After over 25 months aboard and 336 days at sea, on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, it was time to officially say goodbye to the USS America!
Pause. And read that again.
I spent 336 days living, working, eating, and sleeping aboard the LHA6. During those 336 days, I enjoyed 13 port calls in places around Asia including Okinawa, Guam, Osaka, the Philippines, and Australia. I lived with 4 different roommates, serviced 1,200 sailors, and worked alongside a dental staff of 5. Looking back at these numbers, I can honestly say this experience has been one of the toughest, yet most rewarding, opportunities that I never saw coming back when I decided I wanted a career in dentistry.
We pulled into Brisbane early on the afternoon of the 12th, and since my replacement was set to arrive a few days later on July 14th, I officially departed the ship to meet up with Katie in Rota, Spain!
After grabbing a few pictures with some Medical Department staff, a few of my dental techs, and some friends, it was time to make my way down to the Quarterdeck to "bong-off."
A "bong-off" is a traditional Naval ceremony recognizing an officer's final departure from the ship. All of the ship's officers form two lines, creating an aisle for the departing officer to walk down. The departing officer then salutes and walks down the aisle and off the ship for the last time. For those of you who are visual learners like me, check out this video to see my bong-off.
At the bong-off, I also received my End of Tour Award which was a Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal, so I was excited to add another award to my ribbon rack!
Stego, who's been my best friend and roommate throughout my entire tour, also bonged off with me. I'm just glad that he was there with me this entire time I was stationed on LHA6 and it was special to get to share this moment of relief with him as we both say goodbye to the USS America for good.
After bonging off, it was time to enjoy a few days in Brisbane. My official transfer date wasn't until July 14th, so I had a few more days to enjoy this beautiful Australian city! Unfortunately, NAVPTO, the organization that books all official travel for the Navy, booked my flights for July 15th, so it's just going to take that much longer to get to Katie and the pups.
On Friday, July 14, I decided that I was going to be a good person and I headed back to the ship to assist my replacement with moving her aboard and conducting a few hours of turnover. Gabby had been in Sasebo since June 28, so the command booked her flight down to Brisbane to meet us on our third day in port. She arrived on the pier around 3:00 pm, so I helped her lug her bags to her room, gave her a quick tour of Officer Country and the dental spaces, conducted a couple of hours of turnover with her, then headed back out into town.
At 6:00 pm that evening, the wardroom was conducting a Hail and Bail at the Pineapple Hotel; since this would be Stego's bail and the last opportunity for me to participate in a wardroom event, I definitely didn't want to miss it.
Stego spent about 20 minutes for his "final words" calling up people individually so he could roast them. He roasted me by saying that I always come in the room complaining about doing a bunch of stupid crap around the ship and that I should just be the dentist. He said, "You're not just a dentist, you're also a wizard, Jedi, and professional soccer coach. You spend more time in the room playing video games than you do actually being a dentist."
There were a few other roasts in there about how I hadn't trained that much for the triathlon, or how I decided to run a half marathon with him on the flight deck on his birthday with absolutely no training. We all had a good laugh and got to enjoy each other's company one last time.
At the hail and bail, I also got the chance to congratulate CAPT Pardo on the recent change of command, as he became the new CO of the USS America while in port! Katie has grown to love Jenna, his wife, during the last 15 months of his role as the XO, so that's another close friend Katie is going to miss dearly from our days in Sasebo!
After the hail and bail, I decided to head out with Stego and Meg so I could spend a few more hours with them before we headed our separate ways the next day. They would be leaving early the morning of July 15th, and I would be leaving later that evening.
After spending a few more hours with them, it was time to say our goodbyes. Stego has been a great friend these last 25 months and has made this tour so much more enjoyable for me. Katie and I were stoked when Meg joined him in Japan following their wedding in April 2022. They've been an awesome couple to go on double dates with and we've enjoyed numerous trips with them! They will be missed as they make their move to Jacksonville, FL. I'm not going to lie, I shed a few tears, but only after I walked away from them. This isn't goodbye, but see ya later!
On the evening of Saturday, July 15, I made my way to the Brisbane airport to begin my 40-hour journey to Spain! At 9:30 pm, my flight began the 13:40 leg to LAX. Thank goodness for the in-flight entertainment so I could ignore the obnoxious child in front of me yelling, "Daddy, I'm hungry," for the last 3 hours of the flight. I landed in LA around 6:00 pm on July 15 (yay international date line,) got through a horrendous line at immigration, grabbed my luggage, and found the shuttle to take me to my hotel. I made it to the La Quinta around 8:30 pm, checked in, and headed straight to bed.
Following a good night's rest, I headed back to LAX around 8:00 am for my 10:40 flight to Dallas. I landed in Dallas around 4:00 pm and ran to my next gate. My flight to Madrid departed around 5:00 pm and landed in Spain at 9:00 am on July 17. After getting through immigration and customs, I found my gate and waited for my 11:40 am flight to Jerez.
Finally, after a tough journey (nowhere near as tough as Katie, Hugo, and Reynold's journey) through three continents, and across two oceans, I finally made it to southwest Spain where Katie was waiting for me at the airport!
My time aboard the USS America and in Japan has officially come to a close, but Katie and I are super excited to see what the next three years (with no deployments) in a new continent will bring us! Stay tuned!
¡Salud!
Bryan
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