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USS Blog Boy's Deployment Diary--Chapter Six

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Here's the sixth installment from Southwest Airlines Customer Francisco Delgado who is currently deployed on the USS Nimitz.  The previous chapter can be accessed here. Seventh Inning Stretchfrancisco-and-hawkeye.JPG Beep. Beep... The sound of my dreaded alarm. The snooze button and I have become really good friends, but in the end, the snooze button cannot save me from going to work. As soon as I enter my work center, I head over to our calendar, and I cannot believe it is August already. We have been out to sea 30+ straight days, and our last port visit was India. Everyone is running on empty. This night, we advanced our clocks one hour yet again, which translates into one hour less of work for me and one hour less of sleep for our day personal.  I was eager to get through the night because the next day was "diversity day." puerto-rico.JPGafrican-culture.JPGfrance.JPGIt was a day to celebrate all of the different cultures on our ship. We have 5,000+ people on our ship, so as you can imagine, many different cultures were represented. Throughout the day, we had concerts showcasing the various cultures. We also got the chance to eat food from different cultures. Besides having the concerts, we also had basketball tournaments, volleyball tournaments, and a tug of war tournament. While all of this was going on, our ship was passing through some straits, straights-return-trip.JPGand I headed up to the flight deck to get a better view. It was rainy and cloudy. To me that is perfect weather. Back when we were in the Middle East, there were no clouds, and rain was a distant memory.flight-deck-in-rain.JPG We have a lot to accomplish before we pull back into San Diego, and we have to be reminded that we still have a job to do. It is easy to think about home when you have been out to sea for four months. Before we know it we will be back in sunny San Diego, and I will be on a LUV jet headed back home to New Mexico.
5 Comments
Yolanda_Delgado
Explorer C
I can't believe you guys are finally almost home. What an accomplishment, something you all should be proud of. 7th Inning Stretch - according to my cruise tracker you guys are already at 79% completion of your deployment, that means you have 1.28 months, 5 weeks, 38 days, 936 hours, 55,215 minutes and 3,312,895.57 seconds. Looking forward to your return. I love you. God Bless you and those around you. Mom
chuchoteur
Adventurer B
Hi Francisco, I had the priviledge of being on board the USS Nimitz when it was in Marseille (south of France) a few years back. As (very junior) Naval Reserve officers, we had been invited for a visit whilst the ship was on a stopover. What a fascinating workplace you have! back then, the deck had quite a few F14 Tomcats, and they definitely remain one of my all time favourite aircraft... It is amazing the amount of work and coordination that is required by the whole crew to make it happen... so congratulations on a good job well done! Stay safe, and I look forward to hearing that you all got back to San Diego, mission accomplished. Raphael
Leah4
Frequent Flyer B
Thanks for the update! God bless, & we'll be glad when you come home! Thanks for all you do. SWA LUV! 🙂
Navy_Mom
Explorer C
I see your mom has the Nimitz countdown clock as well... I keep track by the week, that feels shorter. Thankfully the cruise is almost over! Have just made flight/ rooms and car reservations for Hawaii and will be boarding Nimitz for Tiger Cruise. whohooo!! The clock is counting down: 5.5 weeks, 38.7 days, 930 hours, 55,822 hours and 3,349,341 seconds!! Be safe and take care of yourself! Fair Winds and Following Seas! Navy Mom
jim
Adventurer C
Prett cool Francisco - it won't be long before we start saying "Welcome Home!" I've searched the Nimitz website and can't find the countdown clock everyone is speaking of. @Navy Mom - a friend of mine took a tiger cruise once. It sounds like the trip of a lifetime.