Unless you've
experienced this, it's hard to describe the feeling of saying
goodbye to everything you know, including the sky, the sun, and
fresh air, for a 75 day patrol that begins moments from right
now.
During surface-transit to the dive-point, especially around
O-dark-thirty, the North Atlantic in Wintertime has more stars
visible than the eyes can comprehend. But you try. One last time.
In the 4th year of a tour aboard one of these, yourself and a
handful of guys are the only original crew left, and it's an
amazing responsibility to train the replacements to take over
"your boat".
I have never been so happy to leave anything, or missed anything
so much.