March Madness did not turn out so well for me and Katie. I was tied for second place in the bracket here going into the Final Four. But we had UConn going into the finals, and winning the finals. Best I could have done is finish within 1 point of the winner, and that's if he lost all the games in the Final Four.
So for my last week on KAAOT, I thought I'd write about some memories...
Things I'll remember:
- My first sight of ABOT, surrounded by four deep-draft oil tankers, from the bridge of the USCGC Baranof.
- My first sight of KAAOT, basically from underneath, from the Baranof's small boat.
- Numerous sunsets viewed from right outside my room.
- My room, and roommate, the Command Senior Chief, ENCS Rivera.
- The walk from the berthing to the offices, several times a day (the elevated grate walkway, the rusted springy walkway, passing the KAAOT Hilton, passing the Seabee hut, the turn, and the concrete with potholes).
- Morning briefs.
- Watching our boats from the boat landings.
- Ice cream socials in the Iraqi galley.
- Officer's Tea with the Iraqi's in ours.
- Coalition lunch and dinner back in the Iraqi galley (can you say "eat bony fish with your bare hands?").
- Going to Umm Qasr, Iraq, for an overnight.
- The rides on the Iraqi patrol boat.
What I'll miss:
- Free, high-speed wireless, good enough to have Skype video with Katie.
- The food, actually quite good, and again, free!
- Some very good desserts.
- Steel beach cook-outs at the East Boat Landing.
- Free laundry in the room next door.
- Hot water, and water pressure (don't have either in Kuwait, can't wait to get back).
- The sunsets.
- The weather, by-and-large quite pleasant (remember its winter, though).
- The unhindered access to my own flotilla of heavily armed security boats, and permission to drive.
- A highly trained forces of Master-at-Arms to protect me, and that let me shoot all their weapons.
- The camaraderie of everyone here, from the 18-year old seaman to the retired military contractor.
- Some pretty good movies on very large flat screens.
- A sense of accomplishment knowing that I helped further the training and professional development of a lot of sailors through supervising, coaching, and mentoring them (ooh, that's going on the next evaluation).
What I won't miss:
- The coffee, even though it was free.
- A building that shakes you to sleep.
- Running on an oil platform made of metal (somewhat cool, but not very forgiving on the knees).
- Running on a treadmill in a tiny little room (nothing against treadmills, and I guess not too bad in light of the above).
- Water hours, though it was only a couple times.
- Wondering if the Iranians might be coming across the line today or tonight.
- Wondering how much the Iraqi's really like us.
- Wondering if I should be doing more to help the staff (not really -- they should ask if they need help, and learn the definition of 'opcon').
- Not being invited to things I probably should be at and wouldn't mind being a part of (but then again, not really ... its more fun to drive boats and shoot guns).
- Explaining, again, why our boat crews are here eating in the KAAOT galley (you scheduled them to be here during lunch/dinner again, Ops!).
I could probably spend a lot more time on this, but its a blog post, so if I think of something I'll change it later!
Maybe next week I'll do your typical "hot to know you've been on deployment too long" and include stuff like "You think its normal the building shakes about half the day on average."
Photos...
A rare, three boat underway day
Boat Detachment, Cardigan Bay, plus MESF NAG new & old (left end)
One last sunset, not the best, but a little different
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