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Life of a Navi-guesser.

Hello and thank you for visiting my website. This website will primarily be used for friends and family to see the latest in my travels as a merchant mariner. I'm now on the USNS Pililaa'u as 2nd Mate. We will be travelling from Corpus Christi, Tx., to Charleston, S.C., to Jacksonville, Fl., where we will be loading a wide variety of military cargo. From "Jax" we will travel across the North Atlantic to Rota, Spain, then on to Soudha Bay, Crete, where we will be picking up a security force to ride with us, then to our final destination... Kuwait. After off loading our cargo we will head down and around the horn of Africa, bound for home!

Today's events.

Tuesday, Dec. 18th 2007

Well, as we are still continueing to our preparations to get underway, not a whole lot going on beside's receiving anthrax shots once again.  So... I thought I would leave the story behind our ship's name, the USNS Pililaa'u:

Pfc. Pililaau, a member of Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. The enemy sent wave after wave of fanatical troops against his platoon which held a key terrain feature on "Heartbreak Ridge." Valiantly defending its position, the unit repulsed each attack until ammunition became practically exhausted and it was ordered to withdraw to a new position. Voluntarily remaining behind to cover the withdrawal, Pfc. Pililaau fired his automatic weapon into the ranks of the assailants, threw all his grenades and, with ammunition exhausted, closed with the foe in hand-to-hand combat, courageously fighting with his trench knife and bare fists until finally overcome and mortally wounded. When the position was subsequently retaken, more than 40 enemy dead were counted in the area he had so valiantly defended. His heroic devotion to duty, indomitable fighting spirit, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the U.S. Army.

We have the official papers from the day of the ships ceremony, and the Hawaiian's change the last sentence just slightly, but appropriately to-

it has been said "unselfish courage was not only his choice, but his destiny, for he was a HAWAIIAN WARRIOR, a true son of Hawaii nei.

On the bridge wing of the Charlton

The USNS Pililaa'u is an LMSR (Large Medium-Speed RoRo) that is used to carry nearly 7 football fields worth of cargo. She is 105 feet wide, 950 feet long with a draft of around 35 feet.

        
       There is no passion that man has sung
       Like the love of the deep-souled Sea,
      Whose tide responds to the Moon's soft light                                              
       With marvelous melody,-
       For the Sea is a harp, and the winds of God
       Play over his rhythmic breast,
      And bear on the sweep of their mighty wings
      The song of a vast unrest

                                                - from "A Sea Lyric" by William Hamilton Hayne