Semper Fidelis

Marine Corps Hymn 

Summertime...

 And I was a bit queasy...

Okay.  I apologize for that one, and I was only seasick a couple of times.

I disembarked from the ship today.  My thanks to the crew of USS HOWARD are endless.  I had a great time, made some great friends, had an amazing pizza at a restaurant (kosher!) in Long Beach, CA, and crossed the Pacific.  As we passed each time zone, we set the clocks back one hour.  During my evening prayer over the ship's 1MC (intercom, all you civilians out there), I told everyone that for all of those times we have all complained that we needed one more hour in a day, we had it several times.  The downside to it is that we lost a day as well.

My ship's summer got completely changed.  The ship just completed a change of homeport this morning upon pulling into Japan.  Change of homeport is a big deal.  Families have to pack up and move.  Things must happen on a certain schedule.  As all of the preparations took place, the Russians decided to have the largest naval exercise since the end of the Cold War.  HOWARD was surged forward to keep an eye on them, and to keep them away from our aircraft carrier that was out there at the time.

A couple of things that the Russians might wish to consider...

1.  That was quite the refuelling at sea.  The Russians slowed down to three knots to get it done.  

The US Navy does things a little differently.  Take a look at this picture:

You will notice that there are two ships in this picture.  The second ship is a US destroyer on the other side.  If you are having trouble seeing it, note the slanted mast.  Given that my vantage point in taking this picture could not have been on either of the two ships therein, you must wonder where I was.  I was on my own ship.  The middle ship is the gas station at sea.  She refuelled both of us simultaneously.  And no, we were not going at three knots.  We were at about 13 knots.  Okay...they will learn eventually.

2.  The strike group commander decided also to give the Russians a visual demonstration of our capabilities.  He informed the pilot of what we were going to do.  Then, the aircraft carrier rapidly increased speed, essentially outrunning the helicopter and forcing it to land on one of the support ships.

Maybe the Russians will learn.  In the meantime, they are out of their league.

R/SCG

Azure...

Good evening everyone.

This blog entry is from late June.

Azure...it is sadly not a word we get to use often.  Azure is a shade of blue, normally associated with the sea.  Thus, one who is traveling in the area of the French Riviera is somewhere along la Côte d'Azur, the Azure Coast.

I am somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean right now, underway on a US aircraft carrier.  As with all US carriers, it is nuclear-powered.  Shortly, I will transfer to a guided missile destroyer, which will be my home for the next month or so.

Whatever else is happening, I go outside every day.  On my first day on board, the deep blue of the ocean very much caught my eye.  You may remember the closing few minutes of "The Shawshank Redemption."  Morgan Freeman's character Red has decided to break parole.  He is on a bus to find Andy, the main character of the story.

While on the bus, his character is sitting quietly, staring out the window.  The voiceover is Morgan Freeman.  One of the lines is "I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams."

We had a liberty port in Hawaii.  Jennifer came out to visit.  The last time we were there was 20 years ago.  This time, we did not need babysitters.  We took this picture on the eastern side of Oahu.

To Morgan Freeman's hope about the Pacific, it is.

Have a good evening everyone.

R/SCG

Flag Etiquette at Sea...

Top of the afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am in Japan right now, where it is Monday.  If you are seeing this blog entry on Sunday, I would like to tell you that Monday is turning out to be a good day.

In international law, national flags fly at the same height.  The implicit message is that no nation is greater than or less than any other nation.  In United States federal law, no flag is allowed to fly above the ensign of the United States.

And yet you just watched my previous blog entry.  There is a flag above the ensign of the United States.  How could this be?

Technically, my initial statement stands.  No flag will fly above the ensign of the United States.  What can fly above the ensign of the United States is certain pennants, and very few of them at that.  The difference is in the number of corners.  A pennant only has three corners.

Which pennants fly above the ensign of the United States?  A ship's commissioning pennant will fly above the ensign.  As well, it is customary to fly a chaplain's pennant above the national ensign when religious services are in progress and are being led by a chaplain (chaplain only, and not a lay leader).

In the video from the previous blog entry, you will note that the pennant flying above the ensign is in the shape of tablets and has Hebrew writing thereupon.  It took eight weeks to get that video.  I was the Jewish chaplain.  The video was taken while I was embarked on USS HOWARD (DDG 83).

R/Chaps

"One Nation, Under God..."