Hester's Head

Merry Christmas to our troops in Afghanistan
From your sailors in the Arabian Gulf

This is also for those not in the CF.
We are in the Canadian Forces and we do what we're told. Just as there are some sailors who don't want to be here, I'm sure there are some soldiers who don't want to be there. But we are all in the military and we all do what we're told. They were given a mission; you can trust that our troops in Afghanistan want to get the job done. After their grandfathers, fathers, uncles, probably even grandmothers and mothers, did what they had to do in the two World Wars, Korea, and elsewhere around the globe, you better believe that they do NOT want to come home and have to tell their moms that they weren't able to finish the job. We should do everything we can to support them and keep letting them know you support them.

We had an overnight visit from the CDS on the 22nd as he is on his way to spend Christmas with our troops in Afghanistan.

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On the left is one of my Able Seamen. I'll take a moment to tell you about AB Spence, just to tell you what kind of world ours is. He doesn't own a watch and was 95 minutes late returning from leave in Bahrain. (Everyone in the CF is snickering, but can anyone else guess what his punishment was?) He had a summary trial in front of the XO, pleaded guilty and promised to buy a watch. He was found guilty, fined $800 and confined to ship for 17 days. I suppose he was fortunate that the first 15 days of his punishment were at sea.

The highlight of the CDS visit though was having breakfast with Rick Mercer and ribbing Mary Walsh about being in her pajamas (she came to the mess for breakfast in flip flops). I didn't have my camera, but someone took my picture so I will have to track the pictures down.

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I was able to pin down the CDS, the CFCWO and Rick Mercer to ask them to pass on to our troops in Afghanistan that we stand behind them and they have our full support. We know they have a job to do and they want to get it done. I hope they are able to have a good Christmas and that they will come home safe. I trust that they've heard this a few times. If not, I'm glad I was able to impress upon them that they have the support of their sailors.

Soldiers and sailors have two different jobs; I don't think either of us would want to trade. Our job in the Arabian Gulf is no where near as dangerous, but thanks to everyone for not forgetting about us. As much as we appreciated the visit from the CDS and his team, as well as the celebrities, we also very much appreciate the cards and letters from the school kids. We also received (a few thousand) cards from blood donor clinics.

We did get our stockings today. They were sent from "Married to the Canadian Forces." the Legion and the city of Ottawa. Here's what I got:

A very stylin' travel mug (from the city of Ottawa)
A letter from Christine Elliott, Whitby-Ajax MPP (I didn't keep that)
A card from the Turnpenny family of Oshawa, Ontario (I will definitely keep that)
A pepperoni stick
An HBC sheepskin hat
Tim Hortons coffee
A notepad
A crossword puzzle book
A comic book
A Legion magazine
2 water bottles
A duffel bag
A red pen
3 blue pens
4 pencils
A 'Home Away From Home' - "Married to the Canadian Forces" dog tag
A package of peanuts
A package of Jubes
A carabineer/watch
The Brother's Creegan - Trunks CD
Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked for the Holidays CD
The Greatest Fish Hits of Hook, Line & Sinker and the Worm Kicker Band CD
Stephen King - Dolores Claiborne novel
4 Schick Xtreme 3 disposable razors
12 Gilette Good News! disposable razors
Lifesavers Sweet Storybook
Writing card set - 6 cards with envelopes and a pen
A package of licorice
A Yoyo
A hockey puck
2007 address book/scheduler
Ottawa Senators pin
City of Ottawa pin
A package of floss picks
Molson Canadian ball cap
Calgary Stampede pin
Jar of strawberry jam
2 things of lip balm
3 decks of cards
Battery operated personal fan
Toothbrush
Sunglasses holder
Globe/stress relief ball
16 packs of cherry Fisherman's Friends
Message pad
Canadian flag
Veteran Affairs Canada peace and freedom pin
Package of tissues
2 packages of hot chocolate
500 piece puzzle (of Tyrol, Austria)
Canada keychain
Hand sanitizer
LOTS more candy

How awesome is all that?

And we got more mail today! I received a package from my sister Natalie - pictures of her and her husband, and three pictures of her dog Django. I love ya gnat, but I sure do love Django too.

The medals are nice, the extra pay is great, but the best thanks are the thanks I've received from so many friends and family. That includes many friends here on CKA.

Speaking of CKA... I should pass on how grateful I am for that. We are never guaranteed to have internet access but we do have it the majority of the time. My two work internet accounts are both incredibly unreliable when sending email back and forth from civilian accounts, so I ended up relying on CKA PMs. I can't access my MSN space at sea but I can, quite obviously, access my CKA blog. It seems to be slowly circulating around more and more of my family so it's now my #1 method of keeping everyone up to date. Hi mom! I'm still passing chocolate around the ops room. Keeping the blog up to date has kept me entertained as well.

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family and Merry Christmas to everyone serving on missions around the world. I hope our troops come home safe.

Speaking of that, we finally know our return transit. It includes a stop in Alaska in early March. Send Gravol.

And Merry Christmas to everyone on CKA.

I wish everyone all the best in 2007. Thanks to everyone for all the support.

Trevor

PS: Our patrol in the Arabian Gulf is almost over. Our third and final patrol will be... somewhere else. Yesterday’s UN sanctions against Iran are NOT military in nature and do not permit the use of force. So HMCS Ottawa will not be involved in Iran or any UN sanctions.