The RETURN

I'm back, from a long hiatus. Unplanned, but not undeserved. Not in any sort of chronological order:
I have now under my belt:
1. Fish (for a while now)
2. A deployment
3. May more collateral duties than I ever expected to get
4. A squad of NUBS below me that my CoC expect me to train (uh oh...)
5. Months of local ops experience, including a long SCC ops underway. Yes, if you have ever been a SCC student, this goes to you: I HATE SCC OPS. Nonetheless, I still got to do tons of stuff as a submariner, JO, and OOD.

I am nearing the 'promise-land' break that every JO gets, and if they're stupid, get's twice. Yes, PNEO.

I won't post any statuses on that as to not jinx myself.

In other news, I have done a lot of thinking of what I like and do not like about the sub force, and how that has affected my clear and unwavering decision with my career path (i.e. to stay in or get out). I have already decided, but will hold the results, for suspense's sake, and again as to not jinx myself.

Quick recap of deployment:
Saw a few ports, not as many as I'd like - one stood out the most. To maintain the anonymity, I will not mention the port, but it was very international and awesome. Will descibe in detail later.
Stood a ton of watch back aft (bleh) and saw my CO flip out way too many times. Luckily, he's gone and morale has sky rocketed.
I am saving a great post about my old CO for later... Muhaha...

Recently:
I've anchored a 688. Who's done that? Not many, to be honest. Any especially not many JO's. I've anchored small pleasure craft numerous times, and this was nothing like that. I actually hope to never do it again.

I'll end this post with a love/hate about subs:
LOVE/HATE: watching a full moon through the scope at night - the detail you can see is actually amazing / being at PD at night for your whole watch, and continuous search, with no contacts.