A Busy Day - And Some

Yesterday's Duty Day was by far the busiest and strangest I've ever had.

First, I missed quarters because I had to give my shipmate's purse back to her when she arrived in a taxi because she had left it in my car. We thought our Dress Whites inspection was that morning, but when I arrived the other sonar techs were on watch on the Quarterdeck and told me otherwise. But I was glad I brought them on board... there was an icy wind blowing down the pier that morning, and my garment bag made an excellent wind shield against it.

So again, things were pretty slow in the division. We worked on little discrepancies from our big inspection the week before, and that was about it. But at turnover, I was assigned to be a line-handler for a ship pulling in that afternoon. Of course, they had us come to the Quarterdeck a whole hour before we really needed to be getting things together... and we waited... and waited. Finally, we were told to go stand by the berth to await the ship that would cast us their lines to be slipped over the bollards... and we waited a good bit more. Just as Port Ops told me to move to a different place, the USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) pulled into view and soon we were done.

Not an hour later we were mustered again for sweepers amid ship and aft... Chief gave everyone assignments, and told me last of all to "supervise". Huh? Okay. So I tried to be as nice as possible as I pointed out areas that needed sweeping. A bit later we were called again to help with some trash down the end of the pier (E-4 and below) but I came anyway just to make sure they had enough people. Ended up being a false alarm. Then we had training on the Mess deck... Level of Knowledge (LOK) tests for DC (damage control) and FP (force protection) because of our inspection going on. Gosh, I hate those DC tests... so picky... and I haven't even had advanced DC training yet. FP was much easier, as it's more straightforward.

Then just as we finish with that, they call away lighting detail since it's just before sunset. I hear Chief tell the Quarterdeck to have the duty section muster with STG2 Waters for assignment. That's the third time now my name has been passed over the 1MC... first once when doing food service and CS1 needed us in the afternoon one weekend, the second when the CO announced the list of names that had been advanced from the latest advancement exam. Anyway, I assigned people to all the stations and it all got done.

But later on, as I was talking to my husband on the flight deck, I noticed the flagpole light wasn't lit. When I stopped by the forecastle, the Jack staff wasn't lit either. Stopped by the Quarterdeck to let the OOD know, then went to the bridge to investigate. Turns out whoever went up there forgot to flip a couple switches.

I had the mid-watch that night with one of our new ensigns (but he was former enlisted). Plenty to talk about as the Force Protection Officer stopped by for a while. But I was late getting relieved... and because of that, I was wound up enough to get our daily checks done before I went to sleep. Sweepers in the morning was very normal, and I helped sweep just like everyone else. Who knows.

That morning was pretty easy and short. I attached a light cover in the dome room and worked out a check-off list in Excel for a sonar tech who was struggling with it. Going home after a duty day is always such sweet bliss.