Read on Twitter
Short thread: Had a CO that really read (and cared about) his command climate surveys.
One of the most common gripes prior to him taking command was that, as a 5th fleet FDNF ship, there were no good port calls.
The ESB has become pretty popular with squadrons trying to keep current, marines trying to pretend 5th Fleet has a real amphibious mission, and a host of other suitors. As a result, it can’t ever be gone - or at least nobody had ever asked.
Our CO wanted to make sure that sailors saw both side of the navy that makes people love it - challenging, important work and seeing the world. There was plenty of work between the Gulf of Aden and Persian Gulf, but previous little seeing the world happening.
You can only go to Bahrain so many times before you go crazy.
So the captain found the space in the schedule, went to bat with an HQ that was not observably predisposed to caring about sailors’ happiness, and took the ship to Seychelles.
(Seychelles was awesome, btw) 
On the way down, our ship full of nasty wogs got to do a crossing the line ceremony, which was totally awesome.
Even that event showed the quality of the captain. Every event was briefed to him beforehand, to ensure safety and dignity of all sailors were at the forefront of the plan.
He got selected for CVN command last month and things like that reinforce my oft-hidden optimism for our organization. JFK’s crew should be looking forward to commissioning that ship with him at the helm.
