Mike Gets His Orders

Mike was with his 9 classmates when the Petty Officer walked in the room and announced he had their orders. Of the 10 guys in the class, there had been wishlists of San Diego, Washington, Virginia, but Mike had listed Japan as his top choice. The Petty Officer handed out all of the orders, but didn't give one to Mike. A little worried, Mike asked if that meant he wouldn't be leaving at the same time as the other guys. The Petty Officer told him he would check into it.

A while later, he called Cortese and asked him if he had heard of IA (Individual Augmentee). When Mike said no, the Petty Officer explained that his orders were to train with the army in Connecticut for 2 weeks, whereupon he would be sent to work with the Marines on the frontlines in Afghanistan. Mike admits this scared him, but he accepted his assignment.

After the Petty Officer made sure Mike had swallowed this whole story, he gave him his real orders. Mike is headed to Sasebo, Japan. Mike's Grandpa Welch was assigned to the same area when he was in the US Navy many years ago. According to the map, this is in the southwest region of Japan, across the sea from South Korea. He will be assigned to the USS Essex, which is currently at sea in the East China Sea. He will be heading out just after the beginning of the year. He's very excited to start his new career in this way.

He definitely had us sweating it a little when he played this same trick on his parents. I'm so proud to know that he is serving his country and fighting to protect our freedoms. The 4th of July, Veterans Day, and 9/11 will always be more important to me than they already are.
Mike will hopefully be home for Christmas and New Years before he heads out. I'll keep the blog posted with updates as I get them.










This is the USS Essex, an Amphibious Assault Ship. Mike will be one of those guys running around on the deck of the ship fueling up the planes. He says on an AAS it is too small for planes to land on, so he will be working with vertical planes like harriers and helicopters.

Sasebo is in the Fukuoka region that you can see on the map here. It looks like a beautiful city. I hope we get to visit it sometime while Mike is there.