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| At the end of the day, the view is still awesome... |
"I pick things up, I put them down..." (My job on the ship. Well, in computer terms I suppose.)
Essentially I get up, shave, shower, and head down to the pier. We brief, we work, we brief again. Then back to the hotel. Rinse and repeat. All crammed in to a roughly eleven hour day.
Tired?
Why yes, yes I am.
I think there is an army of construction workers who add ten feet to the pier every day. It gets longer, and longer, and...
Actually I should quit complaining, my old legs are almost used to all the walking. Still not used to all the ladders aboard ship.
I told the CSO¹ one day, "You go first Sir, this old one doesn't want to slow you down..."
His answer, "I dunno, you're pretty spry for an Air Force guy." Said with a smile of course. CSO is an outstanding guy, as is the entire crew from what I've seen so far. Yes, I wear my Air Force hat on the ship, told 'em if they wanted a job done right, you call in the Air Force. Yup, interservice rivalry, it's a time-honored tradition.
We've also got a great group of contractors on board. We're "gettin' 'er done."
Now I need to find my rack.
Cheers y'all.
¹ Combat Systems Officer, the officer responsible for the combat system. Makes sense, right?
Nice shot Sarge from what...the seventeenth floor? Looks like one flight deck there. This stint will get those leg muscles toned up eh?
ReplyDeleteTwenty-fifth, building has 40 floors!
DeleteUSS Midway (CV 41) is a museum ship, gonna get down there before I leave.
No active carriers in port right now.
Lucky for you they actually have an elevator on the Midway so you won't have to do any more ladders! Be sure to show your ID for the generous military discount. Say hi to my bird up there, although she doesn't have my name on it anymore, and she's in a terrible state of repair and rework right now.
DeleteI definitely encourage visiting the Midway, lots of interesting exhibits aboard her. Hadn't met Tuna yet when we visited, but I do remember the Viking. There was another military museum (in a building) we also visited, but I can't remember what it is called or where it is. (I may also be blending Pensacola and San Diego visits in my mind. Seen one Navy base, seen 'em all doncha' know?)
DeleteTuna - No ladders? Elevators? I will be a happy camper!
DeleteJuvat - Sandy Eggo has a very nice aviation museum, I visited there last time I was out this way. Perhaps that's the one?
DeleteThat's a view I haven't seen in a while. Went to Boot Camp in San Diego (82) and then went across the bay to North Island for school with HS-10.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great view.
Delete11 hour days, I'm guessing they give you have hour of that for lunch?
ReplyDeleteLunch counts as work because we talk about work. We get whatever time we need to eat than back to it.
DeleteAh, the first black eye I ever got was from doing ladders in the USNS Hoyt S. Vandenberg, during a tour of her when she was visiting Kwajalein. Caught a heel to the face.
ReplyDeleteSo, yeah, jealous of your experience. Glad you are enjoying it.
Stay safe, don't touch anything you're not supposed to do, wear clean underwear, yada yada. :)
I know which buttons not to push, found a new one to break the system, it's what I do, break things.
Delete🙄
Guess I'd better carry my Lex coin when I go over the bridge to the city. No one ever expects the old AF Sarge. If you want to do a trip to Rosencrans, hit me up. Me and the lad will carry you over 619 985 5157 or any where else if they didn't spring for a rental car
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of Rosecrans on Sunday, along with the Midway. They did spring for a rental, but if you're offering to chauffeur me around...
DeleteI won't say no. 😲
Indeed, I am offering. Lad and I haven't been over for a few months now and definitely the moral equivalent of attending mass. Time the lad learns that while a physical church serves a useful function, we can see him everywhere.
DeleteI'll give you a call.
DeleteI never get tired of elevated views overlooking the ocean - West coast has the sunsets, east coast has the sun rises, both are usually very nice unless too many clouds get in the way, and that's not usually the case in Sandy Eggo. My most frequent view is from only the third floor of our second row house on a barrier island in NC - still something calming about watching the ocean, with occasional critters coming into view to liven things up..
ReplyDeleteThe middle of the ocean has both sunsets and sunrises and when you show pictures of them to folks they wanna know if there's proof it was a sunrise.
DeleteTom - I get off work, go to my hotel, and watch the boats out on the bay. It is so relaxing!
DeleteSkip - Make sure there's a compass and a chronometer in the photo. 😉
Delete"Interservice rivalry"...yeah, I know it well. Jarhead security on a predominantly Naval installation. Out in town, things got a bit lively now and again (aka, most of the time!)
ReplyDeleteThen there's your International service rivalry...
Don't know if they do anymore, but back in the 70s they served beer by the pitcher in McDonald's in Hong Kong, where me met a bunch of British Royal Marines. The Big Broad shouldered Corporal I was with thought it was funny to turn the nearly empty pitcher upside down and slam it on the table while glaring at the Britishers. They were not amused, and had us way outnumbered. The next couple of hours and the trip back to the ship are sorta cloudy.
Best son of a bitch to have by your side when it really mattered, but that Big Smiling boy got in fights in damn near every port he got liberty in! Ah, the good old days!
Hahaha! Good to have him by your side in a fight, but he usually starts the fight, nice!
DeleteIn the way back there would be nests of tincans out in the stream with water taxis, LCVPs, and motor whaleboats transporting sailors to shore and back again. There was no bridge to Coronado/North Island so it was drive around or take a ferry.
ReplyDeleteSo much of what I experienced in that town is gone.
Then I remember that it was sixty years ago that I was at the Naval Training Center in Basic Training ...ooh that's gone, too.
You have tickled my memory bank. sixty years ago I was in Bermuda on a GUPPY II diesel boat. We were told to bring a tie, sport jacket, shirt and trousers because two years previous the Yanks, Brits, and Canucks were on liberty and destroyed downtown Hamilton and the entire island was off limits to all military personnel in uniform. I did not get to SD until 1992 when the powers that be proclaimed that all hands were required to attend a "Leadership School". I was sent to Coronado Island for a week. The barking of the Seal pups was kind of distracting and the course devolved into a bunch of Chiefs telling anecdotes of what they did that demonstrated leadership. Very interesting but I don't think any of that material made it into the curriculum. Old Guns
DeleteSkip - Yeah, it's changed a lot. Still a big Navy presence but it's south of town and kinda out of the way.
DeleteI've been to Hamilton, no signs of the devastation you all left behind. 😉
DeleteLeadership School on Coronado, that must have been tough duty. 🙄
Did NCO Leadership School at MCRD. Two things I remember were breaking the instructor's drill sword (it was way too long for me, and the part of the drill that required a sharp downward sweep resulted in the point being thrust into the concrete, something had to give), and I believe it was the Royal Canadian Marines marching and piping 'til long after dusk every evening. Ever been serenaded to your rest by bagpipes handled by 40 swarthy pipers, all marching in cadence? Hell, I can still hear the echoes as I think about it! One of those memories that carves deep grooves in the grey matter.
DeleteI can well imagine!
DeleteHope the work finishes up soon and you have a much better flight home than you did out, Sarge.
ReplyDeleteTwo more weeks, but it should fly by.
Delete