From January 14th to March 24th, I completed my second deployment with USS America on the 22.1 patrol, meaning it was the first patrol of 2022. The underway was a total of 69 days with 6 days being back in Sasebo for a short port call. My day-to-day didn’t change substantially from the last patrol (if you’re not sure what a normal day onboard is like for me, check out this blog post), but I will share a few of the major highlights from the last couple of months. Disclaimer: I have very few pictures because I never think about taking pictures, sorry Katie, my childhood wasn’t filled with Mrs. Cindy’s camera!
After heading out on Friday, January 14th, we went straight down to Okinawa for a night of liberty and to onload our Marine brothers and sisters. Okinawa was still considered a “red” COVID prefecture at this point, so we weren’t allowed off-base liberty. Instead Stego, Chubes, Squirrel and I headed to Kadena Air Force Base where we stayed at the Shogun Inn. After a night of eating Pizza Hut and watching sports, we got up early for a day on the golf course. Fortunately, the four of us are on the same skill level so I wasn’t as self-conscious about the number of times I swung and missed. We also played best ball, so when I shanked my ball in the woods, I could just go and play off the spot where the best ball was located. No worries Ryan and Mr. Richard, some (6) of my shots got picked! After our horrifying round of golf, we headed back to White Beach, where the ship is moored, and attended a wardroom Hail and Bail. A Hail and Bail is essentially just a party where we recognize the officers in the wardroom who are new (hail) and those who are leaving (bail). After hanging at the White Beach Khaki Club for a few hours, it was time to pack it up and head back to the ship for an early start the next day.
I woke up on Tuesday, January 25th with an extremely mild cough; but after testing negative a week earlier I thought I was going to be good. I decided to get tested again anyway, and this time I came back with a positive result. For five days, I was confined with all the other positive cases onboard in a marine berthing. Sure, it sounds nice in theory to get five days off of work and sit around and be a bum all day, but let me briefly describe it to you. For starters, they call is coffin racks for a reason…my rack provided a luxurious 15 inches of vertical space and a mattress that is barely fit for human use. It’s also incredibly depressing to A) not see the Sun for 5 days, B) not have phone access to talk to Katie, C) have limited computer access to communicate with the outside world, and D) get served cold food from the mess decks for three meals a day. It was also pretty nasty in there; standing water on the floor in the showers, the toilets hadn’t been cleaned in quite some time, and the trash was very rarely taken out before it got stinky. Thank goodness I had received a package from Mom and Dad with the book The Operator in it. Between reading that and some of the other books downloaded on Katie’s Kindle, in addition to the seasons of Downton Abbey I had downloaded on the iPad, I made it through 5 days of COVID hell.
Immediately following my release from that prison, my roommate, Stego, informed me that I had been volunteered to participate in a bike and run challenge. Starting that Monday, January 31st, teams of four would be competing to see who could bike and run the most miles for the remainder of the float. After four weeks of biking, our team finished in third with over 1900 total miles ridden! As a reward for our efforts, each member of my team won a Bose Bluetooth speaker. Unfortunately, my run team came in fourth, so we didn’t win any prizes, but I completed over 480 miles on the bike and over 75 miles of running during that month and a half period! Stego also thought that after running and biking so many miles, that it would be a good idea to sign-up for a triathlon, so I, being so naïve, decided to go along with it and signed up with him. Yes, Johnson family, I can swim without holding my nose; and no, I will not be wearing a nose plug. Thanks for the confidence boost.
On February 25th, we were supposed to have a port visit in Osaka, but due to the Omicron variant, this port call was changed last minute to a home visit to Sasebo for a few days instead. Although I would’ve enjoyed going to Osaka again for a few days, it was great being back home with Katie, Hugo and Reynolds. We were still required to go to work for a few of those days, but staying in my own bed and eating any food other than ship food is a win. Katie also planned her dentist visit for the time when I was home, so I got to talk with a local Japanese dentist about Katie's teeth- that was a pretty cool experience!
We headed back out to sea on Thursday, March 3rd to finish the last leg of our patrol. After a few weeks of floating around, we pulled back into Okinawa to offload the Marines, but this time we were allowed off base liberty due to USFJ recognizing Okinawa as a green prefecture. This gave me an opportunity to meet up with Catherine, one of my co-residents from Camp Pendleton, who is working at 3rd Dental Battalion in Okinawa. While I was in Oki, Catherine informed me that she will be the dentist with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), meaning she’ll be going underway with me on our next patrol in spring of 2023. It was awesome getting to see Catherine again and I’m excited we’ll be working together again soon! Who would have known that Catherine and I would get to work together during our residency in California and again on the other side of the world onboard the USS America!?
After a great day with Catherine, Chubes, Stego and I went back to Banyan Tree Golf Club on Kadena Air Base for another horrendous round of golf, where I decided I will never play golf again. Then it was back to the ship for a week before our return home to Sasebo!
This patrol was definitely memorable; I’m hopeful that I won’t get COVID for a third time while underway next year. I’m also very thankful for Justin, the MEU dentist, for all of his second opinions and homie hook-ups in regards to supply. Deployments are hard, and days are long (as you can tell from the pictures below), so I’m very excited to be home and to continue traveling with Katie. Here’s to the next three consecutive months being at home with my family!
Yours,
Bryan
Wow, B!!! I am so amaized at all you do in 3 months. It looks like you have more Naval Dental folks than Marine in your group. The picture of you sleeping vertically is so sweet!! Dedication! Thank you for sharing… and take more pictures 😃Love you buddy!