A New Outlook

Okay… so I haven’t really had the time to post anything here… but a great deal has happened since I have been here at Surface Force IDC School.

This past advancement cycle, I managed to somehow pick up HM1 on the test, as well as complete the didactic portion of school with a cumulative GPA good enough that had I not advanced, I still would have been advanced upon graduation.

I received orders back to my Operational Home… the FDNF out in Yokosuka, Japan. I will be taking over as the Senior Medical Department Representative aboard the USS STETHEM (DDG 63).

Since making E-6, my whole view on the Navy as a whole has changed quite a bit. I find myself trying to find answers to gripes instead of joining in on the “bitch and complain” parade. Instead of controversial, I am aiming for mature and responsible solutions to whatever issues may plague me or sailors around me. Especially since I am headed to a ship again. And as SMDR aboard a ship, I will be in a sense a Department Head… (On small ships, medical is a department and not a division.) Although still a blue shirt in uniform, I need to step up my game and do the job that both of my last IDCs have trained me for.

I am excited, I am anxious, and I am also terrified. But I’ve been told, that if you don’t fear the job that I have been training for, you are more likely to kill someone or make a serious mistake… so a certain amount of fear is both healthy and necessary.

Graduation can’t come soon enough… I just can’t wait to get back to being a real sailor again. It is true when they say that you never really realize what you have until it’s gone… because this past year on shore has been more tedious and trying than any day out to sea. More to come… bear with me… this blog may end up being active again real soon.