Another week down, another week closer

Here I am again, sitting at the back desk of the clinic in the middle of the night on duty. For the second straight post I won't have any pictures posted. This time though it is because nothing really exciting has been going on. There was the oyster festival I went to, but none of the pictures had me in them! Sounds really selfish (and to a certain degree it is), but here on duty is the best time to make a decent blog post.

As of right now I have the winter olympics on the television quietly playing the background. Besides women's hockey and about 10 minutes of half-pipe snowboarding the only coverage I have been watching so far is curling. Instead of fighting the establishment, I have taken up the sport. In these times of no football, baseball, or March Madness, I must compromise and enjoy any sporting coverage that's available, even if that means watching overweight men throw "rocks" down a sheet of ice and warming that ice with the sweeping of a broom. Curling actually isn't that bad to watch. Though there is no physical skill, it is truly tactical. I'll compare it to shuffle-board on ice.

Military television doesn't air commercials. Civilian networks giving programming, or "feeds" to AFN (Armed Services Network) for little or no cost. As a result there are no commericals that are played. Yes, that means for the Super Bowl I had no idea what was funny this year. You'd be surprised how you'd miss a Bud Light or Toyota commercial when you haven't seen one in a year's time. Anyway, what is aired in place of the commericals we all know and love is military propaganda. That ranges from reports from around the services (always positive), to our local station making its own commericals about the rules and regulations on the type of umbrellas we are authorized to use. The point I'm making here was there was this domestic abuse commerical played, and it was sorta heart-breaking. How could any man (or women to make this point politically correct) get physically abusive to their family? For that matter how could they be verbally abusive too? There is a great big fat line between eating a suborinate's ass out who deserved it at work, and leaving that at the office when you come home. Military life isn't easy, especially for the spouses/kids. Unless you've lived the life I think it would be hard to share all the sacraficing that is involved in this lifestyle. I don't know, just a random point for me to share.

Last weekend I went to an oyster festival. I believe I mentioned in a way-earlier post that Sasebo produces the second most pearls in Japan. Apparently 5 million pearls come out of its waters! I have never had oysters before, and for $6 a kilo, we made a killing. It was a fun experience, and I may do it again. Though I don't think I would ever buy oysters for myself at a resteraunt, I would have some if they were available at a party. Does that make sense? I went with John and Matt and their girlfriends. Yeah I may have been that 5th wheel, but the women kind of grouped together on one end of the grill, and the boys shot the shit on the other. I did learn something about Japanese culture though, it is widely believed that burnt food is thought to cause cancer. We threw some sausages on the grill, and we (should) all know that sausages are like brats, they can't be cooked without a coat of black on them. The women (all Japanese) were freaking out and the guys were just laughing about it in disbelief!

Last Friday I took a baseline PST (Physical Screening Test, aka special warfare PRT). The good news is I passed everything and am qualified to submit my package as my scores stood, but the bad news is my scores were not that impressive at all. In a 450 swim (breast-stroke or side-stroke, no goggles) I swam a 9:09. After a 10 minute rest I knocked out 54 push-ups in 2:00, (2:00 rest) 64 sit-ups in 2:00, (2:00 rest) 6 pull-ups, (10:00 rest) and 12:09 in the 1.5 mile run. I have plenty to work on, but it's nice to know where I'm at. Kristoph is the PST coordinator, and as good of friends as we are, I could tell he was having trouble staying encouraging. Dr. Margraf though was a little more vocal in showing his dissapointment. To run with the big dogs, I'm going to have to lift my leg a little higher.

Today is Wednesday early morning. On Thursday after work I will be stopping in the EOD locker to talk to them about my progress and what I need to do next. Once my dive physical gets approved by the Dive Medical Officer (DMO), I will need to be pressed in the compression chamber, get an official PST score, and after that it is just paperwork. I will bounce ideas off of them to see the best route to take. Because I need to work on my fitness they may tell me to hold off on submitting my package, but maybe not. Time will tell. The EOD locker had been gone for the past month doing training in the states, and I'm giving them a couple of days to recover from the jet lag.

I had a meeting with the OIC, Commander Service, about my future plans. First and foremost he said that he would not stop me from submitting my package, but he isn't going to just give me up either. He said that I am a very good corpsmen, and I have all the necessary skills/attributes needed to be extremely successful in my rate. Though he does not see me working in a pharmacy, he does see me still being a "doc," most notably as a dive med tech. CDR Service asked that I take a lot of time to think about my decision. He thinks I may be disillusioned that the grass is greenier on the other side, and I'm rushing into things. Furthermore he thinks I'm ahead of the curve having picked up 3rd class so fast and I have plenty of time to decide.

Here is the thing: I thought I have taken plenty of time to think about this decision. I have looked into dive med tech, and the other NEC's he offered me to consider. I thought about trying out for SEAL all the way to staying a pharmacy technician. Truly I believe that this is the best fit for me with what I know. I've looked into this, I've done my homework. Why should I spend my time in something I have no intention of staying in. My purpose in the navy is to serve at the pleasure of the president and to complete the mission. Am I not doing both by cross-rating to EOD? If I make it through EOD school (and it's a year long pipeline), I will have just set myself up for a pretty decent lifestyle. Both as a civilian for when I get out, and in the navy. If there is someone I meet or have met who is willing to put up with this lifestyle for the time I'm in the navy, I would be set. This is a life-changing opportunity, and it would be for the better. If I'm going to be in the navy, and live a military lifestyle, EOD would cross off every single one of my goals. It would train me for a more prosperous civilian career than any of the corpsmen jobs, and my ego would be satifised knowing that I'm part of an elite group being part of something speical.

Here is my only dilema: I'm a loyalist. I'm loyal to CDR Service, he has earned my respect and attention. I can't say that for every officer I work with. He is fair, honest, experienced, and knows what he's talking about. I know I should take his advice very seriously. In my heart and mind though I have made my decision I feel, but I'm beating myself up for not wanting to let him down. I don't want to find out this really isn't for me, that pharmacy really wasn't that bad of a cushy job, and I was proven wrong. Then I'd look like a real asshole, and being that embarrassed is something I'm not sure is something I would look forward to.

Remember me talking about AFN? Well, they came and filmed the swim team on Monday. They did a couple of interviews, but I was not one of them. They talked about possibly coming back on Wednesday if they felt like they needed more footage, and I hope they do. Either way, Kristoph was interviewed and I know he did well. We extended our practices an extra half hour 2 days a week. Also, I had a pow wow with the parents explaining our intentions to come up with a team uniform, logo, and swim cap. Our team name is the Sasebo Riptide, and our team colors are Blue and Gold. Does that sound familiar?! I will have to shoot an email to the Baraboo Riptide head coach Lynn Keeling and gain some ideas from her. So far everything is going very well, and we're moving in a direction we can be proud of.

That's about it for now. Morale is high. Things are looking up. Lately I've been having a "hot streak" at work in the pharmacy. Translation: I haven't been messing up or pissing off our pharmacist lately. HM2 Oldenburg is steady as she goes, and he gets no credit for it. I have to stir the pot and get on a shit-list for me to be recongized. Not sure if that's fair, but that's the way she goes.