Watch and the Weigh-In

I've seen a steady progression... I was around 180 lbs before I joined the Navy. During the next year, plus some, I brought it down to 160 lbs, where it returned to after boot camp. Over the first two PRT cycles in San Diego (another year) I kept it down, but it was more towards my limit of 170. For today's weigh-in, I was 5 lbs over, but managed to meet the Navy's BMI standard of taking an arbitrary number (with my height of 68", it is a 59) and subtracting the circumference of the neck (14") and adding the circumferences of the waist (31") and hips (42") to come up with a corresponding body fat percentage. My Navy BMI is 32% (just passing). There is no way that I have that much fat (whine)! But I shouldn't complain. I think there were a couple people in class who weren't so lucky.

I need to be more careful all the time. I didn't starve myself this cycle, like I have done before, and only remained cautious as to what I ate, and how much. I feel like I have better chances at keeping it under control with habits like these, but at the same time I wonder if I'll ever be able to get it down to 160 again.

Sunday was my Duty Day. I was assigned the 12-17 (1130-1630) Bldg. 51 Access Watch. Five hours of standing up behind a podium, checking IDs and saluting for the Ensign and recording "51 ROVER REPORTED. ALL CONDITIONS NORMAL." in the deck log every fifteen minutes. I still wrote this during the last half-hour of watch, even though the fire alarm had gone off in Bldg. 11 (the quarterdeck & schoolhouse) and the fire department arrived... I wouldn't know what else to write. :) My feet were pretty tired by the end of the ordeal; my right foot had even fallen asleep. Just something to get used to, I suppose.

I decided that I didn't want to miss church, even though it would be cutting it close (service starts at 0930 and is a good 20 minutes away). So I went to service in my NSUs, and I'm kinda glad I did. No one there had seen me in a uniform before and I had several nice comments about it. Made me feel proud to wear it. And of course, it helped me explain why I needed to blast out of there right when the pastor finished. It was a great sermon about faith during trials, but he went longer than ever. I made it to the watch on time, but I had no time for lunch. I bought a bag of Doritos and a bottle of water at Liberty Hall right before assuming the watch. Very glad I made myself breakfast that morning!

Mentally, I made it through pretty well by reading the first 50 pages of American Naval History — An Illustrated Chronology of the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present (a MCPON Reading List book). I began with George Washington's gunboats in 1775 and got off watch with the end of the Mexican War in 1848. It goes on for another 250 pages, ending up in 2002. Lots of interesting facts... ships, exploits, innovations, people... all in one place.

Class today was all labs, and my group didn't have time to go before we had to weigh-in... so I spent the three hours asking STG2 questions about the fleet and reading a few dozen pages in Battleship Sailor.

And one little side-note oddity... the gym lacked shower curtains this morning. Apparently, they had been cleaned and just not put back up yet (even when Hibbard asked for them), so it was almost like boot camp this morning... but at least there were stalls!