More pre-deployment preparation...but also some Midshipman training. We shoot close to 1000 rounds on this particular weapon over the course of the week - I got in the last 100.
Yup, I'm short. It actually works better when I'm standing on those particular ammo boxes when they're stacked two high. Then I'm a dead-eye. Even got a good shooting comment from the inspectors who were onboard watching our firing runs this week!
On my way out the door....eight days and counting in the wrong direction...but I'm still getting to go out with a bang!
There was a big bang as we got to execute DECATUR's first missile firing in five years, which culminated in a very visible, if difficult to photograph intercept as our missile met up with the inbound target.
After serving in four Arleigh Burke Destroyers over nearly two decades, there aren't many places I haven't been - as far forward and aft as you can get, under engine mounts, inside the firing mechanism of the five-inch gun. In fact, there was really only one place I'd never been - to the very top of the mast. We don't have a Crow's Nest, and we use a wonderful (if not particularly reliable) electro-optical camera as an elevated lookout, but we still have lots of antennae that need to be mounted high.
I got my chance a little while ago when a couple of the Sailors who work on those antennae wanted to re-enlist up there. I wasn't going to pass up my chance, and neither was the XO, so we got ourselves into harnesses and headed aloft.
The very top of the mast doesn't acomodate so many people, so we did the ceremony on an intermediate platform, then a couple of us headed the rest of the way. Here's what the forward part of the ship looks like from way up high...
and the after part of the ship...
I really do have the coolest job in the world, even if it's only for another 20 days.
When we went into the shipyards, we sent our 25mm chain guns off to be refurbished. We got them back onboard a couple of weeks ago.
We had to take it for a test drive, of course...
This guy and some buddies were swimming around near the ship the other day while we were out running the boats. Every once in a while they'd pause in their diving and just hang out watching us, not unlike the way we were watching them. We've seen a couple of pods of dolphins and lots of whales, some surfacing just feet in front of the ship. I'd love to get a picture of them but when they're that close I'm more concerned about stopping the ship and not hitting the big lugs than I am about pulling the camera out. Whales and ships don't mix, and while ships win in just about any encounter, it's not something any of us want. Avoidance is the name of the game.
I think it's possible that this year will never be topped for me...but I sort of knew that as the year started given that this is my full year in Command. The highlights are mostly ship-related, but the family figures in as well.
January
I started the 2011 having been in command for 16 days, many of them eventful, thanks to our deployed state and our missions up close to the Iraqi oil terminals and Iran. This photo came at the end of the first Underway Replenishment where I was able to show my guys exactly how I planned to handle the ship...flank speed and full rudder, whenever possible.
February
We got to spend some time ashore in February. The three or four days in port Bahrain where lovely and showed me what a pretty place it could be. I even took a crummy iPhone picture of the Pearl in the Pearl Roundabout, about a month before the place went down the tubes and the Pearl was torn down. We also opened some lovely Valentines from a group of students in CA, my favorite featuring a Valentine's Hippo.
March
We departed the Persian Gulf in March, after five months in theater. Our first port visit was to Chennai, India where I recieved an amazing greeting. It was new to me given my most only visits to India had been in the north, the most recent when I was seven years old. I am looking forward to another visit - check out the pics on the sidebar for more on our visits to Chennai and Phuket, whch was also in March.
April
April marked our return to San Diego, complete with a lei for the ship, tugs spraying water in greeting, and family and friends on the pier.
May
At the very beginning of the month, my mom and I made a short notice trip up to the family ranch in Oregon, where my grandfather had been dealing with two bouts of pneumonia. He recovered and I rediscovered the beauty of the place I spent so many of my summers as a child and teen. Going feral in this neighborhood was better than any summer camp (and I went to summer camps, too.)
June
The ship spent the month of June participating in Joint Exercise Northern Edge, but before that we got a three day visit to Homer, Alaska. I fell in love with the place and the people. And the animals, but I'm not entirely sure all of them liked us...the little bear that charged us on the beach. This is another place I can't wait to visit again!
July
We returned to San Diego at the end of June and in July I hosted my sister and her kids for a few days. We had a great time exploring the Zoo, Legoland, and ship and generally hanging out together. I introduced them to burgers at my favorite burger and beer place, and we had several meals there.
August
For the Navy in San Diego, August means Surface Line Week. Because we'd entered the shipyard at the beginning of the month, we didn't have the time to participate as much as I'd have liked to, but we still performed admirably. These three won the Professional Seamanship category - taking first place in line throwing and piping and second place in knot tying.
September
In September I found myself back up on the ranch for Rodeo Weekend. My cousin's youngest daughter was the Rodeo Queen and the kids had never seen a rodeo, demolition derby or the Rodeo parade, so the whole family went north. There's four generations in that photo: my grandfather, my mom, my brother and his two kids.
October
My India-visit earned fame got me a story in the local newspaper, which got me a few speaking engagement requests. I avoided a handful thanks to my schedule, and accepted a few, but speaking to the reunion of USS PICKING crewmembers was a highlight - they ranged from WWII to Vietnam era veterans and all seemed very supportive and happy to have me. I thought they were a neat bunch of people.
November
In November I turned 40. I'm not sure how that happened or if I'm supposed to feel any differently, but I don't. I'm having a great time and I have a hard time seeing how any year could top my 40th. I spent the day of my birthday with my family, and the weekend at the drag races. Then I got the best birthday present EVER: got out of the shipyard (finally) and got to test fire my brand new guns.
December
Celebrating the holidays is a little different when you're not deployed...holiday lights go up on all the ships that aren't getting underway or in the shipyard and the competition is fierce. I was one of the underway ships (hooray!) so we didn't compete, but we did get some colorful up and overs on the ship and a tree on the quarterdeck.
2012 won't top 2011 since I will be neither deployed nor in command every year, so I'm actually looking forward with a little dread. Still, this past year will sustain me for a long time.
I generally think sunsets are pretty but make for uninteresting photographs unless there are clouds, mountains, people or something else to add contrast and scale. Looking out to sunsets at sea in San Diego, which is generally cloudless doesn't really give you much to look at, unless you're in the middle of an anchoring exercise during sunset.
Because I've got a new toy and this weekend I got to play...
(No, I don't really consider a weapon like this a toy, but it's still very cool.)
What makes a good weekend? Well, there's the Saturday morning trip to the Farmer's Market - and being able to buy winter squash and strawberries at the same point in the season - both local.
I worked on a new trick (link since it's not a video of me) at the rig, and the entire group flying was solid, so no waiting for new people to get over fears, just each of us going in a steady flow. My hands are sore, but that's to be expected when you get to fly two or three times more than in a typical class.
And then there's this, which I suppose throws my idea of a good weekend from "borderline normal" to "something completely different." One of two new guns was landed on Saturday morning. Can't wait to play with my new toy...
