This deployment has been the longest that I have ever experienced. After spending 108 days at sea straight I thought that I could handle anything. Then this last week started. The anticipation started back around the time we arrived in Guam. Between Guam and Hawaii we let off a good amount of Marines from the…
On our way back we made a quick stop in Guam. In nearly 18 years of active duty service, I have been to Guam a total of three times. The first time we only made it to the harbor to replenish stores from the beach using our helicopter. That was in ’07 when I foolishly…
Last Monday night after dinner, I was told that I would be flying to another ship in the ARG (Amphibious Readiness Group) in order to help them troubleshoot some of their communications gear. Begrudgingly I agreed to go, not because I didn’t want to help, but rather believed that I would be unable to help….
The fourth and last day in Hong Kong was spent shopping. The morning was spent asleep attempting to recover from the previous night’s events. Just after lunch we set out to do some shopping. After asking around a bit, we were told the best shopping for deals was at a place called “Ladies Market”. We…
The second day in Hong Kong was spent working. You see, while on deployment I get to stand “Duty” every 3 days. Duty means I have to stay onboard the ship for 24 hours and wait for something to happen. On the scale of something awful happening, we have fires, flooding, or random acts of…
After an early morning of entering port, we were moored at the Ocean Terminal in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Now I have been to Hong Kong two other times and previously the ship’s I was on were anchored out in Hong Kong Harbor. That meant that one would have to board a “liberty boat” for transit across the harbor to…
Today marks the beginning of the 30-day countdown until my return to San Diego! You could say I’ve waited all year for this to happen. After the past 6 months of deployment, I am more than ready to return home. This is my last deployment and while I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t really…