A Tale of Two Cities (and Two Continents)

In January of 2017 I became Executive Officer of HSC-85 and attempted to execute reserve drill there while working full time in Washington DC. It was difficult, and, in hindsight, probably not a great idea. The selection for command was very unexpected, but I didn’t think it was an opportunity to lead that I should pass up.

            I traveled to Newport, RI in April to attend pre-command Naval Leadership and Ethics training and completed a week of aircraft “back-in-the saddle” proficiency flying in Boise, ID in August in preparation to deploy again. Remembering my going away from DC in September actually makes me more sad writing today than it did at the time, though at the time I was consumed with packing up and moving cross country once again.

            I knew once I became XO that I would have to come back to the Navy full-time, at least for the majority of the XO/CO period. I tried to maximize my time in DC. I attended baseball games in DC and Baltimore, anchored the Nelson inter-congressional-office softball team, and tried to ensure weekends that I was in town were filled with happy hours and friend dinners. Looking back, I was not as successful as I hoped, due to travel between DC and SD – not an easy feat even in today’s transportation age.

            I was able to complete some pleasure travel. I went to Tampa for the Service Academy Appointees reception, which was for Nelson work, but I was able to expand the trip with an Orlando visit. Spending July 4^th in North Carolina with the whole family, including Glory, was definitely the highlight of the year. I made it to the annual Pensacola Beach week in August and went from there to North Carolina for a wedding of a DC friend couple. I also went to Annapolis in October for my Class of 2002 15-year reunion, where I was interviewed on radio about the occasion with my famous Blue Angel classmates. Finally, and thankfully, I was able to spend Christmas in Orlando as well before departing on deployment.

            Filling my role as Executive Officer and preparing for deployment began to take up much more of my time. I mobilized in Norfolk in September and then made the long cross-country trek, Glory in tow, from DC back to San Diego. I got to experience the four-year requirement for the “helo dunker” which is always a thrill.  I also made a trip to meet my deployed chain of command staff Special Operations Command Pacific at Camp Smith in Hawaii.

            In January I departed for Africa to provide casualty evacuation support for operations throughout the Horn of Africa. This deployment was quite a bit different from my previous ones – while the mission was similar, our living conditions were very austere, and the deployment was tough. A chain of command that didn’t understand what we were doing nor providing us the support to do it made the experience all the more frustrating, a condition that would unfortunately continue throughout my command tour.

            The end of the Mom Year saw me missing the birthday trip to Portofino, but about to make the jump from Africa to Japan, and back to San Diego shortly thereafter.   

Baseball in October w/ Mike Freeman

Mary Pam made an appearance at my birthday

Mom and Dad's favorite midshipman Garrett K.

Interviewed for the Voice of the Goat during my reunion

Glory's new caretaker...

...and new playmate

Visit with the Loflins during a short trip home

Mack visiting the squadron before I deployed

Operations in Africa

The Africa Crew

Update from Skip/Dad/Granddad

Dear Kids,

Mom and I have very much enjoyed receiving and reading your recent updates on the happenings in your lives. By way of update here, we are in the midst of painting the interior of the house which means Mom has to sit at home and "mind" the painters while also finishing the gardening overhaul we began this past weekend, and keeping Glory entertained and out of the paint (along with the Loflin children!). It has been a blur of activity. Two weeks ago we traveled to NOLA for the funeral of Judge Beer. We traveled by Cirrus with an overnight stop on the way out in Pensacola and then returned straight thru with a fuel/pit stop in Tallahassee. Mrs Czes flew out with us and both she and Mrs Barley flew home. They both seemed to enjoy the flights. I know the Bailes appreciated our attendance even though it was brief. We got a very nice note from MimiK to that effect.

I forgot to mention that in addition to the house painting we are also not yet completed with the basement repairs following the hurricane Irma flooding. Hopefully that will finish up this week and we can begin to move things out of the garage into back into the basement (with some significant culling in the process). We are pleased to have finally gotten the storage unit cleaned out and eliminated. As you may know, we are having a "friendraiser" at the house on Friday March 16 (Yay Yay's birthday- don't forget!) to be followed in May by Mary Michael and Hunter's wedding in the back yard. So, there is a time crunch to get these things done. 

Baseball season is in full swing and we are very much enjoying afternoons and Saturdays at the ball park. Peter takes his game quite seriously and is an accomplished athlete which is no surprise. Addy seems to most enjoy the red clay of the infield but is a great hitter in her own right. She always looks like she has played very hard and had a few hard slides by games end. Lucy enjoys her role as greeter and social activities coordinator along with supporting her siblings. John looks forward to the popcorn and generally being the cutest kid at the park.

We loved having a visit from the Elliott's for the celebration of Charles' 1st birthday. To say that we are over the moon about the news of yet another arrival is an understatement. Mom and I are looking to travel to Greenville the weekend of April 6 (Masters weekend) for a visit. We are also in the midst of planning an extended excursion to the West Coast in June for a visit with Bale, Mack & the Elliotts from June 8 thru 21. The last stop will be for a judicial meeting on sentencing in San Francisco. We are hoping to come up with a unique travel package of planes, trains & automobiles.

Things are also quite busy here at the Court. Still no action on our vacancies. I'm now also handling one half of the criminal docket in Ocala which means I travel to Ocala for proceedings at least once a month and more if I have a trial there, in addition to my case load here in Orlando which is quite heavy. I did manage to slip away for a three day golf trip with Darrell, Chas, Big Poppi and others this past week to Frederica, which was fun.

We hear often from Mack, but more is always welcome! Hopefully he will be able to come home for MM wedding. Likewise, we have been pleasantly surprised that the electronic communications with Bale have been as good as they are....we are prayerful about the deployment and really enjoy the periodic updates. 

This past weekend Mom and I attended a "Celebration of Life" for Caroline Baker. She is the daughter of Magistrate Judge David Baker and his wife Missy. Judge Baker recently retired after 21 years with the Court. His daughter committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge on October 28th of last year. While I only met her once and did not know her other than through her father she was so clearly gifted and accomplished. A graduate of Princeton, she worked in the Office of Naval Intelligence for a number of years before moving over to the Department of State where she served as a foreign service officer with postings to Tajikistan and Ankara in Turkey among others. She had just returned from Turkey. She was 38 years old having been born March 4, 1980. The setting for the remembrance was on the shores of Lake Virginia (I think) across from Rollins College at the Polasek Museum. It was mainly outdoors and there was not a cloud in the sky. It was idyllic. The procession of speakers was an array of primarily young women from her youth, and her days at the ONI as well as fellow foreign service officers. These women were so gifted and accomplished that it was humbling to be in their presence. The final send off did us both in as the speaker recounted that the sailors at ONI sent her on to the DOS with the message of "Fair winds and Following Seas" which brought us both to tears. Even though we did not know Caroline, we were moved by what an impressive person she was and the kindness of her heart as well. That she struggled for so long and finally succumbed to her lifelong depression was a hard story to hear. Not to mention the depth of her parents and siblings grief.

The purpose of recounting this is not to depress you all! It reminded us of just what a blessing each of you are in our lives. How proud we are of the people you have become which transcends your many accomplishments. It's more about the way you treat others with respect, kindness and dignity. That you have a heart for those in trouble, need or the grip of discouragement. We love you more than we could ever possibly express and the event this weekend made it important to take a minute and tell you that. We also want to be sure that you know we are always here for you, to celebrate or commiserate, to hear and share both good news and bad. To cheer your highs and help shoulder your lows. You (and yours) are our lives ........and we are so incredibly blessed by you. Love, Dad