Gulfport, Mississippi

Howdy!

Been enjoying the fun and sun of Gulfport, Mississippi for the last week, and learning all the joys of active duty Naval administration. Unlike Navy Reserve administration, which is amateur chaos, active duty admin is professional chaos. Anyone who joins the military to get structure to their lives is in for a great surprise!

Of course, this is an organization, like all military organizations, designed to kill people and break stuff, as Rush Limbaugh likes to say, so anything that does not directly aid in that result is not the first priority.

Still, there are lots of fun things to report. Got to go into supply and that was great. Like Christmas, except all the ugly sweaters your aunt gives you all look alike, have your name stitched on them, and are camoflauged. And they’re not sweaters. That would be too hot for the desert. I now have six pairs of identical uniforms, although the four I got here are from a different manufacturer than the two I had, so they fit slightly different.

I also got a new pair of boots. This is the best part. I’ve had the one pair of blister blasters for a year, and they’re your standard run-of-the mill combat boots. But now, I’ve got this awesome new pair of Converse desert tan combat boots that wear like tennis shoes. They are incredible. I actually LIKE walking around in them. I’m thinking of writing an ode to my boots. Or maybe a sonnet. Don’t know if they’re as durable as the old ones, so I’ll take those along as a spare pair.


I now have six hats. This, I think is ludicrous, as I only have one head to wear them on, last time I checked. I already had two of the eight-point marine-style caps, one that was issued and one which I bought myself because the first one looked so terrible. They gave me the same issue as many folks who didn’t already have desert uniforms, which means I have too much. I didn’t need a new cap, and they gave me two. I asked for just one of the cool boonie hats, but they gave me two.

I’ve also been in Medical hell, mostly because I got a staph infection back in Texas three days before I was to leave. That’s mostly cleared up thanks to the Air Force docs at Wilford Hall in San Antonio, so I’m feeling better. Just in time to end my good feeling, however, they stuck me with Smallpox yesterday. For the next month, I will deal with that and can’t be around pregnant women and babies. Not that I was planning that anyway.

I’ve enjoyed my time, despite the admin hell, here in Gulfport. Got to go down to the water and look at what’s left of the Hurricane Katrina devastation. Seeing Jeff Davis’ house in ruins was tough, because so much of that history was lost. The rest of the town is rebuilding well, and a couple of brand new hotels have sprung up right on the ocean next to shattered businesses that have spray paint on the walls saying, “We shoot looters.”

And the base is cool. I get to hang out with a bunch of Seabees, who are really cool guys. The stuff they can do is pretty amazing. In WWII, they could build brand new runways on swampy Pacific islands under fire in a couple of weeks. I really need to find that John Wayne movie about them and watch it again.

I leave tomorrow for the next leg of my trip, and more actual training. This next stop includes a combat training course, which sounds like tons of fun.