Well today is my birthday and I am now 22 years old.  Unfortunately I have duty, and because I really don’t care about this birthday, I thought I would write about the USS George Washington finally arriving in its new home port of Yokosuka, Japan and I have to say I was not surprised with what I saw.

I debated whether or not to head out to the Honch to have a few drinks with a buddy, as well as mingle in with the new crew that had just arrived.  After being out at sea for an exercise that I believed we shouldn’t have been involved in, a few drinks were in order.  Obviously I expected all of the places to be packed with sailors, new and old, after their long journey from Japan to San Diego back to Japan.  When I got out there, the streets were indeed crazy and the MAAs was in full force.  Because of all media attention towards the George Washington and Japan not being a fan of anything nuclear, everyone had to be on their best behavior and security was out to make sure it stayed that way.  To make it even more clearly to them how important a first impression was, no one was allowed to be on the streets past midnight if you were a GW sailor.  Of course, the drinking curfew was midnight for me; I was still able to stay on the streets so long as I didn’t have an alcoholic beverage in my hand.

Some of the things I noted when I was out there were, of course, all of the MAAs roaming to keep everyone on the up and up.  They even went after guys who were just sitting down because in Japan, if you pass out on the streets, you could wind up in jail and that is the last thing this crew needs for a first night.  They asked him if he was alright, and whether or not he had too much to drink.  He told them he was find, but they still recommended to him to head back to base just in case.

Of course with new sailors, comes the massage ladies that walk the street asking if you want a massage, though we all know there is another agenda that goes on behind closed curtains.  Those not familiar with Japan are asked by these ladies if they want a massage and a big smile goes across their face.  Some of them would actually walk up to these women and ask them about it, and I was laughing my ass off.  I was able to ward them off by holding out my cell phone acting as if I was texting someone.  It appeared to them that I wasn’t new to Japan and I know what happens during these massages.

I guess it isn’t very often that 3000 new people arrive in Japan at once, so when I saw that there were tour guides to the Honch, I was definitely surprised.  There would be a group of about twenty people and would say break off, ten going one way and ten going the other and meeting back at a certain time.  Apparently those who weren’t new to Japan didn’t explain that there isn’t much to really tour about in the Honch.  All it is are bars, clubs and a few food stands.  Maybe it is just me, but if I was on the GW and someone told me the Honch is where everyone goes to hang out and drink, I wouldn’t need a tour guide to show me the bars around.  I’ll just walk right in to a place and ask for a drink.  Some places, people would just look to see what is going on, and if they only see a few people they just proceed on and don’t even give the place a chance.  Believe it or not, it is nice to be able to drink some where and not have to worry about a million people crowding the place while I am just trying to relax with a beer.

Well, I haven’t heard of any wrongdoing out last night, so hopefully a good first impression was made.  There was no way RADM Wren was going to have one of his sailors mess it up for the first night and I believe he did a good job placing these measures to prevent anything that would bring discredit upon the Navy and the crew of the George Washington.  Congratulations on a good first night and with the weekend upon us, and the rules relaxed, let’s see how long the GW goes before an incident occurs.

I finally finished watching the T.V. mini-series Carrier.  From May to November 2005, the USS Nimitz went on deployment to the Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  With them came a camera crew from PBS that followed the crew around to see how life really was like in the Navy.  My review of it is mixed because sometimes through the documentary I was like, yeah that’s how life is and at points I felt that people conducted themselves in a manner to sugarcoat or exaggerate situations because it was going to be on T.V. I will do my best not to spoil the show for those who haven’t seen it.

When the USS Nimitz first gets underway, they had the crew man the rails. Not to say that manning the rails is not something a ship should do when it goes on a six month deployment to the Middle East, but I’ve asked a few people who have been on carriers and even at heated points in the war, none of them left port manning the rails. Then again, when I started watching the show, I nit picked at everything just to find something wrong.  I didn’t want it to give the wrong perspective of how things are conducted in the Navy.  Pulling into ports, though, I fully understand manning the rails.

It appears that to others who have watched the program that the CMC would appear to be Joe Navy. He was that squared away guy who went around making sure that everyone else was squared away. I did see the Joe Navy in him, but at the same time I thought he was micromanaging his crew. Whenever the camera was focusing on the CMC, it was because he was around asking people why they are jacked up, or asking the senior person why their people are jacked up. Each time he did this, it was preceded by the word “shipmate.” One scene that really caught my attention was when he found a Sailor in one of the spaces. He proceeded to call him shipmate and asked him what color liberty card he had. He told CMC that he was a white card. After that the CMC asked him his name then told him that he needs to square himself away and get his blue card.  He didn’t even know the guy and assumed he was jacked up, and for all we know the guy just checked aboard to the command and was doing something that he wasn’t familiar with, but appeard as if he was goofing around.  I understand that its crew is 5000+, but before you grill someone, you should at least find out who the Sailor is, then question them before accusing them guilty.  I wrote a previous post about the word Shipmate and he did a good job helping me justify why Sailors now a days don’t like being called one because they know where it leads to.

At first, I hated AN Garzone, now MC3(AW), because he came off as that guy who wanted the attention. He did this when he went around interviewing people appearing to be a reporter for the ship, with a microphone and all. Well I came to realize that it was part of his job in the Navy, so if I was in his field, I probably would be doing the same thing. Actually, I felt sad for him when his best friend, Phil with one L, got out of the Navy. That is indeed one of the biggest pains in the Navy, when you meet someone you can socialize with, and the next thing you know they are gone and no one understands references made because it was part of an inside joke. I’m sure he is doing fine now, because all we can do is move on, but we never forget.

AN Altice was probably the most interviewed person on the documentary because of his unique situation. Unfortunately, it does happen, and it has happened to me, as far as having a girlfriend back home who can’t handle their boyfriend who is gone for so long. About the thing that makes it so unique, well I am glad I did not have to go through that. Obviously it has happened to Sailors in the Navy and it is tough to deal with loved ones back home because they have to carry on without you there. They eventually become weak and scooped up by someone who is available. Hate to word it like that, but it does happen and being out at sea, there isn’t much one could do about that. If I was Altice though, I probably wouldn’t have taken it so mellow. With the cameras around, though, I would have restrained myself.

Overall though, from underway to port visits, and to mooring back up in North Island, I felt what everyone on the ship felt because I am in the Navy. It touched base with what does go on while we are out at sea. Unfortunately my situation is different because we aren’t out for 6 month deployments only to be in port for another 6 months. We go out for a few weeks, pull in for a week or two, go back out for a month, etc… I’m not saying what they do is much easier, but in comparison, the FDNF is a lot more challenging because those without families come back to port with no one waiting for them on the pier upon our arrival. None the less, I highly recommend this show for anyone who wants a taste of how the Navy life is.

I am in my fourth and last cycle for negotiating orders of where I want to transfer to after Japan.  This cycle there are absolutely no orders that I am willing to take because either the NEC is not what I want or the location is other than San Diego. 

Why these to things matter to me is because I already have the NEC 2735, Network Admin and I am good at it.  The only NECs listed for San Diego are for systems like GCCS-M or SNAP III, that do nothing but make me the SME in one area and gives everyone the excuse to pass work on to me.  I am not going to be the only one who knows how to fix GCCS everytime an OS can’t establish a connection or run backups for NTCSS for my whole tour.  I do still have sea time left, so no matter what I am going to a ship, but what I am trying to do is keep from getting the bullshit work that I know I would reporting to a new command  with these NECs.  I am content with the work I have already.

Also, I am from California and that is where my family is at. A few months ago there was a tragedy and I was no where around when it happened. I found out after it had already occured and had to wait three days before I could be flown back home. My family needs me now more than ever and San Diego is the closest place to home.

My options have been narrowed down to not selecting orders and see if they’ll give me an opportunty to get orders next month, or go IA.  I don’t think that anyone in my chain of command or detailer would approve of me not putting in for orders.  I’ve emailed my detailer about going IA to see if I can negotiate what I want for my return.  Hopefully we can work something out and I am back home with my family doing work I am already good at, because that is all I want