General Quarters, General Quarters! All Hands, Man Your Battlestations!
1030 - Today was my first GQ (General Quarters) drill. It happened after my 12 hour watch so I can’t really say I was too excited about it but I don’t know many people that get excited about GQ drills. Being an IT, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have a battle station and that I could just stay in Radio to work on issues in here but that didn’t happen. So, I patiently awaited my battle station assignment and didn’t lobby for any particular position but of the 4 positions that got handed out, I ended up with the best in my opinion. I am Forward BDS (Battle Dress Station) stretcher bearer! Ta-da!! First let me tell you what everybody else got: Lead Nozzleman (Dress out in full firefighter gear including the tank and control the nozzle) Hose team member (Part of a group that holds and controls the hose in full firefighter gear including the tank) Phone Talker (Coordinates with fire teams, the bridge, team leaders and stretcher bearers. It’s not bad but a stressful position) So what does a stretcher bearer do? Well I only dress out in flash gear (gloves and a hood) and when they call casualties, we deploy to the scene and check the victims out, do minor first aid and transport them back to Forward BDS. It’s cake and I am thrilled that I ended up with it.
1145 – Trying to get my 5 hours of sleep before my watch tonight and the ship is doing deck preservation which too make a long story short sounds like a maintenance crew jack hammering a road. Now imagine sleeping directly underneath where that was happening. Serenity Now!
2032 – Saturday Night and I only know its Saturday because my watch tells me so. Everyday out here feels like Tuesday. Tonight is a pretty quiet night like most nights. I started working on my ESWS (Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist) qualification tonight. They had a social on the mess decks where you could get lots of signature plus they had something that resembled ice cream. It’s an extensive qualification that I have 18 months to finish but I hope to get it finished in the next couple of months. It is a multi step process that includes gathering signatures, walkthroughs, a written test and 2 oral boards. It’s intimidating because you have to learn about so many different topics but I am up for the challenge and looking forward to wearing that chest candy.
0630 – Sunday is holiday routine for the ship which means no major drills or exercises today so most people have a pretty relax day. Nightshift gets screwed because this will be the time to sleep for tonight’s watch but hopefully it will at least be quiet today. We have a steel beach picnic scheduled today at 1500. What is it? I have no idea but I think it consists of hanging out on the flight deck and getting some BBQ up in here. Should be fun, since it will be different! Time for some much needed sleep.
