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.
I've had a hard time coming and updating lately. Part of it is the pace of life, part of it is the immediacy of Facebook as opposed to blogging and even more of it in the impending end of my tour in DECATUR. It's hard to maintain daily life and figure out how to detatch gracefully without hurting anyone (myself excepted, that's just a fact of life) or anything. I'm probably not doing it as gracefully as I'd like, but hopefully in a way that people will remember me well.
A few weeks ago was my final return to San Diego in command.
It was a tough one, but I made it through. There are still two more sea details, one leaving San Diego and one entering San Francisco in my future, and one final Underway Replenishment. It's hard to believe after what will be 19 years (next month) those may be my last big moments on a ship. There's always another possible command, but I'm not sure anything will ever top this tour.
I'm slowly beginning the transition to my next tour, which will be at the National War College in Washington, DC. I'm headed out to do some househunting, hopefully to find a place close to the school for the year I'll be there (maybe longer, maybe not...that's left to be seen.) I'm looking for a two bedroom place because I've gotten used to having a place to work.
I don't think I showed the final results of the last baby quilt I made, but now that it's been delivered, I can:
I'm pretty proud of myself for having managed to work all of her color choices into the quilt, from soft and pale to vibrant. I'm even more proud of myself for finding the perfect backing fabric online.
Actually, by some freakish coincidence the stylists of the world have decided that giraffes and other safari animals are in this year, (I don't remember seeing this number of giraffes for the last three kids that have come along), just in time for the arrival of the first-born of a giraffe-loving friend. It's perfect, isn't it?
And I've also decided that the only way to learn how to free motion quilt is to actually do it. And so, my first attempt...
I had practiced on some scrap until I figure out that I needed to be moving my hands more slowly and my feet faster. The bit above is the first free motion bit I did on an actual quilt. I've been slowly improving as I work through each of the segments...
I have more improving to do, but I've run myself out of the purple thread, so I need more. I sort of wish I'd used a solid lavender instead of the variegated purples, but that's a lesson learned for later. I showed this to a friend and she really loved the colors, so it will probably go live with her almost three year old when I'm finally done.
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...
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.)
See that hole at the top of the pipe? Yeah, that sort of thing happens after 13 years of running sea water through metal...as I've said before sea water and metal don't mix well. Thankfully, my truly amazing Sailors found the burst pipe and got things settled quickly. The edges of the hole and pushed in because the first response team on station tried to patch the hole, which entails pounding wood wedges into it the hole. It's a quick fix until we can figure out a long term plan. In our case, there's a whole new section of pipe installed because 13 years does a lot of damage.
