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USS Michael Murphy Homecoming

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God truly sent me an angel when I connected with Jess at her first book club with our officer spouse group. And by connected, I basically messaged her and said please be my friend. At the time, she had recently moved and her husband was here, but Brian was gone. I met her husband once, then he left, and we were both flying solo together. In fact, so much together, that someone reading my blog recently thought we were married. Ha. Anyway, Brian came home, but with his schedule we still hang out a lot, and now finally her husband came home!

Their ships are huge and they have so much more personnel. This was my first real homecoming experience, ours wasn’t “official” because it wasn’t an official deployment. But, there was a lot of similarities… going to Missing Man to watch them pull in. Shedding some tears (I think I did more than she did!). Heading to the docks to wait for unloading. I took the day off so I could photograph.

They had a live band playing, a lot of press, the first kisses… Her husband is up on that deck.

I was happy to be there to grab pictures of them reuniting! Ahh here I am crying again.

When you go through such a long time with someone while their husband is gone it just makes you so emotional when you get to see them so happy to have their husband back… it’s such an incredible experience and so unique to military life. I took the day off to go spend capturing the moments for them as best I could. I almost tripped over a sailor’s bag trying to photograph… it’s a crazy day and stuff and people are strewn all over! Thankfully I didn’t faceplant.

Jess was so kind as to help another officer find an apartment while he was gone. I don’t know how single sailors manage their lives, honestly.

Fun fact, it was really hard for her to figure out who her husband was on the boat. They all look so similar!! And to top it off they’re in masks! But we eventually figured it out.

Here’s to more happy reunions and safe returns.

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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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“Talk Story” with a Pearl Harbor Survivor

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The lady in red Hawaiian shirt is a 92 year old survivor of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. She lived on MCBH during the attacks and told her story of her experiences on that day. Her name is Joedy Adams, she was 12 at the time. You can hear a rendition of her full story here. Her dad told her and her mom to escape to Honolulu. When they got to Honolulu, they crashed their car trying to avoid a bus driving on the wrong side of the road (reportedly driven by a Japanese man). They knocked on the door of the house where they crashed, and it was a Navy officer’s house. He had no idea it was happening, so he ran out the door to drive to Pearl. Crazy how they couldn’t hear it happening in Honolulu. At one point on the ride over, they pulled over because of a plane flying overhead and hid. The plane was shooting down the middle of the road. It took her dad five days to be able to communicate with them. When they finally got to go home, they drove at night without headlights to stay hidden. Her mom had to sit out the passenger side hanging her hand over the side driving around the cliffs to make sure they were still on the road.

It was cool to hear her talk. She was still very with it!

She also told a story about a spy living in her house. A friend told him this was discredited, but she still tells it like it’s true, and that no one really corrects her because it was her rendition of the day.

Oh, “Talk Story” is a common phrase in Hawaii, and it basically means to “shoot the shit” most of the time, or times like this a more specific “chat” gathering.

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BSC – OLD post

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**This is very delayed. I might’ve forgot to post it, I’m supposed to wait >24hrs after they leave port… and here we are probably 3 weeks after, ha. Whoops!

Brief stop for…. commodities? On Monday, Brian’s boat was in port for a quick re-stock before they leave for a long time. Of all days it happened, we were having a tropical storm side swipe Hawaii. Also, COVID cases are really high in Hawaii. However, the captain really pushed for us to be able to see them. So, with vaccination card in tow and mask on, we went to the docks and saw our sailors.

It felt like a whirlwind. We spent ~2hrs together. I was SOAKED and turned my heated seats on on the way home (yes, in Hawaii). There was no avoiding the rain with all the wind. We were surrounded by 50 of our closest friends *sarcasm*. But, I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see my husband. I didn’t even get a selfie of us, but I took this of him as I was leaving. He’s carrying two bags of goodies and a bag of uniforms.

Hopefully that’ll help him get through the next few months. He didn’t ask for much because he didn’t want to stress me out, so I guessed. He got graham crackers, coke zero, Aloha Drinks (it’s a hawaiian juice, basically hawaiian punch but different flavors), more cards, other drink powder, mints, gum, chocolate, I feel like there was more but I am spacing. For the uniforms, I had to drop them off at the uniform shop to get those silver bars sewn on the collar. Thank God for the workers there who know their stuff, because I brought the pin version of the bars in and the two uniforms and said I need the patch version of these sewn on, and they knew what to look for and what to do. So they did that for me. Brian was borrowing another set of these from a friend, and didn’t ask me to go get more sewn for him because he didn’t want to bother me too much, but I just guessed he’d want more. I think he’s adjusting to having a wife to help him. I felt that he should return the other set, too. They’re called coveralls, or informally “poopie suits”. They’re the “we’re getting our hands dirty and no one is going to see us” uniforms, typically. Brian was going to change into their more formal green camo ones, but “I figured I was only seeing you”. Whatever that means!

Here’s another fun thing about the uniform. You can barely see it, but attached to his belt is a personal radiation detector. It’s supposed to monitor how much radiation he’s being exposed to. It’s called a TLD, thermal luminescent dosimeter. Here are some first hand accounts about it. And here’s a huge paper about a study done about their exposure rates. (It’s low).

Brian has only good things to report about the command climate. He says there can be some communication issues, but communication is really difficult in general anyway, particularly with all the craziness always going on. He has assured me it’s nothing unusual or crazy so far. He keeps telling me how much sleep he’s getting because it’s a big concern of mine, and he’s doing ok.

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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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Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum

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I am on a medicine that recommends limiting sun exposure (thanks UTI). We decided it might be a great afternoon to do something indoors. I joined the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum as a member after my friend told us it’s a really great museum. We could probably get in for free, but the member rate was great and we get tickets to share with family or friends. I think that museums could use a lot of help right now.

The museum is inside one of the original hangars that existed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. You can see bullet holes in the sides. It’s on what is called Ford Island which is only accessible with a DOD ID unless you take the shuttle from the Pearl Harbor visitor center.

I enjoyed learning more about the attack by reading the panels, but it was sometimes hard to fully understand things (I get that they can only cover so much). So I look forward to going back for a guided tour at some point. I really liked the plaques that talk about the planes story. Some of them were sold off to be re-used and made their way back to the museum. Others, like this, weren’t original but were repainted to be close. The museum person told me that they painted the propellers black to “hide” more. They do the same to submarines. 😉

It’s obviously closely related to the battleships getting hit as well, so to the right you see a piece of the Arizona. In the back is a Japanese war plane.

Here are some other planes; you’ll have to visit to hear the story behind all of them!

I’m not really sure the point of the motorcycle; we didn’t spend the whole time here and decided we didn’t have to do it all in one day, but nonetheless it was a cool picture.

The whole attack lasted two hours; I can’t imagine that. There were fun stories about Japanese getting stranded on a remote island and a couple about submarines. Overall lots of sad and heroic stories to read about.

On the outside is the old radio tower. Apparently they are working on opening this up for tours soon too! Brian wanted me to take a picture of it because it’s what he calls a “Nav Aid” (navigation). Essentially, he uses this as a visual aid to steer the submarine into port (no, submarines aren’t self driving yet).

It used to also house the fire station, so yes here’s a close up of the old truck.

Looking forward to going back for a guided tour and to check out more. There is a whole additional hangar with more planes we didn’t get to. We’ve both been feeling worn out so wanted to make a quick excursion.

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Ford Island

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I think this is the last post that I need to do to “catch up”.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Arizona Memorial . It’s a “floating” memorial located between the main Island of Oahu and Ford Island and on top of the sunken USS Arizona. Ford Island is home to very high ranking Navy officials, as well other fun things like the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum and the Battleship Missouri Museum.

The only way to access Ford Island is if you have base access or travel via official museum bus via the Pearl Harbor Museum center. Brian and I had some time to kill between delivering a meal to his XO’s family who just had a baby and meeting with Ty and Megan in Honolulu, so I asked to explore Ford Island by car.

You can get a pretty neat view of the Arizona Memorial from Ford Island, especially with the mountains of Oahu in the background.

I didn’t realize the Arizona was as big, if not bigger, than the USS Missouri. It’s hard to imagine that huge of a ship sunken in water that close to shore.

To the left where you see cranes is actually the shipyard where Brian’s boat is currently.

We were just perusing, but we’ll definitely go back sometime for all the sites. Tickets are currently booking out a month in advance. I think they accomodate up to 1,000 people on a walk in basis? I don’t remember where I saw that. Also looking forward to visiting the USS Bowfin Museum (obviously). I’ve joined the Aviation Museum as a member and have heard really good things about it. I’m really loving that we can take our time to do things and wait until after tourist season. What I don’t love is it’s great weather almost every day and who wants to go to a museum in great weather? I think that there will be rainy days… so I’m told.

Brian is on duty tonight. I organized the entire master bath and cleaned the bedroom… A friend is coming over tonight to try pizza on the grill.

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