stachin'

So I've got a moustache - a real moustache. A lot like the one you
would see on an old Magnum PI poster- minus the beach volley ball,
yellow corduroy shorts and Ocean Pacific polo shirt. Indeed, I am
stachin'. I'm extremely stachin'. It's big too - much more 'stache'
than 'mous'. I am not sure why I grew it, but I am glad I did. I tell
myself that I am just trying to fit in out here it the Middle East - a
land where "if you aint stachin' you aint @#$%". The real reason is
that I am simply responding to curiosity, to the situation (maintaining
military bearing while at sea), and to peer pressure and good humor. It
has been growing now for three months and has approached a form of
maturity. It functions nicely as a sort of internal control measure
that keeps me from taking myself too seriously as it is really hard to
look at myself in the mirror and keep a straight face. I thought it would look better as it got fuller, but it still looks funny. I guess
that is just the nature of a moustache though - funny looking. You
can't have a thick tuft of wirey hair spewing out of your nose and
colonizing the thin strip of real estate above your lip and make any
claims to looking natural or good. But now that the stache is full, it
has left the awkwardness of a new moustache and taken on the awkwardness of an old moustache.


I look at this moustache thing as a rite of passage. There is something
uniquely cool about growing a third eyebrow slightly bushier and thicker and crazier than the other two offset above my upper lip that makes me feel closer to being a grown-up, a dad, a husband, a high school wrestling coach, a Kevin Cardwell, a cop....a MAN in essence. I like to think about when Dad used to have a moustache. It is funny to me to think of that. I didn't think much of it at the time, and I thought he looked good with his stache, but I'm not so sure by him growing one the joke wasn't really on all of us, those who had to look at it. That is kind of how our parent's 1970's humor works - it's subtle but the entire country was in on it because the staches were "in vogue" at the time of their maturing senses of humor. I have to believe that they were making fun of moustaches in much the same way I am now. The only difference is that my generation is close minded and small minded enough to believe that we started the great moustache joke - but I doubt that is the case. That is why the moustache will never die - every generation will insist on making fun of them by growing them (because they can) and thinking they are really clever by so doing. And then their kids watch them doing it, not knowing it is a joke, and they grow up to mimic the joke thinking they are being really funny by poking fun at and mocking their father's staches. It is an unvirtuous cycle that has no end in sight.


Anyway, I am now in a bind. This thing has taken on a life of its own
and has become a force to be reckoned with. If truth be known, I admit
that I don't really like the moustache. Its not just that it doesn't
look super good, but more importantly, it is not comfortable. It is
like having an SOS pad on my lip all the time. Stuff gets stuck in it
and it pokes my tounge and I can't stop playing with it, and when I run
I perspire under it! That is gross. I can't wipe the sweat off of my
upper lip - a common place for beads of perspirations to form. The sweat just drips down my lip. Very annoying. I also get called "Chief" more, even though I am an officer. But the dilemma remains in that I have sacrificed too much comfort and invested too much energy and lack of comfort into this thing to shave it off. If I shave it now, I will
never know what it could have turned into! I see people running around
with moustaches who have had them for over 60 years! I see other people
who are well on their way to that same path - people who you can't
imagine without their moustache and who have developed an organic
relationship with their staches. They love them and if they were to
shave them and you were to see them in their hairless-lip state, you
would think of them in much the same way you think of a hairless
dog....repulsive and weak and funny looking. So I simply have got to see where this thing leads. I figure now is the time - nobody around to
boycott my kisses and tell me to shave. I am thinking that I owe it to
myself to let the moustache develop at least until the upper hairs go
all the way down and cover all the under hairs like a protective
umbrella. I am close.


Until then, please excuse my pictures. I will continue to enjoy the good and the bad and experiment with this crazy tradition of civilized
cultures known as the 'moustache'. I do find that there are virtues -
one being an instant brotherhood with other moustache men. It is sort
of like being bald, or driving a Harley. You automatically are friends
with all other bald men and all other Harley drivers just because you
share a common bond. I can walk down the passage ways and exchange nods
and unspoken tokens of brotherhood and binding friendship with all the
other jokesters who are nurturing caterpillars on their lips too!


So long live the moustache. If I shave this off before any of you get
to/have to see me with it, don't worry because it will most likely come
back at some time - I have to let Fin and his future brothers see it so
I can plant some seeds and hopefully do my part in giving them a memorable target to mock twenty years from now when they can grow their
own.

where in the world is Reed?

I found this article about Reed's ship today. It's interesting to read about where he's at and what is going on around him.

USS Abraham Lincoln in Arabian Sea to support Afghan operations
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, July 9, 2008



ARLINGTON, Va. — The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has moved from the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea to support operations in Afghanistan.

NBC News first reported Monday night that the carrier has been moved because of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, where a suicide bomber killed more than 40 people Monday outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

A spokesman for 5th Fleet confirmed the move Tuesday.

"Conditions are worsening on the ground in Afghanistan and commanders have requested additional air support," said Lt. Nathan Christensen.

The deployment is not meant to send a message to Iran, Christensen said.

"It’s absolutely not in response to Iran whatsoever," he said.

For security reasons, Christensen could not say how long the Lincoln would provide air support for Afghanistan, or when it is expected to leave the 5th Fleet area of operations.

"They are there for the foreseeable future," said Lt. Cmdr. Bill Speaks, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

Speaks would not say if the move was prompted by the worsening situation in Afghanistan.

"This is simply a move to ensure strategic flexibility and responsiveness through the posturing of our forces," he said.

He also could not say if the Lincoln’s trip to the Arabian Sea had been planned or was an adjustment due to conditions on the ground.

"These kinds of things are constantly under review and assessment," he said. "I honestly don’t how long ago that decision was made or thought of."

A Navy official could not give a specific date on when the Lincoln would be replaced by the USS Ronald Reagan.

The Reagan is currently in the western Pacific filling in for the USS Kitty Hawk, which is taking part in the Rim of the Pacific exercises in place of the USS George Washington, which is being repaired following a fire in May, the official said.

If needed, the Navy can send carriers to the 5th Fleet area of operations ahead of schedule, such as the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is slated to deploy in late summer or early fall, the official said.