Seriously, now we are going

All,

 

     We are OFFICIALLY heading away from the US. We have finished a 4 day submarine hunting exercise in the Hawaiian operational area and are now heading towards the international date line at high speed (ok, maybe not HIGH speed). At least we are no longer being tortured with seeing the Hawaiian islands on our radar every day, knowing we were not pulling in.

 

    For this exercise I was taken out of my comfy seat in Combat and put back on the bridge as Officer of the Deck (the one in charge of driving the ship, aka OOD). Since I have not stood that watch in about 18 months, it was fun to be thrown back up there in the middle of a pretty intense week of ship driving. The guys I had on my watch were great and we had a blast racing around trying to kill some subs. I am glad to know that I still got it up on deck. All the other OOD's complain about how much they get yelled at by the captain, I am not sure what they are complaining about, I never got yelled at...

 

    Today was a super SWO day (SWO, surface warfare officer, what I am and what dad is). I also got to have the deck again this morning for an underway replenishment. We had two oilers and 4 ships all getting gas in very close proximity. At the end of it, we also had to land our helicopter. There were helicopters buzzing, ships everywhere, the sun was shining, CO was in a great mood. I know Dad and Harry are grinning right now, they know those kind of days. The kind of day when you look around, listen to the sounds, smell the salt air and thank God you do not work in a cubicle.

 

    Now, I am back down to my cold, dark, blue hole, living life like a mushroom in Combat, although that watch is really where I have a blast. Soon I will start working on my Tactical Action Officer watch qualification (you run the ships tactics, shoot the missiles, run the sub hunt and so on). It is the only qualification I do not have yet on the ship and I have 4 months of nothing else to do, so, why not?

 

    Next stop, Palau. I have been named the Cultural Affairs Officer. I have FINALLY been able to put my history degree to use in the Navy.  I have been researching Palau and sending short emails out to the crew teaching about the island. I include lots of cool pictures and I keep them short and sweet and they are getting rave reviews (I can forward some to you if you want). Tomorrow I am writing about Palau's role in WWII. Did you know the battle of Peleliu was fought there? Me either, we named a ship after it, must have been an important battle (the deadliest based on percentage of US soldiers that died). I am also planning the scuba trip for the Wardroom that 12 people are going on and now the dinner out that was going to be for my birthday has turned into my wetting down.

    Quick lesson on officer tradition to my non-Navy friends here... when you get promoted, it is custom to take half of the amount of your raise (about $300 bucks) and throw a party. These are usually the rowdy parties because it is thrown by the promotees, not the people of the Wardroom, it is less formal. The concept of "Wetting Down" comes from the idea that your new rank you are wearing is not salty enough and must be soaked in salt water (or beer, whiskey, pool water) to match the rest of your uniform. So, mass amounts of alcohol must be present. Luckily there are 4 others who need to be wetted down, so it should be a good time. We are planning on doing it at a restaurant on the beach at the resort where we are all staying, so it should be nice.

This is long, I have to go grab some chow, work out and then go on watch.

 

Love you all and miss you tons!!
LT Linda

 

P.S. I hope I did better translations this time.

P.P.S. I used my paragraphs, Chris.