It's early December and the weather is starting to cool off.  At the beginning of the deployment I told people we would see thunderstorms, rain showers, cooler temperatures with temps going as low as the 30's on occasion and seas of up to 12 feet.  Apparently no one believed me because when these things have happened all I have heard is "I have never seen the weather in the Gulf like this."  What most forget to realize is they have never been in the Gulf in the winter time.  I haven't been here either but I have forecasted for the Gulf in the winter before and it can get pretty squirrelly.

Today we are floating out and about and can see the mountains in Iran some 60 miles away.

It's been a while since our last port visit to Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.  This was my third time there and not much has changed except they're building a new commuter rail system and more skyscrapers.  The city of Dubai is always under construction.  The malls are still huge.  It takes about 15 minutes to walk from one end of the Ibn Battuta Mall to the other and the Emirates Mall I think has increased in size.  This mall takes about an hour an hour and a half to walk through.  The primary liberty gathering point is ...

Today history was made when Barack Obama was elected President.  Unless I am mistaken, to date, no sitting Senator has been elected President and Mr. Obama is the 1st black President.  All told Mr. Obama is the 6th President I will have served under in the military; my 6th Commander-in-Chief.  Three of the Presidents I have served under were in office for 8 years each.

 Jimmy Carter (4 years), Ronald Reagan (8 years), George H. W. Bush (4 years), Bill Clinton (8 years), George W. Bush (8 years), Barak Obama.

Thirty two years ago today the country elected Jimmy Carter as President.  I was picked up by my Recruiter in Concord, NH and along with a couple of other people was taken to the Armed Forces Examination and Entrance Station (AFEES) in Manchester, NH.  There I was tested, prodded and poked until the powers that be determined I was fit to enlist.  At the time I had a sprained left ankle and had to hide the pain.  The Doc seemed to think something was wrong with my ankle and took time to examine it then had all of us jump up and down on one leg, first on the right then on the left.  I managed to convince him I was fine and nothing was wrong.  Son of a bitch did that hurt.

Here I am on deployment 32 years later somewhere in the Persian Gulf; who'd a thought? 

Well it's been a little over a month since my last posting.  I don't know if anyone is reading these but that doesn't matter.  Since Haifa we have gone through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, into the Indian Ocean to stand off of Somalia, up into the Arabian Sea and the Gul of Oman, through the Straits of Hormuz and into the Persian (Arabian if you're not Persian/Iranian) Gulf.

We had a 5 day port visit to Bahrain.  I spent most of the time staying on base.  I did go to a "rug flop" where we went to this officers house and had drinks and food.  Then a local rug merchant brought out a selection of silk, Persian, Afghan tribal and wool rugs for us to look at and, with the will of Allah, buy.  The rugs were quite impressive and expensive but the merchant was a dealer and many of the prices were knocked down a bit.  What was most impressive was his detailed knowledge of each rug to include its history as well as how it was made and how long it took to make.  As it turns out most of these rugs take 2 - 3 years to make.

We're back out to sea for now and all is quiet.  Let's hope it stays that way.

Well we had 5 days of liberty in Haifa and it turns out we may have qualified for Hazardous Duty Pay at the same time.  I went out one night with the Chiefs mess to welcome the brand new Chiefs we had pinned that morning, then the next day I went on a tour in Mt. Carmel National Forest that involved horseback riding and off roading in these open wheel buggies.  The horse riding was a bust as I was told I was too big for the horse.  These were full size horses, just not full size enough.  I hung around and had coffee and rolls while I waited for the group to get back.  Turned ut they gone less than 20 minutes.  Then we went off roading in the buggies.  We each got to drive down these very unimproved dirt and silt roads.  The dust was so bad at one point one of the buggies was rear ended by another.  The offending buggy broke the right front suspension and flattened the right front tire.  No one was hurt though.  Then we went for a hike of about a mile or so down into this mini gorge where remnants of stream were visible and learned about the flora (and lack of fauna) in Israel.  Afterwards we had an incredible lunch with roasted marinated cherry tomatoes, roasted sweet potato, roasted new potatoes, salad, chicken wings, egg plant, bread, rice, beef soup, and a small brazier of chicken, steak and sausage on the table.  Th ...

This is my second attempt at posting this.  We went through the Straits of Gibraltar several days ago and are now in the central Med on our way to our first liberty port.  Couldn't see the Rock of Gibraltar because of the haze and sea mist.  It was a fair distance off our port side anyway.  The Moroccan coast was even obscured and that was only 5 or 6 miles from us.

A couple of nights ago I went out on a night time LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion - fancy name for hovercraft) ride with a bunch of other Chiefs and the soon to be Chiefs.  The crews needed some night time training hours so they offered up the craft ride to those who wanted to go.  It was kind of neat being out on the Med with two craft tied together like rafts floating on a flat sea.  The moon was 3/4 gibbous waxing and was fairly risen with the light reflecting off the water.  We kicked back, had some sandwiches, chips and soda.  Those who smoked broke out their stogies and cigarettes.  After an hour and a half or so we buttoned back up and headed back to the ship.

I have been designated as the Space WX expert for the ESG now.  It seems I'm the only one who knows anything about the subject.  The thing is most of my knowledge is at least 20 years old.  It's ...

Well we are underway for deployment.  We left Norfolk yesterday and set sail to pick up the Marines who will be on board with us.  I was able to get my photo stuff steup.  I brought my D200 setup with tripod, my laptop, hard drives, scanner and DVD/CD burner.  I also brought the remaining several thousand slides and negatives I need to scan.  I have a great team on board and they make it easy for me to get my work done so I can work with my photography.

The hard part is leaving the family behind.  My wife and youngest son came to the pier yesterday morning to watch us get underway as we had said our goodbyes the previous night when I embarked on the ship.