Hello 2010! Well I am officially in the New Year. Woo! Hopefully next year I am in the states so that I can celebrate appropriately!

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.

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.

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.

It appears that the new LPO in my division has some tendencies that I remember quite a bit from USS Last Ship.  Though I’ve been in a school for a few weeks, I really haven’t had much exposure to the fairly new IT1, but from what I hear throughout the division is an unanimous vote that no one likes the LPO.  To go a bit further, the ship is getting the same feeling as the ITs and I am certainly not happy with this.  Here are a few examples of some of the things that have gone on in the division since I’ve been out.

Scenario 1: Two of the ITSNs are giving training to the fresh new seaman who just arrived a few days ago.  Obviously they want him up to speed on what things he will need to know to be better at his job because like all motivated seamen, they just don’t want to sit to the side and play the “I don’t know” card.  IT1 strolls down and sees what is going on, but still asks what they were doing.  The seamen explain that they are showing the new IT how to properly terminate an ethernet cable.  Well, the IT1 didn’t like this because the new IT needed to attend the safety PO meeting.  From my understanding, safety PO is the job of an E-5 and usually one who has been at the command a while, not a 3 day old ITSN who has barely gotten his feet wet.  Well, the seamen can’t do anything but listen to what the IT1 says, so they ask if the IT1 can do the cable so that the seamen can carry on doing other tasks for the day.  Unfortunately, the IT1 didn’t have her wire manual available and couldn’t do it.  Maybe it was left in her paint coveralls?

Scenario 2: A shipmate from another division was having issues with his email and was unable to open up his outlook.  He dropped by the ADP office, being the closer location than the server room, and asked one of the ITs to see if they could assist.  The IT1 wasn’t happy about that because the ADP office isn’t the proper location for assistance with trouble calls.   It just so happened, though, that one of the leading ADP ITs was in the space and offered to assist with the issue.  The IT1 rejected that offer and repeated that all trouble calls must be dealt with in the server room then proceeded to kick the person out of the space.  I know where I won’t be if I don’t want to deal with trouble calls.

Scenario 3:  Apparently too many people are viewing non-DoD related websites.  I’ve definitely had my fair share of viewing non-DoD websites.  Well, the IT1 doesn’t like this and tasks the ITs with blocking just about every non-.mil website the world has to offer.  Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but sites such as yahoo, msn were blocked.  Obviously, websites such as social networking and personal email sites must be blocked due to lack of security, but search engines and other websites that assist in bill pay?  Well, her understanding that these are DoD computers for DoD use only.  From where she came, which was shore duty, this is the norm.  Unfortunately, when it comes to underway time and this is still enforced, I really hope she doesn’t have a car or house payment because it’s going to do a lot of good to not being able to access those bill paying websites.

From everything I’ve heard with the new LPO, I’ve been missing out on a lot.  A lot of people are taking a disliking to her and I feel very sorry because when it comes time for us to back her up, I see very little eagerness from the ITs to help out.  It’s already getting to a point where the ITs know that it won’t be until after 1600 that they will leave for the day.  What I remember about that from the last ship was nothing got done until the last half of the day because we all knew when we were leaving and there was no real change in that.  It’s starting to happen here and I don’t want this to happen.  When I return from my school, I really hope she is understanding when I talk to her about this because I won’t be here for too much longer and when I come back, I don’t know what the shop will be like.  I have my ideas and they revert back to Japan and that is something I really don’t want to see.

Well, I am aboard my new ship in San Diego. It certainly has been some time since I’ve written a post about myself and what I have been up to.  The last month has been pretty hectic being on my new ship, and the two months prior to that, not really much going on to write about.  When I left Japan, I mentioned that I would be on leave, then to GCCS school before I arrived.  Now that I am here, and been on board my new ship for a little over a month, I can elaborate on how things are here and how they compare to how it was in Japan.

First is the GCCS school, which I did in Virginia Beach, VA prior to arriving here.  The class wasn’t all that bad and I learned a whole lot that I took for granted when I was on my last ship.  Obviously without this school, it is a bit more difficult to comprehend what was going on, but I can say I could have done a bit more to learn the system while I was there and help out as much as I could before I rolled out.  It wasn’t a difficult class, and the system itself can run smooth, but from my memory in Japan, the main problem lied with the user more than the administrator, and that was confirmed when I took the class.  My ship doesn’t have the upgraded version for what I went to school for, but I already know that no matter how smooth the upgrade goes here, it is up to the users to be able to use the system properly and that a reboot isn’t always the answer, though in some cases it could possibly be.

So I’ve been in San Diego now for a month, and comparing ship to ship, where I am now is a whole lot better than where I was before, but as far as where I was at, Japan was the greatest place ever and I miss it like crazy.  I get along with my chain of command a whole lot better, and the op-tempo is a whole lot more relaxed, but I miss getting off of work, heading outside of the main gate and rolling into the Honch.  Here, you have to drive to get to where you want to go, or taxi, and unless you can walk to your residence, you have to cab it.  Like anywhere, DUIs are career killers, and unfortunately, are a lot more common in the states.

I did get to experience a very brief underway with the ship to Seal Beach, but I did demonstrate my tech control abilities and surprisingly enough was accepted amongst the crew.  My division lacks in experience when it comes to tech control, and since before I left Japan, I made sure I knew as much about tech control that I could take some of the load for the guys.  The first day I checked on board, everyone referred to me as the tech control guy; I guess it really was that bad.  Maybe because being of being out at sea so much, the ADP guys had more opportunities to learn the tech control side.  Too bad I can’t say the same for the tech control guys learning ADP while in port.  Also, with the exception of my Chief, no one had been stationed in the FDNF, so when we get off by 3, complaints of being let out late come up.  Oh, if they only knew.  My Chief and I just shake our heads and chuckle.

The biggest thing that I’ve honestly been missing is being out to sea.  My ship is currently in the yards and won’t get out to sea until towards the end of the year for sea trials.  I hate to admit this, but being out at sea at least gave me a purpose of doing my job, and just sitting in the yards doesn’t do much for me.  What worries me the most is my tech control knowledge, and how much of it I will remember when I go out to sea.  Some of the equipment in the shop I hadn’t had a chance to learn as far as tech control goes and I want to get my hands on them, but can’t while in dry dock.  Never thought I’d see myself saying how much I miss being out at sea.  Guess you just get used to it.

Well, I have bigger news for my  next blog, but didn’t want to reveal it just yet, but when I get close to finishing up paperwork for what I am doing next, I’ll be sure to give the full spill.

Hope people still read my blog since it’s been so long since I’ve written anything.

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.