cebu, PHI – 1 Time
Chinhae, ROK – 1 Time
Saipan – 1 Time
Maizuru, JA – 1 Time
Kure, JA – 1 Time
Nagoya, JA – 1 Time
Okinawa, JA – 1 Time

I never realized it until making this list, but I have been to a lot of places, and for each one I can think of something memorable about it, even places I’ve been to more than once. Guess you never realize where you’ve been until you look back, and I will miss the good times I’ve had.  We’ll see where San Diego takes me to next.

I finally got orders, and they are to San Diego.  I will be detaching this command early next year and will be off to school, then to my new command.  When I received notification that I was denied orders, and asked if they denied all of my requests, I was told yes.  With that, I was requested to call to negotiate orders and I told them what I wanted, a ship in San Diego.  Only three ships were available and two of them were big decks, which I told myself in the beginning that I was going to stay away from those.  My last option was a small boy that I am used to and I got verbal approval of the offer.

Now I must wait for the paper copy to roll into message traffic so that I can figure out when and how I am going to get out of this place.  I have been out here for over 2 1/2 years and it got really old quick.  I guess as people left and new people rolled in, it was different adapting to however they did work.  I was really used to how things went in the beginning, and when a change of command occured, things just went crazy with their policies and way to  conduct business.  Now I am going to a new command and being in the FDNF, I am used to how I do business and going to a ship that spends a lot more time inport than I am used to.  The second we get underway I have high expectations only because that is what the FDNF has taught me.

I will do my best not to be that guy no one wants to work with because I want work to get done and will be an asshole to make sure it gets done, but the Navy is Navy, and I will bring the FDNF standards to San Diego, the useful ones anyways.  And, I don’t mind being corrected, especially being in an area where things are done completely different than what is expected in the FDNF.  Hopefully I will get Workcenter Supervisor and CSTT while I am there, since I am not getting it here.

I can finally be with my family again and spend a lot more time with my Dad like I used to.  I will definately miss Japan and the good times I had.  One thing I can expect is a lot of my friends from here will be in San Diego, so I won’t miss things too much.  I am ready to start over yet pick up where I left off! San Diego here I come!