holy cow. been like 32928739 years. things are great. im now at Great Lakes about to start work as an instructor at the OS 'A' school. me and Julie are dating and getting more and more serious, i just bought a king size bed and im living in Gurnee in a killer apartment.

oh, life is good.

aah yes, last full month until our return to homeport!!

Gabon was nice. went out a couple times. got my drink on, thats all i needed to do. went to a reception too. that was okay; it was really hot out and although it was all indoors, there were no windows or doors on the hall. but it was still fun.

now we are on our way back to Cameroon to drop some people and supplies off, and bring on a couple more people for our ride back to Senegal; and that'll be the last of Africa!!!

just cant wait for June, and especially for when Julie comes to visit!! counting down the days...

been some time since Nigeria. Cameroon was next, and it was all right. there was no huge safari like they promised though. the scenery was nice however.

so now its Gabon, and so far it looks like the better developed out of all the african countries we have been too. plus theres supposedly a lot to do out here. i got a week, so ill be checking it out!

aah Nigeria. a place of fighting, hot humid weather, and next to none liberty. im moving here.

apparently a submarine and a brand spankin' new LPD collided earlier this morning in the Straits of Hormuz. some damage was done to both vessels; some fuel was lost, and some crew members were minorly hurt. investigations are ongoing. its starting to pop up in the media now. thankfully no one was killed.

OH! John and Christina had their twins. st patricks day. both are healthy. congrats to them all!

ah. wow. been some time. and now its March!

deployment is still going on. left january 15th. stopped in Spain. first African port was Senegal. it was okay. if you're out in town, be prepared to be SWAMPED by people trying to sell you things; masks, drums, neckalsses, figureens....all kinds of african goodies. and they will follow you everywhere! and they pickpocket too.
there was a casino we went to one day, and a couple bars some other day. did some COMREL projects too. we are going back at the end of the deployment; its our first and last African stop!

so now we are in Ghana. and it is much more developed than the last place. not too many people trying to sell you things, or at least you tell them no and they kindly walk away. but the US doller is worth more here so most people have been buying their african suveniers here. i bought a drum and a couple things for Jules. this is out longest port time; 18 days total. also did a day of COMREL here too. went very well. things out in town have been decent too, the bars and resturants and such. only had one incident last night; some of our guys got into a scuffle with some locals. so now the whole ship and the entire APS program in general is under the spotlight. hopfully the Ghanaians will forgive us heh.

thats it thus far! just cant wait for June, thats my motivation. that and Jules' emails, pictures, and the fact that i could be in Illinois for three years at Great Lakes....which by the way, i have not gotten my orders yet. and im starting to get ticked off. my re-enlistment time table is shortening....otherwise, im just happy this is my LAST DEPLOYMENT.

well happy new year!

as the operation comes to an end, i an satisified. visited people, hung out with friends and family, and had an overall great time.

i was especially glad Julie made it up for a week. we spent a lot of time together. we talked about the future of our situation and agreed on some things. which is nice to have things cleared up.

of course it snowed last night, so the trip back to VA should be interesting up north here.

all in all; mission accomplished!

we picked new orders today!

i asked for something in Chicago, and they had some openings for the OS 'A' school thats now out there; instructor.

i told the detailer to put me down for that.

BUUUT i think there's a catch.....afterwards i was talking to my first class and he said that usually requires a three year re-enlistment.

crap! i was planning on just sperating from the Navy in october!

im going to email the detailer tomorrow and find the truth to this...

anyway, after the rest of the day thinking about it, it might not be so bad. i could get a bunch of college done, and the job status is EASY (the classes are all computer-self-paced based), and it would give me a chance to solidify my "residency" out there; find a house, get things job wise set up with the fire department, get some major studying time and possibly OJT in before those three years are up.....

so now, once again, im in a bind.

get out next october, probably join active reserves, and basically "wing it" out in the real world for a bit?
or re-enlist, have to go through another 3 years of navy bullshit, but possibly have a better chance in the real world?


the battle continues...

ah, and one month till my birthday!

two weeks till Operation: Broski Bash In Bad Ass Batavia!