May 16 to 29, 2010 - The Repetitive Existence and I'm not Dumb, I Selected Newport!

I had many drafts for the next blog but edited or change course in the middle of it. Writer's block or whatever it is called prevails. My time at home is a premium so I try to avoid spending much of it in front of a computer. Writing to me is a form of stress relief, comfort and relaxation. I try to avoid topics that may get stale but difficult to do in a rote nine to five world. One thing I do notice when I am at sea is there is so much I can write about without going into repetitiveness. These include topics about yearning to be home or information on islands that I wrote about the year before. Of course there are places I know I will never see again and these include the Galapagos Islands as well as Nuku Hiva in the Marquises Islands in French Polynesia. Some activities were a one time deal including snorkeling in the various atolls in Kwajalein. These are wonderful memories and if I knew about blogging back then, “Chronicles of and Insane Sailor” would be seven years old.

The big drama occurring while I am ashore is the move to Newport. Most of you already know my opinion about it. I changed my mind in as far as being neutral to my reluctance to moving there. I guess what upsets me most is the outright lying on why Newport was selected.  The “quality of life” was going to be so much better was the initial slogan. The aftermath and the “in your face” attitude displayed by upper level management as of we were an enemy to be defeated in combat instead of employees working for an agency convinced me to be a "contra."

The method on how the move to Newport managed by the upper echelons should be a course study of what not to do for prospective Ensigns going through officer training for NOAA. The tough love approach of either you come with us or go to the unemployment line was the first volley shot across the bow by Admiral “K” during his visit to Seattle after the August 2009 announcement. Then there was the constant face time with the Newport press by the marine center's commanding officer while representing us in telling the people in Oregon how happy “we” were to be moving there. Of course when that happens in 2011, Captain “B” will have transferred and working elsewhere. Reality sat in last January when an on-line Seattle paper wrote an article about the unhappiness of marine center employees over the move. Nothing could be far from the truth and I read the article while I was at sea on my way to Samoa. Apparently the negative contents of the article had reached Newport and the “Welcome to Newport” barbecue that was planned for last fall and postponed until spring never happened.

The selection committee excluded members with genuine sailing experience, outside one NOAA Corps officer. Unlike wage mariners, their time is limited to two year duty at sea. Instead committee members consisted of “real estate” people, attorneys and a token technical person. As far as boatswains or ships engineers who know all facets of sailing, ZERO representation! Once Newport received the state subsidy it seems all requirements in reference to infrastructure, safety, quality of life and so-called “technical merits” went out the door. Can you believe that “technical merits” of Newport rated higher than Seattle or Bellingham? Of course how “technical merits” were graded is a secret and when you have finance background people rating anything, you can guess what “technical merits” consisted of.

Since I still have school age children I did some research about public schools in Lincoln County where Newport is located. Percentage of “economically disadvantaged students” range from a low of 32.6% at Newport High to a high of 68.1% at Taft Elementary. The median was 50% of the students were from an economically disadvantaged background. With these dismal stats, Newport still dreams of being the next "Woods Hole, Massachusetts" of the west coast. If any place that compares to Woods Hole on the west coast, it would be San Diego because of Scripps and Seattle because of University of Washington. I never heard of the Hatfield Marine Center until we visited Newport last summer. I notice Seattle consistently ranks in the top ten from high tech, economics and American cities with a bright future. I tried searching for small town rankings and Newport, Oregon was nowhere to be found. The twilight of my career will definitely regress by moving to Newport and how it affects my family one boy in high school and the other going to college concerns me.

Shore life consists of weekends at restaurants. Last weekend “L” and I went to a Brazilian restaurant in Seattle in the University District. Neither of us have experienced Brazilian cuisine and enjoyed an evening of dining and music with a friend of hers from ESL class. The atmosphere was similar to what I encountered during my many visits south with the exception of the language being Portuguese.

Two weekends ago consisted of buying tires for the car and an oil change. Two critical elements for an older car like mine. The brakes need to be worked on as well according to my son. He is a great mechanic so I will take his word for it. The old 97 Altima has over 195,000 miles and the tires I replaced had over 65,000 miles on it. They were rated to go as high as 50,000. However, they kept rotating the tires until recently. The car may be old but I do not miss the coupon payment books that come with purchasing a new car. I have not seen one in over seven years.

Last Thursday “L” and I attended “I”s award ceremony. He received an outstanding award for auto technology and was a member of the Honor Society. “I” had received certificates and a plaque for his accomplishments. Next week is the big day for his graduation. There was much toil in all of us to get to the special day next Friday. One of his goals was to graduate from Burlington-Edison High School and it was a struggle at times but we did it! After graduation, he moves in with us. His graduation present from “L” and me, a month long trip to the tropical island of Samoa. Upon returning from Samoa, plans for college include studying for certification to work as an engineer on board ships. He is interested in working for NOAA.

Both of my kids accomplished things I never did when I went to high school. I was too busy not applying myself, and bored silly with compulsory high school. In addition, when I entered high school that I graduated from, kids already had their cliques and many of the relationships were similar to siblings brought up together in the same schools from kindergarten to high school. Being a GI brat, I did not have the opportunity to enjoy friendships lasting more than two years. Frustrated at my lack of progress, my father was willing to let me drop out under one condition, I had to join the Army, and he was willing to sign the papers. That time there was a little brush war that was winding down called Vietnam. That was enough incentive for me to complete high school as the military draft had ended that year. I did enjoy my years in college though. There is a difference in what you want to study versus what you are required to.

I read two books this past year that related to government mismanagement of two wars infamous in American history. One book was “A Better War” by Lewis Sorely and the other is “Fiasco” by Thomas E. Ricks. “A Better War” was about the post-Westmoreland or post-Tet era of the Vietnam War and how things were bungled from the beginning. The generals who were in charge of the initial phase of the Vietnam War did not know what type of war they were fighting. Mr. Sorely focused the Abrams era of the war. In summary, we were so obsessed with leaving Vietnam that we did not know that the war was won by 1970 according to Sorely. Abrams was not only a general with a task to withdrawal from Vietnam but had to act as an accountant as well. Imagine being a tank commander from WWII like General Abrams and you are tasked by the commander-in-chief not to win a war but plan an “honorable withdrawal” or in laymen's term “retreat.” “Fiasco” covers the Iraq War and the mistakes created by top Pentagon planners and administrators and timid generals more who were more politicians than soldiers. Doesn't that sound familiar?

Oh well, the Inspector General's report is to be out in the next week or so. Looking forward to reading what they discovered. Meanwhile, the ground breaking ceremony in Oregon for the new marine center is to take place on June 3. I will not attend and they can pack up any form of "welcoming" ceremony. Looking forward to my son's graduation from high school and moving in with us next week.

Take care and write again next week.