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