Four month update

Hard to believe I've been in the Pacific Northwest for four months now. I know I'm not doing a good job at updating this blog, part of that is because I really just can't say a whole lot about my job (gotta love attorney-client privilege). I can say though that I'm really enjoying it. On an average day I see between 5-7 clients and then do research, work on cases, perform military duties, and that sort of thing. Some of the cases are interesting and some are just simply listening to the client and giving them a quick piece of advice. It really is amazing how quickly you pick up on some of the things that at first seemed almost impossible to figure out.

This past week, the deputy Judge Advocate General, Rear Admiral Houck, came into town for a visit. My biggest job during the trip was to drive to the airport with my Commanding Officer and pick him and his aide up. Seatac airport is a little over an hour away so it gave me an opportunity to get to speak with the CO and meet the Admiral. The trip went really well and the Admiral turned out to be an incredibly nice guy. It was reassuring to see that as people in the JAG Corps continue to rise through the ranks, they continue to be good people. All of the JAG leaders I have met so far have been wonderful and I can only hope that continues.

Other than that, I continue to live in Silverdale, WA just about five minutes from where I work. Teresa will be moving out here in June and once she arrives we'll find a place in Seattle. Its going to be quite a commute for me, but I'm looking forward to living on the other side of the Sound. The weather is starting to get a little nicer and I'm trying to bike a lot more. I'm going to be participating in the Seattle-to-Portland ride in July. Its a 200-mile bike ride that will be quite a feat if I can finish it.

That's all for now. Looking forward to heading back to MN memorial day weekend!

Whidbey Island

Wow, two posts not all that far from one another...shocking I know. Well, I'm up at Whidbey Island now on temporary assignment duty (TAD) for today and tomorrow. Our command only has one attorney at this branch office and with it being a naval air station (NAS), they are deploying all the time and keep very busy.

Whidbey Island is about two hours from Silverdale and its a pretty nice ride. The weather isn't nearly as bad now as it was when I first got out here. Might rain in the morning, but that's about it right now. LT Head met me and took me out to dinner at a local restaurant and gave me a briefing on all the work we were going to be doing today.

This base has two different types of aircraft, the EA-6B Prower (top), and the P-3C Orion. A lot of the training they do is at night, so you may just see the lights from the aircraft flying away as you hear the roar of the engines. One of my jobs today was to go to one of the hangars and have an outreach with a squadron. What that means is giving them a brief on what a will is, explaining powers of attorney and filling out forms for all of the people who want one. We went through about 50 people in a few hours and at the end of it, you're just exhausted.

Despite all of that, the work we are doing certainly makes a difference. Even though it might just be a will, it certainly can help our sailors and pilots be focused on getting the job done instead of worrying about what will happen if something unfortunate happens while they are away.

Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day and I'll hopefully be able to handle it. Heading home tomorrow night though and then I'll be heading to MN on Friday night to help Teresa get her place ready to sell. Even though it will be a short trip, getting home will be good.

Graduation

I am currently on a Northwest flight headed to Minneapolis. We were delayed a bit out of Providence but it could have been worse. I have officially graduated from Officer Development School and it feels pretty good. The graduation ceremony was alright. We struggled marching with the live band there but most people in attendance didn’t seem to notice. Standing at attention or parade rest for that long was quite a challenge but we all survived. It was really weird saying goodbye to people in Hotel. Some I will see in 2 weeks at NJS but most I will probably never see again. We spent so much time together and went through so much…what do you say to these people? We mostly just wished each other luck and said “see you in the fleet.” Didn’t seem like enough.

This whole experience has been incredible. Looking back on it and thinking about how scared I was in the beginning and how that changed into confidence as time went on, I do think I have changed for the better. I feel like I can say, “I am an officer in the Navy” and stand tall while saying it with pride. We learned a great deal of info about the Navy in our classes, but I think we learned even more about ourselves. There were certainly times that I wanted to quit and go home, but we pushed on and we all made it through. I think pretty much everyone can say that they are proud of what we accomplished and that they are better people as a result of going through what we did in the past 5 weeks. Its hard to believe that those going through OCS are not even half-way done and still have seven weeks to go. It should get easier for them shortly, but still.

After I checked out, I went to the Tennis Hall of Fame with my parents. Dad and I played on the grass courts for an hour. It certainly is much different than regular surfaces but we had a great time even if our longest rally was only about 5 strokes. The museum was nice but I’ll have to go back during NJS to appreciate everything there.

At the airport, a lot of people from my class were there and so we all hung out for a bit before going our separate ways. Gardner from India company was flying to Minneapolis as well and I was able to get both of us bumped up to first class so we got to relax a bit on the way back.

Now I will be home for a while before heading back for NJS. I’ll be spending a lot of time with Teresa, but I’ll see some other friends as well. It should be a nice break before the next round of training. For now, its time to relax.

Last few days

Today, I reached the point where I say to myself, “Its time to get the f out of here!” I’ve learned a lot in my four weeks here so far but the introvert side in me kicks in about now and realizes I’m ready to go. Everyone else gets giddy; I get annoyed.

That being said, I had a good weekend. We were allowed to put on civilian clothes for the first time and it felt great! I did Burns a favor on Friday by taking her duty shift so she could go to a concert at some bar in town. Saturday I went to Boston with Rosenlund, Moody, and Nochisaki. It was a great time and just so nice to get off base and out of town. We went to the USS Constitution, a few stops on the freedom trail and the Fours for dinner (Sports Illustrated ranked it the number one sports bar in America).

Sunday was mostly just email and football. Vikes lost in overtime, so that sucked. I’ve gotten pretty close with some of the people here recently and I hope that carries over. NJS should be interesting since some of us from ODS will be together again in a much different setting.

This time Friday and I will be home…hard to believe. Oh, before I go, I should talk about our latest pool experience. We simulated swimming away from a sinking ship and I hated it. My lifejacket made it harder to swim and I kept getting kicked. Three more days!

Beginning of ODS

Okay, I have a little bit of time so let me see if I can get some updates going here.

As you may recall, I received my orders to report to Officer Development School (ODS) only two days prior to when I needed to be there. Needless to say it was a mad scramble to get my apartment all packed and everything done before leaving on that Sunday. With the help of Teresa and my parents though, we got everything done. The highlight of those few days was finding out that I will be going to Bremerton, WA once all of my training is done. It is right outside of Seattle and I think it will be a great fit!

So onto that Sunday. My flight was supposed to leave around 1:50 I think from MSP with a layover in Detroit before eventually landing in Providence where I would take a shuttle to Newport. Unfortunately it was raining and for some reason one of the runways at MSP was shutdown (never did find out if the two were related). To make a long story short, I was supposed to get into Providence at about 8:00 and I didn't get in until shortly after 11:00. The shuttle didn't leave until 12:00 and after taking what felt like the longest shuttle ride in history, I made it to my room at 2:00 a.m. Monday morning. Keep in mind, we were supposed to be up at 5:00 and I had heard rumors that we were going to be woken up at 3:30. Welcome to ODS. Oh, I forgot to mention that they gave us these jumpsuits to wear that were pretty hideous and made it really hard to go to the bathroom.

After waking up my roommate and figuring out that everyone had pretty much been there since Saturday, I lied down on my bed and couldn't fall asleep at all. I got out of bed at 3:30 and waited outside with everyone else, just making out the outlines of faces and trying to stay awake. The first day was basically just administrative stuff and people telling us about all the different policies, how to stay safe, and that sort of thing. We also got our t-shirts and shorts that are known as PT gear (physical training). We would wear these for almost a week before actually putting on our official uniforms. I'll try to get some pictures up in the near future showing me in my wonderful gear.

The next morning we heard a loud voice coming down the hallway telling us to get out of bed and into the hallway. This turned out to be our Division Lead Chief Petty Officer, Senior Chief Boyd. He proceeded to shout at us and tell us what we were here to do and how he would kick our butts if we screwed up and all sorts of stuff. Not a lot of it registered because I was so tired and just couldn't stay with it. We were then introduced to our Division Officer, Lieutenant Brewer. He joined suit and yelled at us, telling us that we were not worthy of wearing the same uniform as him and that we would have to earn his respect and everything that we do here. It was pretty clear that this was going to be a tough road ahead and we were just getting started.

So that was the start of ODS. I'll try to write more later today or this weekend!

Matt

2 Weeks Down

Good morning everyone,
Today was the first day that I was able to get internet access and actually speak to the outside world. I will write more later, but I wanted to let everyone know that I am doing fine. This has certainly been a challenging two weeks but has been very rewarding and I'm learning new stuff every day. I will be coming home on either the 21st or the 22nd of September and then I'll be coming back out to Newport about a week later.

This weekend we have a lot of liberty (free time) but we are restricted to staying on base. That's not all bad because the base is just HUGE! Anyways, I have a bunch of work that needs to get done so I will write more later. Thanks to everyone for your support and giving me the strength to get through this. The first couple days were a bit rough, but I'm doing much better now.

Go Navy!

Matt

Navy JAG...the end of the beginning

Some of you may have heard, but I have accepted a commission in the United States Navy JAG Corps. For those who don't know, this means I will be an attorney in the Navy. It was a long waiting process, but after I had basically given up all hope I got a call telling me that a spot opened up. Needless to say, it threw me for quite a loop but for the past few months I’ve been dealing with paperwork and physicals and it sounds like that is now all done.

I thought I would be leaving in September but I just heard on Thursday that I am leaving on Sunday! I need to report to Officer Development School in Newport, RI by Sunday, August 19. Everything has been crazy since I found out and I’ve been running around like a madman. I have to pack up my apartment, change my address, and try and see some friends as well.

My initial training (called Officer Development School) will be five weeks long. After that finishes in late September, I will be coming home for a bit before I start Naval Justice School in October, a 10-week long course in Newport again. After NJS, I’ll be heading to my base. I just found out today that I will be stationed in Bremerton, WA outside of Seattle. I’m very excited that I get to go to this base and live in the Pacific Northwest. I don’t know how I will deal with the rain and general grayness of the area, but I’ve heard that the summers are just incredible.

This is an amazing opportunity for me and I can’t believe that it is actually happening. Keeping in touch with friends will be hard but I hope that I will be able to. I won’t have access to my hotmail or St. Thomas accounts during ODS so you can post comments on this blog if you want to get in touch with me. Once I have my Navy email address, I’ll post it on here.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to update my blog so you can hear about what kind of stuff I will be doing. The next few weeks are going to push me pretty hard, so I hope I’ll be able to handle it.

All the best,

Matt