When I left off, I had just returned to Diego Garcia from the USS CARL VINSON and I had met Loretta Lynn. That happened pretty late in my tour on "The Rock" as it's often referred, and the rest of my time on the island was fairly uneventful.

I did, however, get a chance to go home for about two and a half weeks approximately mid-way through my tour. I took about a weeks worth of leave, and in conjunction with that I signed up for a program that allows young sailors to...