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Submarine Birthday Ball 2022

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Military Balls are a thing and the Submarine Birthday Ball is every year in April. Submarines were born on April 11th, 1900 (Yes, unbelievably they are that old!)

They have been on hold for the last couple years, but this year we pulled it off (despite a couple captains having COVID and it basically turning into a super spreader event).

The sub ball was Saturday so we booked a couple nights stay at the hotel and thankfully we did because check-in lines were INCREDIBLY long; we would’ve been very delayed had we checked in the day of. Friday night we barely made it to our dinner at Roy’s. I thought it was just ok for the cost.

The next day was pretty crappy weather. We only had the morning to hang out because I booked a hair appointment for an “Uptini” at DryBar in Honolulu. DryBar is a place where you can get a drink and your hair done (not cut). Well, apparently they are not known for their Uptinis and they re-did my hair not once but twice and it still did not look great. I walked into the hotel in tears over that and a lot of other drama happening that just all cumulated. All that to say Brian cheered me up and I fixed up a couple things of my hair and we went on with the night. This is the second time this has happened; Brian is not allowing me to go get my hair done anymore, ha.

On to happier things, we started with a pre-game party in our Captain’s suite which had a great balcony and view of Diamondhead and took some pictures along the way.

The men have the option of changing out their dress white sleeves and back with Hawaiian shirt print. I think theirs came out really classy. Pictured below are the Department Heads (Brian, Avery, Chip)

We probably should’ve taken a better picture of the whole officer crew in a wider space but oh well.

And the females

One of Brian’s right hand men

Every boat makes their own centerpiece. Ours was a water fountain and a vicious barbie. The boat “icon” is a sea faring version of Lady Liberty so I think that’s what they were trying for.

Someone else’s was a lego Submarine.

We start with food, then there is a ceremony part after. They ring a bell and have a slideshow for all the Submarines that have not returned. There’s a speech from someone. And the officers walk down the middle of the ballroom and introduce the captains. Here’s the recording of ours:

Then there was dancing and formal pictures and of course cake.

Overall I enjoyed myself. I’m glad for an excuse to dress up, but it was definitely a lot of money and a lot of work and honestly I didn’t have a ton of fun. But, I’m glad we went.

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USS Missouri and USS Arizona

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Brian booked us tickets to go see the Arizona memorial. You have to reserve them well in advance and they release the tickets at two intervals prior to the date… I don’t know it’s very confusing… but Brian picked this past Saturday at 1pm so we went.

We started by visiting the USS Utah remains. It’s less talked about and on the other side of Ford Island. I’m not even sure many people go there. We have base access so we made a stop before heading to the Missouri. Not much left of it.

Then we headed to the USS Missouri. It was the last served battleship (I didn’t realize that we only have destroyers now. More agile apparently). It was the host of the surrender of the Japanese after WWII.

We think that’s part of why it was picked to be a living memorial… you can see the start and end of WWII from the same place. Pretty unique. (The USS Arizona memorial is just barely peaking out past the poles in the water.)

Supposedly the little green missile pictured below weighed 2,000lbs… I didn’t test it.

A museum ranger asked us where we were from, and we told him Brian was stationed here on a sub. He replied “Ah, well have fun seeing what a real warship looks like”. To which Brian later told me “this is no warship, it’s a cruise ship” (As evidence by the DONUT shop, pictured and his equivalent role’s stateroom which looks like a normal size room)

There was a display of letters the Kamikaze pilots wrote to their families when they knew they were going on their final suicide mission. Those were very, very, very sad.

The USS Oklahoma memorial is right outside the USS Missouri, also a lesser talked about memorial.

This is the view of the USS Arizona memorial from the USS Missouri, but you actually have to go back across the bridge to catch the boat to go to the memorial itself.

You can see parts of the wreckage above water. We did also see oil. One of these things is not like the other…

The boat gives you a half hour there to explore, which I thought was the right amount of time but some people seemingly thought was too much. There’s a movie to watch at an outdoor seating area before you go (used to be indoor, but, COVID). The movie was very good.

There is so much to explore at Pearl Harbor, but Brian narrowed it down to these 4 things for this day. I think we chose wisely, because it was really cool to go explore the USS Missouri and then stand over the equivalent (sunken) warship at the USS Arizona memorial. It was nice to have that perspective before standing over it.

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BSP

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On Friday, Brian’s boat did another BSP (Brief stop for personnel). This is what they did to get Brian on the boat. This time, they took a lot of PCO (pre commissioned-captains), PXOs (pre commissioned-XOs), and the person who was the emergency role fill that Brian was replacing off the boat. They were on it for training-essentially Captain and XO school.

There really isn’t much different with these pictures than before… except that Brian is helping drive the boat this time! Thankfully he didn’t hit anything.

This time the turn around was much faster (must’ve been because Brian was helping ;-)), I had a long sleeve UPF shirt on, and sunscreen. So no lobster Sarah. Here’s a cool picture of it with another warship.

I’m really REALLY upset because I didn’t change out my lenses before leaving the house… so I didn’t have my wicked awesome zoom lens on.

While we were waiting we watched the jets do their thing and I was EVEN MORE UPSET I didn’t have my zoom lens (insert sobbing emoji).

No, I didn’t actually get to see Brian, they pulled in and out quickly, so this was an exercise in true dedication to supporting my husband. But it was fun nonetheless, and another distraction (kinda?)

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So long, Sailor

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Brian left yesterday. I can’t tell you exactly when he’s leaving, or exactly when he’s coming back, or really anything. It’s a part of OPSEC, “operational security”. The motto in the Navy is “loose lips sink ships”. I can post pictures once they are ~24 hours out of port. I’m pretty sure we’re fooling ourselves thinking that there aren’t satellites watching our every move, but I’m not the one to get her husband in trouble.

So what next? Well, I do have information about when I could possibly see him again before he gets back to Hawaii at the end for what’s called a “port call” at a different location (sounds sexy, but the logistical planning can be a nightmare). Otherwise, I send emails to this email address that he supposedly will some day be able to receive emails at. And just hope, wait, and pray that I get an email back one day.

Meanwhile, look at how AWESOME that zoom lens is! This is a cropped in picture of the sail. The guy leaning on the stacks is Brian’s captain. I am not sure who anyone else is.

I also waited for the boat to leave for… THREE HOURS. Another spouse and I went to Missing Man monument. Turns out this is one of Brian’s Nav Aids, so he knew where to look. I turned into a lobster. First time since being here, so I am a bit impressed it took me this long. Lesson learned!

Today I kept myself very busy. I did my sunrise walk. Went to mass. Went snorkeling at Secret Beach with my friend (Secret beach was a let down, again. I think Brian is my lucky charm). Came home, answered TED emails. Lifted weights, then did a trash pick up. I picked up TWO dirty diapers. One was handed to me en route… I figured if the alternative was it would end up in the bush, I should just take it, so I did. It was SO HEAVY by the time I got to the top of my little hill. Yup, that’s a practically full bag of trash. Woof.

I showered immediately after getting home. Fixed myself dinner… adult chicken nuggets with a side of hummus and hot sauce with carrots. Wrote Brian an email he may not get until he gets home. And now I’m here, summing up my day for you guys, too!

It’s really great when I have days like this, with all the energy to do things. I definitely still have recovery days (few and far between now!) where I can just about muster brushing my teeth. I sometimes wonder if this was how I was pre-COVID, just having a bit of a low energy day once in a while, but these just feel different. I did start back on my inhaler. I pushed it too hard on a peloton ride(s) (I did two back to back, a total of 1 hr 15 minutes) and my lung burning was very persistent afterward. I actually took my oxygen level reading for the first time in forever. I’ve done this before, over done it (surprise surprise), but usually it would rectify in a couple days. After a week of it being persistent, I asked my pulmonologist what she thought about me going back on the Albuterol and she said go for it. I’m feeling a ton better just after a few days on it.

Here are a couple more badass submarine pics. (I took about 100. I was a bit excited)

This song was made for Navy wives. Except, I do truly know he’d rather be home with me.

Dad called to check up on me today, thanks dad <3 Day 2, done.

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When life hands you lemons…

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You go for sunrise walks?

(This is post published, written end of last week)

It’s been a week to say the least. I feel like it can be really easy to look at the situation I’m in- living in Hawaii on military orders- and be really jealous. And to be honest, I probably would be too. But I was warned, and will not sugarcoat the fact, that military life is hard.

Brian found out that he is changing boat assignments due to a staffing issue. The good news is, the boat’s homeport is Hawaii and staying that way for the indefinite future and this is incredibly good for Brian’s career. The bad news is, he joins the boat on deployment sometime in the next month (I have to stay vague, because, you know, the Russians are listening).

There is a whole lot of backstory that I can’t share here, but essentially it’s a really good thing for Brian’s career and for a lot of other things. But it also means that I am without Brian, my husband and best friend, for the next 2-5mths (again, can’t give specifics). Before it was official, Brian’s bosses asked his opinion on it, and Brian said that he’d agree but would have to consult with me because we’re a team and I’d be the one that needs to be convinced. If any of you are single reading this, THAT is a quality in a husband you should have on your list. Brian’s bosses offered to meet with me and that meeting happened and, as much as him being gone will suck, I am a lot more ok with the move.

Brian’s bosses keep reminding me that deployment was going to have to happen at some point, and that’s fair. I am also truly in a best of the best situation where his bosses will even talk to me about this and ease my concerns. But if I told you your husband was going to be gone tomorrow for months vice a year from now for months, how would you feel? I, for one, feel wholly unprepared.

There’s a lot that was supposed to happen before he deploys; I get to meet the boat spouses, attend Family Readiness Group meetings, fill out a bunch of paperwork, he’d finish hanging pictures… As with the year that was “supposed to be” and all the “supposed to happens” of 2020, we’ll just stack these on top.

The biggest challenge for me for his deployment will be to try to find friends and more company. I keep dipping my toe into events with spouses at the Marine Corps Base, but I need to work on developing relationships. That and I need to figure out how to kill cockroaches (we’ve only had one so far! But that’s not a roommate I would hope to gain)

Send good thoughts and prayers my way. And if there was ever a time you wanted to visit Hawaii and not see Brian… this might be a good one!

Here’s a second picture from the same sunrise for good measure. Unsure if I’ll still wake up so early with Brian gone.

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