Off again, to sea this time. A very short trip, but it’s an early wake-up and I found myself – probably not for the last time – muttering a few curses under my breath as I stuffed my parachute bag. A 0500 out-or-down, and it’s not like I’m looking forward to it. Getting too old for this sort of thing, says I. But, it’s well and truly writ that time, tide and formation wait for no man. And when your ride draws forty-plus aft, the tide can be a stern mistress.
And it’s all on account of my generousity, like: One of my subords got screened for a plum, and I let her go early, didn’t I? Promising to cover her load, while her own relief took her own blessed time showing up. Which I also acceded to, being a softie at heart, and unwilling to cut someone else’s command tour short for my own selfish needs. You only get so many months, and then it’s back at the handle, why aren’t you grinding harder?
So: No one to blame but myself.
Might be I can drop a line from out there. Might be I can’t.
Guess we’ll see.
RHIP
But for a Sailor… a short tour at sea is better than a long tour on land, eh?
Have fun, Lex!
be sure to return to port NLT August 10th…
http://www.sacc-jobfair.com/sandiego/sandiego.htm
Godspeed
Have fun and stay safe, sir. Thank you for your service.
AFSister,
Speaking for myself: A short time at sea (short is maybe a month) isn’t bad. It’s the 6+month deployments that get old. Even if you’re ok with going to sea, nothing beats shore duty. You have to spend the first half of your career getting your ticket punched at sea, then comes the sweet part…home every night, every holiday, every birthday. So, “But for a Sailor…a short tour at sea” is ok, just don’t make it too often.
Perhaps someone can translate in Lex’s absence — “got screened for a plum”. What’s that?
To Lex: We’ll miss you while you are away ; thank you for your part in keeping this country safe!
~john
foobert-
His subordinate was selected (screened) for a job considered so good it is a “plum”. In this case probably a Commanding Officer level or OIC job. Then I reckon she had to leave early, leaving Lex “holding the bag” by having to cover her job and go to sea.
Personally I think he’s clocking the sea time for sea pay
B2
And B2, I suspect there’s a thing called flight pay as well;)
Sad to say, but as far as I know he’s no longer flying.
That’s what he said earlier… somewhere. He said he wouldn’t be flyin’ any more. On the other hand, I wish they’d send me back to sea for a month or 2. I love it out there.
Come on guys. You really think, this Lex we are coming to know, doesn’t have the charm to talk some LT in taking him up for a spin? Got to be some joy in all those scrambled eggs on that cover.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
I have my share (more, my wife would say) of sea time… I love working with the people and doing the job, but don’t enjoy it out there… too far from here (where the wife and kids are). My $.02.
Come on guys. You really think, this Lex we are coming to know, doesn?
Come on guys. You really think, this Lex we are coming to know, doesn’t have the charm to talk some LT in taking him up for a spin?
I don’t think that for a minute!
The “no longer flying” comment was merely in context of flight pay… nothing more… 
In my time in the Merchant Marine, I learned the wisdom of an old cowboy saying about cattle drives:
“I like the going out, and the coming back. Everything in the middle stinks…”
The older you get, the more the absence of family, privacy, peace and quiet grate on you. It’s just ‘one more day on the Grey Funnel Line’
The older you get, the more the absence of family, privacy, peace and quiet grate on you.
I’ll buy that. By the time I got my master’s degree at age 30, I was so sick and tired of the roommates and itty-bitty apartments of life as a college student (had shared a room/apt since I was 13 and in boarding school). Then, last year when I changed jobs I moved to a place where most of the new teachers shared housing (since it was a resort town). I couldn’t bring myself to do that, so I happily spent a huge chunk of my paycheck on solo housing. It was wonderful.