Streaming my (Buffering...Buffering) Life

My First Real Day in the Real Navy

My goal is to write as much as possible about this deployment while I am underway. I won’t really have any other way to express myself and I am quite sure this will help with that. Today is my second full day on board and my first real day underway. We are going out to open water to do some exercises but coming back tonight before we leave for our full scale deployment

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September 10, 2009

0819 - I just got back from my first Sea and Anchor detail which is basically the guys who do the line heaving and tying off on the bits. I was on line 2 and things went pretty well. It’s pretty lax actually, like most things in the Navy, you just stand around and wait for some one to tell you what to do. We got the lines heaved up and then put away and manned the rails till we left Pearl. It was ok but not something I would want to do every but I found out I get 2 more chances to change my mind about it.

1100 - The morning has been pretty busy with this and that and thank God I took Dramamine this morning because we hit 25 knots and the ship was rocking pretty good. I hope that I will eventually get used to it and won’t have to take it everyday. The ship itself is doing a lot of testing today and so there are a lot of jobs that you just get picked up for. For instance, I just experienced my first “fresh water wash down” which is essentially running the hose over the entire ship and sweeping the water from every nook and cranny off the ship. It sounds a lot more fun than it really is. Right now they are blasting the 25mm Guns, and if you’ve never heard that then you’ve never heard a loud ass gun before. I heard we are having Reuben sandwiches for lunch today. My friend says that on his ship the galley is horrible (even in port) but so far everything here has been alright. I hope it stays that way.

1211 – Waiting for the lines to go down to eat. The motion of the boat is much more noticeable down here below deck. Not feeling super great but I think most of that is hunger. I just found out that we get no sports on board only movies but I guess that is better than nothing.

1217 – I am in the shop alone which is not a great idea cause I don’t know what the hell is going on if someone comes by or calls plus I am starving and have Sea and Anchor coming up in 45. Ugh!

1400 – Lunch was ok. Had some leftover nuggets from the served lunch yesterday and lasagna plus some banana cake because I felt like pigging out after using all my energy on sea and anchor detail. Regrettably I am getting the itis, (and if you don’t know what the itis is, think thanksgiving afternoon) damn you banana cake! I need to get up and walk around.

1418 – Second sea and anchor detail complete and it’s a whole different beast coming back in versus going out. Plus we crossed paths with the O’Kane going out while we were coming back which was cool. I got a few minutes of rare down time and just sitting down for a minute makes me want to fall asleep. I have so much to do before deployment and about 72 hours to get it all done, but by the time I finally make it home tonight I will probably fall right to sleep. I have a seabag inspection today to make sure I have all my uniform items for deployment. I didn’t really prepare, I just am hoping that everything is in there.

1722 – Well no seabag inspection today and I am finally done with Sea & Anchor detail but its sounding like that may be a permanent extra duty for me and the people that were out there today. After doing it 3x today I wish I never had to do it again but those are the breaks. I think I spent a couple of hours total standing at parade rest today against the rails and my hands are all chewed up from the line. I will be soaking my hands and feet tonight. Tomorrow I have duty which means I work all day and then can’t leave the ship till the following morning plus do anything extra the duty section asks for. It should be interesting to say the least. I am sure I will have lots to say. Tonight I really need to get more boxes unpacked but I am beat and want to sleep. We’ll see which wins the battle!

1731 – I snapped a few pics from the fantail/flight deck/back of the boat today and will post those later. I hope I get to head home soon..