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I have a son in the Navy, I may have mentioned that a few hundred times. \u00a0He is deployed right now with HSM 70 (Det One) on board the USS Philippine Sea (CG-58).<\/span>He is Helicopter Mechanic or in Navy talk an AD full rank and rate would be ADAN (AW) or Aircraft Mechanic E-3 Air Warfare Qualified, He has been in the Navy Just over 2 years.<\/p>\n He deployed February 15th, in that time we have talked once, for a few short minutes when they made a port call in Greece before heading through the Suez Canal. \u00a0He is now someplace in the Persian Gulf. \u00a0 We do talk over text and Email. \u00a0I ask him what he needs and he lets me know. \u00a0We send whatever it is and a month of so later he gets it. So far I have cornered the market on Black Gold Peruvian Blend Coffee (12 pounds) Sent a Harmonica and a book on how to play it. \u00a0Several pounds of Beef Jerky, Socks, \u00a0assorted junk food, \u00a0Several boxes of girl scout cookies guitar strings, plus birthday and Easter gifts. \u00a0I am currently trying to find pistachio’s in large quantities.<\/p>\n The time difference makes anything close to real time difficult. When we do talk its short and almost cryptic, \u00a0I tell him that I love him, that I am proud of him and that what he is doing matters. \u00a0 The same things that parents have been saying to Sailors for the last thousand or so years. \u00a0I asked him the other day if he enjoyed what he does, his answer was” I am always tired, \u00a0we are flying allot so we always have something broken on the Helicopters. \u00a0In my off time I work out” \u00a0I asked again if he enjoyed it and he said he did. He spoke about being on the ship and the times of boredom, but he also talked about the people he is with. \u00a0 He talked about the ship and being on it. \u00a0I could tell that as tired as he is, as frustrating as being at sea can be he loves what he does, he loves being a sailor.<\/p>\n About 99% of the time all he knows is he is at sea, he doesn’t know if he is close to any land and if he is what land is a huge question. \u00a0 I ask him what time it is where he is, he tells me and with a map I can guess. \u00a0 His world for the next several months will be limited to what he sees on the sea around him, not unlike Sailors from the past. \u00a0 The reality is that very few deployed Sailors know with any level of certainty where they are. They have a general idea, but that general idea is like me saying I’m in the eastern time zone.<\/p>\n I think that is where the Navy and the rest of the services are very different. I have friends and sons of friends in Afghanistan right now, they Skype and the exchange of \u00a0photos and phone calls are very regular. Not so with the Navy. An entire ship has less bandwidth than I do sitting at home. \u00a0That bandwidth is shared among everyone, rest assured that some asshole is always trying to stream video.<\/p>\n At any given time about 30% of the Navy’s 298 ships are deployed. Another 15% are at sea doing training or some other more local type mission. \u00a0(Local meaning they will be at sea up to 6 weeks) \u00a0The Navy has about 325,000 Officers and Enlisted. \u00a0Roughly one third are deployed at anytime. \u00a0It has been this way since the end of WW2. \u00a0War or Peace the Navy is at sea. It will continue to be that way. \u00a0Its what the Navy does.<\/p>\n I don’t like to think about this part but it needs saying. \u00a0 The navy has relativity few true combat injuries. (I am not including the SEAL community or Corpsmen embedded with Marines) \u00a0That being said there are very few Shipboard Jobs that are not inherently dangerous. \u00a0LLoyds of London has consistently list working on a flight deck as one of the most dangerous jobs ever. \u00a0The only reason that there are not more injuries and fatalities is that the men and now women doing that job are so well trained and pay so much attention to detail that accidents are a very rare thing. \u00a0These jobs are done by Kids, the lasttime I saw my son he wanted to borrow my truck, I caught myself about to give him the “Don’t wreck my truck” talk. Then I remembered that everyday he has the lives of the pilots and crew in his hands. \u00a0The he without question is a professional.<\/p>\n I have a very cool picture of my son washing down the \u00a0rotor of a Sea hawk. \u00a0I know that the tail section is hanging over the side of the ship, I know the ship is moving. \u00a0I know one slip on his part can be tragic. \u00a0I get a world class case of the willies just looking at it.<\/p>\n The E-4 promotion list comes out just before memorial day, I hope he is on it. \u00a0I am not allowed to say more. Its bad luck to have you next rank in hand before you are promoted. But you can bet your last dollar that I have a 20 some year old very battered Crow to send him when he give the OK.<\/p>\n Just because I am a proud Navy Dad USS Philippine Sea Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n Copyright\u00a0\u00a9 2014 This Aint Hell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"