Haze Grey & Underway

You’ve Crossed The Line

Once again I come bearing my thoughts onto the interwebs…

Crossing the Equator is an age old tradition in Sailor lore.  The ceremony is officially titled the “Crossing the line ceremony.”  Sailors commonly call it “WOG Day” which is derived from the word Pollywog.  The gist of it all is that a Sailor is not worth his salt if he has not crossed the equator, once he crosses he is considered a true Sailor.  So, to lay it all out, if you have not crossed you are considered a slimy disgusting pollywog and if you have you are known to all as a Honorable and Trusty Shellback.

The process is started at 0500 in the morning waking our slimy pollywogs up out of their racks and having them don the traditional uniform for “Wog Day”.  It basically consists of wearing your uniform all inside out and backwards. (Silly.. I know) The pollywogs decorate their t-shirts with witty sayings and pictures proclaiming their slimy-ness and to identify them as the scum that they are while the Shellbacks dress in more casual gear consisting of shirts with spray painted skulls and crossbones and pirate hats etc etc.  After the wogs dress up, we start treating them like the scum they are.

The meaning behind all this? It is the typical military process of breaking a person down and then create unity through a common shared difficult experience, this has been known and proven to build camaraderie and esprit de corps among people.

After parading them around the berthing area’s for a couple hours we drag them down to the hanger bay and make them do exercises to weaken their bodies and spirits.  When we are finally called by the 1MC (The ships announcement system) we move them into hanger bay 3 so that they can ride the aircraft elevator up to the flight deck where they will face more shenanigans before they come before his Royal Majesty King Neptune.  The first trial is that of “The Shoot”, this is a tunnel that is filled with slime, and food items such as cut up vegetables, oatmeal, hot dogs, corn flakes, pudding, and other assorted nastiness.  This is to simulate the sliminess of the wog and make them dirty, then they move on to the Royal Dentist and Royal Barber who once again spray them with water and pretend to cut their hair.  The final stop is through the rinsing waters of truth at which point the individual becomes a Shell back because they have been cleansed of their slime and have transformed into Honorable Shellbacks.

It is an interesting ceremony steeped in history and tradition that has been greatly watered down by today’s politically correct Navy and commanders who are worried about being fired if the wrong thing gets posted on the ‘net or in pictures.

Enough history… ’till next time.

I remain…

Haze Grey  & Underway

~Jaybob

Things to ponder…

Hello folks..  Your intrepid Sailor here reporting to you from somewhere off the coast of northern Africa.  Internet access has been kind of sketchy lately so I haven’t been able to post, but not a lot has happened so you really didn’t miss much.

Leaving on an extended deployment tends to make the mind wander.  “How will things at home change while I am gone?”, “How will the country change while we are gone?”, “How will world events unfold while we are gone?”, and more often “How will I change during this time?”.  Now, I am no stranger to deployments because this is my 6th one but every one brings to the table some unique issues.  Each of my deployments has been at a different stage in my career, so it has been interesting to see how shipboard life differs as you progress up the chain of command.  Life is definitely a little more comfortable when you hit the upper enlisted ranks such as E-6 and E-7 but I would not say in any way easier.  Sure when you are a young buck airman you are tasked with working parties to bring on stores or handle lines or general other grunt work.

A side note here:  It has become natural to me to use some of the lingo and turns-of-phrase that we do here in the Navy, but when you look at some of them from the civilian side they sometimes seem a bit silly..   Take  “Working party” for instance… it is work, but usually it is NOT a party, there is no festive atmosphere nor silly hats to wear.  It seems a bit misleading if you ask me… but I digress.

As you make your way up the ranks there are not as many of those menial back breaking tasks but more administrative nightmares to contend with.  Basically you become a baby sitter making sure that all the little worker bees in your hive are doing what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it.  This final cruise for me has become a challenge because being an E-6 in my division seems to make you a target for ridicule and harassment by the upper chain of command.  They call it “training” but I call it crap.   *shrug* But what can you do except try an laugh it off and persevere to the next challenge.

Many of us fear change,  it is a natural human instinct to like things to be comfortable and ‘the same as always’ but invariably after these deployments a great deal has changed, both in the big ole world and in the small microcosm of our own lives.   I fear of the changes that may happen in my own world when I get home.  Will I be able to sell my house in this economic downturn?  Will I be able to execute my plan at retirement time and move far away from the Navy and go to middle America to settle down to a nice domestic life?  Will the jobs that I have been scouting out still be there?  The fact that we are out in the middle of the ocean with very little ‘hands on’ contact with our world seems to exacerbate the uncertainty and worry.  That is where having a strong spouse comes into play.  THANKFULLY I have been blessed with one of those rare women who can take up the slack and fill that void when I leave for long periods of time. Knowing that I have her there taking care of things, making sure the bills get paid, making sure our ‘kids’ are safe and just generally being a rock when I am full of worry really makes it a bit easier being out here…  So to her.. my beautiful wife I say “Thank you my love.” Thank you for being there for me, thank you for keeping the faith, and thank you for believing in me and understanding my passion for the job.  On that same note.. I say that to my beautiful daughter as well.  It took her a long time to understand why daddy had to go away for a long time, or why daddy had to move around all the time, but now that she is 15 (Oh my god I feel old!) she understands a lot better. I love you all… without you guys I would fail.

Ok…  now that the ‘love-a-thon’ is done..  I will sign off until next time………

Take care of yourselves and your shipmates,

I remain Haze Grey & Underway

~Jaybob

Hey, Shipwreck:Tube Daze Animation Studios

Hey, Shipwreck::A Machinima Series by Tube Daze Animation Studios.

Hey.. Check out this website and some of the episodes of “Hey, Shipwreck”. There is a LOT of good Navy humor here. The series is done by an ET1(SS) bubble head (sub mariner). It is quite funny… funny because it is true.

Later…
Haze Grey & Underway

~Jaybob

Day 4 – East bound and Down….

“Loaded up and truckin’

We gonna do what they say can’t be done.

We got a long way to go and a short time to get there,

I’m east bound just watch that Bandit CARRIER run…”

 Seems that I have been a bit musical lately with my post titles but they do say that music is the soundtrack of our lives.

 As my oh-so-clever title insinuates, we are indeed headed eastbound and down.  Progress is good in my opinion, the more we move, the faster time goes by.  So… on to today’s ramblings.

 Time out generation

When the hell did I become “the old guy”?!?  When did my view point radically veer off what I thought was the standard ‘norm’? When the hell did I become “out of touch”??  

Becoming older in an institution such as the military is a lot different than say in an office workplace.  The military is swimming with 18-25 year old kids.. literally drowning in them. They come in they do their time and they get out leaving a hole for the next 18 year old.  The older guys like myself who decided that this was not such a bad life become the senior leadership who have to shepherd these kids around and help them succeed.

 But here’s the thing, 90% of these kids, *pause for dramatic effect*    Well…  honestly,  I just want to smack the ever living crap out of them.  The military is about structure and discipline.  The military is about following rules and looking out for your brothers-in-arms. But that is not how these kids see it.  I have dubbed these young Sailors “The Time Out Generation”.  These are people who were not, for lack of a better phrase,  beat properly when they were children.  Now before you start writing your angry emails about child abuse and what-not,  I do not encourage the savage beating of children, but I DO support corporal punishment.   A swift kick in the butt can be quite effective when properly applied.   These kids suffered no consequences for their actions except to be sent to their rooms “to think about what they did”.  (Instead they played Nintendo , Playstation, checked email, texted their friends…etc.etc.etc)   

 So, these young Sailors come into my Navy not knowing the meaning of respect, not only for others but for themselves.  When I was a young airman apprentice (E-2) I looked around my workcenter and never even saw my 1^st class Petty Officer (Nor did I want to!!) The 2^ndClasses were all in charge and they were to be feared! I didn’t even think of smarting off to them, they were not my friends, they were not my buddies, they were definitely not my peers.  Where did this paradigm shift come into play? Today they think that it is ok to just come up and call you by your last name ( no rank, no respect ) and coke and joke with you like you were drinking buddies.  I myself correct that type of behavior instantly but I get strange looks like they see nothing wrong with it.  Is it because I was raised to call my mother and father “Sir andMa’am” ? I don’t know.  They also tend to think that orders are requests, and then when they do not do what they are told they are surprised when there are consequences and repercussions.  I took the time to sit down with one of my young Sailors and discuss this.  His opinion was that I was “out of touch, and expected too much” from my people.   That I should expect a person to clean up after them self or to god forbid make their rack every morning is too much?  To them it is all about “ME” it seems.  For example,  I placed our lounge off limits because they were not taking care of the space and leaving it trashed every night.  One Sailors reaction was to just break into the lounge and use it because ” I wasn’t the one who did it, why punish me? So I can go against what you said anddo what I want” .  I just can not even fathom that kind of attitude or response.

 I guess it is just time for this “old guy” to move on, and get out of the way.

 

 I would be remiss if I did not mention that today is September 11th.  A day that forever changed this country and our military in many ways.  Take a moment today to remember those that were lost in that horrific attack, and then also remember those brothers and sisters of mine whom have been lost in the events since then.  If you see a serviceman or woman, you don’t need to do much… just say “Thank you.”  They know what you mean.

I AM … Haze Grey & Underway.

Take care of yourselves and your shipmates

~Jaybob

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go…….

With this song in mind I begin my last journey seaward with the U.S. Navy.

After 17 years in my Navy and 5 deployments under my belt I have come to enjoy them on a certain level.  This cruise being my last one it is bitter sweet to me.  On the one hand I am glad that I will no longer have to leave my wife and daughter for months and months on end and be stuck in the middle of the ocean with people that I can’t stand (and to be fair, people whom I also really cherish as friends), and all the associated issues that come with a deployment.  

On the other hand I am kind of sad that I won’t be able to all that as well.

Is this what “Becoming institutionalized” means?  I am not sure.

This job is something that I take a great deal of pride in.  Growing up I never had a lot of confidence in myself or my abilities.  Not for a lack of encouragement from my parents or anything, just my own self induced issues.  The Navy instilled in me a sense of pride and helped to mold me into the Husband, Father, and Sailor that I am today.  It taught me what professionalism was and demonstrated how ordinary people from all walks of life can do great things if they are given a chance.  I have had the good fortune to be stationed with some of the greatest people whom have come from some of the most diverse backgrounds.  For example, the young airman who came from the inner city who due to family situations was unable to graduate high school with his peers.  He joined the Navy, got his GED, and now works (Very well mind you)  on highly sophisticated multi-million dollar jet aircraft avionics systems.  On the flip side the opposite is also true…. where highly intelligent people from good backgrounds have only languished in mediocrity because they are used to being spoon fed everything in their life… but I really do not want to focus on that.

I guess that my point here is that while I am so very excited and anxious for this tour to be over with and to retire at my 20 year mark and to move on with my life…..  I will really miss these moments and these people greatly.

Now, I may have meandered a bit here in my first post of the cruise, but these are the thoughts in my head.   This blog is going to be my mental dumping ground for all of my thoughts both profound and inane.  So, if you care to join me on this journey, go ahead and pull up a chair.  In the mean time….

“So kiss me and smile for me,

Tell me that you’ll wait for me

Hold me like you’ll never leave me go

cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane Carrier

Don’t know when I’ll be back again

Oh man, I hate to go”

 Take care of yourselves shipmates… and eachother.

I remain.. Haze Grey & Underway

~Jaybob