Anyone have a man on the USS Bush?????

[Janae' *My Love is HOME :)*]

Just wondering if anyone has a man on the bush... This is a really tough time and I'm missing him like crazy already.... Just want to make friends who are going through the same 7 month deployment as myself.

[Fur&FeathersDVM]

I'm an Anzio wife too! Our guys are in Bush's battle group so we are doing the same seven month deployment. Hang in there it is tough but you can do it! I like to tell myself every day is another day closer :)

[Fur&FeathersDVM]

Our Anzio group isn't very active, is it? Probably because it is a small ship, makes sense! I am always excited to meet fellow Anzio ladies :) How have you been doing since they left? I've been busy busy busy so it helps so much! Although not as busy as hubby has been, haha. :)

[Fur&FeathersDVM]

Aw! Congratulations on the baby! How exciting :) Hubby and I are waiting until I finish school and actually move home full time to have one but I am very excited and hope that one day we'll be fortunate enough to have one of our own! I know the old weapons officer very well,  he just switched to become my husband's new boss the day before the ship left actually... but he's also one of our close friends on board. He actually gave me my "something old" for our wedding!  Super nice guy. And I think one of my hubby's roommates is the force protection officer so he probably works with your hubby a lot too. I know my husband hasn't been sleeping much- some days not at all. It makes me sad when he emails and is like I haven't slept in two days... lol. My husband is the communications officer so I am VERY lucky- one of his jobs (he has three primary jobs) revolves around computers and phones, so I get an email pretty much every day and a phone call once or twice a week. I feel so lucky! He works a lot in port too though so he is used to the long hours - the day before they left he had to work 14 hours and that was a short day for him yuck. When he's not working on communications stuff he's on the bridge as the junior officer of the deck (he's a SWO, so one of his big jobs is to help command the bridge) which takes up a lot of his day too. And then working on quals! It keeps him busy busy but he likes it, it keeps him from being homesick :)

[Janae' *My Love is HOME :)*]

Congrats on your baby!!! My husband is thinking of getting his degree and going officer but he changes his mind every so often about what he actually wants to do other than being enlisted.

[Fur&FeathersDVM]

I'm out in Ohio alone going to school so I know how you feel. Unfortunately I have two years left and there's no veterinary schools near Norfolk so I can't move when they come home but I am definitely looking forward to two years from now when I can :) (I've been away for the last two and a half... try to remind myself I'm over halfway done!!) Eep I was very glad to have gotten our POA done before he left. We were going to get rid of his apartment and such but I'm going back to VA Beach for an internship soon and then to me it wasn't worth the hassle of moving after I was done with the internship only to need a place in a few months (although hubby is switching ships right after they come home, so he may deploy again right away).

 

And as far as the officer thing goes... the grass isn't always greener. My hubby is the only communications officer on board so he almost didn't even get pre deployment leave because they didn't think they could spare him. Literally the Captain signed his leave request an hour before his flight was supposed to take off. And then we kept getting phone calls the entire time and he almost had to fly back early on the night before Easter because of a problem.  He is the only person on the ship allowed to do a lot of stuff (because he's the only one with the schools for it) so he went through an eight month period where he was not allowed to go more than 2 hours away from the ship because he needed to be within immediate recall distance- they kept trying to get people into the school so he'd have a backup but you know how crazy the ship schedule has been!! A lot of the officers got called back from their POM leave this time around as well because there is always only one of each one- one electro, one weps, one CSO, etc.so when something happens in their division or department, they have to come back. There may not be many of each enlisted rate but there is only one of each officer position! :)  It's a lot of responsibility too- anytime anyone that's under you screws up, it's your fault even if you weren't there! The pay is better but you have to pay for more on your own- you get less food money and no uniform allowance- and it's very very hard to take leave because like I said, you're the only one so there's no one to replace you while you're gone! Overall I love that he's an officer but sometimes when all of the enlisted guys are gone for the day (minus the guys on duty) and most of the wardroom is still there and it's a Saturday and I've flown in to visit him I wish he wasn't because I would loveee if he got to go home when his guys did!  Or when his leave requests or special liberty requests get denied because there's no one to handle his stuff, haha. He was supposed to be allowed to come home to see me take my oath as a veterinary student (which is like the first big stepping stone in our career as veterinarians) but they canceled it at the last minute because they couldn't justify it as a big enough reason to let him come home, even though he'd only be gone for two days and it was a weekend when the ship wasn't working and he didn't have duty because of the off chance that they might need him. Really everyone says that officers don't do any work but it's not true- I can't remember the last time my husband worked less than 12 hours in a day and even on weekends if the ship is "not working" he usually has to go in for at least a couple of hours to check on things. I spend a lot of time when I visit sitting around the ship waiting for him to be done because he just had to go in and check on something that weekend, haha. But overall it's nice because the officers and their spouses are very tight knit so I feel like we are a family. I just wish they worked a few less hours, haha.

[Anti M]

Anyone who has been in the Navy knows what long hours the officers put in; just they do a different sort of work from the enlisted members. Their responsibilities are that much greater, which is why some of us prefer the enlisted life. That, and the hands on nature of some rates is very appealing. To each their own
As an ET, I worked on crypto that no one else could touch. Eventually we got other ETs in who had the correct NECs, but yes, I do know about cancelled leaves and liberty shot down the drain. On the plus side, yeah, I had more access to communications that other rates, although email didn't exist yet. Wow, I feel old. And waaaay back when I was little, my dad the chief was called away from our church's Daddy-Daughter Dance.

[Janae' *My Love is HOME :)*]

I am trying to tell myself the same thing and most of the time it works but someday's I just can't handle the thought. I know it will be okay though.

[Fur&FeathersDVM]

I don't know about you but I get most overwhelemed when I think about how long it is- if I try to take it just one day at a time (which is easier said than done I know!) and find something, no matter how small it is, to look forward to instead of having homecoming as the only thing you're looking forward to, it helps a lot!!

[Fur&FeathersDVM]

Aw that is so sweet. I know I love the shirts my hubby left at home, I wear them every night. Its so nice having some of their stuff isn't it? I have some of his cologne at home that I always spritz onto his shirts so its almost like I can smell him while he's gone. My cats love the smell too LOL they always climb on top of whatever I've sprayed and try to keep it all to themselves. I think they miss him too ;)

[Janae' *My Love is HOME :)*]

Navyprincess, the hardest times for me are the weekends cuz that's when we were mostly together.... I have been searching for things to do on the weekends to pass the time back... I've never in my life looked forward to going to work and I dislike my job very much.. Lol... But I k ow we will get through it and I sleep in his shirts too. I have plenty of them.

[Fur&FeathersDVM]

I'm with you on the weekends thing. I barely ever see my husband during the week unless I'm on break from school. Luckily I am super busy studying for finals and surgery practicals right now, even on weekends, but nights are lonely too because he'd either be there with me or more likely we'd be talking on the phone. He left me a bunch of videos of him though and one is a good night video that I watch all the time :). Mornings are also tough- I wake up at the time he'd call me to say good morning on his way to work, and the time he'd wake me up getting out of bed to go into work if I was at home, and the time I'd drag myself out to bed to drop him off if I was visiting and we only had the one car... you get the idea. I'm lucky I have two cats that loveeee to cuddle and every night they are right there with me so every time I wake up I scoot closer to a fluff ball and get some kitty love :).

  Is there a hobby you could take up or something you used to love but stopped having time for? I run more and ride my horses more when he's gone. It's not the same of course, but it certainly helps fill the gap. Maybe you could volunteer somewhere in addition to your job which might help too? I don't mind alone time so while I definitely wish he was home so I was going to visit, a part of me loves not having to rush off to the airport and catch a flight if I want to go see him! Don't get me wrong, I miss seeing him, but I have gotten so worn out from flying to get some husband time in.

[Janae' *My Love is HOME :)*]

He bought me a puppy for my birthday last year to keep me company while he is away but my puppy is lazy. Lol. I need to start going back to the gym so I can look hot for him when he gets back. :)