20080211

Many people in the navy speak poorly of it every day. For the most part, I can understand where most of these people are coming from, especially if they somehow feel wronged or as if they got a raw deal. Additionally, many of these references diminish the significance of what we are doing. I have heard many people speak as if the daily occurrences in the Navy are not important or any more noteworthy or usual than most other occurrences in life.

In contrast that, I was thinking about the events that went on in my day today. I had a full day, started by waking up at 5am, eating breakfast, calling my wife, fixing up my rack and going to quarters. After that I got my guys going on sanding down an old defunct missile launcher and priming it for paint. SN Kerns and I also got working on correcting the errors in the flag spacing for the bridge to bridge phone and distance line which is used when we refuel at sea alongside an oiler. The line is important because it shows the distance between the ships which can be dangerous in affecting a collision hazard or loss of the refueling rig which is suspended on a ¾” tensioned wire. We were stopped short though when all the Visit, Board, Search, & Seizure team members were called to the flight deck to assist with personnel who were being pepper sprayed as part of a security reaction force training class. Directly following that, I changed into my wetsuit and put on my rescue gear for a simulated recovery of a man overboard. I was hooked up to the end of a line with a flotation device called a rescue strop and lowered into the water by several seamen tending the line. The conning officer is supposed to maneuver the ship into a position where it is in between the rescue swimmer and the current, but he made a mistake and I ended up swimming against the current. It was strong and it took me out, and several times I felt like I was swimming but not moving. I eventually got the floating dummy back on board and then was deployed from the opposite side to assist with another swimmer’s training as part of his designation process. After that I showered, ate lunch and went right back to sanding, painting, and fixing the line. We finished all that, cleaned up, and then I went to work out for a solid 2 hours, starting out with some heavy lifting and ending with plyometrics on the flight deck. After that I showered, ate dinner, and went to check my e-mail when they called a man overboard. I ran down to my berthing area, changed into my wetsuit, and ran up to the boat deck. We came to find out that it was actually a bag of trash that someone had thrown over. Then I went back down, checked my e-mail, called my wife, and hit my rack. I don’t think that many people can say that they have that kind of variety, activity, and excitement in their day to day job. Or maybe they just aren’t motivated about it.

The navy affords you many options, and, in my opinion, if naval personnel do not take advantage of them, there is no one to blame for that but themselves. A lackadaisical attitude, or cynicism and bitterness will not contribute to progress in the navy, and much less in any other work environment. Opportunity in life is available, but in order to capitalize on it, one has to take the action upon themselves.