I'm about ready to go to bed. I'll have a blog entry to catch everyone up tomorrow night, my time.
aloha
June 2004 Archives
Day 91
It is really hot here. Like living in the drier on high. Today it was 114 degrees.
I'm headed back to Survivor: TPE. Now that is has been made public, I can even say that I am going to the Northern Arabian Gulf (NAG) to an oil platform about 13 miles off the Iraqi coast. The article above provides the details. I was part of the first team out there. It was a pretty exciting mission back then. It will be interesting to go back now and see how it has changed. Going to an established routine is never as thrilling and exciting as going out where there is nothing and putting it together, making it happen.
I talked to my son today on the phone. It was really good to hear his voice but I am reminded of how sad I am that I cannot see his face or hug him. His birthday is coming up soon. I won't be there. I'm pretty sad about that. He's a really neat kid. So is his sister. I miss them both. Some times I cry.
"That's a long time, daddy."
"Yes. Yes, it is son. I'm going to miss you."
I miss you too, Princess. I miss you a lot.
aloha
Day 90
How the US government spends money from the military budget really irks me. Congress will spend billions of dollars to develop an aircraft that, by the time it is delivered to the forces that will actually use it in combat, will be out of date and near obsolete. Aegis class cruisers were just being commissioned when I was first in the Navy in 1982. They are now obsolete and we are selling them to other countries. The USS Yorktown, a ship commissioned after I left active duty, is being decommissioned upon its return to the States. Meanwhile, the USS Denver (LPD–9) is still in service after 40 years. The United States is chasing a technological edge at the cost of losing people it has just finished training.
An Electronics Technician goes into the Navy out of high school knowing nothing. The Navy puts that individual through two years of intensive training. Training complete the individual will go to a first duty assignment. While at that duty assignment the individual will likely pick up at least one and probably two more schools. Because of all the training required to be an ET, they must sign up for a minimum of six years. At the end of that six year period they have to choose between an $80,000 to $150,000 a job in the civilian world or continuing in their $30,000 a year Navy career. Many of these individuals leave military service to go work for the companies that land the contracts to research and develop the equipment that Congress approves. Our military's primary focus is on having the best hardware. Once we have the best hardware then, almost as an afterthought, we find someone to man it for McDonald wages.
As I've said before, the United States military service member should be getting compensation that puts him dead middle class. His family should have the best health care available. His children should have the best schools. And those benefits should continue for the widows and children of fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Military families make sacrifices that the average American doesn't even begin to understand. Joe Six-pack's wife has no idea what it is like to watch her husband pack his gear for yet another deployment. Joe Six-pack's wife wouldn't know an Interceptor vest from from waistcoat. A soldier's wife watches the gear go into the bags and knows what each piece of gear is for. She's especially knowledgeable on the safety gear, the gear intended to help him live through that golden hour that is so critical to surviving on the battlefield. A soldier's wife asks family members and friends for money so that she can buy her soldier an Intercepter vest because the military, for whatever reason, isn't issuing them. At $1500 for the vest and the plates, the soldiers wife has to ask quite a few friends. $1500 is a lot of money to a military family.
Yeah, military pay and compensation is a critical issue that desperately needs to be a campaign issue. Too bad military families are seen as a voting block that warrants attention.
Aloha
Day 89
A new phenomenon today. I discovered what they were talking about when they told about the hot winds. Man, oh man, it literally feels little someone has a blow drier pointed at you. Really hot. It was over 110 degrees today. Not sure how hot the wind was.
I using the pay-as-you-go Internet service. It's down right now. That's kind of funny. Well, frustrating but funny. They say it will be back online in fifteen minutes. It's 1946 now. We'll see. [came back up at 2025]
So, I've missed my anniversary, my wife's birthday and now this month I will miss my son's birthday. Well, half-birthday actually. You see, my son was born on Christmas. We worried about him not getting the attention that a child should get on his birthday. What with it happening right in at the height of the holiday season, it would become an after-thought, an also-ran. Enter my wise father who suggested that we celebrate his birthday at the half-year mark instead of trying to celebrate it at Christmas time. That's what we've done since he was about 2. I won't be there this year. I'm pretty sad about that. It has been important to me to be at all the events of my children's lives. I want my kids to remember their dad as being interested and involved in their lives. Always having time for them. I make it a point to never say, "not right now, I don't have time." I won't be there this time. I think my son probably understands. It will be interesting to hear what he says. He always surprises me.
Aloha
Day 88
First, congratulations to my boss. He's been selected by the board to be advanced to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. The next few months will be a challenge but I am confident that he will make an outstanding Chief. I hope the Chief's Mess doesn't go too rough on him.
Life in Camp Spearhead reminds me, in many ways, of life in Wyoming, Iowa. I lived there for about three years. I loved it. Iowa is a great place to live. My kids have never been in better schools. Camp Spearhead has that same small town feel. Everyone is friendly. Most everyone you pass offers a greeting. There's the camp gossip for those who participate in such activities. There are more than a few romances and suspected romances in camp. I saw one lady and a guy climbing into a humvee. It looked for all the world like a date. Yeah, it's a lot like living in a small town here. Luckily, I enjoy small town living.
One of my friends here is an amateur radio enthusiast. He has been in touch with the Kuwaiti Amateur Radio association and has managed to get a Kuwaiti Radio License. Now having the license he yesterday set up his radio equipment and talked to a guy in the Netherlands. Pretty cool stuff. Of course, he has this huge antenna rigged outside. With 30 foot fiberglass masts and a hundred feet of wire. It gets a lot of looks and a few questions. Nonetheless, it's pretty cool.
I finished my first Travis McGee novel, The Quick Red Fox. Good read. It's fun to read books that were written back in the sixties. The culture and society of that era permeates the story. Kind of nostalgic. Talk of Corvette Sting-rays, the slang of that era, etc. It's interesting. I'm now reading Emerald Flash by Charles Knief and C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton is next. I've decided that Charles Knief and Sue Grafton are probably my favorite Private Eye authors. MacDonald is good but I don't enjoy Travis as much as I do Cain and Kinsey Millhone. One of the things I really enjoyed about B is for Burglar was the complete lack of gratuitous sex or violence.
Recently, while on watch, the watch officer was reading an article about Prince (membership required), or is it still The Artist formerly known as Prince. Whatever. Anyway, since that watch I've been thinking about the only song by Prince that I like. Raspberry Beret. I may have to go over to iTunes Music Store and buy that song. I've been listening to a lot of Hawaiian music again. Mark Keali`i Ho`omalu's works from Lilo and Stitch are really good. Like them. Blaine Kamalani Kia is another favorite. And of course, Keali`i Reichel.
My daughter is starting to blog on a daily basis now. Go check out her efforts.
aloha
Day 87
No watch today. I got invited to a working party. Woo hoo. We went and put up two tents. About twenty of us. It was hot. We had to make to attempts at it. My unit spends a lot of time putting up tents. So we are pretty familiar with how to do it. However, this time we had to put in a liner. We don't usually do that. So we put it in inside out. We had it about halfway up when we realised it wasn't right. Had to pull it all apart and start again. It was good fun. Even with the restart and the fact that about half the lines had to be redone we got it done pretty quickly.
A conversation with a friend reminded me. The prisoner mistreatment scandal that is the focus of the media at the moment. The temptation will be to use this as a distractor from our mission. There will be those who say that this illustrates why we should pull out quickly, that we should get UN oversight, etc. etc. I am of the opinion that this is our's and our's alone to finish. Whatever is true about how we got into this it is now incumbunant upon us, the US, to see it through to the correct and proper conclusion.
What happened in Abu Ghraib was bad. The people responsible need to be brought to justice in public manner so that the world can see that this kind of behaviour is not tolerated. The quicker the better. However, what happened in Abu Ghraib is an unfortunate and horrible sideshow. The main event here is the establishment of a free and democratic Iraq. We cannot falter from that mission. We, the armed forces on station in Iraq and the surrounding regions need the suppose of US public opinion and the support of the President and Congress. We need to deal with the crimes that have occurred while at the same time staying the course that has been set. What we're doing here is important. We need to finish it.
aloha
Day 86
In my time over here I've learned something about various activities of the military during "a military action" (the 'major hostilities' are over, right). There are a lot of categories and classifications but I've discovered that I really only care about one. Something often referred to as high speed, low drag. High speed, low drag operations are those in which the operational tempo and priority are such that speed and agility takes precedence over form and process. High speed, low drag means that while the requirements don't necessarily change, much of the paperwork falls away. A transaction that, in the rear, might require four people and two forms in duplicate can be done with two people, a please and a smile. High speed, low drag usually means that when something doesn't work to the level that is required for the mission it is replaced by whatever means necessary.
For example, here in the rear when I currently live, if I'm issued thirty rounds of ammo I need to hand back thirty rounds of ammo. Failure to do so generates a very tall pile of paperwork to account for each and every round missing. Currently, the closer you get to Fallujah/Baghdad/Najah the less paperwork and accountability required for missing rounds of ammo. In some places, you simply turn in what you have left, if any. That's the reduction of drag.
It took my unit almost three months to get from 'hey you're being activated' to boots on sand. There are some units that can go from BBQing with the family in San Diego to fully operational in some remote location in a matter of days. That's high speed.
I've determined that I really like high speed, low drag. I like the idea of going from civilian on the street to active duty in a couple of days and being expected to be ready to deploy as soon as orders can be cut. I like the thrill and the challenge of making things work ad hoc. I like missions that are considered difficult and maybe impossible. I like missions where those sending the team out are not at all sure what the mission will turn into.
I mentioned some days ago that I would be looking at my options after I finished here. One of the options I will be looking into is finding a high speed, low drag unit that does real world missions. I think I have a lead on one, maybe two. For my regular readers, no, this does not mean that I've given up on the idea of joining the Australian Navy. That's still high on the list of things I'd like to do. But as my regular readers might also know, I've still got to convince my wife that moving to Australia would be a good thing. I think it would be a really good thing. Hey, does anyone know if there are any halaus (Hawaiian Hula schools/associations/organisations) in Syndey? That's a critical item in convincing my wife.
aloha
