Finally in Japan!

After a 3-week leave upon completing A-school, my son Kevin left North Carolina on Sunday to join the crew of the USS Tortuga in Sasebo Japan. To say it was hard to say good-by is an understatement. It is one thing to send your son to Illinois, but to send them to Japan was a lot harder than I imagined. He had a grueling trip, which included a 14-hour flight from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea. Jet lag did catch up with him and his LCPO allowed to take a nap on his first day on board, which caused him to sleep through dinner.

I heard from him tonight via email and he has made his first journey off base. In Sasebo, there are 2 primary sections of town: Sailor Town (just outside the base) and Saki Town, which is primarily a traditional Japanese town. He had a blast! He said he was able to find a decent meal at Subway (imagine that), which he prefers over the food on the ship. He has already made many new friends among his shipmates and they are showing him the local sights.

On June 12th, the Tortuga begins their tour to Australia as part of their 5-year certification called INSURV. He is very excited about this, but more importantly, he is excited about actually performing the job he was trained for and finally being on his ship. HOOYAH!