Afishionados,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you! Thanks for your comments, jabs, jokes, and support over the past year. The Fish wouldn’t be the same without you and I hope you stick around for 2007.

The phrase “I’ve been busy at work” does not even begin to explain how crazy it is right now onboard CVN-72, which is why the Fish has been quiet these many days. I am currently on three section duty, which means every three nights I have to stay the night on the ship and stand watch. Needless to say, I haven’t been home much and when I am home, I’ve been too tired to say much.

Fortunately, strings have been pulled and deals have been made where I am off until December 26th. So, without further delay, onto new business!

I’ve been promoted to Petty Officer Second Class (E-5). After many weeks of rescheduling, the Lincoln’s advancement ceremony finally took place this afternoon. Hopefully I’ll be getting paid for it soon as well, though that’s not the best part about getting promoted. Perhaps the most beneficial element is the fact that I no longer have to ride the theoretical bus from Everett to Bremerton. E-5 and above are authorized to ride the theoretical private ferry that theoretically leaves directly from base and is a straight shot to Bremerton. Whereas traffic through Seattle is bumper to bumper every day, the ferry is on open water and can save anywhere from 20-40+ minutes off my daily commute.

But that’s not my favorite part of making ET2. The absolute best part about the promotion is that I once again outrank my brother in the Marines! (He was all too excited to point out at his wedding in July that he made E-4.)

Unfortunately, for what I believe is the third time, the USMC has decided to keep my brother in Iraq for yet another Christmas, so I won’t be able to share my good fortune with him this holiday season. I doubt very much that I could have made it this far without his support, advice, and “rivalry” ;-).

Drew, I will once again miss you very much this Christmas but I want you to know that I am thinking about you more than you will ever know. Be careful, stay safe, and come home soon you damn jarhead. I love you, buddy.

Click Here to Watch Drew’s Video (Link opens in a new window)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 10:09 pm and is filed under Awesome, Family, Holidays, Navy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.