The Day Is Here

Today, Jared relinquishes command of his ship. It is a bittersweet moment for him.

Growing as a crew, wining a “Battle E” award, fun moments shared, tense moments shared… how difficult it must be to walk away from that shared experience. Yes, he goes to join a new crew, but they are not this crew. Jared is excited and a bit sad at the same time.

We, as a family, are anxious for the new adventure awaiting us in Spain but I believe Jared is more so. A new ship and a new crew is intimidating enough but a new theater with its own… issues. At least in the South China Sea, no one was shooting missiles at them. In the gulf, they do. I tell him he will do as he has always done and perform well. It seems a wife’s assurances do not carry much weight. Lol

So, at 0500 UTC (1400 local time to us regular people), Jared will no longer be captain and be free to move on to his next command. He looks forward to it as do I… somewhat.

The Chinese navy were just bullies with no imminent threat. In the gulf, they are being shot at with missiles. I am not pleased with that prospect. While I will place him firmly in God’s hands, I will not pretend to be perfectly calm of it. I will be anxious when he sails into the gulf. I will adjust I suppose… eventually. I only hope I can be calm enough to not dwell on possibilities until it gets out of hand.

I will be blunt. It is easy to speak of having faith. It is another thing to actually have it.  I will try my best, but I still am afraid of what could happen. I suppose this is where I pay my dues for the life the Navy has afforded my family. How can I expect such a good life and not repay the Navy in some way. I think I will pray… a lot.

Forty-two days and a wake-up is what Jared says. I look forward to it with just a bit of trepidation.