Ready, Set...and Wait

somewhere in the Carolina low country---MPG would rise to 47.8 around VA/MD but ultimately succumb to the Northeast weather/traffic. Boo.

So after 1180 miles of travel and $50 plus dollars of cash and exact change later I reached Newport, Rhode Island Saturday afternoon. My final fuel economy was 46.2 mpg for the trip---metro NJ/NY killed me! Most of Saturday I re-acclimated myself with the base, a few new roads, a new bridge, new buildings, ran a few errands, got a few groceries. Lay low. Sunday night I went to bed early and was ready for a new course. I even shaved my beard. I got up early today, showered, shaved, put on a clean, crisp set of NWUs (cammies), boots, parka (it is Rhode Island, folks), tidied my room for the cleaning lady, and headed out...

I found my room with ease. After all, I've been to SWOS (Surface Warfare Officer School) for various courses at least 6 times. SWOS is like home base for a SWO. You're going to end up in Newport numerous times in your career: Division Officer Course, Engineering schools, Dept Head School, CHENG School (what I'm doing now...again), and PXO/PCO school for command---By the way, if you're just tuning in, that's what I am.. there's Aviator (pilot), SEAL, submariner, etc....SWO. I'm a SWO. It stands for Surface Warfare Officer. In layman's terms, I drive ships...warships. Anyway, I'm slightly familiar with the SWOS layout. I've been to some variation/iteration of this particular engineering course 4 times. So I confidently strode into the Cruiser classroom and the Chief looked at me and said, "Who are you?" "LT Hancock---I'm going to HUE CITY." "You're not on the roster:"....Hmmm.

So, SWOS has no record of me in the Navy-wide program that tracks courses, enrollments. My orders say to be here...classic Navy. Now, in fairness, I was originally scheduled to be at this course in October. I was ORDMOD'd (order modification) to change my PRD to January detach from last ship due to EOC (engineering certification). After I was extended on FARRAGUT, I did make every effort to extricate myself from the requirement to go to this course...I just wanted to get to HUE CITY. Last I heard, though, even the HUE CITY CO's pleas to big Navy were denied...LT HANCOCK MUST GO, says the man. So, the cruiser CHENGs are joining the Prospective Engineer Officer Course mid-way...the new DH CHENGs and division officers were finishing the "Common Core" portion of the course today. By 0845 I had filled in my travel paperwork, received my badge to enter the building, and headed off to my room.

Not a bad first day---plenty of time to kill it on the cardio and rage against the odds: CHENGs and PT. Rarely do the two mix. But that's another post...