In the suck

HOORAH.

Wrong service, wrong geographic location, similar gas masks. I am in the suck. I am in the thick of quals, 3-section Engineering Duty Officer under instruction watches, because that's how my boat rolls, to which I say:
Welcome to the US Navy. Despite all of this, I am standing fast, and have no plans to self immolate in protest. I am saving that one for later. I recently obtained a division, which is a key part of a JO's career. I am becoming very familiar with how our boat operates day to day, week to week, and in the long term as well. The current state of morale on the boat is tenuous, for many reasons, and a frequent term is "getting humped in the face."
I am also learning the different leadership styles of Dept. Heads and above, for better or for worse. Every day, I face new challenges in dealing with my sailors, chiefs, and bosses. While frustrating, I am trying to keep everything in perspective and realize that this is one of the most invaluable experiences in ones life. This is a quote that I frequently recall when facing adversity :

“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” - Samuel Smiles, Scottish Author.

This is one of my favorite quotations of late, as it truly speaks to the foundations of a positive, successful attitude.

I am still in the phase of watching/listening/learning, and formulating my leadership style, with which I hope to make an impact in my fellow shipmates lives. I say shipmates because leadership is not Reaganomics. Leadership is like a light bulb. It illuminates in all directions. Placing a lampshade on the light bulb, to direct that light, a self limiting belief. It degrades that light of leadership into the glow of management. This statement rests on an assumption of what leadership is. Everyone has their definition for leadership, and I have come to find that most people are correct in their definition. Leadership is not a simple noun. It is an attitude, a philosophy, and a living thing.
A simple definition of leadership that can be put into practice by ANYONE is as follows: -Leadership is inspiration and motivation. It is persuasion. It is moving the hearts, then minds, of people around you-
My hopes is that I will be able to eventually convey this to my junior sailors, and apathetic senior ones, and show them that change starts with oneself.

END SERIOUS TOPIC

I have been riding my bicycle to work, which is a dream. I love bicycles, and I love not using my car. On duty days I usually end up driving because of an early turnover time, but I get back at the command by standing topside and looking at fish that come up to the side of the boat. HAH.

Being out to sea actually has its benefits over being in port.
Sea:
PRO
1. Berthing is always dark. That means if you don't have anything going on, RACK TIME.
2. Shift work. That means you don't see everyone all the time. This means less whining, oversight, etc.
3. Berthing is always dark! Seriously, this is key folks. Rack time, all the time. Being at sea, you get woken up all the f-ing time, so if you get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, you should probably bake yourself a congratulatory cake. The usual routine is: Get off watch, do other work, go to bed, get woken up 3 hours into it, give wake up guy the evil eye, go back to sleep, get woken up again 2 hours later, for good this time, because you have to go back on watch. Repeat for weeks on end.
CON:
1. You're out to sea.

In port:
PRO
1. You get to go home and sleep in your own bed.
2. You can get real exercise.
3. Real food.
4. Women.
5. The Internet.

CON:
1. Duty days.
2. Officer/LPO Call
3. Seeing your CO all the time
4. Missing all daylight hours due to being at work.

That's enough for now, I have duty tomorrow. I will end with this:


Jondakine: The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
Bob Porter: Don't... don't care?
Jondakine: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and the US Navy kills a few extra terrorists, I don't see another dime; so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon?
Jondakine: EIGHT bosses.
Bob Slydell: Eight?
Jondakine: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.