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!

I did not get orders again and for once I thought I would be a shoe in for something, considering I put in for five ships, all in San Diego. I blame Japan for this because the cost of sending a 2nd class to the states, especially because San Diego is not cheap, and though I chose to come to Japan, I requested to go to San Diego when the opportunity arose and it would have been for free, but I was told by the command I couldn’t.

I was told by the detailer to call to negotiate over the phone, but more than likely it will turn into me going to a carrier out of Norfolk and me hating the Navy even more. Because of the time difference and when I received the email, I have to wait until late in the evening or early in the morning to call. We’ll see what happens.