014 - Shell Shock

How many times has your happy bag been emptied filling others warm fuzzy quota for the day? Even if the law of conservation of happiness is in the urban dictionary it is all too easy to allow a negative climate to remain commonplace in the engine room. At times it feels as though the system is built from suffering. That there is a necessity for it. A pride in it. A hunger for all the white space a P.O.D. can produce. Training on top of drills on top of maintenance, quals on top of missed holidays, deployments on top of life... we forget we exist for more than this. Sked doesn’t schedule our kids birthdays and your WCS won't remind you of your anniversary. 

Like anything else this predicament is a practiced effort. We work at it with each PMS we sign off on and each hour of self maintenance we push off. Our jobs are of the highest order in demanding our constant dedication. Our bodies and our minds are of that same make. Remember when you need to roll tags for the tenth time in the past twelve hours or you missed your turn to sleep in Port and Starboard watches. Take a second to reflect on what you need as an individual so that you may better work as a team. Look out for each other no matter how DINQ.

-From a Hugger