Stay Single? Sorry Paul, no can do...

So I was reading in my Bible tonight and, for no real reason in particular, decided to read 1 Corinthians 7. Now, in case you are unfamiliar with this particular chapter, Paul is basically giving guidance on marriage (you should really just read the chapter!). He talks about several things, most of which seem to be fairly common sense to me, probably because I was brought up with very Biblical parents. But in the second half of the chapter Paul springs an interesting idea on me. He says that if a person is unmarried and secure in their heart that they should not marry. At first this really struck me - I was under the impression that everyone was supposed to marry and "be fruitful and multiply". Of course, Paul gives a logical explanation. If a person is married then their efforts are split between trying to please God and trying to please their wife, as contrasted by an unmarried person who is able to fully devote themselves to God.

Interesting thought. However, he also goes on to say if a person cannot control themself and really feels the need to get married then that is completely fine. The whole celibacy thing is an added bonus though, and it makes sense because if we're truly living our lives for Jesus then the fewer "distractions" we have in our life the better.

As for me, I'm afraid I am not man enough to pull it off. Sorry Paul, one day I will be married and I am definitely looking forward to it! No hard feelings, nothing personal, but I think marriage is one of the best things God gave to us and I can't wait (well, I mean, I AM waiting, but figuratively...you know what I mean).

As a side note:

7 Days until R-Day when I take on the role of Drill Sergeant

14 Days until I fly out to Colorado (NOT my home state) to meet my family for whitewater rafting.

Somehow "excited" doesn't quite seem to accurately describe my feelings towards these two events!

-Storm

Cape May, New Joisey

Tomorrow I leave for Cape May, NJ to learn how to be a drill sergeant. Now, I won't actually be drill sergeant, because drill sergeants train enlisted and I am training an incoming class of freshman at the Academy. Nevertheless, several of my friends and myself are going down to the real boot camp to learn/practice being that intense teaching/leading person that both incoming enlisted folks and incoming freshman see for about 7 weeks. I'm a bit apprehensive because I know that this is something completely new to me. Sure, I've taught people things before, and sure, I've yelled at some people in my time so far on earth but this is completely on a whole new level. Two Mondays from now, when the Swabs (incoming freshmen) drive up in the bus and I stomp on to deliver their first encounter with the military world, I will officially be part of a 7 man person team responsible for the training and military indoctrination of some 30-odd freshly graduated high school seniors. The most bizarre part of this whole ordeal, at least to me, is the fact that I was in their shoes just two summers ago. Things sure have changed and the fact that the past two years have flown by is something I don't often forget.

I know there really is no time to be reflecting on questions such as "Am I really ready for this?" or "How am I going to perform when they're all counting on me?" but at the same time I think these are questions that I must ask myself in mental preparation for this next stage of my military development. Besides all that the Academy is doing to prepare me I have decided to take a few things upon myself in anticipation of the upcoming weeks. First, I've been working out - ALOT. Secondly, I am trying to go through things in my head as much as possible. Give myself random situations and think through solutions. Finally, I realize that I must pray as much as possible. God has never failed me and I know He'll help me through this. After all, I just want to give the Swabs the best, most intense summer possible. The boot camp of any military person has the potential to influence how their entire military career goes, and I want these people to have a solid foundation.

We'll see. I have a fantastic support group, all of my peers are truly great individuals and together I bet we'll make one heck of a killer team.

If anything of note happens at Boot Camp Cape May, I'll let you know! Until next time,

-Storm

Nav Rules, Prayers for Ms Sunderland

So, just a quick update because I'm bored: This week is the infamous ROTR week. Infamous among academy personnel, because during this week we must learn, memorize, and be able to apply the Coast Guard Navigation Rules handbook in it's entirety. This 200-odd page handbook is basically the same handbook you were told to memorize when you were learning to drive, except for shipdrivers, and it covers and contrasts rules for international waters as well as inland waters. So far it has gone well for me and I feel fairly confident that I will be able to pass the exam tomorrow. However, if I don't, I must find the time to take the exam again sometime this summer, and if I fail that one also then I am bumped to freshman liberty status, meaning I don't get to leave on Friday nights anymore, and I won't be able to wear my civilian clothes when I'm out in the city. Basically I really need to pass this exam tomorrow or else the rest of the summer goes downhill extremely fast.

But I'm pretty sure I'll pass - it's a 50 question exam and I must get a 90% or above to pass, so I should be alright.

And in other news, keep Abby Sunderland in your prayers. I never hope to find myself in a situation where I am stranded at sea, and I can only imagine what it must be like at the age of 16. But the mere fact that she is 2000 miles from land is enough to make even Spartacus tremble in his shackles. At that distance an air rescue is not even an option, and an emergency air drop of supplies isn't much better. The nearest ship is a private fishing vessel that was 40 hrs away from her position at the time when she popped her EPIRBs. At this point she is in God's hands, so pray that she has the presence of mind to stay focused on surviving. She should have all the tools she needs, and we know she has a strong will, so if she keeps her wits about her she'll make it out to spend time with her family again. Here's an article if you'd like read it: http://gizmodo.com/5560505/16%20year%20old-world%20circling-solo-sailor-lost-at-sea

-Storm

The BACON EXPLOSION

Spread the word, the Bacon Explosion is by far the most manly, awesome, bacon-intensive, satisfying log of pork I have ever had the privilege of preparing, cooking, and eating. Ok, story time.

This past weekend I went to a friend's home (they are like family to me) with a group of friends, and usually we feast on Italian food, as is customary when staying with Italian families. However, my friend's mom had just recently undergone surgery on her right wrist and as such was unable to prepare food for us. She told us that the meals would either be up to us to cook or up to us to pick up, and someone had the bright idea of making a Bacon Explosion (http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/). So we did. And I made fried skillet potatoes, and we had corn, and we had cole slaw, and we feasted on the best meal known to man. As I sit here trying to find the words to describe the bacon explosion, it is occurring to me that there really is no better way to explain it than an explosion of bacon. 4lbs of pork rolled into one log, with rub and barbecue sauce, it is literally an explosion of flavor in each bite. Add to that some awesome potatoes and corn, and as I mentioned above, it was by far the best meal I've had in a very long time. End of story.

So the next time you're in want of the most manly, satisfying meal, give the Bacon Explosion a shot. Use that bacon grease from cooking the crumbled inside bacon to prepare some good ol pan fries, roast some corn on the cob, and spend the meal enjoying life. Spread the word.

-Storm

Since last time

This summer has been quite busy so far. To start with, the first week after classes our graduating class (2012) had a week of cadre training, which basically consisted of getting yelled at and "taught" by a bunch of drill sergeants. Not as bad as I thought it would be, they're basically a bunch of big teddy bears.

Immediately following that week was graduation week, and during this week I was supposed to be doing range week (although I'm already qualified on pistol, they want everyone to qualify this summer in their respective range weeks). However, on Monday morning of that week the entire campus lost electricity. Now if you're like me this doesn't sound too bad. And indeed it wasn't, at least for the first day or so - it was like an adventure, camping, almost. But by day 2 it started to suck BIG TIME. In order to fully understand why, realize this: all our toilets are electrically operated, and the steam for hot water was dependent on one old generator that only ran for about a day. So for a few days there, we'd have to bring buckets of water into the heads and flush them "manually". For some reason, people wouldn't flush the toilets themselves, either. So when a few of us got selected to do it we'd have to suit up and go flush down a few people's worth of waste in each toilet. Eventually the academy command brought in a generator to power one of our annexes and we all moved to that annex until power was restored (about a week later).

The following week was CATP (Cadet Aviation Training Program). This was the best academy-related week I've had since reporting two years ago. A group of 16 of us travelled to Mobile, AL for a week of flying in our service's aircraft, and since they were super chill down there and let us leave just about whenever, it was basically a week of vacation with some flying thrown in (which was awesome), hanging out in the south with some of my best friends. I flew a helicopter for about half an hour, got hoisted into a helicopter out of the bay, went to the beach several times, went to New Orleans, it was a fantastic week.

This past week was TBoats week, where a group of 9 of us plus one officer took out 95ft tug boats into the river and learned about ship handling, taking the Conning officer position, taking charge of the deck, line handling, man over boards, anchoring, and mooring/unmooring. It was a pretty decent week, yesterday we were graded on our performance as a crew while doing a man overboard, anchoring, and mooring. To begin with, I love man-overboard drills. As soon as the man overboard is called we immediately throw the rudder over and gun the engines, and basically it's a race to get back to the person and get them out on the first run - a challenge, by any account. So for our graded exercise, we had my friend Hunter taking the Conn (he gave directions for me to steer), I was at the helm, and another friend Rick was in charge of the deck work. Our graded man-overboard drill was our best run of the week, as soon as the person was in the water I had the ship rockin to the side, engine blazing, rudder at 30 degrees right. We made one sweeping turn, lined up the dummy, shot the approach, and picked up the dummy. It was probably around 2-3 minutes, pretty respectable for a first timer crew like ourselves. All in all it was a pretty cool week and I learned a ton about shiphandling in general, which was the point.

Now it is the weekend and I'm probably going to spend it with some friends a few miles north of here. Also, it is now less than 1 month until R-day, when I assume the role of drill sergeant for the class of 2014. I am already getting ancy.

Until next time,

-Storm