I’ve got orders to go back to the beautiful state of Maine. This time, I will be assigned to USCG Sector Northern New England, in Portland. For the first time in my Coast Guard career, I will not be onboard a cutter.

Good bye Florida

When I tell people that I’m moving up North (to the cold) they think that because I’ve lived in Florida for eight years (most of them in Key West) I must be pretty pissed with my orders. In fact, I’m done with Florida. The reason why I stayed in Florida for so long was merely situational. It was my career that took me there in the first place. Then (after getting out of the service) I was stuck in the keys because it was just too expensive to move out. When I came back to the Coast Guard, my career came back into the equation, making me decide to move back to Key West. If I can help it (and hopefully my career cooperates) I will not go back to the land of mosquitos and alligators. I have nothing against it of course, after all, I come from another land of mosquitoes; no alligators though.

New England

I chose to be back in New England because, of all the places I’ve lived in, Kittery, Maine was where I feel I had the best time. I also have good memories of the couple of years that I lived in Boston, Massachusetts, but Maine, Maine is just superior. I’ve always thought that I could not enjoy my time in New England before because I was either underway or just going straight to the TV or computer and then to sleep after a long day as a non-rate. I feel like I didn’t take advantage of the area; my wife thinks so too. This time, I will make sure that we will enjoy and explore our new home.

For now, however, I’m not planning to do anything other than complete my training and become qualified in my new position. Until that happens, I will not go on with pretty much anything else. After I am done with training, I will have a lot of time off to enjoy New England.