Almost At Sea!

Today is July 1st. I am sitting in a hotel room in Mobile, Alabama as I took a couple days leave (vacation). I haven't taking any time off since December. And now we are about to set sail to go around South America to bring this great ship to her homeport in San Diego.

To recap:
- I started to apply to the Navy in Feb 2012. Resume, applications, references,multiple interviews and then a final interview at the Pentagon in December, culminating in being accepted into the Naval Chaplaincy.
- February 17, 2013 - I was commissioned as a Naval Officer Lieutenant Junior Grade after 12noon mass at St. Joseph Church, Toms River, NJ
- I waited until the diocese released me to go to the Navy. In the meantime, I prepared. I started physical training, getting my things in order and packing up my stuff.
- I received my orders in the beginning of August and then headed off to Officer Development School in Newport Road Island for 5 weeks of officer training. I was with doctors, lawyers, nurses, dentists, chaplains and nukes (nuclear engineering instructors). I was the only priest. We learned the basics of how to be officers in the Navy. I graduated ODS on September 20.
- I drove to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for 8 weeks of Chaplain School. We learned not different religions, but the particulars of being chaplains in the Navy. We went over the instructions, policies, programs and potential pitfalls. Mostly we got a sense of the attitude needed to be successful: having a heart for the people we serve. I graduated Chaplain school on November 15.
- Then I drove to NJ to pack up a trailer full of stuff (thanks to Bob, Cat and Mike for the help!) and I drove cross country to my first assignment in San Diego. I spend six weeks there getting my feet wet (lots of training, paperwork and meeting people.)
- In January I drove to Pascagoula, MS to join the PCU America and see the ship for the first time. I met the rest of the CRMD ministries department team. We worked hard to get the ship ready to receive the crew in April.
- ON April 10th, we marched onboard to take possession of the ship. USS America delivered to the Navy




Since then we have been setting up our respective departments and going through all kinds of qualifications of certifications. Flight deck and Hangar bay fire drills. Ship wide fire drills, General Quarters drills, Anti-Terrorism Force Protection drills occurred daily.

It has been quite something to get used to. 6am wake up calls, 10pm lights out. Sleeping in racks (mine is the top bunk of 2-high bunkbeds.)

Getting to know the 1100 sailors and a few Marines has been a challenge, but I have enjoyed meeting them and getting to know their jobs a bit. I watched the Deck department training on their mooring lines and anchors. This week I watch them use a crane to pull up the 7 meter RHIB boat on to its shipboard cradle. I have watch the Air department do their fire drills and I get to watch them carry injured crew to the Flight Deck Battle Dressing Station, where I am stationed during General Quarters. I have visiting engineering spaces and checked out the huge diesel generators (supply power to the whole ship), the Main Reduction Gear, the propeller shafts and the Turbine Engines (basically a jet engine that makes our ship go really fast.) I got to do a maintenance spot check on the SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare system sensor. That was cool. I visited aft steering, way down in the back end of the ship where we can steer the ship manually if all else fails. I almost broke my head on a battle lantern (it is a very tight space.)

Routinely, big chaps and I walk around the ship, just chatting with sailors and observing their daily routine. Our office is right off the mess decks, so I frequently, pop my head out and talk to the FSAs (those temporarily assigned to help setup and  clean up meals and the CSs, the cooks.

I have been doing a lot of counseling, sailors, mostly juniors, come to talk about whatever is going on in their life: marriage, work, stresses and occasionally something spiritual. All those conversations are confidential. It is a privilege to be someone they know they can talk to about anything. Occasionally, I refer them to medical or some other service for some further assistance.

I have been saying daily mass at 11:30am and Sunday mass at 830. We have been very happy to have music each week by our choir. I enjoy working with them each week. I will add a Saturday evening mass probably at 7pm when we get underway.

We have been working 6 days a week for a number of weeks. This Saturday was mostly a free day, however many Engineers were working hard on repairs and of course 1/3 of the crew was on duty. This phase is almost complete.

Next Stop: South America

Now the fun begins. We pack up and set sail soon. Final preparations are being made to get underway. We will sail south to Colombia, Brazil, the Straits of Magellan, Chile and Peru. And in about 2 months we will pull into San Diego. After that we will head to San Francisco to be Commissioned in October.

In each port we will meet with dignitaries, do some service projects, some trips, some liberty. Along the way, the many new folks (about 700 first time on ship) will experience real Navy sea life. Very exciting (he says with a little trepidation.)


Please continue to pray for us on the USS America!

Life in Pascagoula

(I wrote this back in March, but never posted it....)

Well, I have been down here in Pascagoula, Mississippi for two months. Living in the barracks. Pascagoula has many, many fast food restaurants and a Walmart. There are some other restaurants here that are pretty good. New York Pizza is actually pretty good. But to get to "civilization" as I like to call it, or an area that looks similar to my Metropolitan mind, I have to drive over to Biloxi which is 25 miles away.

CRMD

I work in a Pre Commission office building in Ingalls Shipbuild yards where our Ship is. We have been busy getting ready to move aboard next month. My department, CRMD - Command Religious Ministries Department - has been busy getting the chapel ready and also the other spaces we own: our office, the library (which is the other half of the chapel compartment) and a Recreation Room (and also 2 Fan rooms and 2 ladderwells). We will have to do maintenance on all these spaces since they have valves and gauges and other things that need maintenance.

Our department has four people: Commander Tim Johns (Big Chaps), two RPs (Religious Program Specialist enlisted) and myself (Little Chaps, Baby Chaps). RP1 (first class petty officer) has been in Pascagoula getting things together for months before I arrived here. RPSN (seaman) is learning the ropes. It is a great team and we await the arrival of Big Chaps so our team will be all together.

The Chapel

The chapel is one half of the shared space with the Library. It is not what you think about when you hear the word "chapel." Rather, it is a plain compartment, with a drop ceiling (which hides pipes and valves), two storage closets (one doubles as the sacristy) and some cabinets. There is also a huge network switch where the altar should go. Our job is to give the space a chapel feel. It will take a long time to get there, but we are thankful that we have a dedicated space.

Last month, we received our first load of items for the chapel. Hymnals, candles, prayer books, folding chairs, a portable altar (it we have services on the flight deck or hangar bay) and various items for various faiths. We have a lot more things to get to make it functional. We recently received a wood altar, which is still in the warehouse and we will bring it to the ship in a few weeks.

First Mass!

I had the honor of celebrating the first mass for the crew 9am last Sunday, 9 March (and the second today!). Currently, we have mass in a conference room in the barracks up until we move aboard. What a privilege! Doing those masses in the high school chapel was good preparation! When we get aboard we will have 830 Mass and a 10am Protestant service to start. We will probably (hopefully!) need to add services.

Move Aboard

The next big step is Move Aboard. Next month, the remaining crew will arrive (another 600 people) and we will begin living on the ship while it is here in the shipyards. This will give us a chance to get the last things ready for Sail Around, where we take the ship to our Homeport in San Diego. Then we will be Commissioned in San Francisco. It is a very exciting time to be getting close to Move Aboard, although this is the first time for many of us, so there is apprehension. The berthing areas are being prepared - the crew moved 3200 mattresses onto the ship recently.



Please continue to pray for the crew of the PCU America, LHA-6

Cross Country Trip to Homeport San Diego!

After RMTEX field training, we finished off chaplain school with TEAMS week, some final information and preparation for our first assignment as a Navy Chaplain. I also attended my first Marine Corps Ball.

Me, Dan, Rafi, Gunny, Ryan, Jamil at the Marine Corps Ball

We graduated on November 15th. My Cheerleading squad, my Mom and sister Jill, showed up for graduation.

My Cheerleaders

After Chapschool, I stopped in Toms River for the weekend to pack. I loaded up my trailer with the help of Cat and Mike and Pat (awesome friends!)

On Sunday, I baptized my niece, Morgan Grace, Kelly and Andy's baby. It was a great experience! How cool to be a brother/uncle/priest!!

Cross Country Trip #1 -- San Diego!

That Monday I started my 2700 mile journey to the West Coast. The farthest I had been by car or bike was Illinois. So this was pretty cool. It was long days of 400-500 miles. Driving, stopping to eat, or get gas, take a photo, etc. My trip was to take me through Columbus, Ohio, St Louis, Missouri, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Phoenix, Arizona.

 

I'll post a couple cool photos from the trip. The first day I tried to put on some good miles to Ohio. Then I got into the swing of things by stopping at something interesting on Day Two. Here I found the World's Largest Wind Chime and, at the golf course, the World's Tallest Golf Tee in Casey, Illinois.

It had a scripture quote on it.

I didn't see the golf ball though....

A 55 foot Wind Chime. Cool Christian fish and Star of David symbols.

I stayed with Navy Chaplain, Fr. Joe Coffey, at the Cathedral in St. Louis. I was able to concelebrate mass there in the morning. It is a beautiful church, looks kinda like ones from France.

Pentecost

How about this altar. Nice!

Mary's altar

Fr. Joe took me to the St. Louis Arch at night. It is big!!

This thing is huge.

Like something from outer space....

Day 3

In the morning I took the tram up inside the Arch! Driving up to it...

Once inside you are up very high. That's my blue pickup and trailer down there....

630 feet high. There's room inside with windows to look around (obviously).

After this things got pretty flat. I visited a Chaplain friend, Episcopal priest, Kenneth Orsbourne in Tulsa, Ok. I stayed outside of Oklahoma city that night. The next morning I headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I passed through the panhandle of Texas and stopped at Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo.

Just some cars stuck in the dirt.

It was so cool that day. 40 something degrees and windy. But I am enjoying it!

Covered with years of graffiti. Pretty cool.

I stayed in Albuquerque, which is a pretty big city. I got up and went to St. Therese Church. It was small but pretty. There was a nice daily mass community. It is enjoyable to stop in and see local churches and the fact that they celebrate the same mass everywhere gives a sense of Universality of the Church.

After Albuquerque, I started to see some cool mountains and desert. There are the cool plateaus in the desert, we talked about in grade school.

Then I hit Arizona. It got colder and rainy. By the time I hit Flagstaff, it was 31 degrees. It seemed like a Pocono or New England ski town.

I drove up steep hills and was glad I recently had bought a pickup with a V6 engine. My Escape would not have pulled the trailer up the highways into Phoenix. Phoenix is a pretty busy city, too. Lots of shopping centers off the main highway.

The next day was more desert as I entered California. Luckily I was listening to a book on tape that keep me occupied (It was boring). Although I enjoyed the difference in scenery.

I headed west on Interstate 8, I came very close to the Mexican border. I crossed over some more mountains and entered San Diego. I arrived at the Naval Base at 32nd street, which would be my home area for the next six weeks.

The first ships I saw in San Diego were Arleigh Burke destroyers....the type I worked on at Lockheed back in my previous life!!

A few days in the area and I moved into the rectory at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Rancho Penasquitos - about 20 miles north of base. I had asked the diocese if they could find a rectory for me to stay in and luckily Fr. Anthony Saroki invited me there. A beautiful, new church and a lovely congregation. I really enjoyed my short time there and look forward to returning with LHA-6, the America, to our Homeport later this year!