Watch on the Barrack's Access

(100th post!)

I had the first watch this morning, the 07-12 (0630-1130). I took over at 0615, and was rewarded by a good shipmate, getting relieved at 1115. I was glad to be able to get my paragraph of writing done before 0630 rolled around... "0615... ASSUMED THE WATCH AND CONTROL OF ONE (1) DECK LOG AND ONE (1) DISCREPANCY LOG. PODIUM AND SURROUNDING AREA ARE FREE OF TRASH AND GRAFFITI. FLEASWTRACEN IS IN FPCON ALPHA. ALL CONDITIONS NORMAL. 0630... ALL CONDITIONS NORMAL." The last three words are repeated every half hour. It's a fine way to tick away the time.

And so is reading! In Great Lakes we were told it was alright to read military-related material while on a watch. It's not allowed in the fleet, I hear, but I suppose I'm enjoying it while I have it. I recently got an E-1 to E-4 suggested reading list book called LIFE IN MR. LINCOLN'S NAVY, and I devoured the first 70 pages (of 150) in my five hours of extremely interrupted time.

The point of the watch is to check ID's and make sure only individuals who should enter the barracks, do. So every other paragraph (at the slow times) I'd have to stop, come to attention and return the salute from people entering or leaving. And after I unfurled the Ensign at 0800 colors, I'd return the salutes from people properly saluting the Ensign as well (many don't). :(

The other half of the day was odd. I ate a very yummy burger for lunch at the galley, and while finishing at 1150, I happened to hear that Hold's were supposed to muster at noon (for the training I kept hearing about all morning, that nobody knew details about). So I went, still in my Service Uniform (watches are in khaki and black). Apparently, it was a GMT (general military training) at the 32nd St. base downtown. I caught a ride on a duty van a bit after 1230. And I was very surprised to learn that this month's installment of "Don't Drink and Drive" was given by a stand up comedian from TV (I can't remember his name). I'm sure we all had more fun than we would have with a powerpoint, and he even made me laugh as he got into it. I was worried though, when all he started with was jabs at celebrities that I didn't care about. But I have to hand it to him. He did a great job with a forced crowd. :)

After some waiting around for the duty van for the return trip, I made it back just as the 1530 duty section 6 muster was going down. Checked in with Chief Jackson afterwords and all was well. Helped pick up trash with some people for a few minutes and then it was time to post. I was so tired! I took an hour-and-a-half nap in my sack before making it to dinner just in time before it closed up at 1800. I had lots of veggies and a leftover hot dog from lunch as we watched the President's impassioned speech about the deadlock over the budget on CNN. Thankfully I was done before he was done and before anybody else could say anything about it. :)

p.s. Ha! Google doesn't recognize the 12 letter acronym for Fleet Anti-Sub Warfare Training Center as an acronym. Or the one for Force Protection Condition, for that matter. But who would? :)