Never take for granted the bliss of privacy. While deployed onboard a Navy warship privacy is virtually non-existent. Today I’m by grateful to be by myself.
BELIEVE it or not, THIS is the FIRST time I ACTUALLY get a chance to type anything since we’ve left for deployment. For anybody who was not tracking at the time I’m writing this I’ve been out for five months and 22 days… in other words the deployment started the first day of December 2021. SO MUCH has happened and continues to happen, I’ll be writing about those sometime in the future but for now I just wanted to reflect on the beauty of “Me-time” and the paradoxical reality that although I am getting my coveted time for myself there is nothing, literally nothing, I would love more than to have my two girls right now here by my side. And yes, my two girls being my Wife Alicia and Daughter Sammy.
As I type this, I am sitting in a balcony. I made sure to have my room facing the Mediterranean Sea for this rare opportunity to be in port. Which is also ironic because being in the Navy, in a Ship specifically the open seas is what you see the most. I guess I’ll continue to have that unbreakable bond with the salt water even when I am able to “escape from it.” I am currently in Limassol, Cyrus. Which is in a pretty large island in the Eastern Mediterranean. Today is just gorgeous, the weather is perfect and from my balcony I get to enjoy a very unique vantage point.
I see from up here, at a distance a lot of my shipmates. Some of them are by the pool and eating and chatting. I am just happy to be here away from everything while I am awaiting my extravagant room service meal. For those who know me well, of course I’ll be munching on a steak dinner and a soft drink. Yes, yes… I guess I could get something more extravagant or unique, but although I am a bit of a “Prima Donna,” I am also – paradoxically – actually quite low maintenance. My meal should be here in a few minutes, so I will likely take a bit a break, savior the moment and will continue pouring my thoughts. There is so much going through my mind, and just as when I resuscitated my Half Life Crisis project, there it goes again… life moves by so fast and suddenly crazy adventures become just a memory. In fact, this article will likely be published sometime after I return home. Whenever that might be, because as I type this there is a possibly to be extended until question mark. So, who knows? There might be a full saga by the time I can add this article. By the way, my beloved readers of the future… the reason why I don’t post is because there is operational tempo in a Navy warship and those are better told as a story once they are good to go – as “in the past” – edited to ensure that information that is not intended for all audiences won’t fall in the wrong hands. In other words, this will become a bit of the historical context of these times I’m witnessing firsthand.
So, for instance… for anybody stuck under a rock during these times. COVID still a thing, though it seems more “Normalized” – Masks ARE mandatory in this very hotel I am staying… so yes, even outside the U.S. Masks are a thing. But more importantly, for several weeks… upwards of two months, Ukraine have been defending themselves from a Russian invasion. It does not matter what side of the argument you might sit on this; the fact is that Russian forces crossed into the Ukraine and started a military campaign… that is not going very well – by the way. The Russian leaders seem to forget a very important factor. The Human Factor.
So, what happened? Well Russia has much superior military might than Ukraine. Militarily speaking the Ukraine Armed Forces are tiny in comparison to the gigantic military complex of Russia. Russia made pretty sizable gains on the early stages of their campaign, then it stalled… Why? Well, because Ukrainian resistance is more than just the military… it is the people. The actual citizens – we are talking Ukrainian regular people – they have been able to sustain a tremendous defense posture against Russia. In other words, helping their military counterparts repel Russian forces from many areas. So that’s for the human factor from Ukrainians. There is also a Russian human factor.
Russia’s long history dating from before the time of the Czars is no stranger to propaganda, and misinformation campaigns. Much like the rest of the entire world, propaganda comes hand-in-hand with any groups of people since the beginning of time. Some people might argue that those copious amounts of propaganda are not state sponsored, and some others would argue that they (propaganda campaigns) totally are. Whatever the case, propaganda exists, and it is not only within Russian borders. And before anybody gets angry at me, realize I’m emphasizing that propaganda happens around the world too. But going back to Russia, propaganda and facts are not consistent with one another. Propaganda has… let’s call it more “artistic license” and other hyperbolic nature. So, for one side, there are protests in Russia because they don’t see the reality reflected in the “official” messaging. Also, because a sizable part of their armed forces comes from conscription. In other words, people get voluntold to do something that they might or might not be inclined to do. That means that training proficiency even in the face of strict discipline is always going fall short. This for example in direct contrast of many other militaries around the world where the choice of military service is 100% voluntary. True that some might now know what they got themselves into, but it was in the end their decision to join, not an obligation.
And from this distinction is that some of my thoughts stem today. Who knows what the aftermath of this conflict will be by the time this gets posted? But for now, the fact is that the incumbent Russian President is holding the entire world hostage with this military campaign… and it is not going well particularly for Russia. You see, Russia got into a terrible predicament. This is a lose-lose situation for them, their economy and their future generations. Let me explain what I mean by that.
If Russia “wins” the conflict and takes over the Ukraine, even if it is just the regions, they claim that need to be liberated. The gigantic cost of voluntarily restoring everything that got destroyed will be in in the several billions of dollars. And I am not just talking about buildings and roads and infrastructure… but even more than that the entire displacement of innocent people, plus the sanctions and investigations in all war crime allegations. And there are plenty of such allegations. So, any way you analyze it, the price to pay is already way more than what the Russian people was expecting to endure. Even if they don’t realize it yet. This in arithmetical fact. If Russia “loses” then they are now forced to pay all the damage the war caused – even if any damage was deemed intentional (which then opens a different question about examples of negligence or inaccuracy, neither of which are a better justification). Again, that is both people and material elements… not to mention all the backlash for the invasion. Russia would not be able to recover from that geo-political & socio-economic setback for a very long time… both monetarily and in the world stage. I also feel it for Russia, because Russian people are actually very nice people.
Which brings me to my biggest concern. The incumbent president of Russia has not been told “no” in over two decades by anyone. I don’t think it takes a doctorate degree to realize that for any incumbent on power for that long leaving power is not likely an option. It is not what a person in exulting power for that long is considering doing. I let your imagination run free for the pros & cons on that realization. The fact of the matter is that anybody who has been in power that long has not remained in that position by chance, and the true axis of power behind this is a lot more complex than a simple political diametrical agreement/disagreement scenario. As of right now, President Putin’s decisions are affecting the entire world. For better or for worse? I’ll reserve my opinion on that… but what I would say is that governing term limits are a thing in many nations for a very valid reason. The reason is so power does not get galvanized on a small club running the show unilaterally. That’s a whole other rant.
Meanwhile, the situation is very frustrating because this conflict has a very complex intricacies… many of which go missing on the average person. Not implying that people are not smart out there… what I am saying it is that it mind-bending, as far as the historical and political roots… they run incredibly deep and interconnected – even if seem as tangential. You can definitely make a case study on this gigantic endeavor. I am not going to get into it because this article then would turn into a book. But I will say that it is very interesting to be present here in the Mediterranean during this time in our world history. I am not going to state if we could do more or less to alleviate this conflict. What I can say is that I wish that peace will return and that families and lives, and livelihoods are no longer destroyed and that everything will resolve in the most peaceful manner. We cannot bring back those who perished in this conflict, many of them under horrific circumstances. I am that I can only hope their deaths were not in vain, and their unspoken voices will finally change the world to be a better place.
Meanwhile, on a much more mundane situation – room service update. I have been waiting for a while, but apparently the last person who took the order put the wrong room. So, it seems that finally I’m about to get my meal soon. It is ok, I am not mad or anything. just very, very hungry. I’m just laughing out loud at myself. Why? Because this to me illustrates human nature in a nutshell. We all have the capacity of being worried about the harsh realities what happens outside in the world, but then the trivialities of our own reality still occur and will capture our attention.
So fast forward several hours, I did get my food and it was delicious. There should be a photo of it somewhere here. I liked it so much that I ordered room service again for dinner, just something different for variety’s sake. After dinner I was talking and “hanging out” virtually with my wife. It was awesome, it further makes me realize the obvious – that she’s amazing and we are meant for each other. I’m a lucky guy, and I know that I am super fortunate to have her in my life. And it is another realization – albeit obvious as well… most everyone has somebody that would trade the world to have them next to them in an embrace. Sometimes we take for granted the company of other people who are nice to us. And we might be less than courteous sometimes to each other, one to the other, or any combination of that. Can you imagine if every time you’re near somebody who does not value you could trade places with the person who does?
For anybody who has deployed, they might understand what I mean. We get to coop with a lot of people who might or might particularly like us or have a “bond” other than professional cordiality. And even then, once in a while there might be that person that is less than professional (however rare) to somebody else who is being professional to them. People change for better or for worse. And as I wait for my dinner to arrive, I ponder about those moments in the last several months.
I should emphasize that I get along with the great majority of the crew. There were some instances of some people that for whatever reason got less than approachable since then. Interestingly enough, some of these people were VERY much approachable before. As I said, people change – or sometimes they do get in some trouble (not necessarily “big trouble” such as a serious offense). I am talking about some minor infraction that could trend or be an indicator to some other situation that could negatively evolve if gone unchecked.
Trust me, as a senior person (rank-wise), I don’t particularly enjoy “having that talk” with my Sailors. I MUCH rather do other type of professional development. That’s normally what I do anyway. Ohhh… commercial break, dinner is here. I’ll share my thoughts again soon.
Dinner was fantastic, and it hit the spot. After eating I had to run a couple of tasks particularly over the phone and decided to take a very nice luxurious shower. You never know when it will the last time you can do that – at least for a while. Much like you don’t know if you’ll have a conversation with somebody in the future. Not necessarily because they ceased to exist… but sometimes people do become estranged. As I type this article sitting in this gigantic bed, I come up to think about how much I appreciate the opportunity to live (present tense) these opportunities. Even gave generous tips to the person bringing the food, he was happy and surprised. Hey, he was doing me a great favor allowing me to have time to stay here and enjoy this precious time – alone with my thoughts and able to relax while I can see the Mediterranean Sea from the bed. I wish I did not have to wake up so early tomorrow. But at least I feel like I am maximizing the day – today. I kept tabs with my peeps staying in the hotel, to make sure they are good. We’ll meet tomorrow early morning for check out and back to the ship.
As I said, most people onboard get along. There are a few who have some other “demons” they are fighting… often after I had to have a chat with them. I hate that chat. The fact is that I could always take a lot more “strict” or even “punitive” alternatives. I prefer not to go that route, and rather explain the “why” of my admonishment. Most of them take heed and we remain in good terms. A small group, and I could count them in one hand showed a lot less maturity. I’m going to dedicate an article just for that. In the meantime, I just want to call it a day and really enjoy the little bit of time left I have before my normalized reality goes back to status quo.
Thank you for joining me on my first rant in since such a long time. I’ll try to make it a point to continue typing my thoughts whenever I can. This actually is making me pretty happy. There is always so much tumbling in my head. My mind is a scary place. Hey, I must have figured it out that it is what I liked to do when I started Half Life Crisis… I guess even I need a reminder once in a while. HLC