Well, ladies and gentlemen, the second portion of my adult life is complete.

Kind of a bold statement, I know, and one really has to wonder how I, someone in their mid-20's, can actually come out and say that so decisively, especially considering how non-decisive a person I tend to be.

In this case, the answer is relatively simple - as of midnight last night, I was released from active duty in the United States Navy. After about four years of service in the Surface Warfare community, and attaining the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade, I have decided that it is time for me to move on to other things.

What prompted this change? In a single word, family. When I started my quest to be in the Navy, the thought of getting married... well, had not even occurred to me. I dated, sure, but I was an eighteen-year-old male - how many of those actually think of the "m"-word? Since then, I have met and married my wife, and it is interesting how one's priorities shift after an event like that. Better Half has procured a job in Tennessee, and while there are Navy bases in some rather strange corners of the country (including Millington, TN, for that matter), none of them are within a close enough driving distance for me to be home every night for dinner with her. And after being married for over 2.5 years now, and being able to spend maybe only six months total together, we are getting kind of tired of the whole "geographical bachelor(ette)" concept. So, after having to deal with that separation for a time now, the opportunity for me to have a little more locational control over my life came up, and we jumped at it.

I will go ahead and cut some people off at the pass, and answer the more prevalent, and generally more interesting (in my opinion) questions in relation to military service. Since being commissioned, I have lived in Georgia; Pascagoula, MS (before Katrina); Jacksonville, FL (after Katrina); and now San Diego, CA. On my various ships, I have visited Pascagoula, Jacksonville, and San Diego (obviously); New York City, NY; Earle, NJ; Ingleside, TX; Pensacola, FL; Norfolk, VA; Kings Bay, GA; Everett, WA; Seattle, WA; Panama City, Panama (no, not Florida); Manta, Equador; Acajutla, El Salvador; Oranjestad, Aruba; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Apra Harbor, Guam; Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates; Manama, Bahrain; Darwin and Brisbane, Australia; and Pearl Harbor, HI. Depending on how you count it, I have sailed through twelvish significant bodies of water - the North Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the North and South Pacific, the Philippine Sea, the Coral Sea, the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf. Additionally, I have seen the Galapagos Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Kuwait, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Phillippines, the Maldives, Oman, and Saudi Arabia - oddly enough, from the ocean, most of them look more-or-less the same (and Djibouti looks a lot like the coast of Southern Kalifornistan). I have been through the Panama Canal twice, the Straits of Hormuz more times than I care to remember, and the Straits of Malaca; I have crossed the Equator literally more times than I can count, and once I even managed to cross the Equator and the Intenational Date Line simultaneously - yes, that makes me a Golden Shellback (along with making me a time traveler... the IDL still gives me headaches). Finally, I have been in nineteen timezones, including a half-zone (can someone please explain to me why the central section of Australia does that?).

All said, it has been a busy four years.

What is next? Honestly, I am not entirely sure at the moment, but I have time to figure it out. At the moment, Better Half and I are headed to the grand old state of Tennessee, so who knows what that horizon holds after that. Why did I write this? Well, now you all know why there are some pretty significant gaps in my writing on this weblog... Yes, surface ships have internet access underway, but for those of you who remember dialup... yeah, the ships' connections are slower.

So, Say Uncle or Squeaky... either of you got someplace we can crash?

(And, just so we are all on the same page, this weblog post, along with most of this weblog in general, is just about me - forgive the selfish moment. As always, the views, thoughts, pictures, comments, and posts written and found on this weblog are the sole intellectual property of their respective authors (and whatever hallucinations, voices, or otherworldly entities prompted the expressive urge), and do not represent the official position of any employer, organization, or governmental entity, including, but not limited to, the Department of Defense.)