Decommissioning USS Enterprise

When I took my son Ethan to the Inactivation Ceremony for Enterprise, I had no idea what role she was going to play in my life over the following 5 years.

A friend of mine spoke today on Facebook of times in my life where things weren't going so well for me, and those members of my extended family who propped me up when no one else was there to support me. The nuclear Navy has tortured and infuriated me, but they've propped me up to my greatest heights and never let me down. Sadly, I've walked away from the nuclear Navy twice now, in 2011 after my enlistment, and in 2016 after my wife was assigned to instructor duty at the Naval Nuclear Training Command in South Carolina. Each time I've walked away from the nuclear Navy I've walked away from a peak in my personal life and professional career, and, unfortunately, each time I've struggled afterwards.

Today Enterprise is decommissioned, and I am watching from hundreds of miles away while I write this. I am filled with pride at the accomplishments my fellow Inactivation Test Engineers and I made, and regret as I left the ship a mere 24 hours before the last fuel rod was removed. I'm not entirely sure what the next chapter in my professional career is going to be, but I am sure that the technical and leadership experiences I walked away from Enterprise with will help me to meet whatever challenges I face in the future. I will never, ever forget being the test engineer, directing the watch team in the execution of, and seeing those level gages move during the performance of the first ever "Voodoo Sluice." So many once in a lifetime, never again experiences in Newport News Shipbuilding, both as a member of the crew commissioning the newest A4W and as a shipyard engineer inactivating the first and only A2W.

While I was an enlisted nuke, and generally afterwards, I had a habit of telling people that I was frustrated by the nuclear Navy's propensity to define its own self worth by pride in membership, rather than pride in the personal accomplishments of its members. Truth be told, being a Navy Nuke was an accomplishment in and of itself and an induction into a world where mediocrity would never be good enough. I judge my lulls from the perspective of the heights that nuclear power have taken me to, and rightfully so.

With that said, it is also appropriate that NNPTC is celebrating a Power School graduation this morning at the same time as Enterprise's decommissioning. The great circle of life. All good things change, but the heights of our past accomplishments are the fuel for forging the successes of our successors. I may not be able to say it with the same flair as Patrick Stewart, but the words resonate just the same: Let's make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise.

#WeAreLegend