Jarrett (FFG 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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The Officers The naval officer is truly unique, for he must have the capacity to simultaneously love his coun- try, his service, his family, his ship mates, and the sea. He needs each of them unquestionably as each of them needs him. And the demands which each place on him never diminish, they only grow. Beyond all the words and phrases of a Naval Officer ' s dedicated service, honor and profession- alism must remain his past, present, and future. That, sir, is why it is the HONORABLE PRO- FESSION. Admiral John Bulkeley, USN

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Chaplain LT Dean Allen, CHC, USNR jiii c- l ' oui:ht .1 good I ' iehi. I hjvc finished my course. I have kept the t ulh. - New Testament. 11 Timothy. IV. 7 One of the privileges of being a Navy Chaplain and a pastoral counselor is that 1 belong to a tra- dition that valves to a ' two way ' ministry. In any short or extended deployment I had better know that I don t have all the answers and that I need to be supported by the crew as much as I will seek to sup- port them! I begin any mutual pil- grimage with the hope and almost expectation, that my shipmates will give me courage, humble me, anger me, make me think, and keep me sane, as much as I will do the same for them! As 1 lived with you on a daily ba- sis, especially on a major deploy- ment, I often felt like I was tread- ing on holy ground in accepting someone that 1 inay not have previ- ously known for who and what you were. Knowing that over the course of weeks or months we could move each other to tears, laughter, rage, silence and back again, was both scary and threat- ening, but exciting at the same time. A major deployment is an in- between time, a space between preparation and the event, be- tween the over-and-done-with and the not-yet, the place where we stand after we have given of our- selves and wonder if it will all come together! There were always ele- ments of testing involved but there never seemed to be a final exam. It was a time that beckoned us to learn more about ourselves and to deepen our grasp on our identities and the meaning of our lives. This in-between time offered us an opportunity to express faith in God, each other, our sh ip and also to make an act of faith in ourselves. This was not an exaggerated com- mitment to ego, but a willingness to have enough confidence in our abilities that we could withstand inevitable failures and disappoint- ments. It wasn ' t easy to live with hard knocks and disappointments. but we held on to a sense of our- selves, building on the fact that we did our best with as much integrity as possible, and that we overcame any obstacle. If we had not risked ourselves and tested what we were made of, we would have been like the person in the Gospel who bur- ied his talents in the ground, des- perately afraid to find out what could be done with them. Now that it is all over, we are sure of one thing, we are different in one way or another. The direc- tion and the meaning of this change is uncontrollable, only if we ignore ourselves, shrug off the ex- perience, or fail to take it as a time to act on the lessons learned. It has been an ardous six months but with the grace of God and us pul- ling together we made it! It is an experience that I will never forget nor will I forget any of you. The USS JARRETT will always occu- py a special place in my heart.

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Left and below: Wc must remain flexible . . . - CDR Blankinsliip relates to the crew during a Captain ' s Call prior to entering the Gulf. It ' s a tough job. but somebody has to do it! ' ' k .m€