Brian Blog: Two goals accomplished

Yesterday, I accomplished two things I've been trying to accomplish for a very long time. My morning started with the phone ringing. I answered in a groggy voice,

"Good morning, Ensign Trapp." On the other end I heard the high spirited voice of YN3 Ashlee Duval.

"Don't you mean Lieutenant Junior Grade Trapp?" she asked.

"Are you serious?" She quickly replied, "I'm just joking," and hung up.

I jumped out of my rack and turned on my computer to find about 4 congratulations e-mails. The message had come out first thing in the morning. Just as I was finally waking up and realizing what was happening, there was a knock on my door and in rolled YN3 with YN2 Gary Dunkum. They were holding a hard copy of the message and standing at attention laughing at my reaction. I work with some great people. I had hoped that I would get to make LTJG while in home port, so Florence and my friend Jason could don the honors of pinning as they have had the biggest impact on me during my transition from ENS to LTJG. Since that isn't possible I've asked the YN shop if they would pin me at quarters this week.



The other accomplishment was a smaller one. I've been stationed aboard SHERMAN for 2 years and 4 months now, and I have never gone for a ride in the small boat. They had a 10 mile trip to make to pick up a package, and I requested to go. Lucky me, they had one more seat left. I donned my life jacket, my sunglasses, and my helmet and climbed into the boat. It's a strange feeling sitting in a boat being lowered into the water by a large ship. The second we hit the scenery was different.

The waves and swells that look to be about a foot from the pilot house of the ship were more like 4 or 5 feet. With the two words "coming up" the coxswain pressed ahead on the throttles and we were off. I turned to watch SHERMAN fade away in the distance as it disappeared over the horizon. It felt like we were rattling around on an old wooden roller coasters except there were no rails and we could go any direction we wanted. As we approached our top speed it started to drizzle and we were moving so fast through the water, each drop stung just a little when it hit my face. It truly was an amazing opportunity. I'm jealous of the boatswain's mates that get to experience that on a regular basis.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more to write about soon. Until then, (This is where I wish I had a catchy closing line like Ron Burgundy's, "Stay Classy San Diego," but I don't) More to follow.