Land ho!

Last Saturday, we stopped in Guam for a brief stop for fueling. Nobody went ashore except for line handlers and some people who needed to go to medical. But it was exciting just to see dry land for the first time in nine days, so lots of people came out on the catwalks and weather decks to take a look at the palm trees. We were fascinated by the dry land, as if this green-covered bump sticking out of the water was something worth celebrating. When the fueling was done, we pulled right back out and kept heading west.

Most of my workload for the last week has been giving advice on Law of the Sea (LOS). This is good because LOS is the part of my job that I enjoy the most. Yesterday was a big LOS day for us because we went through the Philippines, making it the first time on this deployment that we were in Transit Passage. Let me explain.

One of the basic LOS principles is that where you are in the world’s oceans determines what you are allowed to do. So you have different transit regimes – Innocent Passage, Transit Passage, High Seas Freedom, and more – depending on where you are in the world. Transit Passage is the regime, or set of rules, that applies when transiting an international strait. Yesterday, passing through the Philippines, we went from High Seas Freedom to Transit Passage, and then back again. Pretty exciting, huh?

But it actually was exciting to see the Philippines. In the morning I went outside and ran laps on the flight deck. It was beautiful: all three ships were steaming in formation, the sun was just starting to come up, and we were surrounded by beautiful islands. After breakfast, I went outside again to take some pictures. In the humidity, I got just as sweaty walking around the ship as I did when I had been running laps.

The other special thing that happened yesterday was the Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony. On this side of the Date Line, yesterday was December 7 – the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Makin Island had a beautiful ceremony on the hangar deck. The USS Pearl Harbor, which is one of the ships in our group, also had a ceremony onboard. It seemed especially appropriate to have the ceremonies in the middle of the Philippines because of how much Naval history was made in the Philippines in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. There was a lot to reflect on as we continued our transit west, toward the waters where we will write our small part of the Navy’s story.

The view from USS Makin Island as we pull into Guam.

The view from vulture’s row as we pull into Guam.

Me standing on the catwalk as we pull into Guam.

The view from the flight deck as we are briefly moored in Guam.

My first time in transit passage; Philippines in the background.

View of the Philippines from the starboard side of USS Makin Island.

In the background you can see USS Pearl Harbor, steaming in formation with us on December 7, 2011.

Greetings from the future

Standing on the fantail. No Duffy in this picture, he’s up in his rack taking a nap.

Greetings from the future. Yesterday we celebrated Sumonday – half-Sunday, half-Monday – as we crossed the International Date Line. I am now living one day ahead of all my friends and family back in the United States.

Let me tell you about the future. We still have no personal jetpacks and no flying cars, but we do have a black president. Oh, and we really do eat Dippin’ Dots – like, all the time. It’s basically the official food of the future, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything else is pretty much the same; dogs still chase cats, compasses still point north, and the Navy still loses medical paperwork.

Seriously, though, crossing the Date Line is an important milestone in this deployment because that is the point where operational control of our group shifted from the Commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, head-quartered in San Diego, to the Commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, head-quartered onboard USS Blue Ridge, forward deployed in Yokosuka, Japan. We are now no-kidding deployed, doing real-Navy stuff like showing U.S. presence abroad and cooperating with partner nations to improve regional security. All that good stuff you read about in Navy PR material? We really are out here doing it.

More pictures from Hawaii

I caught a cold yesterday. And today I had to get the smallpox vaccine. But before you start feeling too sorry for me, take a look at these pictures from our port visit to Hawaii and get jealous.

I wonder whose idea it was to put the spear-throwing game next to the Mai Tai bar.

Rocking the Hawaiian shirt and shell necklace at the Paradise Cove Luau. That green wristband means batteries release for Mai Tais.

Standing on “vulture’s row” as the ship leaves Hawaii.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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ADTEMPO & Aloha

The military has a term: OPTEMPO, which is short for operational tempo. A high OPTEMPO means you’re really busy and a low OPTEMPO means you’re really bored. Because we were just sailing to Hawaii for the past week, it’s safe to say that our OPTEMPO was about as low as it could get. But I’m not what the military calls an “operator,” I’m a lawyer. So my busy-ness is disconnected from our OPTEMPO – I can be busy when there are no ops going on and I can be bored when there are ops, it all depends. To describe this phenomenon, I have coined the term ADTEMPO, which is short for administrative tempo. A high ADTEMPO means there is a lot of admin/lawyer work to do and a low ADTEMPO means all the paperwork, emails, and PowerPoint slides are squared away.

The ADTEMPO for the first week of deployment was much higher than I had been expecting. Between helping to write the liberty policy, serving as my command’s liaison for visiting professors from the Naval Postgraduate School, and making sure that the operators have the latest and greatest guidance, I was plenty busy. Add to that the random legal questions that pop up throughout the day, often from unexpected places, and I barely had a moment to breathe. I actually don’t mind having all that work to do – I’d rather be busy than bored. On the ship there’s not much else to do besides work. Also, it was great getting to know the NPS professors and learning from their classes. But, like I said, the high ADTEMPO was a surprise.

The downside to being so busy is that I haven’t been able to write my NaNoWriMo project. The goal is to write 50,000 words by November 30. It’s November 22 and I’m at 13,225. I’ll probably cheat and count this blog entry as part of my total, but that won’t get me to 50,000. It’s disappointing, but life goes on.

Donald, John, Me, Amanda, and Michelle get ready to experience Puka Dogs at the International Marketplace. (Photo by Tom)

Yesterday, we pulled into Pearl Harbor. I had never been to Hawaii before so I was excited when we finally got to leave the ship at 1400. Because Angelina has been to Hawaii before for several military exercises, I asked her about the best things to do on Oahu when you only have a short time to do it. On her list was shaved ice, so I went straight from the pier to a shaved ice stand. Excellent choice. I spent the evening hanging out with shipmates from the staff, most of whom had either been stationed in Hawaii before or had port visits there. It was a lot of fun to eat good food, have a few drinks, and sing karaoke. I got to bed by 11:00 and slept in a real bed at the Ilikai Hotel, which was a treat in itself.

I’m not standing watch in this port, but I am carrying my command-issued JAG phone in case people decide they can’t have fun without causing legal problems. “Why does this taxi have windows? I need to kick them all out!” “I’m so drunk, I need to be in a fight, right now!” “Who does that cop think he is anyway?” You know, that sort of thing. So far, no rings on the JAG phone. That’s good; people are pacing themselves. I’m signed up to go to a luau tonight, so I’m knocking on wood that drunken Sailors don’t ruin the party. But, if duty calls I’ll just have to get my roast-pork fix next year, on the way back from deployment.

As I write this, I’m sitting by the beach with a cup of coffee, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and trying to savor the experience of being on shore. This deployment has already been an adventure, but I wonder if I will still feel that way after four months of turning slow circles in the waters of the Middle East.

Chilling on the balcony of the Ilikai Hotel in Waikiki. You can't see it in this picture, but there are parrots on that shirt.

Also, for Gabby, this is your first Duffy sighting of the deployment! Some of you may know that Angelina and I spend pretty much all our free time and money at Disneyland. I’m not sure why, it just sort of turned out that way. Anyway, Duffy is Mickey Mouse’s teddy bear, a relatively new Disney character. In the “Duffy the Disney Bear” picture book, Mickey has to go on a long sea voyage so Minnie Mouse gives him Duffy to keep him company. On his voyage, Mickey takes pictures of himself with Duffy in exotic places and then sends them back to Minnie Mouse. I don’t expect to spend a lot of time in port during this deployment, but when I do go ashore, the teddy bear is coming with me. I’m thinking about you, Gabby, even though I’m far away. You’re always in my heart. And Duffy says “Aloha” from beautiful Waikiki.

Final observation: I have been counting the number of times I hear “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” playing here. Right now, having been on shore for about 24 hours, the count is at five. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice song – I just didn’t realize it was the state song of Hawaii. Well, that’s it for now. I’m off to score some macaroni salad and Dole Whip.

Tonight I sleep alone so that you can sleep safely

I see this quote every now and then, and today, it feels more true than others. The news is a-flutter with 10.5 month deployments and unrest in all the places where my love is headed. But tonight, he’ll be sleeping in a bed in Hawai’i and (hopefully) getting some well-deserved rest. And I miss him terribly.

Lean on Me

This weekend was the first bright moment I’ve had so far.

It started yesterday, when my girlfriend Dee called me up to drag me out of my bed and out for coffee. Coffee became the mall, the mall became dinner with the girls (and Gabby!), and I had a fabulous time. I needed to get out of the house. I was going crazy.

This morning started off a little rough, but picked up soon after we got to church.

Diversions

This weekend is the Queen Bee Market. I was planning on setting up a table at the holiday market, but I just didn’t get around to it. As in, life got in the way. But tomorrow, I plan on dragging Gabby down to the Del Mar Hilton to check out the wares and see if it’s a worthwhile market to sell at. I have high hopes; my favorite letterpress/jewelry maker is hot on Queen Bee: Noon Designs.

Princess Belle sneaks up on me as I cuddle Princess Aurora

Tonight was supposed to be a “Parents’ Night Out” at the Child Development Center. I was all set to go, when Gabby looked me in the eyes and asked if she could stay home with me instead. I relented, and cried all the way home. Not because I didn’t want to spend time with my daughter, but because I need to spend some time with myself.

Thanksgiving Potluck

Tonight, I am in trypto-coma, because we had a potluck at work. It was awesome. I didn’t photograph the dessert table, but I photographed everything else. Yum.

Chili, Meatballs, Sandwiches, and Casseroles

Three different roasted turkeys

Lechon Pig, complete with apple-in-the-mouth

Pancit, Lumpia, Salted Chicken, and Rice

No one can tell you how hard this is

Sure, folks will tell you that it’s hard, miserable, tough, draining, isolating, fearful, and all those other “bad feelings”. But they don’t tell you what really hurts. Because they can’t. You have to experience it to understand.