Dejavu

Last night as I iron uniforms for the first time in 18 months I had a strong sense of dejavu. The last time I got so many uniforms ready at the same time was almost 16 years ago when I was under severe time constraints to have uniforms inspection ready for a gunnery sergeant in NROTC. I chuckled frequently as I thought back to those days while ironing my uniforms. Secondly, the last time I put on a uniform for active duty I was a LCDR in the submarine force. Now, I am an ENS again back in the initial training phase for a Navy career. I am almost certain this set of schools will be less mentally challenging than the whole nuclear pipeline, but it will still be rewarding. I sat amazed at the whole loss of rank thing last night. All this just to follow God. I am not the only one to do this, I remind myself, and I know the end result is what is important.

On another note, a good friend that is out of the Navy but in the reserves was just recalled involuntarily for duty in Iraq. He is excited about the challenge of working plans at Camp Victory, but I still wish him success and safe travels over the next 400+ days. As more and more people I know are sent over there, the warrior mentality kicks in for me and I feel slighted that I am not over there using my skills. It is hard to see your brothers in arms go into harms way while you are stuck stateside. We always wanted to be on deployment and the pointy end of the spear while on the boat, and this is no different. Military personnel want to be with their brethren when they are in danger as we so often relied on each other.