Posted by
DriK – December 26, 2009
So this is my first time away from home for Christmas. When I was in Japan, I was given the opportunity to take leave during the Christmas period and took it every time. This year is obviously different since I am out here in the Middle East doing what I do best. Obviously there are a lot of service men and women where this is the norm, but since it is my first time, it is a little bit more rough. I hope this will not be a norm for me and those who this is just another day, thank you for your service and now understand what it is like to be home away for Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all and hope everyone has a Happy New Years.
Posted by
DriK – December 12, 2009
After two months of boots on ground, I have completed my Expeditionary Warfare Specialist qualification. I started the second I arrived out here and feel good to know that I’ve finished. Unfortunately a lot of those who had the qualification here already have left the last few days so the command is low on qualified personnel. Now that I am qualified, I can help out those to get their qual to beef up the qualified list so we don’t stay low for too long.
What makes this qualification more special is that it won’t be around forever, and will only get harder to obtain as the years go by and begin moving out of the countries. I have no idea when we will finally get out of here, besides what the papers have said, but either way the program will only get more limited as time goes and commands shut down.
Now that I have this qualification, not only am I salty having my ESWS pin, but I have gotten myself sandy as well with my EXW pin.
Posted by
DriK – December 4, 2009
No, I am not MIA/POW, nor am I UA. With that, I am also no longer in San Diego, for the time being anyways. That is right; I am currently TAD out to the Middle East. I am not going to say where and what I am doing for OPSEC purposes, but an IT was needed and I was qualified to fill the position. I am in a safe area though, and feel confident that no attacks are going to affect me while I am here. Have there been some attacks? Yes, but nowhere near I am currently at. Don’t worry, though, I have not become complacent in that nothing will ever happen. Every drive, I am always looking out to make sure nothing happens to me or those I am with.
Though I am not in San Diego like I wanted to, I did mention before that going out here would be an option for me. I didn’t mention, though, that the ship I currently am attached to is in the yards for re-modernization to keep it going for many more years and that being IA would have been a better career move since my ship is just sitting in the yards for the good portion of the year billet I am filling. Had I not gone IA, yeah, I would have been WCS, CSTT and other such things a 2nd class does when one arrives to a new command. I can say that the billet I am filling out here is normally filled by an E-6 or E-7, so I definitely am gaining some experience points doing this. Plus, the command I am at has the Expeditionary Warfare (EXW) program going and I am almost finished with that. Not only will my chest say I am salty, but I was sandy as well.
I will be back to my command next year, but only for three more months to finish up my sea time and move on to shore duty. That’s right, I am in my orders window once again and just like last time, I am not getting anything. Well, I have only selected for once cycle so far, but for the three billets I put in for, I didn’t get anything. This cycle has hit an all time low, though, because there are not IT2 billets for San Diego. As much as I would love to stay in San Diego, I can’t just sit out a cycle, so I put in for orders on the East Coast. Don’t worry; I didn’t put anything in for Virginia because any IT will tell you that those billets won’t get you anywhere.
Hopefully I won’t wait as long as I did to put up a new post.