Cerrado

Ode to Richardson:
Richardson, how I will miss thee.
we trained for crossing the Kealaikahiki

There was never a finer pool by a barrack
that had been deterred by a prick named Chris Deryck

Two and-a half years we trained for Pailolo
The Au'au, Roughwater, and the North Shore with Cholo

The COs, the XOs, CSO's they came
they said MWR's regs were to blame

So now here I am, a base pass cardholder
No PHM masters to train with and shoulder

The end of an era occurred for me at 4:55 AM this morning. The Naval Base Chief of Staff Officer Hodges and an assistant personally appeared at the sign in register for Pearl Harbor's Richardson pool. Due to some recent event, even those civilians who are MWR card holders, will no longer be able to swim at PHM (Pearl Harbor Masters). Interesting that it pretty much took the base XO's authority to trump MWR's guest policy. Even more interesting that the COS was dressed and on deck in the 0400 hour to waylay would-be benevolent civilian aquanauts. Clearly, there are some personal politics involved, maybe some favors called in. Be that as it may, once it was obvious that I was not swimming with PHM, I scurried off into the dawn to soak myself in the more hospitable waters at the longcourse pool of University of Hawaii. I got in 3400 yards there. I think this will be the new thing.