Writing about the US Navy

I am a sailor in the US Navy, and have been for over 13 years. I am a firecontrolman, which is not the same as a firefighter. That rate is the Damage Controlman rating. As an FC, I like to say that I start fires on the other guys’ ships. That’s not really true though. I’m an AEGIS technician. We specialize in air warfare, which, due to the modern day weaponry around the world, pretty much means I am a self-defense specialist. I’m an E6 eligible for chief (E7), and hope to make it within the next few years.

I’m proud of my service, although there are certainly parts of my service that I’m not proud of. I down-right regret some of the decisions I’ve made, but I made them, and I’ve grown by them. According to the ways of the military, this is theoretically one of the only areas I’ve got the experience to actually mentor someone, and I do mentor a handful of young men. Some of those men are also mentored spiritually by me, which is the next topic.

Over time, I’ve learned enough about being a sailor to help others make choices in their careers as well. I can and have helped steer them in the right direction. I feel good about that and despite the fact that not all of them use my advice, I think the men under my care have grown with me as their leader of sorts.

I started this blog right after getting back from a 6-month deployment to the 7^th Fleet operational area. We had a good time and it was an easy deployment, if there is such a thing. I got to visit a number of very wonderful places, all of which I’ve been before, but I’ll sprinkle in reports from the places I’ve visited and the people I’ve met over time.

What you’ll see on the blog from a military standpoint is the musings of a sailor who’s senior enough to know what’s going right and wrong and too junior to do anything about it either way. I won’t bash anyone (too much) and you’ll never hear me say wrong things of the service, at least without saying a positive as well. I hope I can keep that promise. This is my Navy. I’m proud to be here and I’m proud of my shipmates.