JASSM and what it means to me

Training!
For the last 4 days I've been in a supply/maintenance course called JASMM (Joint Aviation Supply Maintenance Management). This course is designed to bring together people from two sides of the aviation community that tend to clash from time to time. Sometimes you have maintainers of aircraft looking for parts, and then the supply department gets in the way and doesn't have the part... and that can sometimes lead to interesting conversations over where that particular part is. Anyway, this course starts to give people appreciation of the other side of the fence... and for me, its a complete introduction to both sides of the fence!!

When I joined the Navy I started to learn a whole new bunch of alphabet soup things, otherwise known as DODspeak. You can literally put together a sentence without using a verb or noun, or anything else. I wish I could think of an example right now, but my brain is so fried from absorbing even more of these acronyms... Just to give you an example, in our training guide there are about 6-7 pages of just acronyms and what they mean.

Overall the course has been good though, and I've learned a lot more than what I knew a week ago.

Welcome Home Harry!
Two days ago at Norfolk the USS Harry Truman and her strike group sailed into the base. That meant that over 7,500 sailors who hadn't seen home in over 7 months hit the shores. Unfortunately I was in class (see above), so I didn't actually see the USS Truman pull into port, but I did get to see it all decked out at the pier and experience the 30 minute trip it took to get across base to the hangar. All worth it though as I'm sure all those sailors were glad to be home. If I can remember to bring my darn camera down here I'm going to get some pictures of the ships in port.

It's getting hot
Yesterday was 91, today was 94, and its not supposed to dip below 90 for the next 5 days. Yeah, I'm complaining and my cohorts in Africa and Baghdad are probably ready to slap me right quick as its probably above 110 every day there by now.

Looking forward to the weekend....
Heading home for the second straight weekend, which will be great to see COMHMEFRNT (translated from Navy speak: Commander HomeFront AKA the wife). I've got a bunch of house work to do, including doing a massive trimming on the tree outside our house.

Next Week:
As of lunch time Wednesday I will out of training and I will officially full time as the SUPPO for the squadron, and I think its going to be great. As some may know as the SUPPO I'm essentially in charge of watching the part orders, and the funding etc. I have to review flight hours, fuel charges, and prepare the CO for his wing presentations on budgeting etc. The great thing is that the 1st Class Petty Officer and the Senior Chief Petty Officer that are in the Supply Dept have nothing but impressed me in my first week here. That's going to be very important because over the next few months we're going to have to spend a lot of time closing out the fiscal year, and getting inventories done. One thing I am looking forward to is a 1st Class Petty Officer is re-enlisting on Tuesday and he asked me to swear him in aboard the USS Iwo Jima - actually I think his grandmother is going to read the oath, and I will certify his re-enlistment, but its still going to be a fantastic thing to watch!