In a single week, I and another engineer (much more senior than I) prepared for this trip. As soon as dates and places were given, we conducted a flurry of meetings. Our purpose was to observe the day-to-day activities of sailors (customers, really), get information on various aspects of ship performance for our engineers to use, and solicit general input from the crew to get their direct feedback on our designs. That last bit may not be pretty, but I'm ready. In between meetings, we completed the training I've already described. Free of charge, we got to have a physical exam. For some reason, medical professionals never believe it when you tell them you are as healthy as a horse. Not as chiseled as I once was, I still sailed through with no problems. Maybe no longer a horse, but perhaps a Shetland pony. The only thing remaining was to catch a flight.
That's when we got Navy'ed. Problems on the boat. No extra riders will be brought on board until the new year. Cancelled with less than 24 hours notice, barely enough time to void my flight and hotel reservations. "So it goes" is likely what Kurt Vonnegut would say about this, if he could focus on anything other than escape training and its absurdity. Of course, he was a veteran, so the concept of getting Navy'ed would be all too familiar. Despite all this, here I count my blessings. My traveling comrade had already bought tickets to fly his wife out to join him after our work was complete. It made sense, because he had no young children and our destination was Hawaii.
No comments:
Post a Comment