Ready!

Monday was our first day exercising our "Battle Rhythm." A Battle Rhythm is the schedule of events that takes place each day to accomplish our mission. It includes meetings to evaluate today's environment that we're working in; meetings to lock in all the logistics for the next day's events; meetings to evaluate the data that is coming to us for down-stream countries that we will be visiting in the future; meetings to plan for the next day's operations; evaluation of today's operations and any lessons learned to improve tomorrow's performance.

The day starts with reveille at 6:00am and basically runs till Taps at 10:00pm. Except for those people who will be working all night to crunch the numbers, make the steam, run the generators, etc. And for those people going ashore the next day, their day will start at 4:30am, and as the sun crosses the horizon in the morning, they will be loading boats and helicopters to begin the mad dash that will be that day's mission.

As we sit here in Norfolk, we're not launching boats at 4:30am, but our days are full, non-stop, and a real pre-cursor to what's ahead. So last night, as the day wound down, a number of our folks headed to the bowling alley to unwind, throw a few balls down the lanes, and get ready for the days ahead.


Of particular note was CDR Mark Marino. A man committed to the Zen of Bowling.


Focused.
(Be the ball!)



Professional.



Giddy.


And then there's the Fun Boss.





A graduate of Pennsylvania State University.


A man dedicated to the concept of "Taking Fun Seriously."




A man who proposed "Keg and Eggs" for Easter. (I'm thinkin', maybe not!).

Here's a guy whose job it is to insure we have fun! How cool is that! If he does his job, we have fun! If not, he get's fired! Makes me feel like the Rich and Famous!

Bottom line is we have a great crew, who works hard, and when the day is done, they can let their hair down a little (OK, tough to do with a crew cut!), and have a good time together.

Less than a week before we leave Norfolk!