Reflections

Back in Texas now, my 6 month tour has come to an end. It’s strange thinking about all that has occurred during that period. At home, a new President, recession, friends with new kids, bad reality shows (oh wait, those have been around a while). In the meantime I’ve crossed the Atlantic (3x by air and once by ship), been to two continents (Europe and Africa) and 11 countries.

So, for you Late Late Show Fans, what did we learn on the show tonight Craig?

Let’s review shall we:
o Sailors don’t always make the best diplomats
o Africa is hot
o Europe rocks
o ‘Hands-on’ charity work is good for the soul, and a ‘Peace Corps with guns’ is an effective delivery mechanism
o Don’t take salad, milk, water, showers that last longer than 1 minute, or the ability to do laundry for granted, especially on a ship...
o The US needs to get serious and develop alternatives to an oil-based economy, in a big damn hurry. I felt this to a point before, but am convinced now. Especially after seeing what this ‘dead dinosaur residue’ has done to some African countries…and what it’s doing to ours.
o Some countries in Africa are functioning republic/democracies, but many are not.
o Africa has a lot of corruption issues, but most Africans I met are good folk.
o Some of the best Naval officers I’ve had the pleasure to work with are African, and European, and especially from Her Majesties Royal Navy (I still owe you that ‘Victory at Yorktown’ book CDR…lol)
o Always trust the French Commander to find the best restaurant
o The USMC has its act together, and some are insane. I’m glad you guys are on our side
o US Army folks don’t like being on USN ships (but you guys did good!)
o It’s cool to be a Conning Officer on a US Navy warship in wartime, or whatever we’re in now.
o Italy has great food, vino, and lots of really old buildings…
o “My friend, my friend”…(inside joke from Senegal)
o State Department folks in Nigeria don’t get paid enough
o Cameroon has some serious scenery
o Funchal!!!
o I still love the ocean, especially on a clear night.
o I dig being a reserve officer

I went looking for answers on this trip. Found a few, and came away with more questions. But that’s OK, the journey really is more important than the destination. Sometimes it’s better to not have a master plan.

I’ve met a lot of great folks on this trip. Some I’ll remember forever, and some I’ll try really hard to forget. But for the former, especially all the squids (staff and crew), jarheads, ditch-diggers, wing-wipers, coasties, state department weenies, Vikings, Euros, Africans and our crazy Brazilian, thanks for the ride.

That’s about it. Thanks also to you guys for coming along on this trip with me, in a virtual sense. Who knows, there could be another, just probably not as long.

Fair Winds…
~K

The Italian Job - redux

Back in Napoli, Italy now; the tour is winding down. I’ll wait until I’m back in Texas in a couple of weeks to give the big ‘reflective’ perspective of this journey. So in the meantime, I’m just enjoying the scenery.

Italy is great, but if you’ve been here you know that. And if you haven’t been here you should come. Great food and wine (I’ve had a lot of the latter lately), good weather and a lot to see. Been out in Naples proper a bit and been to Rome once thus far. Wow. They have a lot of old stuff here. Like 2000 yr old stuff…Saw the Coliseum and the Pope’s crib the other day. That’s a sweet place. The plan is to go back in a few days, with the family this time.

I’ve been told that just about every day here is some sort of holiday. Since this place has been inhabited for thousands of years, I believe it. And the nightly fireworks reinforce that assessment.

See the family tomorrow for the first time in months. It will be strange being together again…should be fun though.

Caio!

Back in Spain

I love Spain. It reminds me and several of my shipmates of

South Texas, near Corpus Cristi. Wind, sand, trees, signs in

Spanish...

We broke up the band yesterday. Staff dispersed and flew back to Naples or to their respective homes and NASHVILLE headed out to sea. Last time I saw her, probably forever, was as I walked off into the night at the base in Rota. But the people I met will be what I remember the most. Some more than other to be sure. It was pretty emotional...somebody get me a tissue...

But if you ever get to Rota, stop by O'Grady's Irish pub near the lighthouse. I know, what does an Irish pub have to do with Spain...no idea. But it's outstanding. And look for the dollar with the Texas Tech logo on it behind the bar. The pic enclosed is right around the corner, that arch leads right to the church in one direction, or the beach in the other.

Last stop, Italy (then home).

Fun in Funchal

About 500km southwest of Europe, out in the open Atlantic, lie the Madeira Islands. They were colonized by Portugal in the 1400s. The largest city is Funchal (pronounced ‘foon-chal’), and it seems like heaven on Earth compared to where we’ve been.

They are very European islands. Fashionable people, great food and they have an outstanding local Madeira wine. Very sweet, like a Port vino. Lots of UK, German and Portuguese tourists here as well. The place is overrun with SmartCars, seeing as space is at a premium (the island is 35 x 14 miles...or km, I forget). But I did see a PT Cruiser also. Funny what you notice sometimes.

They are volcanic islands, like Hawaii. A hot spot formed them over time and then slowly drifted away with the tectonic plate. So no fireworks now, but the change in elevation from the past volcanic activity is pretty dramatic. We rode a gondola car to the top of the island to take it in…wow, very cool. Up in the clouds (about 1000 meters), you go from sunny to cloudy and rainy.

A lot of famous folks have been here as well (we took the tour). Columbus practiced navigation here about 20 years before his epic voyage. Napoleon stopped by here on his way to exile after Waterloo (not exactly by choice), Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle resupplied here before heading towards history, and Churchill spent time here painting the local scenery after WW2. Like I said, the place has been on the map for a while…

Our next stop is or last one; Rota, Spain. The staff (myself included) gets off and travels back to Naples, Italy or their respective homes. NASHVILLE heads west for the last time to Virginia. She is to be decommissioned in September. Many folks have already left. But that’s life in the Navy.

Thanks Funchal, we needed that!

Out of Africa

Left our last Africa port a few days ago. My last view of the continent was similar to the first view…the harbor in Dakar, Senegal. We stopped back there for a short engagement before we put Africa in the rear view mirror, so to speak.

We knew what to expect this time around, so the visit was more enjoyable. Besides a lot of work (which still isn’t done) we hit the good restaurants, fruit stands and the like. We even plunged in head first into the street bizarres that we avoided the first time around. Imagine a flea marked on crack, and that’s where we were. “My friend, my friend, come see my store!!” More African stuff I don’t need, (how many wooden elephants does anybody really need?) but bought some anyway. It was almost fun the second time around. Check that, it was hysterical. A friend of mine purchased a very nice wooden bowl for just north of two tubes of Chapstick and a ballpoint pen. Nice. Bring on the used car dealers in the States…

On to Funchal!

000 N, 000 W

Find a map, or a globe of the Earth. Locate the equator and then trace your finger along its length. You’ll find a point where zero degrees longitude meets zero degrees latitude, just south of Ghana, Africa. It’s the meeting of the equator and the prime meridian. The intersection of those two lines is where we were recently. An abstract point on the surface of the ocean perhaps, but some consider this location the center of the planet. Wrap your mind around that for a moment…
Actually, there is a buoy that marks the location. Takes temperature and salinity readings for NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). But it has more meaning than that to the sailor. For this is the realm of King Neptune, Davey Jones and the royal court. It’s here that land-lubbing pollywogs are transformed into Trusty Shellbacks; actually Emerald Shellbacks due to the location. Oh yeah, time for the ‘Crossing the Line’ ceremony.

I can’t really go into specific details, and pictures are right out due to political sensitivities. But we have a very ‘spirited’ ceremony to make sure our new Shellback brothers and sisters are worthy of the title. It’s changed from days gone by, probably for the better, and it is in good fun. Lots of exercise, singing, seawater, ‘acting’ and the like. And it’s definitely better to give than to receive. Those of us who have gone through it before make sure the event is memorable for the newer folks. I had no idea that the ‘SpongeBob Square Pants’ song had so many new verses…and it’s really hard to call for Flipper the Dolphin, and green dye doesn’t look good on anyone…but I digress.

So goodnight from 000N, 000W. Or is it 000S, 000E?

Duty

One of my favorite quotes comes from a book titled ‘Startide Rising’ by David Brin. The book is Sci-Fi (stay with me), and is set in a shipboard environment with military/ civilian interaction, sort of like this mission.

Ok, it’s also set in space with evolved dolphin military officers, killer spiders, etc. but I digress…

One of the junior officers (a human) is feeling overwhelmed by his work, and his senior mentor (a dolphin…yes I am a dork but stay with me on this) reminds him of his role, his job. The quote, “Duty, duty, brave shark-biter, what reward could taste sweeter?”

Keep in mind, in the wild dolphins have been known to attack sharks when the pod is threatened, their instinctive ‘duty’ in a way. Sometimes they win; sometimes they end up as food…

The point of this blather is that duty can be difficult (especially in a military environment), but duty is its own reward. Sometimes you have to stand up and be counted, support your people, your shipmates, when you know the repercussions will be unfavorable. But support you must, because it’s your duty, and duty is its own reward. And when that person, whom you supported when most other folks have given up on, turns it around and comes out swinging, shows the other folks up…damn. That’s the stuff.

Military life is not easy, even on this little jaunt we’re on. It’s a lot worse in other, sandier places. But this career has its own unique rewards. And duty, performed well, is one of the best.

Thus endeth the lesson…now somebody do your duty and go have a beer for me.

The Southern Cross over Gabon

Spent the last two night at sea, and they were amazing. The constellation known as the ‘Southern Cross’ was clearly visible. You can only see it near and below the equator, and I haven’t seen it in 21 years. Very cool. Looks more like a kite to me, but that’s not the name of the ‘Crosby, Stills and Nash’ tune, so we’ll stick with cross.

Saw several satellites pass overhead as well. One of them may have been an older rocket body, looked like it was tumbling. You can tell by the way they reflect the sunlight. This one would flare in a repeating pattern. Also, very cool. I was pointing this out to one of the Nigerian officers on our staff who had never seen satellites before. He was truly amazed.

I love the sea at night, especially when it’s dark with good friends to share it with. Nothing like it that I've found anywhere else.

Libreville and Port Gentil (pronounced ‘John-T’) are our port stops in Gabon. Libreville was nice, and very, very expensive. Comes from the former French colonial presence here I'm told (and there are still a lot of French around). I’ve paid less for food and drink in Manhattan. Went to a self proclaimed Mexican restaurant…where the menu was pasta and hamburgers…sigh. But the Malibu rum was good.

Port Gentil is a working port. Lots of commerce: oil, timber and container cargo. Not really a tourist town, but that’s OK. We’re not here to be tourists…OK maybe a little. It is hot. Like August in Houston hot. Like steam out of a bag of microwave popcorn hot, like …you get the picture. But we’ll turn back north soon. And cross the Prime Meridian at the Equator. Can’t wait.

Fair winds…

Jurassic Cameroon

From a distance, Limbe, Cameroon looks like a scene right out of Jurassic Park ™. Mountains covered in jungle come right down to the sea. The higher elevations are often obscured by clouds, rocky islands in the bay, the occasional T-Rex stampeding thru town…(just seeing if you are still awake)

Mount Cameroon is the largest in the local chain (go figure), 4000+ meters. Dormant volcano, last erupted in 1999, or so the locals say. It dominates the region. The forest/jungle around the slopes leading down to Limbe is all shades of green. Palm trees making up palm oil plantations are in wide abundance. All kinds of tropical fruit are also available (mangos, bananas, plantains as big as my forearm, etc.). Wow.

The town proper is pretty small. We have to anchor out and send boats ashore because NASH is too big for their harbor. Speaking of boats, got my first ride on the LCU today. That’s Landing Craft Utility for you non-amphibious types. Think a semi-modern version of the landing craft you saw in “Saving Private Ryan”. We flood half of the ship (always a weird sensation, isn’t that a bad thing??) open the stern gate on the back of the vessel and out comes the LCU. Short trip to the fleet landing site. The LCU can run up to the beach, or rocks in this case. No we weren’t invading Cameroon, we were actually delivering a ton (literally I think) of donated goods to hospitals, schools, and an orphanage. Good stuff. Not quite the ‘swords into plowshares’ thing, but close. I added to that load with toys my boys sent (good job guys) and candy…always a hit with the kiddos.

Wish I could post pics, but with the internet issues we’ve been having I’m lucky to post anything. Goodnight from 4 degrees North.
-K

Lagos

Lagos, Nigeria. 18 million people. Holy crap…
Lagos is enormous, one of the biggest cities in Africa, if not the world. For that matter, Nigeria is (population-wise) also one of the biggest countries in Africa, around 150 million folks. That’s half the US population, and more than most European countries.

Lagos sort of reminds me of Long Beach, California. Lots of commercial sea-going traffic (counted 75+ large ships waiting outside the harbor the other day), some skyscrapers, brown skyline. But the similarities pretty much end there. Yachts and hi-rises and clubs next to shantytowns and extreme poverty. The economic disparity here is plain to see. You either have the coin or you don’t. It used to be the political capital, but they moved it to Abuja about 20 years ago. So Lagos is the New York of Nigeria and Abuja is the D.C.

We don’t get to go out much here. Between the traffic and criminal elements, they keep us on the ship or the pier. But we do get to go to the US consulate (think embassy, light). They have a nice bar, pool, and other similar amenities. And the Nigerian Navy has a large presence here. Been to their shipyard and base. It’s good to get off the ship for a while, but it’s also nice to get back to our bit of the US. A dichotomy…

It’s also weird following the current Shuttle mission from the outside. Haven’t done that in quite a while. Good job on finishing the truss NASA-folk.

Fair winds…

Skywalking at 40

If you have to turn 40, Ghana isn’t a bad place to do it. Great beaches and a walk through the top of the rainforest (or ‘jungle’…which sounds much cooler) were on the agenda.

First the beach. It’s the kind of place that folks pay thousands of dollars to fly to and stay by. There was a resort hotel with all the comforts of home (and lots of Europeans). Great bar, sweet views. Reminded me of Hawaii. Our van was late one night going back to the ship, so several of us went for a late night swim. That was an experience. Stars, fog rolling in, and small fish jumping in and out of the water near the surf line. Don’t Stephan King movies start like that….?

Then we found the only surf shop in Ghana, ‘Black Star’ on Busua beach. It’s run by a couple of New Yorkers (Pete and Katrina) that started out as volunteers and ended up as business folks. Something about ending up with a surplus of surfboards one day left by European musicians…funny story.

The waves were good and I managed to get up on the board a few times. The other times…well we amused the locals….I highly recommend the burritos there. They reminded me of the old El Lago Burrito Co. near JSC. Mmmm….football of food. Only thing that would have made it better is if the family was there to share the experience. They had a great hammock too.

Then there was Kakum National forest. Wow. It is the only place on the African continent (according to them) that you can pay to walk close to 50 meters (yes meters) above the jungle on bridges made of rope and boards. It’s the kind of setting you would expect in the next ‘Indiana Jones’ movie, or George of the Jungle (that’s for Ethan and Emmitt…watch out for that treeeee..whack). The views were stunning. Didn’t see many animals, and it was pretty warm, but wow. Amazing views. Highly recommended, unless you’re afraid of heights or shaky bridges, “it’s not the fall, it’s the sudden deceleration at the end…”
Hope you all are well. Next stop, Nigeria.

20 Meters to the Jungle

One night just before I left Texas, a friend of mine invited my wife and I to dinner. Never being one to turn down going out to eat (well, pre-Africa anyway), we accepted and hooked up with a few other friends at a place called T-Bone Toms in Kemah (mmmmm….BBQ). The usual chit-chat ensued.

Upon finding out that I was making a trip to Africa, one of my other friends of the Catholic faith (we’ll call him Mike T.) gave me his medal of St. Michael with instructions to ‘throw it into the jungle’. The idea being that if God willed it, some day someone would find it and put it to good use. To be honest I was a little overwhelmed.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Jungle…I met Florence.

At least I think her name was Florence. She was very shy, young, and didn’t talk much (and beautiful as you can tell from the picture). She is an orphan in Ghana. She was having a good day when we showed up with the band and donated goods, but you could tell she that she may not have had many before then. The orphanage was well maintained, and the staff took good care of the kiddos, but there were a lot of them. Hard to give them a lot of one-on-one face time.

I knew right then that she was the one. She also cleaned up with some of the candy I had with me.

The other kids were great. Some of the older boys just wanted to have someone to talk to more than anything (so boys, thanks for letting them borrow your Dad for just a little while). One of our younger sailors was telling me on the ride back to the ship that one of the kids asked him to adopt them. The sailor was maybe 20. He was stunned. He stated ‘I can barely take care of myself’, but in the emotion of the moment he was thinking about it. We told him just be happy with what you can do, bringing joy into their lives for a little while and I think he’s OK with that. No small kids running around the ship so far…

So anyway. Mike, your Medal made it to literally within 20 meters of the jungle. But I don’t think you’ll mind too much.

A blog for the boys

One of the toughest things about any military deployment is the effect on the family. While one of the adults (like E & e’s Dad for example) is gallivanting around the world, the rest of the family is living their lives at home as best they can. It’s hard on the spouse (that would be Shawna in this case) who has to run the household, pay the bills, be the disciplinarian, and all the other things that are nominally shared by the couple….

But it’s hardest on the kids, in this case Ethan and Emmitt. Trying to understand why Dad isn’t home at night, missing Cub Scout meetings and holidays, playing games, watching TV, fixing the bikes and occasionally squawking at them. What did they do to cause this?

The answer of course is nothing. They are the best kids a parent could ever have and have done nothing to cause Dad to be gone for a while. It’s hard to understand when you are young (or grown for that matter), but sometimes Dad has to go away for a while. It’s for a good reason, we just hope it’s good enough to justify being gone. And it’s OK to be sad and maybe a little mad at Dad for missing stuff. But know he loves them and will call and write and chat when he can.

The fun stuff that I experience would be that much better if they were here of course. I think they would have liked the whale, and I know they would have liked the beach…especially the warm water for someone with cold feet ;). Probably try to bury Dad in the sand, I just hope they would dig me out. Ethan would like to try and surf on the board I think, and Emmitt would have liked the fish hopping in and out of the water at night.

I do plan to make it up to them in June on a vacation to Italy, but that can seem a long time away when you are 9 or 4 years old. Hang in there fellas, it will be here before you know it!!

- Dad

Tales of Oscar and other sea stories

One of the things a US Navy ship practices over and over again is the 'man overboard' drill. Reason being that if someone falls over the side into the ocean, you want to get that person back as quickly as possible. Since using real people is not a great idea for practice, we use Oscar.

Who is this Oscar you may ask? He's a dummy. Really. Made of international orange cloth and floats, poor Oscar gets tossed over the side and we go an pick him up. Practice.

Well, yesterday we were practicing. Oscar goes for a swim and the ship turns around. We decide to lower one of our small boats for the recovery (this boat is a RHIB - Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat, about 7 meters long). Everything is going well and we're about to lower away, then someone sees a shark. Yikes. Since this is practice, we don't want to mess with a shark. So the ship circles around again to make the shark get board and go away.

Except that he doesn't get board, he hangs around. And he's not a shark, he's a whale! Big one too, at least 20 feet, probably more like 30 (the length will invariable increase every time I tell this in the future...but I digress). He's interested in what we are doing. But he moves off a little ways and we lower the RHIB. By now, poor Oscar is waterlogged and missing an arm. Then the dolphins show up. It's a party! In the end, Oscar is recovered and we have a whale of a tale to tell. The 'shark spotter' (our XO, or second in command) is teased mercilessly on his aquatic life identification skills.

The other story has to do with wierd things at night on the ocean. We had just left Dakar, Senegal and were heading out into opean water. Very hazy night with ships around us.

Then we see one on fire. That's a bad thing.

Haze makes the fire seem big, and it's flaring up occasionally. So we change course to render aid. We try to talk to him on the radio, but no joy. Then one of our partner officers from Senegal comes to the bridge and we ask him to translate.....

Seems it gets cold on thier fishing boats and they like to start fires to stay warm. We think he was telling us 'helpers' that no he's not on fire and please stop scaring the fish. LOL.

We sheepishly sail on, a little smarter to the local customs.

AFRICA!!!

Made it to Dakar, Senegal, Africa.

Wow.

Words are hard to come by to describe the place. It's exotic, mysterious, friendly, with much potential...mixed in with shantytowns, poverty, hustlers, panhandlers and the like. You will see Mercedes dealerships next to horse drawn carts. Third world meets first world. We are not in Kansas anymore Toto...

Dakar is an enigma. Looks modern from a distance. Harbor had a cruise ship in it yesterday and there are skyscrapers downtown. But mixed in are folks trying to sell you anything, and some are pretty aggressive. Imagine border towns in Mexico, then turn up the gain x20. I'll never have trouble buying a car again after interacting with some of these folks.

But the overall experience is amazing. We went south out of Dakar (the capital) to deliver humanitarian goods to an orphanage and a school the other day. The pic above is with some of the students and teachers of the school. They were very happy to see us. They sang and danced and played futbol (soccer) with us. We held the babies and unloaded the supplies and all that good PR stuff. That for me was a very rewarding experience. If you ever wondered if your charitible donations make it to Africa, recommend using Project HOPE or Project Handclasp. They do, I've moved the boxes ;) The Mormans also donate lots of stuff. Thanks guys and gals from up Utah way. I also handed out lots of candy, some toys I've collected along the way and NASA stickers. They really liked that stuff. I've never seen kids so grateful and happy (and I have some happy kids myself, hi guys ;)

More later. Hope you all are doing well...and keep those comments coming! I read every one of them.

Viva Espania!

Our first port is Rota, Spain. It’s nice to be off the ship for a while, although it took a couple of days to realize the ground wasn’t moving anymore. There is a joint base here utilized by the US and Spanish militaries, and it’s not too bad. I had no idea Spain had an aircraft carrier (Google the ‘Principe De Asturias’…Prince of Asturia which is a region in Spain I think). They frown on us taking pics on the base, security issues, or I’d show you images of her (or is it he? Hmmm….). Ironically, the Spanish Officer we have on board is not a big fan of the ship, takes too much Euros away from his submarines. Different Navy, same complaints. Ha!

This is our last major opportunity to on-load any items we think we’ll need for the African part of the mission. That includes stores and personnel (I didn’t look for transfer lists or an IMS equivalent, but I’m sure they have one). After that the mass and opportunities are limited…kind of like ISS in a way…We have added Italians, Portages, more USN (two room-mates now in my stateroom) and one US Army guy. He’s actually a National Guard guy, Captain-type, who catches a lot of good-natured flak from his new squid buddies. See Dave, you could get stuck on a ship next tour!!

Rota is a smaller town and very European from what I’m told. Narrow one-way streets (made of bricks too…that’s for you Tulia folks), lots of corner café’s and cantinas, little shopping areas, etc. It has a church that is somehow involved with Columbus and a very nice beach. Too cold to enjoy properly at this point, but we’ll be back when it’s warmer.

Food and drink are good. Had the local Sangria (sp), which is a sweet wine-punch type concoction. We went to a small restaurant that made some up special for us, bueno! They also had fried ice cream, and that totally rocked. How do you fry ice cream? All in the timing they say.

My two years of high school Espanol are hard pressed to keep up, but it’s fun to practice. I think I could be pretty fluent in about a year or so. I get by with the help of one of my shipmates who’s pretty fluent, and the town is used to the Americanos being around.

Hard to believe it’s already been a month. We leave soon for the main event. Received a care package today from the family. Thanks for the stuff and drawings boys! Very cool. And Sponge Bob has arrived. Thanks Shawna and Kristi, I think.
Next stop Africa!

It's full of stars...

Finally felt normal today. Getting used to the seas, getting over the effects of multiple shorts for all kinds of nasty critters, getting used to the malaria meds, sleeping better, blah blah blah. All that combined is a little rough on the system.

So to top it off, I went outside tonight. First time we haven't been socked in with clouds. Holy cow, the friggin stars were amazing! I've forgotten what they looked like on a dark ship in the middle of the ocean. Orion was there in all his glory (that's for my wife, she's a big fan). Rigel and Betelgeuse (you should have seen how long it took to look the spelling of that up, but I digress) were bright, as were the seven sisters and the dog star. Wow. Words and pics cannot describe....and the clouds turned out to be the Milky Way. We miss so much of the night sky in Houston. But we do help make those artificial stars. ;)

Haze Grey and Underway

Well, I’m truly an Atlantic sailor now. The seas are rough and I have paid the proper homage to Davy Jones….I’ll leave that to your imagination.

We’re somewhere in the Atlantic. I couldn’t tell you even if I knew, but I can tell you I will truly appreciate Atlantic fisherman the next time I eat something caught in ‘the pond’, especially in winter. I think I’ll stop talking about food now…

We’ve secured our weather decks, so we don’t go outside due to the high seas and the weather. How Columbus did this trek more than once in those little boats I can’t imagine.

The staff is beginning to find its way. We’re quite a diverse group with a broadly defined mission. We have US and foreign officers and crew from numerous African, European and South American countries, as well as numerous civilians onboard for training and technical support. Hopefully we are set to do some good once on station off Africa.

NASH is a good ship. She does roll quite a bit, especially when the sea is hitting us on the beam (that’s perpendicular to the keel). She’s also one of the oldest ships in the Navy, so she makes a lot of noise. The crew has been pretty good to us staff types and they know and take care of their ship.

Thanks for reading and for all your comments. Good stuff.

Next stop, Spain!

The Atlantic is BIG!

Left Italy behind and made it back to Virginia to catch the ship. Flew on MILAIR (military aircraft) on the mighty C-40A Clipper (which is basically a 737). Bet you didn't think that bird can fly across the Atlantic. I didn't. That goodness for the Azores Islands.

Stopped over on those islands for refueling. They are very European islands, owned by Portugal. No palm trees and huts, but rather green square pastures with low stone fences for cattle to graze. Numerous quaint villas and Euro-style houses. Very nice. I highly recommend a layover if you are low on fuel flying over the Atlantic ocean.

Made it to the ship. We're a bit of a circus for them, with the large international staff. They have done a good job accomodating us. More on the ship in a later post. We did get a nice send off from the Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Roughhead. He's the 4-star boss of the Navy (think of the NASA administrator coming to visit the FCR for a specific flight, for my NASA buddies). He was in town to help with the commissioning of the brand new Aircraft Carrier USS George H. W. Bush just a couple of miles from us.

ADM Roughhead is a big fan of this mission...no pressure. ;)

May not be able to post for a while, and then probably no pics.

Later!

KP

Ciao from Italia!!

Where to begin? Italy is outstanding. We landed in Rome just after sunrise. Very cool. We then hopped a flight to Naples along the coast.

Naples is beautiful from the air. I had no idea that Mount Vesuvius (of Pompeii fame..or infame-y if you will) is right next door. The above pic is a view from across the street. They live right next to it. Sure the landscape is fantastic, but holy cow...don't take out a long-term loan on that real estate!

The food is living up to expectations, which were high. The drivers however, are absolutely nuts. They can make a 2 lane road 6 lanes in a heartbeat. They drive tiny cars and mopeds for the most part (a Smart Car looks like a mid-size sedan here, and a PT Cruiser looks like a Suburban). There's little road range, but lots of honking and flashing of lights. They are a very laid back people...except on the road. And even then it's almost expected that they are insane until you learn the way they drive. Flashing lights means move over. Mopeds and motorcycles will cut between cars constantly. Stop signs are optional...

We are still working out the pre-deployment tasks needed for APS (that's Africa Partnership Station). Met numerous international navy reps today. UK, Germany, Norway, Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya even (and were not going there BTW). Very interesting.

Were expecting to be back in the US later this week. Then off to the Atlantic...

D-Day

So the orders and travel worked themselves out. Which is usually the case, just ALWAYS at the last minute it seems. The old 'hurry up and wait' cliche applies... or this one...

I'm off to Italy tomorrow via New Jersey (whaa?). Sure, I could fly direct, but what fun would that be? The hardest part will be saying bye to the family, especially the youngest.

I spend a few days in Naples then it's back across 'the pond' to Virginia and catch the ship. The travel gets even weirder from there. Not sure when I'll post again, so have a Happy 2009! Don't forget to eat your black eyed peas.