Odessa and the birthday that wasn't

Now after a nice journey through Bulgarian port town of Varna we are off to another black sea country not named Russian that looks a lot like Russia. Odessa, Ukraine

Odessa Ukraine is a very nice friendly area in the black sea that is full of beautiful women or at least that's what the other non-married sailors told me since I don't notice such things. I did notice that so far in our travels in both the Ukraine and Bulgaria the population is much more skewed to the female gender I would say 60/40 or even 70/30. I am not sure why that is but it was very obvious. now maybe they are all hidden away in a cave toiling away but my guess is that the men here just produce more girls for some reason or another but I am apparently sidetracking into a genetics lecture so I will get back on track here. Odessa is also a fairly young city born in the 1800s though local tribesman and stuff have been there longer obviously the actual city is fairly new. Now with that in mind it still very much reminds you of the old soviet block building with the concrete slab construction everywhere.

Now you must be thinking at this point wow you know so much you much have walked around and talked to the locals well sadly all of Odessa that I saw was on a 2 hour tour on a bus. though it was a nice and informative trip it wasn't what I was hoping. Due to the nature of ship life I had things to due and duty.

Duty, the dreaded duty, well it so happened that it feel on my birthday. I put in for the day off and everyone said yes but I still had to run a chit (permission slip if you will) and I routed to my boss then it was out of sight. well the day of I found out he had not run it up and that was bad the next thing I know people flipping out with a day off request the day of and it got denied and on top of that I had double watches which turned into triple watches and by the end of the day I had stood 17 of 24 hour on watch and only slept for 3 hour during that time. suffice to say a very very bad day.

well not much else to say other then I am sad that I didn't get to see much of Odessa but all in all it was something new and interesting and I was able to talk to several Ukraine guards and agents and hear what it is like in Odessa and that was pretty cool. people around the world are pretty much the same with different highlights but at the end of the day most girls like fashion and men like explosions and cars. I have yet to see a place that doesn't have at least those blanket rules.

well sorry this one was a little on the short side not much to report. hopefully I will get to see much more of my next port.... which I am writing from..... Batumi, Georgia. homework assignment look it up.

first stop! (kinda)

Well its time, my first report card on deployment. OK I best stipulate the grading, in general being on a ship sucks and being on deployment increases the factor many times over so I will not be grading that aspect but rather the time in port. First up Augusta Bay, Italy well this was just a quick stop no liberty just a fuel and run. but during the short there I was able to go play a few games of basketball and I had alot of fun but at the very end I sprained my ankle and its been kind of tender since. The port was an industrial port and like I said we couldn't leave the pier so there really wasn't anything to look at. So I don't really call that a port visit. Lets just call it a "Pit Stop"

Now to the heart of the matter Varna, Bulgaria. First liberty port Woohoo!! well as you may know from my last deployment I tend to work a fair bit and get one day of liberty to see the town and get things to bring back home. Varna is a smaller touristy kind of town with the look and feel of old Russia with a bit of the euro flavor slowly creeping in. Sadly there was not much to see but this nice church and the little shops strewn about the area. but as far as attractions not much. Thankfully the food was really good and cheap. Mostly meats, sausage and the big thing was kabobs. kabobs on swords, sticks, anything pointy they did it.

The big spot everyone ended up at was the mall. There were two fairly good size malls about a 30 minute walk from the ship and of course everyone gravitated to the paintball area on the top floor, yours truly included. We ended up having a battle between engineers and my division and I can say that we won a few and lost a few but it was good times had by all. The rest of the day we walked around found a nice play to eat by the beach and then headed back towards the ship. I found a couple trinkets and I got to see a knew place in the world. All in all a pretty interesting experience.

Now as you have probably already googled varna and discovered I am in the black sea I will let you know that we have had some interesting interactions so far and will probably do so in the future. But I am ok and I am not worried. And if I am not, no one should be hehe

So I guess if I was to grade this port I would give it a B. Nothing to great, nothing bad and a much needed time off to eat good food and explore. I cant complain and I wont.

This experience in the black sea I think has opened some peoples eyes as to how the world is. It is not a black or white, a right or wrong, or even a good vs evil world. I don't know how many people have realized it and for me it was more of a confirmation since I am constantly reading and studying such things. But I guess if some 18 year old kid is able to finally leave home, see something new in the world and come back with a more worldly view of how things work it can't be that bad can it.

Next stop Odessa, Ukraine. Till then take care and be safe.

Back in the Saddle again.

Well its that time again folks. Time for me to set out onto the horizon and go do what I have been training to do. Sweep floor? no! well sort of but that's not what I meant. It is deployment time!

This time around I will no longer be the rookie but the guy that's done it before and knows what to expect. Honestly though it all feels the same, the time away, the rocking of the ship, the oddly industrial ports we pull into. Its all kind of like some sort of deployment redux.

Now I have been on deployment for awhile now and this is my first post. Well I wont say I have not had time I just really felt like using it to sleep when I have the chance. With the way everything in the world is on the brink of either war or revolution how we go about things on a warship has changed as well. No longer the minimal manning at any time. Everything is always manned up and this leads to the dreaded 6 hours on and 6 hours off rotation. And if there is one thing in the world you should know is that 6 on 6 off is not fun, and don't eat yellow snow. Yes, that's two I put that one in free of charge, though donations are welcome.

Today we pulling into port for the first time in Augusta bay, Italy really its Sicily. I am looking forward to some time to relax from this watch rotation and maybe try the local cuisine. I am not able to connect my camera to the computer anymore to post pictures, thanks wikileaks. But if I can I will put them on my laptop and try and upload them in town at the internet cafes. assuming I can figure out italian or where ever I end up hehe.

I don't really have a whole lot to say. I mainly wanted to get this post out there to let people know I will be blogging during this deployment like last time and that I am still alive. I hope this all finds you in good health and good spirits.

Mark

homeward bound

Well it has been awhile since I last posted. I think I just am too day to day to remember to post. Sometimes I will be out doing something and think this would be an interesting thing to talk about but then the moment passes and I forget all about it.

As some of you may know I am homeward bound. yes going west towards the americas, doing a little columbus action without the pillaging of indian villages of course. Its been a long 6 months in my eyes. I always heard how time would fly and that you find a grove and the next thing you know your heading back. I never found that groove I guess. This deployment has been a true struggle for me. I have felt as though I was asked to run when I could not crawl. I have been pounding my way through with mostly pure will and alittle bit of cunning but I can feel I have changed, and I am not sure its for the better.

I can't say though that this has been a terrible experience and what kind of person would I be if I didn't take away lessons and positive things from this deployment. I have seen and done things I never would of dreamed of doing. I have been to djibouti and seen the true picture of the poor and starving. crude huts made from stacks of garbage and whatever they could find. fields of plastic and garbage strewn about a barren land. I have seen the mega rich in monico and been inside the monte carlo, where every fifth car was a porsche, lamborgini, or rolls royce. I have been to the middle east. heard the call to pray while haggling in the golden souq. Been to arguably the holiest place on earth and stood where christ was born, lived and died. I have even been to the remote islands of the country of seychelles and seen the almost jamican atmosphere that they exude.

Its been an adventure for sure. Seeing the world helps me see my world in a different light. Seeing how the people in djibouti live makes me realize how much opportunity I have and how little they have. I am always curious about how they view life. I saw a group of them huddled laughing and joking but if I was stuck in that situation would you or I be able to do the same? Makes me wonder whats truely important and what makes people happy. I had a moment of pity for them and their plight but I am not sure that is what they want, pity gifts and money thrown at them. I think there has to be a better way. A way to bring up the poor and the starving to educate and give them the chance to create their own opportunities. I wish I knew that way but I think later in life I will be able to spend more time working toward that goal. For now I will do my job defending my shipmates and my country which has given me the so many opportunities. And when my time is done, be it in 20 or 6 years from now, I will take the next step in my life with the knowledge and wisdom I have gained here as a heavy influence on the direction I choose.

Less then a month from now I will be back home. Yes home but it is not my house or the comfy comfines of being back in the US that I call home it is my wife that I call home. She has been my support and helped me through all my struggles. I know it has not been easy for her and I appreciate all that she has been for me. she is my house and my home. thank you hun. I will be with you soon :)

to all reading this I hope it finds you in good spirits and good health.

mark

seychelles 2

sometimes in life you just have to say........ heck with it. side note, sailors have a more colorful version of the saying but thats besides the point. As some of you may know I have been working on my equipment because it wont. and my plan was to not leave the ship and work day and night to get everything back up and running. currently I am about half way there. Earlier today one of my buddies poked his head into the shop and asked what I was doing today though Everyone knew what I was doing. you see, he has been pestering me to go out and take a break from work and relax. As it just so happened that was exactly what he was doing right then. He told me he needed someone to go to the waterfall with and that his liberty buddy was not planning on coming back but he was. Now first he used the guilt trip thing and second unbeknownst to him I love waterfalls. So I asked how long it would take and he said a couple hours and I reluctently said fine. so off the ship we go.

Now as with most plans in my life lately I quickly found out that these "plans" are little more then vague thought fragments that have not really colested into a true thought non the less a plan. He pulls out a scrap of paper that has directions to this waterfall that mention places we have no idea where they are. first things first, find a taxi. Easy enough, we walk up to one and I ask how far to the waterfall. he says its on the other side of the island and that would be 400 rupies. that was too rich for our blood so we go to a local restaraunt and eat and think about it. I come up with the idea that the bus from the ship drops us off at a hotel on the other side of the island and its free. Thinking that we would be closer it would be cheaper plus that hotel has tortoises, the big old kind. My favorite, not those young crazy tortoises. So we catch the bus check out the old guys and walk up to the taxi and ask how much to the waterfall. This time its 500 rupies. confused we ask where it is. Turns out the island is shaped like a triangle and we have now been to every side but the one the waterfall is on. figuring if 400 is too much 500 is way to much so we decide to chill at the hotel cause its right on the beach and he wanted to swim in the indian ocean.

he swims, I relax, we decide to check out the rest of the beach. As we walk down the beach I bring up the parasailing thing they have here but he thought it would be to expensive. as we walk up on it business is dead and we are greeted quickly in that over vealous used car salesman manner which is very common pretty much anywhere in the middle east and african countries. he says 40 dollars for 10 minutes we walk some more and I tell him if you do it I will pay for the meals because all he had was 40 dollars and that was enough for him to strap up and fly the friendly skies. so he hooks up and sails around the bay high up in the air all the while I am taking pictures and laughing. next thing you know couple more sailors come up seeing mccowan doing it and they give it a try and then another one for a couple hours they were running non stop and mccowan thinks we should get a kick back for all the business we started.

After a few hours roaming the beach we come back to the hotel and find a bunch of our friends swiming in the pool so we chilled by the pool as more people came up. Some of them ended up going to the waterfall and it turns out it was nothing more then a downhill stream and less a waterfall so in the end I think we made out pretty well. didn't pay way to much for a taxi had some good local food, parasailed and walked along a very nice beach and saw alot of beautiful things. talked to a tortoise and got to get off the ship and relax for awhile.

Its funny really. In the end though I ended up spending about 7 hours that I could of been working, McCowan went out of his way to make sure I got off the ship and relaxed. Good people, sometimes they are hard to find but you know them when you see them. After we got back to the ship I thanked him for draggin me along and he said no problem you needed it. So it comes full circle in the end I guess sometimes you do just have to say heck with it and go out and have fun. As with everything, things will work themselves out in the end if you let it.

Time is drawing near and soon the light at the end of the tunnel will start to show. Its been a long haul and more so then I thought it would be. I look forward to see you all soon though its still a ways out :) Take care and be safe.

mark

Oh boy....Hump day.

well it has been awhile since I last posted and really even though I have seen my share of things I guess it just doesnt really come to me to write about it.

So since the last time I posted I have been through the Straits of hormuz twice. Now some of you may be wondering "whats the big deal?" or "did he mean hummus?" or even "does that mean in the navy your called it the SOH?" well if you thought the third one your right because everything in the navy is an acronym. but if your thinking the first one I will answer it for you right after I answer the second....no.... ok back to answer question 1. This is the chokepoint to get into the Gulf and up to Iraq, kuwait, bahrain and several other countries..... all very very hot. At this chokepoint Iran has many many missile sites and patrol craft and so on and so forth, this is where something would happen if it were to happen. So as you can imagine in a the time honored tradition of bad management we had meeting after meeting about it leading up to the much feared day. All our preparations all that I am trained to do was meant for this moment. And.... wait for it...... easy! we went through without a hitch and the transit back was even easier. Now I dont want to make it sound like a walk in the park. at any time a missile could come from pretty much anywhere so it was tense but not overly so and we acting professionally and swiftly through just as we drew it up.

This leads me to why we had to go through the straits or SOH if you read the first paragraph. As most of you may know the USS ANZIO is the flagship for the counter piracy operations in the Gulf of Arden (any guesses on the acronym) and the horn of Africa (that acronym is almost too easy). Since we are a flagship this also means we get to take on staff, usually an admiral and officers. Now up until that point we had a turkish staff on board since this is a multinational operation. I can't tell you how many or who but you can rest assured there are many countries and man ships out here patrolling for pirates. When we pulled into Bahrain we had a change of command from teh turkish staff to the good old american boys. So now its mostly US staff with a few british guys thrown in for fun.

While in bahrain I was able to enjoy to nice relaxing cool 120 degree heat. With a nice stiff breeze of 1 mph it didn't really feel that hot, for an oven. Besides the heat Bahrain is a growing country and many buildings were being erected even with the global economy as it is. The base in Bahrain is very large and offered a large store a mini mall and live acts nightly. Bahrain has become the hub for all naval activity in the region and has been built up to accomadate the occasional few thousand sailors at any one time. One of the days we were able to travel outside the base gates and check out the city. I was able to visit the golden sueq and golden city. you can guess what they sold mostly.

Now this was my first real visit to a country totally differnt in culture then my own. even isreal was rather western and of course europe familiar. but here it was a small bit of a culture shock. the women all were covered and the men mostly wore traditional outfits. The busniess men and the store keepers wore normal cloths though. As you would walk down the street the store keepers would yell to you saying anything they could think of to draw you in. Everything was cheap, knock offs and never ever accept the price they tell you. Its required to haggle here and they will talk to you and do anything they can for a sale. This is very odd for me cause I am used to just asking what the price is and accepting that price. for example at a watch place he showed us a rolex watch, which was no doubt fake, and said 120 dinar which is roughly 300 dollars. we said no and started to walk away he kept lower the price. by the time we finally walked away 30 dinar and he was still willing to go lower but we never wanted to buy it anyways.

There are a million stories like that everywhere we went customer service was over the top. they would follow you with a big smile telling you "you nice man I give you good price" or "this happy place I make price to give you smile" and so on and so forth. One such occasion we walked into a persian rug store and the store keeper I kid you not unroled over 40 rugs showing us all the different types and kept asking him to stop cause I knew he would have to roll them up and I would feel bad but he insisted by the end the stack of rugs had piled up past my knees. I will say this, those rugs were amazing. true persian rugs, very high quality made from silk. Some of them thousands of dollars but if you were to see them you would say it was worth it. I also got a small 4 x 3 for around 300 dollars just because it was so beautiful and I think it would be cool to have but I thought better of it and moved on.

My liberty buddy was thomas and he had been to Bahrain before and he told us of a mall nearby and he said it was walking distance and we didn't want to pay for a taxi anyways...... well if you knew thomas you could figure out where this is going. about 3 hours later and about 4 miles of walking through the non-tourist part of town we came apon the mall. along the way we came apon the local fishermans hub where they stack the ships when they are not out fishing. these boats are little dhows with not much more then wood, duct tape and rope and some nets. all crunched together maybe 400 in about the size of a football field. it was a site to see. As we walked by it was getting close to a couple hours before sunset and the fisherman were just starting to head out for the night catch. it was cool watching the group one by one detach from the mass and turn toward the open water, like the sands going through an hourglass they poured out into the guld.

The mall is very western and accordingly the people and wore more western cloths and the women uncovered their faces though not all of them. its was interesting to see the different attitude and style. the center of the man is like a stage not unlike local malls here and they had a kids group performing traditional acts and musicals. I watched for awhile soaking up the culture. I find it funny I saw more of the traditional culture in the western style mall then I did anywhere else in the city. by the time we had checked out the mall it was time to head back, a good day full of new experiences a hike through some "interesting" areas and I got to say no probably more times then I have ever said in one day before. Not bad if I dont say so myself.

Now I am back out in pirate country patroling the shipping lanes looking for cpt jack sparrow. I can't say its the most exciting thing in the word but then again not every day can be action packed or I think I would get pretty burnt out hehe.

Now if you have already forgotten the subject title of my post I will refresh you now. Hump day is the official day we are half way through deployment and that happened last sunday. To mark the event we had a multitude of events including a talent show, tug-o-war, gallon of milk chug, jello eating contests, egg toss (chief you have stone hands!) and a few more activites to mark the event. A good time was had by all. We have a couple navytimes journalists onboard so look for pics of us at navytimes.com from time to time. So this also means I am now officially on the back 9 of deployment though not heading home people are starting to see a wee light in the distance. The next big milestone will be when we turn two and start heading back home. thats when things will get crazy.

I have written a lot and I dont have time to spell check so please pardon the grammar and spelling error I just wanted to update everyone on how I am doing and whats going on. Take care everyone.

mark

A funny thing happened on the way.........

ok here is an exhange that went down a few weeks back while we were out to see

TAO: surface, who is track #1234
Surface: tao, track 1234 is uranus
Tao: tao copies uranus
Surace: uranus bears 190 at 10 miles
Tao: tao copies uranus bears 190 at 10 miles, break bridge?
Bridge: bridge copies uranus 190 at 10 miles.
Bridge: tao we have visual on uranus at 190
Tao: copy visual on uranus at 190, break surface
Surface: copies, visual on uranus, break bridge, can you make anything out about uranus?
Bridge: negative nothing special about uranus
surface: surface copies nothing special about uranus.

by now there is alot of laughing going on. Just a little snippet of how life can be underway.