Dec 10
I did my Physical Fitness Assessment yesterday and I generally fell in line with where I normally do but I did improve on my run. The last couple of cycles, I had been running my mile and a half in about 13:45 but last night I ran it in just over 13:00 which is a pretty marked improvement especially considering I had not really been training except for the last couple of weeks. I was definitely huffing, puffing and sweating like a slave but I am surprisingly not sore from the run or the push ups and sit ups. I think most of that is on account of the 20 pounds I have lost.
I am just under 160lbs now which is pretty much where I want to be but with a little muscle. I would like to maintain where I am right now but until my mouth gets fixed that may be a problem. Oh, I didn’t tell you about my mouth? Well…..
I don’t really know what is going on with it, and either does the Cracker Jack medical staff on board. Last week I woke up with pretty bad pain on the right side of my mouth. My teeth, jaw and cheek were sore and it hurt when I swallowed. I let it go for a few days but things did not improve. I couldn’t sleep and every time I tried to eat the pain was too much so I pretty much just drank and ate anything that I could gum to a paste. How enticing right? Anyway I finally went to medical and they said sounds like a canker sore. Just leave it alone and it will heal but that didn’t seem right to me. When I looked in the mirror it looked like there was a hole in my cheek. Well some people I work with were tired of hearing me complain so they took a look inside with a flashlight and then they understood. I have a deep cut and pocket near my tonsils on the right side of my mouth. It looks like I have been chewing on my cheek for quite a while (probably in my sleep) and it has gotten infected. I went back to medical this morning and had them take the flashlight and look and they agreed and finally gave me some penicillin and told me to finish it. I can’t wait for it to heal so I can eat without excruciating pain and sleep again.
We are supposedly, FINALLY getting a port visit soon and it couldn’t come at a better time. We have been out here for almost 40 days and it’s been rough especially at this time of year. I can’t wait to get on land and just relax for a couple days. I hope the XO is in the holiday spirit and will let us off the ship with max liberty instead of the typical working port bullshit that we usually have.
I have berthing cleaners this morning which means I get to go clean up our disgusting sleeping quarters and bathroom. When you sleep in a space with 100 guys it doesn’t take too many dirt bags to really mess the space up. Its usually not so bad during the week cause it gets hosed down everyday but God help you if you get stuck doing it on a Monday. It’s one of my least favorite things on board but that list is growing by the day.
Hope everybody has a great weekend. I know I won’t.
Dec 9
First, thanks to everybody for all the well wishes. It really means a lot and I truly appreciate it.
Another year older, and what have I done? It doesn’t feel like much.
Obviously this year has had some big changes. I moved from Europe to Hawaii, I changed commands and started my first deployment. For all the ups and downs of the last year I feel pretty flat right now. I think part of it is just the fact that I am spending my birthday and every holiday away from everybody that I care about.
Honestly I never thought I would make it to 33. The way I lived my life till I was 28 was pretty much like Groundhog Day. Do whatever I wanted, act as insane as possible but magically every morning I would wake up safe and sound in a bed (usually my own.) I am glad I had all those experiences and can’t believe I made it through without being killed or going to jail and maybe one day I will write about those days but not today.
Things on board have been pretty crazy lately. We have been doing lots of drills that have been interrupting the few hours of sleep that I sometimes get and we have been on a wild goose chase looking for a boat that nobody has seen or heard from but that doesn’t stop us from looking. Today we did a bunch of shooting from the 5” gun which was pretty awesome to watch. I got to observe from the magazine and from the bridge and let me tell you that when that gun goes off your insides shake.
We are still planning on getting a little port visit sometime before Christmas but not actually on Christmas but like everything else is out here, that is subject to change. Either way, it’s not going to matter much since it will be a regular work day for the IT’s.
We did finally get our backlog of mail this week. I got boxes from my parents and grandparents. Thanks to them and a ton of stuff that I had ordered over the past 2 months. I practically have a new wardrobe that I can’t wear because I have lost 20lbs since deployment started and since I ordered the clothes. Hopefully I can shrink up some of the stuff so I can get some wear out of them.
I saw on the news that the north shore is getting hit with 30-50ft waves this week. I wish I was home to watch them. I guess there is always next year.
Well one more night down. 364 days till 34
Dec 2
Results are out for this cycle’s advancement and I will be staying an IT2 for the time being. I didn’t think I had a chance of really even getting close but I did better then expected and of all the IT2’s at my command I was the closest one to making it even though it was only my first time up and some of them have taken the test 8 or more times.
I ended up missing the cutoff by 4 points. I could have done a lot better on the test if I had put more effort into studying. I was a little disenchanted because I was in school for the 6 months prior to the test and I just didn’t put in the effort. I can guarantee that I will do better on the test in March.
I actually averaged as well or better in each individual area as the people in my rate that did advance. The only thing I could have improved on was the test.
I am naturally discouraged but feel good about where I placed and I think my immediate chain of command is impressed. Well as impressed as you can be with a ‘failure.’
Nov 30
We hear everyday how important safety is out here and it never quite sinks in until something happens. We got a gut wrenching reminder of how important it is this morning at quarters. A sailor on a ship in the same area as us was on a port visit and while moving through a space he slipped in a puddle of water. He tried to brace himself and ended up touching a power panel which electrocuted him. They tried to revive him and transported him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was 23 years old. It’s a sobering reminder that even though we are not on the battlefield, the everyday mundane jobs that we do are very dangerous and accidents like this show us how fragile our lives really are.
It kinda puts everything in perspective out here.
My thoughts are with his family at what must be the most difficult of times during this holiday season.
Nov 27
1 holiday down, a few more to go.
Today it’s back to the grind. I still feel in a little bit of a holiday funk but at least it’s over for another month or so. The maintenance I had to do last night appeared to go well with no major complications which is a relief. Today is a pretty light schedule for us in radio but the rest of the ship is going crazy with drills and exercises. We are still out here cruising around for a little while longer before heading back to what had been our home for the last month.
Tomorrow we are planning to have a Refuel at Sea and a Vertical Replenishment with something like 60 pallets. It’s going to be a miserable morning moving all of that food, parts and supplies on board. The only thing that makes it even remotely bearable is the fact that I might get some mail. I had written a whole post about my frustration with the military postal service but to surmise it’s basically pissing me off to know end. I have been periodically ordering things throughout the deployment and until today had not received any of them. Naturally I was thrilled to know that I received something but was surprised that something I ordered 8 days ago was already here. Normally this would not illicit such a reaction but for the fact that I have been waiting almost 2 months for a plethora of merchandise from other retailers most notably Abercrombie.
Hopefully it will arrive by Christmas so I have something to wear in our next port.
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Nov 26
The holidays just aren’t the holidays when you are away from home. When I was stationed in Italy it never felt like Thanksgiving or Christmas without my family or friends. It’s the same this year. Thanksgiving morning and I am on watch in the Persian Gulf feeling weighed down by some holiday depression while listening to Christmas music.
Today is Holiday routine for the ship and we are having Thanksgiving dinner this evening but I will probably skip it because it’s right in the middle of sleep I need to make it through the mid shift tonight. I don’t think I will be missing a whole lot, maybe there will be some scraps left over for midrats tonight.
Time is moving as time tends to do out here. We just got word yesterday that our mission and schedule changed yet again and they are pushing our scheduled January port visit off to February which means we will miss out all together on a January port visit. It especially sucks because it means we will spend 2 consecutive stretches at sea of 40+ days. Our schedule is in constant flux and will probably change again but every time it changes it seems to get worse for us so I am not sure I want to see it changed again. Senior Chief says most of the problem is that we are independent steaming and we have no one fighting for us. He says we are basically a bitch ship that gets handed around from one task force to another to do jobs that nobody else wants to do. For instance we were patrolling an oil platform for a while and now we are doing some visit, search and seizure of ships in the area but we will be moving back to the oil platform soon. The one minor bright spot is that it looks like we may qualify for the Iraqi Freedom Campaign Medal which is apparently damn near impossible for a surface ship to get while deployed over here.
The morale on the ship has been pretty down lately and every time they make a new announcement it seems to hit a new low. My personal morale is ok but this schedule in radio allows for no time to do anything. We have a pretty bad MWR on board so there really aren’t any activities to do and even when there are they are so badly organized they usually end up being a cluster but it would be nice to sit around on off time and watch some TV or read a book or play cards or anything. Honestly, I really don’t like most of the people I work with so it would be nice to get outside of radio and find some people I get along with and get to know them and hang out, but on this current schedule I don’t see that happening.
My personal job accomplishment has been great lately. I have taken over the Network here and implemented a bunch of new policies that have been ignored by the previous administrators. It certainly has pissed some people off but it has to be done and I don’t mind playing the enemy for a while if it makes the network run better. I have the support of my chief finally which makes things a lot easier. The problem now is that anytime there is any problem with the computer side of things I am the only one who gets tasked to do anything. Even simple tasks end up being put aside for me to do which frankly pisses me off. There are 12 people in this division and only a very very select few are carrying the weight. Even though I think I have been doing great things, I got a gut check this week when my chief basically told me that I was screwed on this next eval because of my limited time on board. I think it’s bullshit to punish somebody just because they are junior to the ship. It’s the basic flaw in the Navy; people who are lazy, fat, unmotivated or usually all 3 end up getting promoted because they end up just sticking around. How is it right that you have a guy who has been on board for 3 years and done nothing vs. a hard charging guy who has been on board for 6 months and in those 6 months has done more then the guy who’s been here for 3 years, but the guy who has been here for 3 years gets higher marks on his eval just because he has “put in his time?!?” It’s the same crap that happened in Naples and probably happens to people all over the Navy in every pay grade but it still sucks and is completely unfair.
I am bringing down the network tonight for 4 hours to do some maintenance and security patches so I need to start the prep work. I hope all my friends and family (and any strangers causally reading) have a very Happy and safe Thanksgiving. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you all.
Oct 30
This morning, I am sitting in radio and enjoying the peace and quiet and good life for a change. Watch was over 2 hours ago but I am chilling in here during stores unload. Stores unload is what the 64 pallets is about. We are pulling in to a certain middle eastern country (with a navy base) next week and instead of humping it our first day in port they decided to do a RAS and CONREP this morning. I know it seems like the ship is really trying to help the sailors out but really it’s just so we can get this out of the way to concentrate on all the other work that has to be done in port. I hope a large portion of my mail is on one of those 64 pallets, I have been waiting 6 weeks for some stuff while other people here have been getting packages after like 10 days of waiting.
This port visit coming up is a working port visit. No one is thrilled about it. The way it will probably roll is that we will work all day till about 1800 and then be able to head out and shop at the NEX and get some decent food and maybe a drink before being back on the boat by 2359. It’s gonna suck but as bad as it will be, we need to enjoy it cause rumor has it that we won’t be back in another port until Christmas. To add salt to the wound, my division is also going through DITS (Division in the Spotlight) while we are in port. DITS is basically a super inspection on you, your equipment, your knowledge and your spaces. I can almost guarantee there will be a whole post dedicated to DITS.
This week has been EMI-tastic this week. These 18 hour days are doing wonders for me. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before! (Note the sarcasm in my type) I am night of the living dead scary by the end of my shift. Appropriate for Halloween I guess. I did manage to get my PQS done and now I just need to take the test to get off EMI.
NBA season started a couple nights ago and my Orlando Magic are 2-0, a great way to start off the season, especially without Rashard. They have CASREP’d our DTS (Direct to Sailor) TV system, so hopefully we can get that fixed and get some sports up in this place. I am missing so much sports, it’s quite literally killing a little piece of me everyday.
I hope this working party is done with a quickness this morning so I can get a few meager hours sleep before I start this vicious cycle all over again.
They totally played Thriller this morning for reveille and I was living for it. Happy Halloween!
Oct 26
What is EMI you ask? It is Extra Military Instruction. Who has two thumbs and just received an extra dose of it? This guy! I am getting smacked with it because of a PQS that I was assigned that I didn’t know about. The PQS is 302 Repair Parts Petty Officer. It is a PQS that is outside of my rate but one that was assigned to me anyway. Never mind the fact that I have completed 301, 302, 303, 304, 305 and working on 306 on my radio quals and 301-306 as well as 310 of my DC quals and 50% of my ESWS all within my first month. None of that matters though because this is Radio and this is the way things are run.
So what does all this mean? Basically that in addition to my 14 hours of regularly scheduled daily programming; I get an extra 2 hours tacked on for being a dirt bag. I’m really accelerating my life here.
I have so much contempt for my job right now that I can’t do anything except smile like an insane person. The ridiculousness of it all is laughable but I have come to expect it.
So let’s talk about something that is equally as laughable as this job, the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins are the bane of my existence right now. Well the second bane, I suppose. Yesterday they played the New Orleans Saints who were, and still are, undefeated. Nobody gave Miami a chance and on paper it didn’t look like it would be much of a game. The game started off pretty damn amazing for Miami as they jumped out to a 24-3 lead early in the second quarter and while I was ecstatic about the show they were giving, I have been a Dolphins fan long enough to know that you can never count on them not to screw you in the end. Halftime looked pretty good as we were still up by 13 after letting the Saints score with :05 left in the second quarter. This was a warning sign that things were headed downhill. Sure enough the Dolphins started to fade in the 3rd quarter and the 4th was a nightmare that I could not wake up from. The Saints scored the last 22 points of the game without nary a whimper from the Dolphins offense of defense. So naturally I curled up in the fetal position and cried myself to sleep. The Dolphins managed to cap off a craptastic week for me.
I really hope everyone has a great Halloween this year. I used to really love Halloween when I worked at the bar. The holidays that we decorated for always made that job a little brighter. We would go all out for Halloween. It was always one of the best nights of the year. This year for Halloween, I will be nothing because I will be sleeping during the day (after my EMI of course) and then working all night. It’s sort of how every holiday will be this year. Let the good times roll!
Well, there are some floors that need to be scrubbed and my ugly step sisters are yelling at me so this is Cinderella signing off for now.
