Adventures in Paradise

Memorial

The first day after we arrived in Hawaii, one of my Sailors reenlisted at the Arizona Memorial. This is a particularly special place to Engineers, because so many of those who died at Pearl Harbor were trapped deep in the engineering spaces. It's a nice piece of symmetry to have had one of my Engineers choose to continue his career here.

They open the Memorial early for those conducting ceremonies, which means that we were the first ones there that morning, and the only ones present for the 30 minutes we were allotted. It allowed for some greeat photos, like this one from the entrance through to the shrine in back.

And of course, the group shot.

This Day in History

On 25 October 1812, sailing 500 miles south of the Azores, Captain Stephen Decatur, Commanding Officer of
USS UNITED STATES, sights, engages and captures HMS MACEDONIAN.

Living History

Just so you know...though I'm sure you've figured it out, most of my
posts are time late. Partly because I don't have enough time in the day
but also because in general I don't like posting exactly where I am when
I am there. Bad security practice, you know.

So at sunrise on one of the last few days we passed through the Surigao
Strait, from the Pacific Ocean into the Philippine Sea via Leyte Gulf.
Surigao Strait was the very first major naval engagement in the Battle
for Leyte Gulf in October 1944. It was a hard fight and included some
infamous moments in the history of the war in the Pacific, including
Bull Halsey's distraction by a Japanese decoy force. Good stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leyte_Gulf#The_Battle_of_Surigao_

Strait_.2825_October.29

How Cool it Is!

Can I just tell you guys that this week I got an invitation
to the change of command for the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe? That’s
like the greatest title on the face of the earth and one of my old bosses will
be taking over in October – and he invited me. Okay yeah, I can’t
go, but still. 
 
When was the last time I told you how much I love my job?