Friends, near & far:
Happy 2023! I hope that the Year of the Rabbit is off to a pleasant start to you; I know that it is for the SDSU Jackrabbits, who’ve recently returned from Frisco, TX with a shiny championship title. (My niece Claire was present, and while we can’t prove causation, we can’t disprove it, either.)
I’ve been musing about priorities. Perhaps they aren’t something we choose so much as something that reveal themselves to us. I’ve been thinking about crafting holiday postcards and writing my annual update since shortly after I arrived in Okinawa on November 19th, yet nearly two months later, nothing has yet emerged. At any point, reading, exploring, settling in, putting together holiday packages, going on tours, and the minutiae of daily life have simply taken precedence.
Still, there are tasks that are challenging to begin, but that provide a great sense of accomplishment once completed. I think I’ve accepted that the window for a mass holiday greeting—even for Lunar New Year—has passed. The time involved in creating artwork, finding a print shop, making it to the post office across base in time to buy stamps, and so on just hasn’t appealed to me over the past few weeks, and so perhaps I’ll instead try to work ahead for next year. Still, I greatly value the task of reflecting on my year. Even more, I value looking back at past years’ summaries. I’ve been writing a “Christmas letter” or end-of-year reflection for over a decade, many of them posted to the blog I kept during my 2011-2013 Peace Corps service, and it would be a shame to miss this year because I was too enthralled with a book or my cozy bed to make the time. So, in perhaps my tardiest year-end update ever, let’s begin.
2022 has been marked by my continued transition into the Navy. I originally enlisted (or “DEP’ed in,” entered into the Delayed Entry Program) on 02 June 2021. I officially enlisted and flew to Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois, to begin basic training on 07 September 2021. I graduated 10 November and began orientation for Hospital Corpsman Basic (“Corps School”) a week later at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. Having tested positive for Covid in January 2022, I moved from Class 040 to a class three weeks behind, Class 055, and completed HCB on 07 April. I began Behavioral Health Tech School later that month, on 27 April, and graduated 11 August. Though my training obligations had been completed—and completed well, as I exceeded my goals and graduated all three programs as the top of the class—my orders were kicked back for funding/administrative issues, and I spent another two months at Fort Sam awaiting orders and departure details. I detached from NMTSC (Navy Medicine Training Support Center) on 15 October. I spent 01 November – 17 November at the Transient Processing Unit at Puget Sound, perhaps the Navy’s smallest command, and checked in to my current command, NMRTC (Navy Medicine Training & Readiness Command), at the United States Navy Hospital in Okinawa, Japan, on 19 November.
In short: I spent nearly a year at Fort Sam, and I’ve been at my first “real Navy” command in Okinawa as a Hospital Corpsman Behavioral Health Technician for just under two months.
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| After completing the Tactical Combat Casualty Care final practical exam |
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A Corps school friend supporting my BHT graduation
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I wrote last year that the transition to Corps School was difficult. It got better. As time went on, we were given more freedom. I met a lot of interesting people. I learned a lot. I was in charge of the A-school choir for a short while and proud of what we accomplished. I attempted dating in the military (a nightmare, one chapter after another). I attempted dating outside of the military (uninspiring, but the source of some nice “non-Navy air,” friends with whom I could be my full self and for whom the Navy was just a small part of my identity). I explored base resources—including the Student Activity Center and its powerful massage chairs, a great library, a beautiful theatre with performances by a local company, and more—and experienced a lot of San Antonio. I got some Lyfts and rode some buses but mostly put a lot of miles on my feet. I was fortunate to feel safe and be able to explore museums and more almost every weekend when we had the freedom to do so.
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| San Antonio's Fiesta gave me an opportunity to represent the Navy in a parade, the day after I graduated from Corps School. It was one of my best Sailor experiences yet. |
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Sometimes Fort Sam did fun things on base!
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Unfortunately, our time at Fort Sam was marred by an environment that was unnecessarily negative and restrictive. The curriculum did not meet its full potential, and massive amounts of time were poorly utilized. I found myself exhausted by how often our conversations revolved around what we didn’t like: rules we found stupid, disorganization, and poor morale in general. This felt like a place where we should be excited to be in the Navy, being paid to learn, being trained to excel at our next commands! Yet that was rarely the tone, and my whining didn’t help. At the end of my time, while in the Transient Monitoring Division awaiting orders, I had an opportunity to help orient newcomers to base and to create a proposal for some of the HCB leadership. I suggested the creation of a “Welcome Aboard” packet for students, and created prototypes of some of what it could include, like a list of base resources. I suggested ways to reframe the experience without changing a single rule but instead connecting the rules to training objectives to help Sailors feel a sense of belonging and purpose in their role as students at the command. I’ve no idea what, if anything, came of these suggestions. Nonetheless, after a year of complaining with my friends, it felt meaningful to give constructive input.
In 2022, I took leave three times:
• In April, to South Dakota to see my family and meet my new niece, Claire, the first child to my sister Beth & her husband Alex, and to California to rendezvous with a dear friend.
• In August/September, to Colorado to spend time with Jacob, Nalerie, & Isaac (Andrew was away for military training), and to South Dakota celebrate the wedding of my sister Anne to Evan.
• In October, to Florida, to catch up with numerous relatives on my maternal (Timmel) side, to Colorado to see friends & to go trick-or-treating with the full Sutton-Talley family, and again to South Dakota for a bonus trip before venturing overseas.
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| with Nalerie & Isaac, August 2022 |
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| Reunited in California after 7.5 years! |
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| Their very own uniforms & a healthy Army-Navy rivalry |
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| With my parents, both military retirees, September 2022 |
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| Anne, Evan, & Leo, September 2022 |
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| Back: Caleb, Bryce, me, Isaac; Front: Asher, Ronda, Micah, September 2022 |
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| with Dad, September 2022 |
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| Becky, Anne, me, & Jim, October 2022 |
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| The cutest astronaut & Minnie Mouse around, October 2022 |
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| With little sailor girl Claire Bear, April 2022 |
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with Aunt Marguerite & Uncle John, October 2022
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Harvest! October 2022 |
Truth be told, this was more leave than I was entitled to, but it was an administrative error of the Navy, and everyone to whom I brought the matter told me it wouldn’t be corrected and to enjoy it. Enjoy it I did. While in Puget Sound, I also got to make a whirlwind weekend trip to Seattle, Washington & Portland, Oregon, catching up with many friends from past chapters of my life, meeting their spouses & partners and even stopping by my old home & office from 2013/2014. I left the US feeling very ready to live in a new country, buoyed by support and time well-spent with family and friends.
I chose my orders to Okinawa. In early July, my BHT class got a list of billets, and we had one hour to sort them out amongst ourselves. It was a difficult conversation, as I had hoped everyone could be satisfied. We knew that ultimately, choosing would go in order of class GPA, and by the grace of a few decimal points on that particular day, I was fortunate to have first choice. On our list, Okinawa was the only overseas option, and ultimately I accepted the opportunity to take it. Needless to say, this type of setting and time limit is not how I usually make major life decisions.
However, I’m delighted to be here. The US military has a complicated history in Okinawa, an island prefecture of Japan ~400 miles south of the mainland. If you’re interested in a thoughtful, well-researched book on this presence, I recommend Night in the American Village: Women in the Shadow of the U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa, by Akemi Johnson. I’m only two-thirds through, but it’s one of the best books I’ve read all year and is helping shape—and answer—my questions about my presence here.
The first month was lonely; despite a very positive command culture, many holiday parties, and the communal nature of living in the barracks or BEQ (bachelor enlisted quarters), making friends is hard. It’s even harder when most of your peers in rank are 15-20 years younger than you. Still, I’m told that loneliness is a common experience here, and as a community-builder I’m curious to see how I can help change that for future newcomers.
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With a Corps School friend at the Navy Hospital's command holiday party
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A note about rank: I realize that to my non-military friends, I’ve simply joined the Navy and am overseas experiencing all the adventure that entails. Whether I’m a Commander or Seaman Apprentice means next to nothing to you; I’m just in the Navy. Yet it means a lot to those in the military; rank controls so much more than one’s salary. It dictates much about my life: what privileges and liberties I am permitted, whom I am allowed to interact with and in what ways. Inspections, curfew, even freedoms like buying a car, having visitors in my room or staying elsewhere overnight are all dictated by the Navy and related to rank. [Marriage is also heavily incentivized in the military. For example, sometimes the difference between a shared barracks room (subject to inspection by strangers) and a private off-base apartment is a simple little lifetime commitment to another human.] Rank isn’t everything, but it’s a lot. I entered as an E-3 due to my college degree and “picked up” E-4 (Petty Officer Third Class) upon my BHT graduation, a perk of my specific contract. This is advantageous, because it can take several years to become an E-4, especially as a Corpsman where advancement is competitive due to how numerous we are in the Navy. It’s still a very humble rank, however; my college peers who are or were in the Navy are generally O-4s, Lieutenant Commanders. I occupy a strange territory, and I’m still figuring it out day by day.
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With HN Micono, one of my roommates from Fort Sam, whom I asked to "pin" me HM3 in my advancement ceremony. She's one of the Sailors I most respect & admire!
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In another month, I’ll be able to seek permission to buy a car and, depending on barracks occupancy, submit a request to move off-base if I so choose. We shall see. I often feel trapped behind the fences—the sights and sounds of Okinawa close, yet far; the street just outside my window often inaccessible because the nearest open gate is a 30-minute walk. However, needing to rely on my feet and the base and local bus lines to explore is helping me get my bearings and build a mental map that will only be enhanced by the freedom and convenience a car and off-base housing would facilitate.
I work in Outpatient Mental Health, which has two locations within our main hospital and also supports the Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) and Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program (SARP) clinics across the street. I’ve had the opportunity to do a little bit of front desk/vitals work across these locations and am currently on a three-month rotation in SARP. I have an office and am excited to do actual BHT therapy work. It draws on my previous experience in all the ways I hoped it would, and I’m delighted to keep learning and growing in my clinical skillset.
I’m also still finding my place in the command and larger community. This is challenging with my age and rank, but there are still so many options. Volunteering for base clean-ups and at the Marine Thrift Shop (a veritable treasure trove) is easy and enjoyable. We have a fabulous library, USO, Single Marine Program, Tours+, and of course movie theatre, bowling alley, and more—and that’s without leaving base. Okinawa is filled with historic sites, aquariums, shopping centers, hiking trails, beaches, and waterfalls. 1.5 million people live on this 66x8-mile island, so there are plenty of places to go and people to meet. Being stationed with the military in a country whose language I don’t speak—and must really go out of my way to learn—is a wildly different way of living in a foreign country, and one I’m not entirely comfortable embracing. I know I don’t want to be the American who buys all their groceries on base and goes to the same American bar every weekend. I am also accepting that I may never integrate in the way I did in Zambia or other locations overseas. I am hoping to find my own way. At work, this includes determining how best contribute as a BHT, as well as how I am involved in the command, such as teaching Basic Life Support or being part of the color guard. It also involves many decisions in my personal life. I’d love to take a class in aerial yoga (offered nearby) or to seek doula training. I plan to take advantage of world-class diving by becoming SCUBA certified in the coming months. I’m finding my way around the various bases on the island and figuring out how to appreciate acquaintances while searching for meaningful friendships.
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| Hiji Falls & my first hike in Oki! |
Before writing this, I re-read last year’s update. Several things resonate nearly verbatim. I recently turned 39 in a barracks room, with no house, no car, no partner, and no children of my own, but with all my needs met, and with an overabundance of opportunity. I am very much still making sense of being in the Navy, grateful for the opportunities it is affording me and will bring in the future, but not oblivious to its history and role in warfare and destruction. As ever, Nalerie is the love of my life and is filling the role of “threenager” with spirit and spunk. Being able to talk with her about her beginnings “in my tummy” was one of the highlights of the past year. Our global climate is just as dangerous, but my individual life is full of love, hope, and joy, as I hope yours is.
Wishing you & yours all the best.
Love,
Andréa
