Cold Weather Gear

Happy Black Friday everyone!

Since it's shopping season and since it's 28 degrees outside and there's ice forming on the pond behind our house, I'll tell you about the cold weather gear I used for the past two years driving in and out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Granted, being on the bridge of a submarine presents a unique set of circumstances - namely being stationary and exposed to the elements for several hours.  Someone on the bridge of some other type of surface ship would presumably be able to step inside the pilot house to get shelter from the wind, rain, and snow.  Other people who brave the cold for recreational activities like skiing tend to be physically active and generate extra body heat in the process, and they can always take a break and step inside the ski lodge for some coffee or hot cocoa.  When you sit or stand in one place on top of the submarine, you aren't doing any exertion to generate body heat, and there's no place to go for shelter.

Before going into the gear I've been using, I should offer a disclaimer on uniform regulations.  There are some differing opinions from one boat to the next, or rather from one CO and COB to the next, on what is allowed to be worn by personnel topside when getting the boat underway and returning to port.  During my JO tour on USS PROVIDENCE operating out of Groton, Connecticut, we absolutely needed good cold weather gear topside and on the bridge, and the Navy didn't sell uniform components that would adequately protect us.  The philosophy on the boat was go buy yourself some good cold weather gear (more specifically - to protect your hands and face) and as long as it's solid black or navy blue, nobody would have a problem with it not being an official part of "the uniform."  That philosophy made sense to me and has stuck with me ever since, much to the chagrin of some of my later COBs who were more insistent on not allowing guys topside to wear anything that wasn't 100% in compliance with the uniform regs.  (Sorry, COBs, no offense intended!)

Headsok

Soon after I reported aboard USS PROVIDENCE, one of the other JOs told me to go to the mall and find the kiosk where they sell headsokz.  It was absolutely essential being on an SSN operating out of Groton.  We drove in and out frequently enough that I had many opportunities either as a topside supervisor or as an OOD on the bridge to put it to use.  It was money very well spent.  Even during my department head tour out of SAN DIEGO, I was very glad I had my headsok and gloves from my JO tour in my locker for port calls in Bangor and Esquimalt and an unexpected surfacing near the Aleutian Islands.  As an XO, I used it supervising linehandlers topside getting the ship underway.  As a CO, I've used it every underway and return to port in Bangor.  Even returning to port in June last year, it was 50 degrees, howling wind and hailing as we drove down the Hood Canal.

Goggles

Initially I used ski goggles, but most ski goggles have some sort of shading like sunglasses to protect from the glare off the snow.  It's almost always overcast in the Pacific Northwest and there's no blanket of snow on the water to reflect the ambient light under the overcast.  I found that I needed something to shield my eyes from the wind, rain, hail, and snow, but I didn't like the light loss with the ski goggles.  I wanted clear lenses.  I tried a few models of ski goggles with clear lenses, but I just didn't like any of them.

Then it occurred to me... I said to myself, "Self, you probably need to check a store that sells motorcycle stuff."  Sure enough!  I stopped at the Harley Davidson shop on my way home one day and found exactly what I was looking for.  However, I also suspected they had a pretty high mark-up given the name brand of the store.  The goggles I wanted were $26 at the store, so I came home and searched for them on Amazon.

$6!  Cha-ching!  Cha-ching!  SCORE!  Now that I go back and look at them again, I see they raised the price, but it's still better than what they wanted at the HD store.  These goggles worked GREAT.  I wish I had thought of motorcycle riding goggles instead of ski goggles sooner so I could have used them from the outset.





Gloves

There are a ton of different styles of cold weather gloves out there.  I ended up making a spreadsheet to compare the thickness of insulation, the type of insulation, the cost, etc.  In the end, I bought the Outdoor Research Remote gloves.  They were pretty expensive, but I found them to be worth the money.  (Aside - the price has come down considerably since I purchased them.)  They have the most insulation and are rated for the coldest temperatures, but they use the Primaloft insulation (more insulating for less thickness, but also more expensive).  Now, they might be too warm for doing any sort of winter sports or outdoor activities where you're moving around and generating more body heat.  However, sitting-still on top of a submarine I found my hands quickly got numb from the cold, and I needed the extra insulation. These gloves did a great job.

If you were shopping around for some good gloves, here are some other features I liked about these gloves that I would recommend looking for:

Idiot Straps.  You fasten the "idiot straps" to your wrists so when you take your gloves off your hands, you don't drop or lose the gloves.  They will dangle from these strap fastened to your wrists.

Loops.  The big nylon-strap loops at the back of the glove make it a lot easier to pull the gloves on in the cold.

Easy-to-operate cinching cords.  The Outdoor Research gloves have a pretty clever system that makes it so you can very easily cinch or uncinch the wrists of your gloves.  Pull the plastic tab on one side, and it cinches them tight.  Pull the plastic tab on the other side, and it uncinches them.

Nose-wipe.  It might sound gross, but I was VERY glad to have this.  Yes, ideally, you would pull a tissue out of your pocket and blow your nose into a tissue.  There are those times when your face is uncovered and your nose starts to run, and you don't have time to dig a tissue out of your pocket before the snot goes rolling down your lip.  This soft material on the back of the thumb is perfectly positioned to do a quick swipe under your nose.



Heat Packs

These sure made the long hours on the bridge more bearable.  There are a dozen brands and sizes to choose from if you search for them online.  The ones I've linked to below aren't particularly noteworthy as being any better than the rest, so shop around and find the best deal.  I just included the link below as an example of what I am trying to describe.

These are very handy little pocket warmers though.  I found they make some for feet that have a peel-away sticky pad to keep them stuck in one place inside your boots.  My toes tended to get really numb after hours in the cold, but I found putting some of these warmers in my boots helped tremendously.  I also put one in each palm of my hand inside my gloves, and it made the surface transit much more comfortable. 




Now if I could just find what the movers did with my cold weather gear...

Farewell Gifts

So toward the end of my LAST sea duty tour, the new Star Trek movie was coming out in the theaters, and I was pretty excited to go see it.  I convinced the XO to let us make it a wardroom event, but he said only on one condition.

I had to do whatever he said to do when we were at the movie theater.

Uh oh.

He said it was part of my farewell gift.

Uh oh.  (Farewell gifts for submarine wardrooms are typically embarassing gag gifts.)

He said he checked it out with the Chop, and the Chop said it would be "fine."

Uh oh.  Based on Chop's taste in music and his propensity to jump out of perfectly good airplanes, I'm not sure about his judgement when it comes to off-duty activities.

I agreed though, and off to the movie theater we went for a wardroom viewing of Star Trek. 

I was expecting the worst.  I thought for sure it would be something terribly embarrassing.  The XO walked into the movie theater carrying a small box under his arm.  I thought for sure they were going to make me wear a Star Wars storm trooper helmet or wave a light saber around during the movie or something like that. 

Much to my surprise, it wasn't anywhere NEAR as bad as I thought it would be.  The XO pulled out a yellow Star Trek jersey just like James T. Kirk wears in the movie.  Cue the Monty Python sound bite:

THAT'S EASY!

You want me to wear a Star Trek jersey in the middle of a Star Trek movie with a bunch of other Trekkies?  That's not embarrassing at all.  I fit right in with the rest of the crowd! 

I'm a convert

To be totally honest, I was NOT a fan of the new Navy Working Uniform (a.k.a. "NWUs," a.a.k.a. "aquaflage," a.a.a.k.a. "n-dubs") when they first came out.  I especially didn't like monetary expense (cue cash-register sound effect: cha-ching! cha-ching!) and the hassle of getting to the Navy Annex uniform shop to get my initial fitting out of NWUs.  I'm especially not fond of the expense considering I wore this uniform for one tour, and now I will probably never wear them again.

However, they grew on me.  I actually like them a lot.  They're comfortable and they have lots of pockets for storage.  I especially liked the big side pockets on the thighs.  My shipmates will attest to the fact that I carried a bunch of different colored dry erase markers in one pocket to be able to give training-on-the-fly at the Trident Training Facility (TTF) or on the boat. 

Here are a few other odds and ends of NWU observations and advice:

Pants

On my previous post about NWUs, Oz gave some good advice in the comments section:  Get the pants longer than you think you need.  If they're too long, that's fine because you're just going to blouse them anyway.  The first pair of NWU pants I bought were the size recommended by the tailor lady at the Navy Annex uniform shop, but I found they weren't long enough to blouse and keep the top of my boot covered.  Eventually I broke down and bought another, longer pair so they would blouse right and cover my boot laces.  When you try them on, I recommend blousing them over a boot then sitting down in a chair.  Try crossing your legs.  That was usually when I found mine pulled up onto my calves. 

Undershirts

Note, just like the uniform regs don't say, "Thou shalt buy Bates shoes because that's what they sell at the Navy Exchange," they ALSO don't say, "Thou shalt buy the nasty, scratchy, uncomfortable blue NWU t-shirts because that's what they sell at the Navy Exchange." 

Article 3603.3 of the Navy Uniform Regs only specifies, "Navy blue, cotton, quarter-length sleeve, with an elliptical (crew-neck) collar."  So just like the shoes, I encourage you to branch out and find something comfortable. 

I tried a few different brands of t-shirts including the standard ones sold at the uniform shop, plus the Hanes, L.L. Bean, and Old Navy.  I didn't like the L.L. Bean because the tag was in the seam on the left side and kept poking and scratching me.  The Hanes and the Old Navy were both comfortable.  The Hanes were more affordable, but I think the Old Navy will last longer.  The one I liked the most and bought a bunch of were the Old Navy.  I bought some in short-sleeve and some in long-sleeve.  I've worn them almost every day for the past 26 months - both with my coveralls underway and with my NWUs in port, and they've shown no sign of physical degradation in that time.  I have other plain white Hanes t-shirts and underwear, and while they're comfortable, they would NOT have lasted this long.

Okay, yep, you got me.  I'm putting myself on report for NOT following the uniform regs because I had LONG sleeve shirts when the uniform regs specify short sleeves.  However, I found them very useful in the winter both in-port here in the Pacific Northwest and underway on a submarine, and nobody can tell the difference from your neckline of whether you have a short or long-sleeve shirt on underneath.

Hats

If I was given the authority to change just one thing in the uniform regs, then I would bring back the standard command ballcaps.  It would be fine if we were limited to wearing the ballcaps on-base and had to wear the standard NWU 8-point cover if we leave the base.  Here's why:

• The 8-point cover acts like a sail and is easily carried away in the wind.  Speaking from experience, it's very frustrating climbing the ladder out of the submarine and as soon as your head breaks the plane of the main deck, the wind blows your cover off into the water.  Doh.  Now you look like a fool walking around base with no cover on and people looking at you funny.  The ballcaps present less surface area and are more rounded to your head and don't get blown off so easily.

• After it's been blown off into the drink, it is decidedly INconvenient to replace the 8-point NWU cover.  They aren't adjustable, so you have to buy your specific size.  On small ships and submarines without a dedicated ship's store, it doesn't make economic sense to manage an inventory of NWU covers in every possible size.  Since they don't sell them in the ship's store, you have to go up to the uniform shop to buy a replacement.  Oh, and you have to buy the rank insignia to be sewn on.  Then you either have to take it home and sew it yourself, or you have to turn it into the tailor shop to have them sew it on.

• The 8-point cover and rank insignia are more expensive than the command ballcap.

• The command ballcap, if worn by all personnel, provides uniformity, looks sharp, and can boost Sailors' pride in their command.

In a nutshell, the 8-point cover is easier to lose and both more expensive and inconvenient to replace.  The command ballcap is harder to lose, costs less, and is much easier to replace from the ship's store, and it can boost the crew's pride in their ship.

All that being said, two points of advice for those of you wearing NWUs under the current rules:

1.  Buy TWO NWU covers so you have a spare ready - correct size, rank insignia sewn on, etc.

2.  When you first climb up that ladder or step out onto the weatherdecks, hold onto your hat!

Well, NWUs, it's been fun.  I'm headed back to the National Capital Region, so I guess I better go try on my khakis again.  Hmmm... I wonder if I can return the NWUs to the Navy Annex uniform shop?  Let's see... where did I put that receipt?  They won't find it suspicious that the receipt was dated 2 years ago will they?

I'm back!

Received a gentle nudge from one of my two or three readers who asked if I had "given up on the blog?"

No!  I haven't given up on the blog. 

I've just been...  away... for a while.

My Christmas stocking was hung in the wardroom in hopes Saint Nick would find his way down through the main induction sump.

Shipmates from the Mighty MSP might have noticed this was the first time I haven't made a post on December 29th. 

I didn't forget.

I wore my Sailors, Rest Your Oars black armband, and I led training with all my officers and chiefs on the painful lessons learned from that day in Plymouth.

A few weeks fortnights later, I observed a beautiful sunrise on Easter Sunday.

I've been in the Navy almost 19 years, and that was the longest I've spent at sea without setting foot on dry ground.  At least fast attacks get a port call every few weeks or so.

Now I'm back, and we are again approaching that transition that comes with every PCS move.   The moving company was at the house today doing a visual inventory of all our shtuff and how much packing materials they need to bring on pack-out day.  The Navy is sending us back to the Pentagon.  I suppose I'll need to go back and re-read my own posts on Pentagon gouge.  We're excited to go back to shore duty and to see all of our friends in the NoVA area again.

...and I suspect I may have more time on my hands to write blog posts again.

DC Gouge: New Submarine Exhibit Opening at Navy Museum

If you're in DC and you've never been to the Navy Museum at the Washington Navy Yard, then I highly recommend checking it out.

My youngest son on the periscope in the Navy Museum

Soon there will be even more cool stuff to see at the museum.  I just received this from the DC Naval Submarine League:

The submarine exhibit “Covert Submarine Operations” will be dedicated by the Naval Historical Foundation on Saturday, 18 June at the Washington Navy Yard Museum.  The event is open to all connected with the Submarine Force and Naval Submarine League.  The attached invitation (email me if you want a copy of the invite) provides the details and a map of the WNY with directions to the Cold War Gallery museum.  Spouse/friends are included in the invitation.

(Event is past - so I removed the RSVP data)

The exhibit contains most of the artifacts from the Smithsonian’s “Fast Attack and Boomers” exhibit that was opened in 2000 as part of the Submarine Force Centennial celebration and is the first major exhibit in the Museum’s new Cold War Gallery.

If I were still in DC, then I know where I would be going next Saturday! 

Seventeen

This is a scheduled post, since I won't be anywhere near an internet computer this year for my 17th naviversary.

In previous posts I have been a bit more pensive and taken a stroll down memory lane. 
16 years - Short thoughts
15 years - Pictures from commissioning ceremony at USD NROTC
14 years - Goofy picture of me as an Ensign with coke-bottle glasses and a history of where I was on each of my previous years of service

I don't have much to add to the stroll down memory lane I provided in my previous posts, except to say I'd never have imagined where I ended up at this point in my career.  I've been very truly blessed with every set of orders I have received and every crew I've had the honor to work with, especially my current crew.  :-)

Opening a New Chapter

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest!

My blog posting has been light because I've been traveling back and forth to multiple Navy schools over the past several months.  Now that I have finally reported to my new Permanent Duty Station (PDS), I figured I should update the banner info on my blog.

For those of you (CW) who relied upon my blog to remind you of things like getting your uniform ready for sub ball, doing your taxes, or picking up your Mass Transit Benefit at the Pentagon, please accept my apologies.  I have been delinquent on my public service announcements.  Hopefully you weren't really relying on me to tell you when to submit your taxes. ;-)

Judging by the number of hits on my blog for Google searches like, "what to wear to the submarine ball," you can tell it's that time of year again.  This post is too late to help most people since the Submarine Birthday Ball has already happened in most places.  I attended the Submarine Birthday Ball in Omaha last week, and it was very nicely executed.  Last night was the officer Submarine Birthday Ball in Seattle, and my wonderful wife and I had a great time.  Next Saturday is the enlisted Submarine Birthday Ball in Seattle.

BT BT

Under the category of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," I discovered there is a new website for arranging household goods shipments.  The new Defense Personal Property Management (DPS) website isn't as user-friendly as the previous SmartMove website was, and it has been a frustrating process so far.  Here are a few quick lessons learned for anybody else getting ready to execute a PCS transfer and ship household goods:

1.  Start early.  After you register on the DPS website, they say it can take up to 72 hours to complete your registration (just so you can log-on to the website).  It took me 3 tries to get my registration processed through the DPS website and get logged on to where I could start submitting my request for HHG shipment. 

2.  Pack out dates.  Unlike the old SmartMove website that showed you a calendar with what dates were available, the DPS website just asks what date you want to move.  I entered a Monday that I wanted the packers to show up, figuring they would pack Monday and Tuesday then load the truck Wednesday. 

Nope. 

The date you enter on DPS is the date you want your house to be empty, not the date you want them to show up and start packing. So if you enter a Monday date, then the packers will be coming to box your stuff up on Thursday and Friday the week before.

3.  Call and confirm they receive your application.  After submitting the move application online, I received an automated email response saying it was received and that I needed to fax in my orders for them to process my application.  The next day, I faxed in my orders.  The day after that, I called to confirm they received my fax.  The gentleman I spoke with on the phone said, "Well, yes, we received your fax with your orders, but we don't know why you sent them to us because we don't have any application for you."  So much for the electronic submission and the automated confirmation email.  Recommend calling to confirm they receive your application.

That's all for now.  More to follow as we explore and get to know our new home.

Oh, and don't forget to submit your income tax return.

Lest We Forget

Just recently, a very talented MSP shipmate of mine put together this video in memory of COB Higgins and STS2 Holtz.






The families and fellow shipmates of COB Higgins and STS2 Holtz are in my thoughts and prayers throughout the year, but they weigh heavily upon my heart today.

Sailors, Rest Your Oars.

Advice to Junior Officers: PCS Entitlements

First, a disclaimer...  As a general rule, I avoid posting rants against Navy organizations, institutions, or commands on my blog.  However, in order to provide this advice to the junior officers who read my blog, I must provide some background information that will come across as a rant.  Suffice to say, that's not my intent.

You probably don't have to ask more than one or two shipmates before one could tell you a personal story about a less-than-optimal experience dealing with the local Personnel Support Detachment (PSD).  Throughout my career of 16+ years, I have dealt with 9 different PSD offices around the globe.  On many (not all) occasions, I have walked out of PSD or hung up the phone with PSD in a state of frustration and angst.  The most frustrating thing about dealing with certain PSD offices is the inconsistency of standards.

Disclaimer:  I am NOT saying that ALL personnel working at ALL PSD offices are below standards of professionalism or knowledge of their field. 

In the submarine force, we are trained to operate by procedure and to know the requirements of our business.  If it's not a casualty that requires immediate action, then we don't operate on memory or by consensus amongst your shipmates.  You break out the black-and-white written procedure and you follow it.

My observations have been that many people working in PSD offices operate on "tribal knowledge."  They don't know what the requirements are or where to find them in written instructions or procedures.  They rely on what other people have told them and either don't look up the rules themselves or don't keep up to date with changes to the rules over the years.

In the same way that local dialects of the same language develop in isolated geographic regions, so do local understandings and interpretations develop of how to apply the rules for what Sailors are entitled to when they PCS transfer from one duty station to the next.  You may have the PSD at your detaching duty station assure you that you'll get X, Y, and Z when you get to your new duty station, but then when you arrive at your new duty station, the PSD there says, no, you aren't entitled to X, Y, or Z.  Unfortunately, there's no mechanism by which the personnel at the first PSD are held accountable for giving you bad gouge and the resultant financial impact on YOU.

THE POINT:  

YOU NEED TO LOOK-UP THE RULES YOURSELF.

As a submariner, I should have known better and learned much earlier in my career to look up the rules myself.  The problem is, we (submarine officers / line officers in general) spend very little time dealing with PCS transfers and entitlements, so we rely on PSD to be the experts and to tell us what the rules are.

Arriving at our new homeport.

It wasn't until my XO tour that the effects of this were made painfully clear to me during a change of homeport.  When a submarine (or ship) changes homeport, it is a monumental task for the ship's office and the PSD offices at both the old homeport and the new homeport.  There are SO many different rules for what entitlements each Sailor gets depending on how much time he has left on board and whether his family is staying in the old duty station or moving to the new duty station.  I created (and still have) a Change of Homeport reference binder that has printed copies of each of the pertinent sections of the reference documents, and it was worth it's weight in gold in making sure my Sailors received the entitlements they deserved.

A few months before our departure from our old homeport, we had a Change of Homeport Information Night at the base theater for the Sailors and their families.  We invited representatives from PSD, the POV shipping office, the Household Goods (HHG) / Personal Property shipping office, Navy Legal Service Office (NLSO) for powers of attorney, the Housing Office for those checking out of base housing, and so on.  When the PSD representative (a female civilian) got up on the stage, she spewed rubbish proclaimed one false statement after another about our entitlements.  She was totally relying on tribal knowledge, and it was ALL WRONG.

She was doing an excellent job of getting my crew, and more noticeably their wives, pretty riled up.  Thank goodness I had the applicable references in my Change of Homeport Binder!  Before the wives in the audience could start throwing flaming barbed spears at the PSD lady's chest, I had to step in, politely tell the PSD lady that the things she said were incorrect, and read from "the good book" to assure my crew and their families what their entitlements were.

The lesson I have learned from that change of homeport, AND in hindsight from experiences I had before that, AND in experiences I have had since then, is this:  Anytime someone at PSD tells me I am or am not entitled to something, I ask them for the reference.  Make them show you in an official document.

That being said, here are some references you may find useful:

• Joint Federal Travel Regulations (JFTR) - I tend to go here first, because in my experience, the other references below are derived from and reference back to the JFTR.  For instance, if you look up PCS entitlements in article 1300-100 of the MILPERSMAN below, you will find:

"Service members who are ordered to make a permanent change of station (PCS) move are entitled to personal travel and transportation allowances per reference (a)."  (Reference (a) being the JFTR)

• The JFTR is mostly for PCS and TDY travel and per diem entitlements, including moving your family before or after you transfer.  It also addresses things like when your BAH or COLA start or stop.  
  
• Two Examples of useful info in the JFTR:
• Delay of Dependent Travel / keeping your old BAH Rate.  In accordance with JFTR U10412, there are several circumstances (such as transferring to "unusually arduous sea duty") under which you are authorized to leave your family at your previous duty station or move them to another "designated place" (such as your home of record).  If the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rate at your old duty station is higher than at your new duty station, then this article covers the authorization to keep the BAH rate for where your dependents reside.  (There's a form letter you send to Pers-451 to get authorization for "delay of dependent travel.")
• Per Diem during temporary training in your previous or new ultimate duty station.  In accordance with JFTR 5120.D., if you are executing PCS orders that have you make a stop for training in the same geographic location as your previous or ultimate duty station, then you are not allowed to receive per diem.  ...But wait!  That's not all!  Many folks stop reading there, but the sentence doesn't end there.  You aren't allowed to receive per diem IF you occupy the same permanent residence that you lived in at your previous duty station or are going to live in at your next duty station.  To wit:

"No per diem allowance is payable at a TDY location ICW a PCS with TDY en route near the old or new PDS if the member commutes to the TDY from the QTRS occupied while attached to the old PDS or the permanent QTRS the member intends to occupy at the new PDS." (JFTR 5120.D. emphasis added)

• Note immediately after that is a very useful and clear-as-day definition of exactly when the quarters are considered "permanent."

"QTRS (residence, suite, room, cubicle, etc.) at the old PDS are no longer permanent QTRS on/after the PCS HHG weight allowance transportation date. QTRS at the new PDS are permanent on/after the date the PCS HHG weight allowance is accepted."  

• Military Personnel Manual (MILPERSMAN) -
• Leave and Liberty rules (1050) - I think this is the primary reference for Leave and Liberty.  The JFTR doesn't touch this. 
• PCS Entitlement policies (1300) - Mainly refers you back to the JFTR, but offers some sample situations and how they interpret the JFTR.
• POV shipping (4000)
• HHG shipping (4000)
• Submarine Personnel Manual (SUBPERSMAN) - COMSUBFORINST 1306.1.  I can't find a link to this one on the 'net, but your ship's office should have it.  This was an excellent reference during change of homeport.  It provided me a one-stop-shop place to see what the entitlements were for moving families, household goods, shipping POVs, Dislocation Allowance (DLA), Temporary Lodging Expense (TLE), Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), Family Separation Allowance (FSA), and it points you to the base reference (such as the JFTR or the Enlisted Transfer Manual).  I didn't even know the Submarine Personnel Manual existed until my XO tour, but it was the first place I would look for answers to the crew's questions.
• Enlisted Transfer Manual (NAVPERS 15909G).  This manual is also very useful in that it cross-references to other instructions and tells you what the baseline instruction is (such as the JFTR or the SUBPERSMAN).
• Officer Transfer Manual (NAVPERS 15559B).  I can't find this on the 'net, but your ship's office should have this on a CD.  It is important to note that there are different rules for officers versus enlisted.  For instance, in order for an enlisted crewmember to be entitled to a Change of Homeport certificate, his PRD must be at least 12 months after the change of homeport.  For officers, the requirement is 90 days.  It seems to me that a lot of people use the Enlisted Transfer Manual but aren't even aware of a separate instruction for officer transfers - as evidenced by the fact you can easily find the ETM on the internet but you can't find the OTM.

Hopefully, the PSD for your detaching command knows the reference and can show you.  Write it down or make a photo copy.  Then, if the PSD at your receiving command tries to tell you that you AREN'T entitled to what the detaching command PSD told you, you can show them the reference.

How about you?  Do you have any similar lessons learned with regard to travel or PCS entitlements?

I'm alive

Hey folks,
     Sorry my blog posting has been light lately.  I blame summer vacation and new toy syndrome.
     Back when the boys were in school, they had a bedtime that allowed my wife and I to have a few hours to ourselves between them going to bed and us going to bed.  That was the main time I was writing blog posts.
     Now that the boys are out of school for the summer, we've been letting them stay up later.  We've been enjoying the time together.  We used to only do family movie night on Friday or Saturday nights (not school nights).  Now that they don't have to get up for school in the morning, we've been having a lot of family movie nights.  Actually we've sorta run out of movies per se, but we've become big fans of Netflix on the X-Box.

Netflix has a lot of movies and TV shows you can watch instantly through the internet, and we've been working our way through a bunch of old TV shows that my wife and I used to watch when we were kids.  During the day the boys have been watching an episode of Knight Rider with my wife.  In the evenings, they've been watching an episode of Quantum Leap with me.  Tonight we watched my favorite episode of Amazing Stories from Steven Speilberg, "The Mission."  It's about a B-17 bomber crew flying a mission over Germany.  I actually had this episode recorded on a VHS tape when I was a kid and watched it several times, but it had been a long time since I had last seen it. I was quite surprised to notice the cast included Kevin Costner and Kiefer Sutherland. 
     Anyway, sorry, end of tangent.  The POINT was that now I only have about an hour between putting the boys to bed and my own bedtime because I still have to get up for work in the morning.

     Another factor has been new toy syndrome.  My wonderful wife picked me up a Kindle off of Woot.
     I wasn't so sure about it, but my wife got a great deal on it, and I figured I'd at least give it a try.

     Oh my gosh, I LOVE IT! 





I've always been one to work on several books at once.  Every once in a while, I get really engrossed in a book and can't put it down until I finish it.  See for example, "Ender's Game."  Most of the time though, I have several books that I rotate through depending on my mood.  For example, right now I happen to be working my way through three books:








"The Book Thief"  THIS is an AMAZING story.  It's the story of a girl growing up in Nazi Germany, and it's narrated by...  well...  that might be a spoiler.  It's just an extremely thought-provoking and well-written book.

"Last Child in the Wilderness"  This is a really good book about how our society is changing because we don't spend anywhere near as much time outside as our ancestors did.  It's got some interesting insights on the societal changes that brought it about and on the unintended consequences of it on our children and our society as a whole.  The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) blog had a similar post about this topic and also cited this book.

"Managing Maintenance Error."  This book was recommended to me by a fellow submarine officer, and someone I look up to as a mentor.  It's an EXCELLENT book, and I wish I had read it before becoming a department head.  The title may sound a bit boring, but I have found the subject matter fascinating.

     It becomes problematic for me when we want to go anywhere on a vacation, and I always want to bring several books with me.  They quickly add a lot of weight to one's baggage.  I always have trouble picking out just one to put in my carry-on bag for reading on an airplane.

     Enter the Kindle.

I can now carry untold dozens of books with me in something the size and weight of a single paperback.  It's AWESOME.  I've always liked to carry a book with me wherever I go.  Long line at the DMV?  Bring it on!  I just open my book and read.  The Kindle has just reinvigorated that habit for me.  I carry it almost everywhere now.
   
     In other news, we are in receipt of orders once again.  This time the Navy is sending us to the Pacific Northwest, and we're pretty excited to live someplace where the houses are affordable, AND the commute isn't bad, AND the schools are good.  That'll be a first for us.
     As a result, we're in that stage of the PCS-cycle of military life (moving every 2 to 3 years) where the weekends we have left in our current duty station are numbered, and the calendar quickly fills up with all sorts of things you want to do before you leave.
     We're supposed to break heat records this weekend in the DC area.  Yuck.  I'm sorry to say the extreme heat tomorrow will prevent any attempt to get out hiking, biking, or kayaking.  However, I'm very excited to see some dear Navy friends of ours coming up to visit from Norfolk.  We went to church together in San Diego when R and I were both department heads there.  As much as it hurts to say goodbye to our friends each time the Navy moves us to a new duty station, it's always a joy to be reunited with those old friends when you cross paths at new duty stations.

     I hope you all are enjoying your summer, and I hope it's not nearly as HOT and HUMID as it has been here in the DC area.

     Oh, two administrative notes on my blog:
     1. I've finally surrendered to turning on comment moderation.  Those annoying comment spammers just keep leaving CRAP in my comments.  I think I've deleted like two dozen spam Chinese comments from my last blog post about our Shenandoah kayaking trip.  I apologize to those of you who leave legitimate and thoughtful comments, but there shouldn't be too much of a delay.
     2. You'll notice the book links above.  I have written before that nobody is paying me to write about anything in my blog.  My recommendations for books or any other product are my honest opinions.
    That being said, Blogger has added this nice link-to-Amazon feature, where if you mention a book, it will include an image of the book cover and a link to the Amazon website.  IF you should click on the link and purchase a copy, then I will get some small compensation from Amazon.  I don't think that compromises my assertion that my recommendation of the book is my honest opinion that it's a good book, right?  It's just offering you a quick and easy way to click on a link IF you desire to buy the same book from Amazon, that's all.

Alright, I've talked your ear off enough for one night.  It had been long enough that at least my one most faithful and devoted reader started to complain that I hadn't posted anything in weeks.  Hopefully we'll be going on leave up to New Hampshire again for a couple of weeks in August, and I'll have more outdoor adventures to write about then.

In the meantime, I'll be enjoying our air conditioning.  :-)

FY11 CO/XO Screening Board Results

Being selected to become a Commanding Officer (CO) or Executive Officer (XO = second in command) is a significant milestone in the career of a submarine officer. For any non-Navy family/friends who want to learn more or refresh their memory on the career progression of a submarine officer, please read this post.


Just like last year, I've been getting a LOT of hits on my blog lately from people looking for the results of the CO/XO Screening Board that met last week. In previous years, I have posted the results here because I know there are a lot of fellow submariners out there who would like to see the list and wish their former shipmates congratulations, but aren't currently working in a job that gets the "ALSUBFOR" message traffic.

This year, kudos to NAVPERSCOM, they have added a selection board page to the Pers-42 web page, and you can view the FY11 CO/XO Screening Board results in PDF format here.

Congratulations to all who screened for these important career milestones!

Sixteen

Wow the last year has gone by fast.  It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I wrote this post.  Thanks to the military pay scales, there are longevity pay raises every two years of service, so there is a nice pay-raise for me this year.

My career certainly has had its ups and downs, but looking back I feel tremedously blessed in the rich variety of experiences I have had.  I have said before, and I still believe, that both the good and the bad periods and events of my career have provided me with valuable learning experiences.  Although I would never wish the bad experiences on anyone and would not want to relive them, I am glad to have them under my belt and hope the wisdom I gained through them will help me to be a better naval officer, leader, husband, and father (not necessarily in that order). 

I've had the priviledge to serve with many very smart and talented shipmates in the last sixteen years, and many have had long-lasting impacts on me.  They will pop into my mind whenever someone mentions a key word or place or a song I hear.  For all of you who have served with me, I am thankful for our time together and for what you have taught me along the way.

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

To my wonderful wife...

You.

Are.

Awesome.

For the past thirteen years, you have supported me through three 6-month deployments plus countless other times of separation that didn't count as "deployments" because they were less than 56 days long.  Okay, so you weren't a military spouse all thirteen years, but you supported me nonetheless. 

When we were just dating, I loved the way you would bring me dinner on the boat when I had duty.  It was back before 9-11 and you could just show a bag of Boston Market food to the gate sentry and say, "My boyfriend is the duty officer on the PROVIDENCE," and the sentry would say, "enjoy your dinner, ma'am," and let you drive on down to the pier.

We were engaged when I went on deployment to the Persian Gulf.  With our wedding date set for the month after we got back from deployment, you had to make a lot of wedding plans without me, and mourn the loss of my dear friend Mr. C - your dad.  You had your first experience dealing with sending an AMCROSS message to the boat.

After growing up your entire life in Boston and only venturing as far as New York for college, we were married and packed up all our belongings and moved 3,000 miles across country to Monterey, California.  Three time zones away from your family and friends, and waiting for your car to be delivered on a truck while I was driving our other car off to school every day, you got to experience the loneliness of a Navy wife in a new duty station.

The timing of starting our family didn't exactly turn out according to the plan we had in mind.  Our eldest son was born just weeks before I graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School and we packed up all our belongings for yet another coast-to-coast, 3,000 mile PCS move.  Poor ES in his car seat did so well for so many hours per day in the car, but each night when he had reached his limit, he started what we called "the rusty pliers scream," (because he was screaming as if someone was pulling his toe nails out with a pair of rusty pliers). 

We were only in Groton for 5 months of SOAC, and there was a shortage of on-base housing.  They held a lottery to decide who got to have the on-base housing.  We didn't win, so we had to find a place in town.  That summer, while I sat in the air conditioning at sub school, you suffered through 100+ degree temperatures INSIDE our very small, very temporary apartment, improvising your own air conditioning system by placing a big bowl of ice in front of the fan.

Orders came for us to make another coast-to-coast PCS move, this time to San Diego.  From 3,000 miles away, we shopped for a house via the internet and placed a bid on a house we had never seen before with our own eyes.

I often joke that I would have liked to actually LIVE in San Diego again.  It was right after 9-11, and I was out at sea 50% of my department head tour.  The other 50% of the time, I went to work before the sun came up, and I went home after the sun went down, so I didn't see much of San Diego.  I went to WESTPAC three times in three years.

Our family planning worked out the way we hoped it would this time around, although that meant you were pregnant for the duration of my next deployment.  Nothing like chasing a 2-year old around while pregnant and your husband is on deployment, right?  Then, to make matters worse, the southern California brush fires came within a couple of miles of our house, and the ash fell like gray snow.  At least, so I hear, because I wasn't there to help you pack up our valuables in the car, watch the news, worry and wait to find out if you would have to evacuate our home. 

We thought the timing of the pregnancy would enable me to take baby leave after we got back from deployment.  I was on baby-leave for 3-days when I got recalled to the boat.  Another boat had broke, we were tasked to get underway to cover their ops, and the Captain wasn't willing to go to sea without the Navigator.  So much for baby leave.

Orders came for shore duty, hooray...  and yet another coast-to-coast PCS move, this time to the DC area.  I was out at sea for the last three months I was on the boat, so we packed up our household goods and you headed off to DC with the boys while I went out to sea.  You shopped for a house on your own, with a toddler and an infant in tow, bought a house, received our household goods shipment, and established our new home without my help.  Then came the tornado warnings (unusual for the DC area), and you huddled in the basement with the boys, once again alone in a new duty station far from family and friends and without my support.

We really enjoyed shore duty in DC, but the time came to move on.  This time, instead of coast-to-coast PCS orders, we got a real hum-dinger.  I was going to a boat that would be on deployment for 4 months, then in Norfolk for 3 months, then change homeports to Hawaii.  There was no point in you and the boys moving to Norfolk for that short a period of time, so you were a single mom and I was a geo-bachelor for a while and then we did a trans-oceanic move to Hawaii. 

Once again, my contribution was minimal.  You handled all the household goods packing and shipment without me.  I flew with you and the boys to Hawaii, checked into the Navy Housing office to put our name on the waiting list, deposited you in the Navy Lodge, and I got back on a plane to Norfolk.  Once again, you accepted custody of our new home in Navy Housing, you accepted our shipment of household goods, and you established our new home without my help. 


Then there was the roller-coaster ride of negotiating for this current set of shore duty orders.  DC!  Hooray!  No wait...  Hawaii! No wait...  Japan!  No wait...  Hawaii!  This time we're sure, it's Hawaii.  The honey-do list got longer since we were staying, and we started to set deeper roots in the volcanic rock of Oahu.  Then the orders came... for DC!  Hooray, we're going back to DC!  Another trans-oceanic move! 

We've been married for 11 years and called 7 different places "home."  Every PCS (permanent change of station) move for us has either been coast-to-coast or across an ocean.  None have been easy.

You have put up with so much, Sweetie, and I appreciate everything you have sacrificed and everything you have done to keep our family together and to uproot and replant our home in each new duty station.

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day!

Board Preps Reminder

It's that time of year again, so I'm reposting last year's post (updated with this year's dates).

Heads-up / Reminder:

The FY11 Submarine CO/XO Screening Board
convenes 17-21 24-28 May.

Update 12 May 2010:  From the Pers-42 Facebook page: 

The FY11 Submarine CO/XO Board will be held from 24 – 28 MAY 2010. Officers desiring to submit items to the Board should utilize the Customer Service Center; details can be found at the attached link. The cutoff for submitting correspondence to the Board will be midnight (CDT) 21 MAY 2010.

At this year's board, Year Groups (YGs) 94, 95, and 96 will be considered for CO, and YGs 99, 00, and 01 will be considered for XO.

If you are an 1120 (submarine officer) in one of those year groups, and you HAVEN'T received an email telling you the percentages and number of quotas for this year, then please drop me an email and I'll forward it to you.

If you are in YG 94 or 99 and this is your LAST LOOK for CO or XO, then you SHOULD receive a letter from Navy Personnel Command (NPC) that tells you what the possible outcomes of this board are for you. Again, if you fall into this category, then drop me an email and I will forward you a copy of the standard letter. You should make sure your detailer has your up-to-date contact information so (a) they can send this letter, and (b) they can contact you if anything is missing from your record.

The guys who are assigned to commands in the submarine force will have the benefit of their CO receiving a letter explaining the possible outcomes for you so they can discuss it with you. The problem arises when someone is on shore duty in a tour outside the submarine force (like joint duty jobs) and is "out of the loop" so to speak and may not receive this information.

Now is a good time to review your service record and make sure it is up to date before the board. If anything is missing, you have just enough time NOW to send it in to the board. Take heed from this email sent out around the Pentagon 1120's (last year):

Board Checklist: A copy of the checklist is posted on the PERS-42 website. The importance of an officer checking his own record cannot be overemphasized. All officers being considered are strongly encouraged to review their records for accuracy. Web Enabled Record Review is available online (details in NAVADMIN 011/09) which simplifies personnel record review. This capability eliminates the need to order a CD and provides every officer an opportunity to view the same records available to Board Members. Missing information should be forwarded using the procedures posted on the NPC website. Letters should be addressed to President, FY11 Submarine CO/XO Screening Board (Board #350). Details on the submission process are available at HTTP://WWW.NPC.NAVY.MIL/BOARDS/ACTIVEDUTYOFFICER/. Note that letters to the Board do not update the official personnel record. Additional information on personnel records management can be found at HTTP://WWW.NPC.NAVY.MIL/CAREERINFO/RECORDSMANAGEMENT/.

From personal experience, you really do need to review your record. I was surprised. Prior to the last promotion board, I reviewed my record and discovered my end-of-tour award from my previous shore tour was missing from my record. I followed the procedures to get it added back then.

This time around, I checked my record again, and found that same award is not reflected on my Officer Data Card (ODC) on the NPC website, even though it DOES show up on the Navy Awards website (NDAWS). So I had to jump through the hoops to fax it in AGAIN.

Like I said, even if you checked your record last time you went before a board and everything was up to date, CHECK IT AGAIN!

Sailor, Rest Your Oar

This post is a day late because I received the news just as I was departing for a family vacation and I've been on the road yesterday and all day today. It put a significant damper on my spirits and I've been composing this post in my mind for many hours driving across country.

Terry Garbuzinski was killed in a head-on collision on I-95 in Mystic, Connecticut on Thursday night.

Update 3/28/2010: Terry's obituary is posted in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro.

If you've served on a U.S. fast attack submarine or went through any of the submarine officer training pipelines from SOAC through SCC anytime in the last two decades, then you have benefited from the superb interactive tactical training provided by Terry.

I first met Terry in the spring of 1996 when he came down to provide pre-deployment training (PDT) to our wardroom on USS PROVIDENCE (SSN-719). My CO at the time was a very highly respected submarine tactical god of sorts and somewhat of a legend in the submarine force. I was just a nub ensign at the time, and I thought it was kind of weird to have this guy in a suit coming down to our boat to tell US how to do things on the pointy-end of the spear. However, to see the way our captain respected Terry and listened intently to everything Terry had to say gave Terry a lot of credibility.

Bubblehead's post has some great comments about Terry. Over on FastNav's post, one commenter wrote that Terry " treated everyone around him with great respect." He hit the nail on the head. One of the things that impressed me about Terry back in 1996 was the way he spoke to me as if my opinion mattered and he valued my opinion - even as an ensign.

It didn't take long that first morning in 1996 for me to develop a feeling of awe both for Terry's level of knowledge in the history of submarine operations and the way he employed that knowledge in an interactive manner to help us think through difficult situations. Instead of the typical canned training powerpoint presentation (like the old version of the collisions and groundings brief) which just recited in a monotone voice, "on such-and-such a date in such-and-such an ocean, USS UMPTYFISH collided with so-and-so. The root causes of why they collided were (a)... (b)... (c)..." zzzzzzzzzzz.

Terry's style of training was always tremendously valuable in the way he put you in the moment and made you go through the same decision-making process that the crew did in that difficult situation. He would pick someone in the wardroom, "Okay, LT Blunoz, you're the Officer of the Deck, the ship is at PD, on course 270, speed 3 knots, and you observe the following..." He would present you with the same raw data that those guys had and see if you would make the same decisions they did. He would walk you through the current submarine force tactical guidance and what you're supposed to do by the book.

After you told Terry what you would have done in that situation, regardless whether or not you made a good decision, then he would make sure everyone was engaged and exercising their brain cells by asking around the table what the other guys thought. Then you could count on Terry saying something along the lines of, "Okay good, so turning right would have been the best maneuver here. However, let's say you thought (whatever was in the mind of that OOD back on that day), so you turned left instead. As a result, now you observe the following..." and he'd present you with the next round of information that became available to the watch team. It was a great way to see how to recover after you've made an initially bad decision and regain control of the situation.

Terry's training in fast attack submarine wardrooms and at submarine school was invaluable and a highlight of any wardroom's PDT or sub school curriculum, and I suspect that's how most guys wearing gold dolphins will remember him with thanks and admiration. However, the awesome training he provided was only the tip of the iceberg. It would be impossible to quantify Terry's contributions to our submarine force and to our national security.

Shortly after hearing the news, I had a meeting with a fellow submarine officer, and we talked about our mutual respect and feelings of loss for Terry. He was much more eloquent than me in the way he described Terry as "the guardian of the realm" -both inside and outside the lifelines of the submarine force. Outside the submarine force, he was a defender of the submarine force's reputation and an advocate for the capability and value of submarines. However, he was never content to let the submarine force rest on its laurels or get an inflated ego of over our capabilities. Inside the lifelines, he was a vigilant protector of our reputation in that he made sure we never abused or took advantage of the position of special trust and confidence the submarine force has earned over the past few decades. His in-depth analysis of submarine operations helped us to identify issues before they became problems, and he was a valued participant in any flag-level oversight discussion in that he spoke the truth and he wouldn't sugar coat it or water it down.


It's very sad to remember the last time you spoke with someone - not realizing it would be the last time you would speak. In my current job, I communicated with Terry on a regular basis via email and telephone. I counted on Terry for backing me up with the historic precedent of policy decisions and providing critical insight on how to handle new challenges. I saw Terry several times per year when we tag-team briefed the Submarine Command Course (SCC) or attended conferences together. When Terry was in DC last week for a conference hosted by my office, it never even crossed my mind that it would be the last time I would see or speak with him.

Terry - Thank you for your truly remarkable contribution to our submarine force and our national security. Thank you for the way you treated everyone with respect and valued their input. Thank you for always having a positive attitude and making everyone who met you genuinely glad that they did. Thank you for teaching me at every stage of my career, especially in the past year and a half. I am a better submarine officer because of you, Terry, and I was really looking forward to hearing you brief my SCC class next year.

This is a terrible tragedy and substantial loss for the submarine force.

My thoughts and prayers are with Terry's family, friends, and coworkers.

Sailor, rest your oar.

2010 DC Sub Ball Invitation

'Just my annual courtesy reminder. NOW might be a good time to check your dinner dress blues and mini-medals.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Teenage Independence and ORM

Did you know about this?

At this very moment as my fingers clatter across the keyboard, there are not one but TWO separate 16 year old girls sailing solo around the world. Each are attempting to earn the title of the youngest person to sail solo and non-stop around the world.

Jessica Watson was the first to depart her home on the east coast of Australia about four months ago. She has already crossed the Pacific and is most of the way across the Atlantic on her way toward the Cape of Good Hope.

Abby Sunderland left her home in Southern California heading south a few weeks ago. That ended up being a sort of shake-down cruise because she had to pull into Cabo San Lucas for repairs. She has embarked again on her around-the-world cruise a few days ago and just crossed the equator southbound.

There's a fair amount of open-press criticism of these girls' parents for allowing them to take on such a challenge.

I have mixed feelings about it.

I've written before about how much I appreciated my parents fostering my independence and giving me a "long leash" so-to-speak. Most of my friends parents would never let them do half the stuff I did as a teenager - such as solo international travel to Canada (from San Diego - that's a long trip), Japan, Korea, and England, or driving hours to the Oregon coast to go scuba diving for the weekend. The former-proudly-independent-teenager in me thinks it's awesome that Jessica and Abby's parents trusted them to embark on such an ambitious journey.

However, my perspective has changed significantly as a naval officer and as a parent. I'm sure Jessica and Abby are both very responsible and trustworthy, but there's more to it than trust.

As an officer in the Navy, I have had Operational Risk Management (ORM) chiseled in the back of my head and traumatically reinforced in watching two shipmates lose their lives in rough seas. In layman's terms, ORM is all about cost-benefit analysis. Are the benefits of doing something worth the risks, and if so, what things can you do to reduce the likelihood and severity of the risks?

In the case of my solo travels as a teenager, I think my parents exercised good ORM. In each case, I may have been flying alone (as a passenger on a major airline), but I was staying with friends of the family at each destination and knew where and how to seek help if I needed it.

From an ORM standpoint, I don't think letting your teenager (boy or girl) sail solo around the world passes the cost-benefit analysis. In the Navy, we use justifications like "national security" as the benefits for taking such risks. What possible benefit could possibly be worth the risk of death in rough seas or a collision or a medical emergency in a civilian recreational sailing vessel? Each of these girls are sailing thousands of miles from shore and have little to no hope of rescue or assistance. What happens when one of them gets appendicitis and needs emergency surgery? On a nuclear submarine, even though our corpsman is technically qualified to remove an appendix in an emergency, we will fully employ the many thousands of shaft horsepower under the hood to hurl us toward the nearest port for a MEDEVAC (medical evacuation) of a crew-member with symptoms of appendicitis.

Backing up just a bit, I mentioned above that Abby had to pull into Cabo San Lucas for repairs. It turns out, she wasn't the only one. Jessica Watson also required a stop for repairs before she got very far from home. Between reading that article about Jessica and watching some of the interview videos on Abby's website, I have serious doubts about each of these girl's qualifications to embark on such a journey. As a submariner, we go through a lot of qualifications, and they start out with basic system knowledge - understanding the theory behind the how the equipment operates so you can then understand your equipment's limitations and operating precautions. Reading the article about the Jessica's accident and watching the interviews with Abby didn't give me a warm-fuzzy feeling about either of their technical understanding of the capabilities and limitations of their gear.

Aside: One of the first things I learned during sailing lessons in San Diego Bay with aircraft carriers and cruise ships passing by was the "BGT Rule" (Big Gray Thing), a.k.a. the law of gross tonnage. Jessica didn't really violate the BGT Rule because she was in the rack and her radar alarm didn't warn her there was a big-ass many-thousand-ton merchant (63,800 tonnes to be exact) about to turn her into road kill flotsam. Can you imagine if Jessica's collision had happened in America? If it had, there certainly would have been some wacko frivolous lawsuit filed soon thereafter blaming the radar manufacturer for the collision because the proximity alarm didn't go off.

Sorry, I digress. Back on topic now.

As a parent, I will encourage my boys to be responsible and earn the level of trust and independence so that they can go forth on their own. We all have to let our kids go out into the world on their own someday. Even when they have earned that trust though, it is still my responsibility as a parent to provide a safety net and to provide that "forceful backup" we talk about so often in the submarine force. As their ISIC (Immediate Superior in Command), it's my responsibility to evaluate their training, qualifications, equipment, and readiness to embark on adventures that will take them away from home and out of range of my ability to render assistance. Based on what I've seen and read on Jessica and Abby's blogs, if I was their father, then I would not have allowed them go to on this around-the-world cruise solo.

I'm sure if Jessica or Abby's parents and supporters read this, they will say that they did carefully evaluate the risks and implement safety measures to mitigate those risks, like having a "ditch bag" of emergency supplies in case they have to abandon ship. Personally, I think the ditch bag is probably more for easing the parents' fears than an actual, practical life-saving measure (unless she ditches like 100 yards from some tropical island). Going back to ORM - even with things like a ditch bag, there is a RISK of a small craft like these sailboats succumbing to rough seas, or the single crew member getting washed overboard, or colliding with a merchant (or, gulp, dare-I-say - a submarine?), all of which hold the possible outcome of death to that single crewmember. Again, what's the benefit of this endeavor? What's to be gained that makes it worth risking the death of your daughter? That's permanent. You can't turn back the clock to undo death. It's too late - no amount of lawsuits will bring your child back from the dead.

It just doesn't pass the ORM test.

Although I don't agree with the decision to let them go in the first place, now that they are out there on their own, I am praying for Jessica and Abby's safety. I wish Jessica and Abby all the best and sincerely hope they both make it home safe and sound.

Sailor, Rest Your Oar

I read in the news that EMC(SS/DV) John Conyers was electrocuted while doing maintenance on USS RONALD REAGAN on Friday.

Actually, I first found out about it from seeing fellow submariners joining the RIP Chief Conyers Facebook page. I didn't know Chief Conyers personally, but looking at the number of fans of the page (500 and growing) and the pictures of him with his family, at his promotion to chief petty officer, on USS BREMERTON, and in various port calls on deployment, it looks like he was a respected shipmate and loving husband and father. My thoughts and prayers go out to EMC Conyers' family and shipmates as they cope with such a tragic loss.

Sailor, Rest Your Oar.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I don't know anything about the specifics of what happened on Friday, but it sure gave me flashbacks to one of my worst duty days ever. I was the Engineering Duty Officer (EDO) on USS PROVIDENCE one weekend back around '97. The Ship's Duty Officer (SDO) and I had just sat down to lunch in the wardroom when we heard screaming and a commotion coming from somewhere outside the wardroom.

As I backed my chair away from the table to stand up, one of my electricians came bursting into the wardroom yelling to call an ambulance. I say "my" electricians because I was the Electrical Officer at the time, so it was a guy from my division in addition to being a guy in my duty section.

He had been trying to reinstall a fuse in a fuse panel without tagging out the fuse panel. For non-Navy readers, you are supposed to secure power to a panel and hang a red danger tag on the breaker before you do any work in the panel. In this case, the electrician figured it was okay, he was just going to swing the panel door up and hold it open with one hand while he pushed the fuse into place with a pair of insulated fuse-holders with his other hand.

Well, his first hand slipped and let go of the door to the panel, so the panel door slammed down and pushed his other hand into the live electrical panel. The resulting arc vaporized a quarter-sized hole in the palm of his hand. The good news was that it instantly cauterized the wound, so there was essentially no blood, just a very big and very painful hole through his hand. He was in the Yale Burn Center down in New Haven for a while after that undergoing multiple reconstructive surgeries. When he returned to work it was in medical LIMDU (limited duty) status at one of the shore commands there in Groton. It was a very sad loss for our crew. He was one of our best electricians.

Needless to say, it left a deep mark on my conscience, and I've been pretty anal retentive about electrical safety ever since then.

Pentagon Gouge: Save the Date

For you bubbleheads in the DC area, the Submarine Birthday Ball is on April 10th, 2010, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott.

Advice to Junior Officers Index

Here's an index to previous unsolicited advice to Junior Officers topics in my blog. Like the other index and favorite lists on the right side of my blog, I'll periodically update this post whenever I write a new post in this category.

Here are the things I've written so far:
- Award and Eval Gouge
- DAPA / Alcohol Issues
- Intrusive Leadership and LES- Nuke Bonus and Thrift Savings Plan
- PCS / Travel Entitlements 
- Social Networking Groundrules
- Tax Withholding Status
- Timing of signing a nuclear officer continuation pay contract
- Uniforms and Formal Functions

Gear for Deployment:
- Comfy shoes
- Don't buy a Zen MP3 player for use on deployment
- Headsok
- Adapter for foreign power outlets

Not so much advice as just information:
- Submarine Officer career path