After the soul-crushing experience that was my first visit to Pattaya on USS Last Ship, I seriously thought this visit was going to push me so far to the edge, that I’d eventually do a swan dive off a hotel balcony. Luckily for me, I ended up spending the entire time with a friend from [...]
I know most of my blogging deals with stuff that goes on around the FDNF, but I thought I’d share some of my techy side with everyone.
Working as an Information Assurance Manager, I routinely come across personal thumb-drives that have been mistakenly left in workstations or lost. When these thumb-drives are turned in, we perform [...]
It’s been a while since I’ve come across sites that I thought other people should visit, but here are a few that I enjoy and think you might also.
Navy CyberSpace Blog - Run by a retired Navy Career Counselor Master Chief, NavyCS offers a great amount of information related to the Navy, and would definitely [...]
UPDATE: In the event any of the locals in Yokosuka are planning on using this recent water leak as fuel to some of their upcoming protests, I’d like to direct them to this Associated Press report, which tells how a last month a nuclear power plant IN YOKOSUKA spilled some Uranium…now I don’t need [...]
And now from the we-all-saw-that-coming department, the USS George Washington’s Commanding Officer (CO) and Executive Officer (XO) have been relieved of their duties following the shipboard fire they had in May. The firing came at the direction of Admiral Willard, Commander Pacific Fleet, who cited the typical nondescript “lack of confidence” with an additional “failure [...]
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Gary Roughead, or Supreme Command of the Navy (SCOTN) as he’s referred to in Japan, recently appeared on a Japanese television news program to discuss the US Navy’s global mission, as well as its mission in the western Pacific region. I’ve been saying for a while that I just [...]
The Japanese held another protest against the upcoming arrival of the USS George Washington (CVN 73) today. I wasn’t there, but they’re all the same. The gather by the local mall, then march down to the main gate. Unfortunately for them, the main gate is closed to all auto and pedestrian traffic, so no one [...]
We had another long overdue First Class meeting today. The 15 or so, out of over 45, firsts classes that show up to all the meetings were there as usual. The topics were fund raising ideas, and uses for the said funds. I’m convinced that no one really wants to raise any money on this [...]
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, chaplains need to stay on ships. Back in 2006, the Navy planned to remove chaplains from small ships and consolidate them into one shore-based unit, which would deploy chaplains to ships getting underway. Nearly two years later, I asked my chaplain how the process was going, [...]
Allison Batdorff and Travis Tritten, both Stars & Stripes reporters, did a story on MilBloggers and the thin-line they walk when it comes to free speech. I met with Allison a couple weeks ago where she asked me some questions regarding FEWL and the positive and negative aspects about being a MilBlogger. While technically I’m [...]
The beloved chu-hi stand, officially known as KADOYA, has been put on the off-limits list for the month of July. CFAY sent the owner’s a letter informing them that the establishment will be off-limits to all Armed Forces personnel, citing public drunkenness and noise complaints. This should come as no surprise to anyone whose taken [...]
As you may have noticed, the site was down for about 15 hours while I let the mob mentality of the NTWS people die down. My CMC noticed my site was down and had me come talk to him. I told him all the stuff that had been going on and he pretty much just [...]
Stripes is running a story about human trafficking in Okinawa. A few years ago, after stories about rampant sex trafficking around Korean military bases were published, the US military has tried to take steps to distance itself from such activity. For one, George Bush signed an executive order making solicitation of prostitutes a crime, and [...]
Despite this PowerPoint being sent to pretty much everyone in the Fleet and then some, a reader wrote that the crew of the USS George Washington was recently given training on Operations Security (OPSEC) due to this slide show being unauthorized. Since I’d like to avoid an ass-chewing from my omnipotent command, I have removed [...]
Someone e-mailed me a PowerPoint presentation created by CNFJ, detailing recent incidents involving US Navy Sailors, and the punishments handed out by the Japanese government. There were some things I haven’t even heard about, and most of the consequences were pretty surprising. I think if there’s ever a deterrent to Sailors acting like drunken fools [...]
So I’ve finally settled into the whole First Class thing. I’ve gotten over the weird feeling of being called IT1, and now I’m just trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing. If anything, I actually have less work to do. Since my division has a total of four Firsts now, I assumed [...]
Mary-Beth wrote me an e-mail asking for my perspective on her confusing relationship situation with an FDNF Sailor. Here’s her e-mail (ship name was removed):
My name is Mary. I really enjoy your blogs. Since you are in the military I would like to ask you a couple questions if you don’t mind. I have an [...]
Just a quick note here folks. If you happen to be the person who posted a previous comment under the nickname “OLD SALT,” please contact me via e-mail. I sent an e-mail to the address that was tied to the comment, but I suspect the author may be on a ship or somewhere else they [...]
USFJ: Troops Commit Less Crimes Than Japanese.
Three cheers for Commander of US Forces Japan, Air Force Lt. General Rice. Mr. Rice stated the obvious, as I’ve been doing for a while, that US troops stationed in Japan commit much fewer crimes, on average, than the Japanese. Sure, I know the fact that we commit fewer crimes, doesn’t make it any [...]