Negotiating orders

Here is the story on needing a little luck to get back to California. A few days ago I got a wild hair and wanted to look and see what orders were out there for me again, I have been looking here and there just to see how many were for San Diego. For those of you who don’t know how the Navy works here is a long run down. Right now my rotation is 4 and 3 (4 years at Sea and 3 on shore) so as of now I am on a "Shore Command". I graduated RDC "C" School on May 23rd 2008 (the day after my birthday) and that is when my counter started for shore duty well June 2008 really. Last June was my year on board RTC (Recruit Training Command) and the month I went "On Hold" and here we are coming close to June 2010 and me rolling back to becoming an "On Push" RDC again. Here is how it works 12 months out from the tentative date you are supposed to transfer you can look at orders. Orders are a list of positions that need to be filled throughout the Navy. Those lists are provided to our detailers and we make contact with them and tell them what we would like. And here is where it starts getting interesting, I have been looking just for G.P. (general purpose) for a few months and there has been NOTHING to California for a BM1 (Boatswains Mate 1st Class). There are other openings for Virginia, Japan and Guam... But I really don’t want any of those. I have been in the Navy for 13 years this June and 11 of those 13 have been served on the West Coast. I also have 7 years until I am eligible to retire and 4 of those 7 are going to be at my next command a "Sea Duty Billet". Getting back on track now... Detailers have some jobs that they don’t list for the public to see, kind of for their eyes only lol. Any way knowing that little bit of info I decided to call my Detailer and just see what there was if anything. The conversation went a little like this (well the important parts anyway, all the rest we were just talking shop) ME "BMC this is BM1 Jansen I was just wondering when I could negotiate orders?" HIM "Where you trying to go Boats?" (Boats is a nickname for all Boatswains Mates)ME "I want to get back to Cali Chief" HIM "Boats that’s what everyone is trying to do, what are you looking for? I see that you have done a FFG (frigate) a LPD (amphibious dock) and a LHD (another amphib)" ME "I was either thinking of another LPD or an LSD" HIM "Id say LSD Boats, Why don’t you give me a call back in September and ill see what I can do for you" ME "September?" HIM "Yeah boats that’s your 9 month window"... Here is Part 1 of the real interesting part, if you don’t have orders by the time you hit your 6 month window the "Needs of the Navy" kick into play and they will send you where they want you to go! Ummmmmmmm how about N O... Interesting huh? Well it’s going to get better hold on. One of the good things about being attached to RTC Great Lakes as an RDC is I get choice of Coast when I transfer! But the question still remains where on the West Coast will they send me? Time for the even more interesting part, on top of all of that stress the Navy recently started downsizing and we need to complete this thing called a PTS (Perform To Serve) basically its a package about me and my Naval Career that gets reviewed by all the higher ups that do not know me from Adam besides what they read in my package. They then decide one of 2 things 1. Can I stay in the Navy? 2. If they let me stay in the Navy do they want me as a Boatswains Mate or do I have to change jobs for my last 7 years in Service? I’m sure I'm just stressing over nothing but it’s still the "What If" factor! This is all I know, I joined right after high school and have been in since. So there it is and I’m going to end this so I can get my contacts out of my eye balls! Night yall. -Justin “Blessed, indeed, is the man who hears many gentle voices call him daddy!”

Been a while.

Ok so it’s been a few weeks since my last blog! Where to begin? Starting with my promise to Ashleigh about smoking, I haven’t been able to fully keep it AGAIN but I haven’t stopped trying either! I have actually cut way back and can go a lot longer without one now. So that’s good right? I will quit smoking very soon I am determined not to fail this time. On a different note we are still going to church and I have been getting more involved with it, volunteering allot and I think I have a spot on the Security team! Yes our Church has Security. I got baptized on Tuesday and it felt great! I am not good about getting in front of peers, I am afraid I might say something stupid and get laughed at lol... But it felt good to get up in front of Ashleigh, a couple of friends and a bunch of people I didn’t know and tell it all. They had us write a Testimony on our life before Christ, what brought us to the decision to accept Christ and the changes after accepting him. So getting in front of everyone and telling them my life before was "Closed off, full of hate rage and betrayal" then telling them what brought me to accepting Christ "that I realized all I was doing was hurting the people I loved the most". I almost lost it lol started shaking and my voice started cracking lol, I had to end my speech sooner then expected. Just looking into Ashleigh's eyes when I was giving my Testimony I could almost hear her say "Thank you and I love you" so again it felt GREAT. I still slip up from time to time but if it didn’t happen I wouldn’t be human right?! We all make mistakes the important thing is to realize you messed up, learn from it and don’t do it again. Also there are times you might think you are doing something right and feel deeply that its right but other parties involved may not see it the same way. When those times come across the best thing to do is try to talk it out LIKE ADULTS. Listen to what they have to say and what their interpetation of it was without interrupting them. It might bring a new light to the subject! It’s worked for us lol that’s the only reason I'm saying it.