Coast Guard Cultural Orientation

Darwin had to go to a mandatory Hawaiian culture orientation day for his work on Friday...and since it was Admissions Day and the kids didn't have school, we all went.  They had booths set up (like universities, banks, hiking groups, dive shops) under one tent, a bunch of chairs set up under another tent, and a bouncy house and face painting for the kids.  They did a safety lecture (about sea life, the sun, beaches, hiking, driving...etc.), had a local group entertain us with their hula skillz, taught us all some Hawaiian words...lol...and then we got to try Hawaiian food and the kids got their faces painted.  It was a little funny since we've already had three years of Hawaiian culture orientation...but it was a fun family activity.

I enjoyed everything on the bottom row of the plate and the Haupia.  I tried the lomi salmon (eh...)and the stuff that looks like barf (tasted better than it looked, but not by much), but after Darwin gagged on the Ahi Poke, I decided not to try EVERYTHING on my plate.

 

Top left to right: Lomi Salmon, Squid Luau, Ahi Poke, and Haupia

Bottom l to r: Chicken Long Rice, Kalua Pork, steam rice

Darwin working...?

*notice he is doing a "shaka"? maui will never leave us. =)

Lieutenant Commander Jensen!

It has been nearly a year since Darwin was selected for Lieutenant Commander. (hereafter referred to as LCDR). Basically what happens, is "they" come up with a list of Lt.'s that are qualified to be promoted to LCDR and put them in a certain order based on their graduation from officer candidate school date and some other things. (clear as mud so far?) Then they promote from the list, starting at the top, as higher ranking officers either retire or leave the Coast Guard. We (and I really mean "I" here) sort of anticipated that he would be promoted around April of this year, but because the economy has been in the pits recently, less people are retiring than normal. It took the entire year for this to happen...but we are so excited that it did!

Congratulations to you, Darwin, from your biggest fan club! We love you! Love, Melissa, Brooklin, Caleb, London, and Isaiah!!

Good bye silver Lieutenant bars!
You were good to us, and we loved you for 7 years...but we are excited to retire you now!

Hello pretty new gold Lieutenant Commander leaf!
We are so excited that you made it here!

Darwin with Captain Burt at his promotion ceremony

This is us laughing...the certificate says "this frist day of September"

Darwin's dad got to be here for the promotion ceremony.
(we are all listening as the certificate is being read.)

Darwin's dad and I got to put on his new rank boards for him.

LCDR & Mrs. Jensen

LCDR Jensen with his father

Tour of a Coast Guard Buoy Tender

Article from the Juneau Empire

The U.S. Coast Guard 17th District hosts its week-long annual District Buoy Tender Roundup in Juneau starting today.

This year's roundup brings seven buoy tenders from Kodiak, Cordova, Petersburg, Sitka, Ketchikan, Homer, Astoria, Ore., and Canada.

The event allows more than 250 Coast Guardsmen the opportunity to receive specialized training during the week in areas such as engine repair, buoy maintenance and first aid and allows buoy tender crews to exchange ideas and build camaraderie.

Due to the remote locations in Alaska where the cutters operate, the mission-essential training would be nearly impossible to complete otherwise and has proved successful for more than 20 years, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Participating in the week of training are the SPAR, Sycamore, Elderberry, Maple, Hickory, Anthony Petit, Fir and Provo Wallis, which is a 209-foot Ice-Strengthened Medium Navigational Aids Tender from Canada.

The Buoy Tender Olympics will be held Wednesday at Coast Guard Station Juneau from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Cutter Fir will host public tours Thursday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Coast Guard crews aboard buoy tenders in Alaska service 1,250 navigational aids along 33,000 miles of coastline while actively participating in search and rescue, environmental protection and law enforcement missions.

We went down to the Coast Guard station this afternoon to tour the USCGC Fir. It was pretty neat.

The kids on the bow of the Fir



Didn't you know...
buoy tenders are so big, you can fit a whole cruise ship on their bow?!!

Lifesaver

Rope

This is on the crane they use to pull the buoys out of the water

I was really amazed that they could "park" these big boats so close together! They were literally inches apart!

Isaiah next to a buoy. They are a lot bigger than I imagined them to be.

Caleb in the control room

Isaiah sitting in the captain's chair.

Kids on the dock waiting for our tour to start.

A future promotion and a calling

This Saturday, Darwin got an email from the Coast Guard that was great news.

1. THE SECRETARY HAS APPROVED THE REPORT OF THE SELECTION BOARD
CONVENED ON 18 AUG 2008 WHICH RECOMMENDED THE FOLLOWING NAMED
OFFICERS ON THE ACTIVE DUTY PROMOTION LIST (ADPL) FOR PROMOTION TO
THE GRADE OF LIEUTENANT COMMANDER. OFFICERS SELECTED ARE LISTED
BELOW IN ADPL PRECEDENCE ORDER:

245 LT JENSEN, DARWIN A.

We are very excited that he was selected to promote to Lieutenant Commander (O-4). The list had 342 names on it, and you can see that Darwin is 245 on the list. Basically, the email said there were eight "super stars" (my words) and they were at the top, and then they kind of go by when he graduated from Officer Candidate School...which was Sept of 1999. The guy who graduated at the top of their class is #229. Now I asked him a ton of questions about what this actually all means, and pretty much, it takes about a year to actually get the promotion, and technically they could move us again, but they told him they probably wouldn't shop his job, because it is hard to fill. (No one wants to come to Alaska.) So anyway, within a year or so, he will be promoted, and we are really excited.

Darwin also got a calling at church this Sunday. He was called (and sustained) to be the 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum. The bishopric actually came over two weeks ago and asked him to do another calling (that he honestly wasn't very excited about but said yes to) and then last Sunday when they were supposed to sustain him, they didn't. It was kind of weird. Then the Stake President found us, and asked him to do this job. I think he was kind of glad that it is not scouting again. He has been the scout master for the past 7 years, and he was really ready for a break, even though he does like working with the scouts.

I still don't have any callings at church...hehe! I did play the piano and give the lesson in Relief Society yesterday, but that was just filling in for people that were gone. I've never taught in Relief Society before, so I was really nervous, but it went ok. Guess that is all for now. ~MeJ

Darwin at work

These are some pictures of Darwin at work. I'm not sure of exactly what he is doing in these pictures, but his job is usually inspecting boats that carry six or more passengers, so that would be the tour boats up to the cruise ships.