On a Ship and Non-Commissioned

This has been an interesting two days...

Monday, Witte and I, along with 8 others, were assigned to the working party on the USS Benfold, DDG-65. We swept and dusted a workspace, and then set to polishing the brightwork (any brass or copper) on the tubes and pipes associated with the air compressor. I enjoyed working on a real ship! The petty officers in charge were pretty friendly. An STG2 offered to show off the sonar room. But mostly, they gawked at our NAVY ballcaps when we came on board, which signifies how new we are to the Navy. When assigned to a ship, a Sailor would wear a command cap, specific to that ship. Today I've heard that it's the admiral's new policy that we on hold for a long time at TSC San Diego will be sent out to ships more often to accustom us to life in the fleet. I think it's a wonderful idea.

Today, however, was a different story. At first they told 30 of us we were assigned ten days to the USS Antietam, starting tomorrow. But that was before they realized it's an all-male cruiser. So I was without a working party for the first half of the day, due to all the mix-ups. I was able to fill out and turn in my HARP duty request, and while in there, they told me my E-4 promotion request had been approved! So I picked that up and got a new ID at MCRD to reflect it. Pinned on all my new crows on my NSU's, and hopefully tonight I'll get a pair of NWU's set for tomorrow. Oh, and I'm back on the BPO. Apparently, I'll have to check day-to-day for ship duty.

After the 1230 muster, I did my duty and reported to the BPO. We spent an hour moving brand new TV wall mounts from pallets downstairs by the office, to a room on the second floor on the other side of the building.