Haze Grey & Underway

Sandbox fun…

Well here we are in  Jebel-Ali in the United Arab Emirates. Liberty call went down a lot smoother mainly because we pulled in pier-side so there is no waiting for a liberty boat to take us to land.

Here we have a little security zone that we affectionately call “The Sandbox”.  It is a place that has a couple of shops, some restaurants (All fast food… i.e.  Burger King, Subway, B&R, and of course the infamous Shwarma guy!)  The Sandbox is surrounded by cement guirders and tractor trailer containers creating a ’safe place’ for us to congregate in large numbers.  It is a lot better than it was when I was here in ‘93.  Back then it was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see and a couple vendors right at the end of the brow.   They even have a USO building in the box that shows first run movies and broadcasts free wifi for all your interwebs needs.   This time in port I just stayed in the box for the two days I was allowed off the ship.  I really didn’t have much desire to leave the area I just wanted to leave the ship.  It was nice to sit around in my civilian clothes eating some real food and relaxing.  For just a short time I could create the illusion that I was not on deployment and far away from everything that I hold dear.  I could enjoy some conversation and play some cards and yes even have a beer or two without wondering when the next “oh crap” moment was going to spring upon me.

One more thing about the box…   We have a beer tent where we sell American beer to our Sailors at $2 a can.  The Navy has a whole campaign dedicated to having “The right spirit” ( gone are the days of the drunken sailor this is a stereotype that the Navy is desparately trying to seperate it self from.)  Yet we trap these kids on the pier and sell them beer for $2 after being at sea for 45 days straight.  Then we make scornful faces and utter our “tsk tsk tsk” at them when they get drunk and a little crazy.

Are we helping or hurting?

Yes, myself being of the ripe old age of 35 know when to say when.  I know when I am starting to loose control and know to stop well before that time and I do.  I honestly can not remember the last time I was “plastered”.  Yet they keep selling these kids beers even when it is obvious that they are beyond their tollerance and keep taking their money to add to their associations bank accounts and that of MWR.   I know the concept of individual responsibility and do my damndest to live by it, but there are times where a little assistance is required by the senior leadership.   Are we sending the right message or are we sending mixed messages?    Just my own observations..

It was an unremarkable port visit except to say that I got to sleep in one day and it was very nice to be able to do so.   Few and far between are the simple luxuries such as just being able to roll over and go back to sleep for another hour or so when I want to.  I took advantage of it.

I would be negletful not to mention that my parents anniversary was this month.  Rare these days where a marrige lasts as long.  I am glad to say I am a product of a two parent home.  I will admit that I do not know exactly how many years they have been married but I know that it is over 40 years.  In these days and times that is one hell of an accomplishment.   Congrats  Mom & Dad..  You guys are the best… you did a good job with us kids and I thank you.

Well.. thats all for now. I need a Shwarma!

I amfortunately not Haze Grey  & Underway… I am Pier Side.

~Jaybob

Stuff Happened

Ok.. because of the large gap in time I am going to do it all in one post because honestly I can not remember some of it.  That is one of the things that stinks about being on a ship, the internet access goes way down especially when you head into the Arabian Gulf area.

Here are some highlights broken down into bite size pieces.

MS and the Military Medicine System.

So, it would appear according to the civilian doctor that Mrs. Jaybob is seeing, that she has the signs and symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.

A chronic, typically progressive disease involving damage to the sheaths of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, whose symptoms may include numbness, impairment of speech and of muscular coordination, blurred vision, and severe fatigue

She went into the docs office to see about her shoulder pain two years ago and during an MRI they found evidence of it, but disinclined to inform her of it. This time she went in for another MRI of her neck and shoulder and they found the same thing and actually told her about it.  They found little white dots in her spinal cord and lower brain stem area that are indicative of MS.  She had a full head MRI done recently and we are awaiting the response from that to find out where to go from here.

I have two issues with this.   I am here.  She is there.  Now, while she is not quite alone in this situation because she has my brother and his family to talk to she is still dealing with it without her entire support system that she is used to.   I am out here, feeling helpless and worried.  I know that this is a slow disease and people live with it for years and years and years sometimes without even showing any symptoms, but that does not help me much.  This is my best friend! This is the woman who I am so crazy about I married twice! Yet  here I am floating 15,000 miles across the seas with the ability to do nothing more than make a phone call or two to make sure she is doing all right.  I am beginning to think that those phone calls are more for me than they are for her. *Shrug*  I don’t know.  So to cap this off we are going to have to wait until sometime in December to get the full results.

The Military Health Care System

Being sick in the military is in no way shape or form what it used to be.  For the non military folks out there, normally when you are sick you take your happy ass down to sick-bay or over to the branch medical clinic and go to “Sick call”.   This is basically a time in the morning lasting about 2 hours where you can just walk in and say “I threw up” or “I have this lump” or “I have a runny nose”.   It was basically a triage point for them to say “ok Mr. runny nose you take this pill and stop whining…   Mr. Lumpy  rub this ointment on it and come back in a week,   you Mr. Throw up you have a 106 degree fever you need emergent care!”

That was then… Now?   You actually have only 15 minuets to make it down to ’sick call’.  They will not even entertain seeing you during non-sickcall hours unless you are bleeding profusely from the eyes.  Being in the position of ‘Senior Leadership’ that I am in,  I have meetings and such that I am required to attend in the mornings (and wouldn’t you know it those take place during ’sick call’.)   I was running a 105 fever with night sweats, little sleep, and massive headaches but it took 3 days for them to see me and that was only due to the fact that my Chief gave them a call and told them they needed to see me.   It really annoys me to no end how some of the medical people react when someone actually requires some attention… like I just ruined their day by being sick.  Customer service is a dead concept.

Ok.. enough ranting for now.  Please take care of eachother and yourselves.

I am still . . .

Haze Grey & Underway

~Jaybob