Deployment + 30 Days

Well,

The Captain of the ship put out yesterday morning that the senior leadership (meaning Admirals and people that way out rank him) have recommended a 30 day extension for the ship that I'm on. It's not approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff yet, but it's pretty much a 99% chance that it will happen.

The bad: I'll be home 30 days later.
The Good: Maybe I'll be able to make more money. Tom may be more able to do the Tiger Cruise.
The Maybe: Once they start extending, they sometimes keep on adding time...

Please pray that this isn't going to get anymore prolonged. It would be real nice if they said no...Oh well, it's part of the job.

Deploying, NOW.

Well all,

I know I have a ton of fans who read this so, I'll see you in a few months! When I pull into a port where I have internet, I will post and let you know what's going on. I'm not allowed to post from the ship.

Well, I must really go, otherwise I will be late. Take care all of you and see you soon!

Shipboard Mailing Address

Hey All,

Here's my shipboard mailing address if you want to snail-mail me:

ET2(SW/AW) Stout, Christopher H.
USS GERMANTOWN (LSD-42)
ACU-5 Det Charlie
FPO AP 96666-1730

Send whatever you want, just don't expect it to get to me in 5 business days. They usually take about a month and a half. Also, baked goods, um, just remember that they'll be sitting there for a while and a rat or two might help themselves. Don't send beer, as much as I may want it. Don't send anything fragile or valuable. If you send DVD's, or movies, just make sure they are packaged correctly.

As far as the e-world, all of my e-mail addresses will be forwarded to the ship. If you absolutely must update your address books, you can e-mail me at stoutch@lsd42.navy.mil and you can check out the website here.

Well, that's all for now. I have to finish packing. Talk to you later.

Late Work - The Norm

So, I had to work late Monday night. We had to hang the "lateral bag" on LC-08. This is something I typically do not end up doing since I have technical job. Unfortunately, it's one of those, "get it done before the morning" type of things. Well, since we didn't start on it till about 1630 (that's 4:30 pm for you civilians), it was a late night. So, hanging this several hundered pound, 44 foot wide piece of bag with ten guys isn't as easy as it sounds. So, here's the results of what happens when your fingers are in the wrong spot while using a pry bar:

Well, it doesn't hurt, too much! LOL, just got a nice little gouge. Only two of us bled last night. One guy stood up and knocked his head so good he "scalped" himself. He didn't bleed. You see, when we're doing this, we're underneath a 200,000 lb. craft sitting on blocks about 5' 6" high On top of all of that, it's hot, it's heavy, it's uncomfortable, etc.

Anyway, that's just how my Monday went. Since we finished at 2030 (that' s 8:30 pm) we were supposed to be able to get out of work about 0900 the next morning. Well, I left at 1430 (2:30 pm). Don't you love my job? Ha ha...

Work Woes

So, this picture is what I actually work on. It's not one of my "boats" but you get the idea. Most of you know (well Alex does since he's the only one other then Billy that reads this thing) that I'm deploying in November. It's going to be a six to nine months of floating around the Pacific Ocean and places I can't talk about just yet. I was chosen to go on this deployment because there was nobody left to make it. So with this being said, I had to be taken out of my detachment and put into another. Now here's were I get to toot my horn a little:

I'm the Sailor of the Year at my command. I'm the subject matter expert on about six million dollars (yes, $6,000,000) worth of gear for this detachment. Each craft costs $23 million so I've got a little chunk of the pie. I've deployed before so I volunteered to help assist with some administrative requirements for the deployment. So I go to meetings, arrange for computers, arrange for advancement exams and college courses. This in relation to my primary responsibilities are very minimal if you ask me. Anyway, I get those secondary duties (collateral's) squared away and try my hardest with my primary duties. I'm not exactly the best at it, but I try and I think I have more resources available to me to help.

With all this being said, I get yelled at by someone who didn't go to one of the meetings that wanted me to ill-advise my shipmates and make them sign up for something that certainly don't have to and if they do, they should wait for the brief that has been scheduled next month. What makes it even worse, I got my butt chewed out over an e-mail.

So with all these little things and being chewed out for them, it makes me wonder why I try to do my primary duties. If I can't get something little taken care of, how am I supposed to take care of these big ticket items? Why do I do what I do? Just takes all the motivation out of a person who was at one point the most highly motivated person in the command.

I'm praying guys...but I just don't know sometimes. Pray with me? Pray for my family? Finally, pray for the people I work for.