December 2003 Archives

The unit will be heading south on Sunday. We'll spend a number of weeks in San Diego training and preparing and then depart from San Diego for sandier places.

As my day of departure looms closer, the hugeness of what I'm about to do is starting to sink in. I will be separated from my family for a really long time. Eight months at least. By the time I come back, we will be preparing for Christmas again. I will miss the summer surfing season, my favorite time to surf here in the cold waters of Nor-Cal. I wonder at what events in my childrens' lives I will have to be happy with hearing about over the phone and seeing the pictures. I – and I suspect all of us – am struggling with feelings of sadness and fears about being a inadequate as a dad and husband.

What I am about to do will change my life. I don't know how but I feel very certain that my life will be different when I come back. I can only pray and hope that the difference is a good one. I wonder what changes my deployment will cause for my wife and children. I hope and pray that those too are good changes.

Once in San Diego, we will start a pretty high tempo. We'll be working six day weeks, going to around the clock watches at some point. The intensity of the training, unit camaraderie, and the focus on the mission helps to push passed/through/over the sorrows and sadness of separation.

I wish I could close with some deep and slightly witty paragraph about how everything will be fine. I cannot. I've no idea what God has in mind for me and my family. I trust Him. Things will go alright.

Aloha

It has always been my habit to wear my uniform to church and other occasions when I am on active duty. I consider the uniform an honor and wearing it a privilege that I have earned. Secondly, I think it is important that people be able to put a face to "the military."

It is interesting to me the reaction that people have to seeing someone in uniform. Some people say, "thank you." That nice, I always like that. Some people make odd comments that leave me wondering what they were thinking.

"Happy Birthday, Navy. 227 years or whatever."

OK. Hey, thank you.

One of the comments I really dislike is, "nice costume, Halloween was last month." This degrades the uniform and makes light of the service and sacrafice made by the servicemember.

Aloha

Had a wonderful Christmas. Started the morning with coffee, blue berry muffins and presents. Santa gave the kids Nintendo Gameboy Advanced SP machines. Each got their own game but of course one game -- Crash Bandicoot -- is more popular. So they take turns playing that game.

We opened presents, played with our toys and finished the blueberry muffins. Then we watched the movie The Santa Clause. Fun movie. Fun time sitting with the family enjoying time together.

We sat down to the traditional Christmas dinner (turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, rolls), just the four of us. With the long separation that is coming it was nice to just be family. We sat around playing with our toys some more. We had pumpkin pie with birthday candles and sang Happy Birthday to Yoshi and Jesus.

Eventually we gaved around the TV again for The Santa Clause 2. As is the case with most sequels, The Santa Clause 2 was not as go as the first movie but it was still fun. After Miyuki and Yoshi got ready for bed we went up stairs and I read the Christmas story to the kids from Da Jesus Book, a Hawaiian pidgin translation of the new testament. It was an interesting challenge. Miyuki seemed to enjoy the story more than Yoshi did.

It will be nearing the holiday season when I get back from the gulf if everything goes according to schedule. I'm looking forward to next Christmas.

Aloha

I hope everyone has a wonder Christmas. As a Christian, the Christmas holiday holds a special and significant meaning for me personally. However, Christmas is also a cultural phenomenon. Regardless of your views of who Jesus was -- personal saviour, just a man or a myth -- I hope and pray that you have family and loved ones to enjoy.

I'd like also to mention the thousands of families who are separated this holiday season. Military service members currently serving in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afganistan are making a sacrifice that most people in America cannot comprehend. A time that for most American families is a happy joyous time carries an underlying pain for military families whose loved ones are deployed. Military families usually become adept at carrying on, ignoring the sadness and pain. They put a bright face on it, they smile and talk about how proud they are of their husband/father/brother/son/wife/mother/sister/daughter. And then at night went they go to bed many of them cry a few tears and wonder why it is that their loved one does what s/he does. These are some America's heros. Not only the men and women who serve but also the families that support them.

My turn is coming. We are lucky however. It is unlikely that we will have to be apart during the holidays.

Aloha

I walked out on a movie tonight. I have done that in years. It was so bad I simply could not continue watching it. As I left I muttered to myself, "this is disgusting." And it was.

The movie Kill Bill is a live action rendition of a particular genre of Japanese manga. They are always violent, usually involved volumptous women as main characters doing the violence. The violence is frequently in the form of and excused as vengence for loss of innocense. I found this genre uninteresting when I lived in Japan. As live action I find it utterly disgusting.

Needless to say, two thumbs down. Do not bother to see this movie.

Aloha

Day One
We spent the day going through various stations getting our records checked. Medical, Dental, Admin, Legal, etc. It was pretty standard Navy fare. Hurry up, get to your assigned station, are you where you are suppose to be? No? Get there. Once there, you waited.

Plenty of confusion prevailed. Are we leaving today? No! Well, maybe. Who would like to fly down to San Diego today instead of riding the bus tomorrow? About 14 people flew down on Wednesday. About 35 people rode the bus down on Thursday.

Day Two
You know, it is a really long way from San Jose to San Diego. We left San Jose at about 0940 and arrived in San Diego at about 1800 with a one hour lunch stop. We unloaded the bus, went out to eat, heard the gossip about what would be happening tomorrow and went to bed.

Day Three
We went to the Navy Mobilization Processing Center. What a fiasco. At the Mob Center we will repeat the process we went through on day one. Same forms, same stations, same everything. Today the were able to get started on service members whose last names started with letters A - R. My name starts with S. I did not get anything done today. I get to it some other day. Not sure which day, they didn't tell us that.

One corpman seemed to have no idea how to present the information she was responsible for.

It all reminded me of boot camp save that the people who ran boot camp had a pretty smooth running system. These people we dealt with today, did not.

Let's see what Monday brings.

Aloha