Dramatic

Ok, i just got done writing like a 600 word post, but managed to delete, i tend to get a little carried away. But lets simplify it. Why do some people have to be so damn dramatic??? Is it necassary to post the same thing everyday, that you arent feeling well (i am sounding like a donkey) that you havent felt well in forever because you have been working doubles earning all that extra money. That you are just the worlds hardest worker and the most broken. That you just dont have normal conversation without informing the other person that you might have this wrong with you, that it is because you have been stressed from working so hard. If you dont need the extra money, stop complaining, it is your choice, why waste what little time you actually spend with friends complaing about your horrible life. Live in today, plan for tomorrow, enjoy your life now, life is a whinding road that you could easily stray from and get lost. ok now that i have that off my chest.

The Navy Wife

THE NAVY WIFE
The Lord was creating a model for military wives and was into His sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. The angel said, "Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one, what's wrong with the standard model? The Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? This isn't a regular military wife I have been tasked to make. This order is for a Navy wife. She is going to have to be some kind of phenomenal creation."
"She has to be completely independent... possess the qualities of both father and mother... be a perfect hostess to four or forty four at a moments notice. Run on black coffee... handle every emergency imaginable without a manual. Be able to carry on cheerfully whether pregnant or down with the flu... and be willing to move to a new location ten times in a twenty year career... and, she must have six pair of hands."
The angel shook her head and exclaimed, "Six pair of hands? Impossible."
The Lord continued, by saying, "Don't worry! I will give her an unusually large heart... that can swell with pride brought through her husband's achievements, capable of saying "I understand" when it really doesn't, and "I love you" in the bleakest of circumstances. It has to be an unusually strong heart also, to sustain the pain of separations and to beat soundly when it is overworked and tired."
"Lord," said the angel, touching His arm gently, "Go to bed and get some rest, you can finish this project another day."
"I can't stop now," said the Lord. "I am so close to the finished product. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can play gracious hostess to as many as six unexpected weekend guests, and wave good-bye to her husband from the pier, airport or depot, without totally understanding why it is that he must go."
The angel circled the model of the Navy Wife, looked at her closely and sighed, "It looks fine, but it's too soft."
"She might look soft," replied the Lord, "but she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure." Finally the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord's creation and announced, "There's a leak. Something is wrong with this model. It is not surprising that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this."
The Lord appeared offended at the angel's lack of confidence. "What you see is not a leak... it's called a tear."
"A tear? What is it there for?" asked the angel.
The Lord replied, "It's for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride and dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear."
"You are a genius!" exclaimed the angel.
The Lord looked puzzled and replied, "I didn't put that tear there."

Liberty Port Dubai

Well we just got back from a 2 week underway, we had a liberty port in Dubai for a few days, pretty cool, alot of interesting things, hung out at there mall, took a tour that took us way out there. We had a good time. This underway was going good up til the last few days, where we were riddled with casualties, ended up pulling back into bahrain with only one shaft/prop working. But once again, Crew Leader pulled through and we managed to finsh our tasking, our ops went successfull.



I know, i couldnt sit any gayer could i?^^^^^^^

Its a long way down!!^^^^^^^^^^^^

Uhh, eeek, i dont think so, i think i will stick with shorts, dresses just arent for me.^^^^^

During the tour i we stopped at a little store where they practically threw there traditional clothes on us. I looked rediculous. But the tour was pretty cool. Got to go swimming in a little oasis. Jump off the cliff into the water. I enjoyed myself, Looking forward to going back to dubai again. I have several hundred pics that i took from this underway. I unfortunately cant show them all of course. We are still working hard, we managed to get alot of painting done, our ship is looking awesome.

During my last night on watch managaed to see an oil rig that was spitting out fire, it was so big and bright that we could see the flame on the horizon. Lookout has its perks sometimes. All in all, this underway was ggod, other than the fact i have missed littlemans 3rd birthday, the 2nd one in a row i have missed.

Happy 3rd Birthday Christian!!!

Well what a day that was. He got a red bike from Dad and Maryann. His face was so excited when he saw it. Chris got him a huge 3-D roller coaster track table for his cars and trains. Way Cool!!! Movies, Guns, Fire and Resuse set, Coloring sets, Golfing set, Diego set, and more.

He even covered his ears when we sung Happy Birthday. I just can't believe he is 3 now. Where did the time go???

Lincoln

We got Christian at kitty for an early birthday present. Early, because they were going to put some of them down because they had way to many. As soon as I heard, we went up there to look. Chris gave me the OK, and that was that.

They brought out a bunch of them. But from the moment that Lincoln came in the room, he was all Christian wanted. We brought him home, and you would think that he has lived here forever. Most animals are scared at first until they adjust. NOT Lincoln. He just came struting in, and has been man of the house. He follows me and Christian everywhere. Like our little Guard Kitty. LOL. But at least we have a cat friendly home.......a.k.a. hamster and fish.

Ramadan, not just for locals.

Well Ramadan is slowly coming to an end, now realizing i may not have explained what Ramadan is, i shall now. Ramadan is the ninth month of the islamic calendar, it is the islamic month of fasting. So the participating muslims must refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, sexual activities, and anything of ill nature from sun up to sun down. We as guest here have to abide by the same customs per say, while out in town that is. Not to smoke, eat, drink, and to wear pants. Who ever thought of having to wear pants in 120 degree weather is a little on the crazy side. When me and my buddy had went to the mall a while back, those pics i had posted with the silly-ness stuffed animals, we had our back packs and inside was a few bottles of water, we would walk into the head(bathroom) walk in a stall and quitely drink them. So for the most part, during this time, the majority of us never really travel outside of base til it is over. Most places are closed during the day anyway, hence the reason i am constantly here at the dome everynight, it sits just outside of base and plus the coffee twister is freaking awesome!! Now when Ramadan is over, i will once again be able to travel outside wearing shorts, yay. I will also be going over to the souq to buy some purses, amazing how most things here are so cheap. Oh yeah the purses are not for me if you were wondering. I dont roll like that.

Were Back Manama, Bahrain!!!

Well we have returned to port, after a tiring underway that consisted of alot of minesweeping. We participated in an excecise that included a few british minehunter ships and even one of our LHDs the USS BATAAN, a multi purpose amphibious assault ship, and of course our dinky little minesweepers. This excercise gave us some valuable training, both personal onboard training, as well as training jointly with one of our bigger decks and the british minehunters.



We also managed to gather the ships that were still participating at the end of the week to form up for this photo. Tooken by a helicopter off the LHD. I managed to take some pics with my personal camera on deck of the ships as we were forming up, but have yet to remember to transfer them to my pc.
We arrived in port early morning, cleaned up and prepared to go on liberty, only to find out that we were having to prepare for another underway the following morning, we had been tasked again. The fact that we managed to refuel, resupply and get back underway with no problem the following morning on short notice is an accomplishment that shows the abilitys of our crew at maintaing our ship and always being ready. This capabilty is shared throughout the U.S. military, standing by, always ready.

Sleepy

I am currently working on 3 hours of sleep, had duty yesterday, stood 12 hours of watch. So today has been a long day. My big day is September 17, @ o700, that is when I take my test for petty officer 3rd class, So I can hurry up and become MN3 on the fast track to success. I am currently working on getting my esws completed sometime at the end of the year.

The other day i was on here, looking through some of my aunts old blogs, and came across one she did of my dad, now retired, he was PSC (SW), he had a very distinguished career, all of his co-workers i met praised his work, i had met his commanding officers/executive officers several times and had only the same to say, he has always been a stand up sailor with a can do attitude, and even now, being retired, he still holds the same mindset of his junior sailors, ensuring the best for them. I have always been very proud of his many accomplishments and dedication. He has always said that he was proud of me, and that i would exceed at anything i do. The day i graduated bootcamp, he looked in my eyes and told me how proud he was and i was going to exceed/excell better than he did, well chief thats only cause i have learned from the best. I only hope that i can be half the sailor he was/is.

Horsing Around

Just the other day me and my buddy went out to one of the malls here in Bahrain, we had nothing better to do really, but we walked into this pretty big toy store, they had all sorts of huge stuffed animals, the picture says it all. We went a little childish.

Aside from goofing off, we have been working pretty hard the past few days, trying to get our deck spaces clean and ready for a zone inspection, i have been spending alot of time in my space getting it beyond standards, finnaly got it done today, just in time for our inspection tomorrow. I am also spending some time studying for my upcoming petty officer 3rd class test in September. Not really alot of studying needed but cant hurt

Littlemans 3rd birthday is coming up, and this will be his second one that i have missed in a row. It really sucks, but i do what i have to do, he still knows who daddy is, i talk to him on the phone a bit, he tells me all sorts of things, like he wants a spongebob cake and he wants one present, Liar, lol. Hard to believe he has gotten so big this past year, and to imagine i wont see him again til February, they do grow up fast it seems in this case. Well i got to get going, its getting late, and i have an early day tomorrow. So til next time....

Desert Sailor

I am going to try this again, lets see how long i can keep this updated again.

Well anyway, i am here in manama bahrain, where it is hotter than hell, aboard USS Ardent, MCM 12. i have seen the temp. get to 125 in the shade, it has reportedly been above 130 a few times since we have been here, it isnt so bad when we pull out of the pier and go underway, it cools down little bit. But i guess i am kinda used to it, being from florida and all, it doesnt seem to affect me as much as others sometimes. We are going on an extended underway soon, we have been real busy this past month, with multiple underways to gear us up for this upcoming one. I am enjoying it here as much as i can, its been real hard here lately, been in the navy going on a year and a half and havent been able to have some real quality family time. But i make the best out of it, not like its going to get better if i just mope around, i have my 3rd class test coming up in sept. wish me luck, and i am working on getting all my qualifications done so i can get my (esws) surface warfare pin. I have alot to do, alot to concentrate on so i can stand out and be at the top, i have praises from some of my shipmates, specially my LPO (leading petty officer). I have been taking pics here and there but nothing real special, havent ventured off to far and generally forget the cam. But me and a buddy plan on hitting it up tomorrow. I have been trying to post some pics, but for some reason it hates me, let me post one of my ship but i will try posting other pics at a later time.I got to get going now, it is getting late here, til next time...http://www.ardent.navy.mil/default.aspx for info on my current ship!

Bahrain

Here are some pictures of Bahrain....





At least the gold is cheap there...lol

Chris got his orders.

And he is going to Bahrain until next Year. But the good thing is......is that after he gets home, he won't have to go back. So we will be going to San Diego when he gets home from there. So we are moving into an apartment here, putting Christian into daycare, and I am going back to school and getting a job. Got to stay as busy as possible to make the time go by faster.

Copy-Cat

Wow. Didn't realize Chris wasn't posting stuff. Well.....to clue everyone in....I had a surgery on the 25th of November. It was on my ovaries, cervix, and uterus. I have Endometrious, so they had to go in and clean it all out. So I am pain free once again....YAY!
But in other news, Chris is coming home next week....on the 17th, and he will be here until the 29th. So we are so excited.
I can hardly wait.
But Christian is doing good. Talking non-stop. He in the copy-everything-you-say stage right now. But he is to funny. His new favorite word is "WOW". Everything is "wow" to him. And he has to help. He even has his own chores. But he is getting so big. I swear, I'm going to try not to blink for the rest of my life.
But, we will try to keep ya'll updated more. We love everybody.

Write again soon.

Helllooooo Texas,

I have made it to corpus, finnally. I got hear like 0100 wed. And still had to get up at o'dark thirty to head over to school. Its not to bad here, well it kinda is, we sit in the middle of nowhere about 10 miles from the closest off base building. A walmart and a few restaraunts, but even further to anything remotely interesting/different. Nothing to do here on base but school really, which is what the navy wants im sure. I mean you gotta travel like 15 miles to grab a drink practically, the beer better be worth the trip. lol. I just wanted to post something real quik as i am busy with some "homework". So til' later. peace

Dwindling Down....

My time here in chicago is ending. I will be leaving for my A-school to get the training on my actual job, my training here has been all the electrical basics needed to perform. I sure am going to miss this city, going to miss the new friends i have made, my shipmates, but its what happens. It is sure to be a neverending cycle of duty station after duty station, constantly making new friends. But the one the that will never change is the love and support from my beautiful wife Ashley. I miss you and love you very much honey.

So as i sit back, and think about this, it being really cold past few days, almost like it wants to snow, and how big this city is, and then i think about texas, wow, big change. But i am excited and cant wait, i know two of my fellow shipmates just left for the school not even a few weeks ago, things are looking good.

Trick or Bark

On Thursday, the 23rd, Beaufort, SC, held an annual early Halloween trick or treating for kids. It was in the downtown area, so all of the stores participated.
Christian was so cute. He was a little puppy. We even put the dots on his face.
So as we walked up to the people passing out candy, Christian started barking. It was the cutest thing. He would say "trick or treat", well... more like "ick o eat". But barking was even more fun.
So after a while of carrying his Elmo Halloween bucket around, he would walk up to someone with a table, set his bucket down, and let out a big sigh of relief. It was priceless.
We took some pictures, but we have to get them off of the camera first. But I will definately post some as soon as I can.

P.S. I love you Christopher.......Always and Forever

Well....

Been a while since my last post, been real busy my life in the navy. Not to mention how pissed off i have been with my roomates.
First the plus side of my navy life here in great lakes, il. Wait, plus side? where, what plus side?! lol. I go to advanced technical training school during the day, not to bad, almost done with that here then off to corpus cristi, tx. Which is my real school for my rate. Hopefully in about 2 weeks i should be outta here. But after school we come back to the ship/barracks, we have duty sections that muster daily after school, so every 4 days is my duty day, which consist of cleaning up the ship, standing watches/guard duty on the ship. But the days we dont have duty we get liberty, which is normally around 1800/6:00pm and our liberty expires at 2100/9:00 pm. So at that time we all have to be back in the ship, weekends that you dont have duty you get liberty all day. Well there are 2 phases, phase 1 is where every night, friday,saturday, and sunday you have to be back on the ship by 2100, your liberty expires. Phase 2 you can leave the base friday at liberty call and not come back till 2100 on sunday. Also phase 1 means you have to be in uniform to go on liberty and you are restricted from drinking alcoholic beverages. Phase 2 can wear civillian clothing and drink if of age to. Well happily i got my phase 2 just about 2-3 weeks after getting to this base. Unhappily, and why i am so pissed off at my roomate is i got dropped down to phase 1 just this past friday. He was sick in quarters, restricted to the room because he was sick, he could go to and from chow but thats it. Bed rest is a sure way of getting the navys investment back on his feet. So friday morning me and my other 2 roomates woke up and cleaned the room just before heading out to school, as always. We get daily room inspections, so anytime you leave the room it should be inspection ready. Well we cleaned and headed out for school. Our sick roomate being sick in quarters(SIQ) stayed behind. Well when he went for chow at lunch, he didnt clean up after himself. Came back after and carried on. We get back from school only to find out that we failed our room inspect. BOOOM, Dropped to phase 1. I bet you have never heard a sailor curse like i was. Me and my other roomates tried talking to our petty officer but wasnt interested in hearing it. So because of 1 shitmate, shipmate i can no longer drink, wear civilian clothes, or stay overnight in chicago this 4-day weekend we got coming up. I have to wait 2-weeks till i can try and get my phase 2 back, which means i may get it just before i leave. WOW. I could really use a bottle of capt. morgan and coke.
But other than that, it is all swell here. I miss my family, i miss being able to hold my wife, being able to play with my son, whos birthday was this past saturday, just turned 2 and i wasnt there to see it, much like the future where i am bound to miss more. But its ok i can deal with it. I know i am here for a good reason, i will continue to do my best, do my part in defending our freedom. I know my son and my wife are safe and in good hands. I want to thank her for being so supportive and trustworthy, sending me care packages, talking to me everynight letting me know how proud she is of me. And i am so proud of her, for being such a great mother to our son, and just being an awesome wife. I couldnt ask for anything more.

lib call ends! nooooo!!

Sunday Sept. 21

Sitting here in my room, fixing to go to bed, looking back on my weekend, wow. i had a pretty descent weekend, drank more alcohol in 3 days than i normally drink in a month. not to mention a bottle of the captain and about 40-60 cans of beer between the four of us, well really between me and my buddy. When i stepped in the doorway to my room, my roommate said he new i had a good time, because i ranked of alcohol. He was afraid to go to the smoke deck with me outta fear of me combusting into flames.lol. But we went to the navy pier and walked around there, rented a quad bike, how embarissing,lol, but then got individual bikes after that and rode around the beach and into the city. We did alot, mostly drink but hey, we didnt want the stores beer supply to sit there too long and expire. I am still feeling the effects of this weekend. Yet am looking frwd to doing it again.
so yeah, me and my buddy are talking about doing this again, going back to chicago with some more of our buddies and hitting up the city like next weekend or so. As i may not be here much longer, atleast weekend wise. I should hopefully be done with my school here in about 3 weeks, and hopefully leaving for ingleside tx that next week. well i have a long day ahead of me tommorow, so i better hit the sack. peace

liberty nearing its end

Today was our lat reall day of liberty, as sundays are usaully used to get uniforms ready for the week, and whatever else, maybe catch up on sleep, which is what i need, had a good time here in chicago, rode bicycles around the city, just had a blast, still haveing a blast, me and my buddy have been sitting here drinking, just scoping things out here in the hotel lounge/bar. fill you in on all the action later, as i am to tipsy to type write,

Liberty Call, Liberty Call!!!!!!!

It is 0812, I tell you this beacause I didnt fall asleep till like 330-400 this morning, late night. Spending my weekend Liberty in a hotel called the aloft, a very nice retro like hotel. Spent last night drinking and just hanging out with my now third family. I say my third family because my first family is of course my real family, the wonderfull wampler family. Whom i miss so much< wish i could travel and see them but it is outside of our allowed radius from the base. My second family would be my ex-girlfriends/ friends family, whom lived across the street from us down in jacksonville. They always treated me and my brothers as if we were there own kids, but favored me more as i was the one with there daughter. lol. No but they really have been there for us and i am truly glad to have met them. Now this third family i speak of is my best buddies mom. I only really just met her last night, along with my buddies younger sister, but have talked to her on the phone before. we were up till 0100 just sitting back outside infront of the fireplace, just talking and drinking the night away.

Now, just recently, last 2 weeks, my buddy and I, along with the entire base, woke up at 0500 to start getting ready for the day,school, and at around 0600-0615 i guess, my buddy got called down to the petty officers office in our barracks. Naturally you think you are in trouble. Now my buddy is not one to get in trouble, i have really only known him for 2 months, but 2 months in a place where you see each other everyday, talk to, hang out with on liberty, and share a room with, well shared, you get to know each other very well. I feel like i have known him for years. But anyaway, he assumed he was in trouble, so he proceeded to the office, where instead of spit in his face, he recieved a red cross letter. That letter is bad news, always is. His step-father whom he looked to as his actual father had just passed away the day before, he died in his private plane that had went down in colorado. Now i had no idea any of this had happened, so proceeded to the smoke deck like we always do before we march out for school. He met me out there with a face that you could was fighting to hold back tears. he told me and that hit me like a brick wall, been so close to him that it really hit me, i could feel what he was feeling. So he caught the first flight out to texas. I dont really want to go into all the details about how the week went for them, but it sure as hell didnt help that a hurricane came and hit them that same week. I stayed in contact with him everyday, checked up on him and his family. They are fine right now, just getting away from it all and enjoying there weekend here in chicago. Going to take a bike tour in the city today. Get smashed tonight as there will be a dj here in the hotel tonight. Hooyah rum-n-coke.

So last night we were just talking about everything, there mom was telling me all about there life practically, and my life, my wonderfull wife ashley, and adorable son christian. Last night was a good night, she thinks of me as family and i feel like family. I am truly glad to have met them all, and hope that wherever the navy takes him, he has a successfull career and i hope the best for them all.

DUH DUH DUH DUUUNNNNN

I am officially a UNITED STATES SAILOR!!!! SEAMAN WAMPLER REPORTING AS ORDERED! i am still here in bootcamp but am on liberty, just want to thank my family for making the trip to my graduation. i love you all and check back later when i have more time to post. I LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!!