More of the Same

So far I've been doing the same as when I last checked in here. We've gotten into sort of a groove, you could say. Today was the first interruption in the monotony... we had 10 people instead of 4 or 5... because we got the entire working party.

I think it was because of my putting on my crows before my peers did (and my regularity in coming to the BPO) that got me put in charge of leading people over to the base hotel from the check-in at the bldg. 18 barracks. Because Patterson and I were the first to volunteer for the inventory job, we were trained first, and therefore the working party leaders. I've been entrusted with the master key-card during working hours... so I'm in charge of which rooms we do when.

Late on Monday this week, we had a few new people to train, and I trained Pinasco. She's a quick learner, and soon we breezed through a room. Today, she and I did more rooms than everyone else combined. It was a bit of a mess at first. We didn't have the right inventory sheets, and we were doing new rooms with a slightly different configuration. It was a bit easier though, because we had to put new stickers on most of the stuff, and therefore it was quicker to record. Pinasco and I stayed past 1400 to finish up the last few rooms that Mr. Relly needed done ASAP.

I've also been 2 for 2 this week with exercising. According to the gym's scale, I am on the edge of my weight limit. And my pants are getting tighter... So yesterday I did 30 minutes on the bike (listening to your own music makes it go by twice as fast), as well as a bit of curl-ups and core. This afternoon I did another 1,000 yds in the outdoor hotel pool for 30 minutes. I like this... I want to keep it up!

Inventories

Mr. Relly asked for another girl and I to be "permanently" assigned to the BPO until we complete an inventory task for him, starting yesterday. We have to go through the non-occupied rooms, check the serial numbers on everything... the pictures on the wall, the tables, the chairs, the lamps, the sofa... sign off on a sheet for them and write down all the discrepancies separately.

It is pretty tiring and time consuming, but also straightforward and easy to do. I'm enjoying it.

Hands on Deck!

I was a little worried when I saw the old working party list outside the holds office this morning. But I didn't bother to bother the people inside to find out if I changed or not. So I reported to the BPO... which was convenient, since I needed to get my keycard re-coded after locking it in my room twice this weekend. :)

Relly had me go get the truck loaded with the fridges from last week and load it with all the microwaves as well before driving it over to the barracks building manager. Once I parked, my phone rang... the hold's office wanted me to go to the USS Benfold! They were wondering if I could drop everything and report right away?! So I said "no problem". :)

Apparently, the other four or five people they wanted to go didn't answer their phones. So it was just two other girls and I who the Benfold duty driver brought back to the ship. We ended up hanging out with the Deck department... a bunch of undesignated seamen and a couple third classes. It was a little bit rowdier bunch, but we got some stuff on deck put away. Spent a lot of time faking lines (some of them were new and very stiff) and hauling large, awkward pieces of metal to its storage places below or inside. These things were in boxes or on pallets because when the ship went to the dry dock they had to put all these things in storage containers off the ship.

I was able to put my brains into action to help with a couple of things... like re-tying pipes on a pallet down (because we didn't have time for them) and lowering a heavy piece of tackle down the hatch. Also ran into another officer that was annoying. An ensign made us put on our awkward safety glasses. Last time I was here a lieutenant stopped and asked us what we were doing (since we were waiting around for the petty officer who was taking us below) and when told by us, and then the other petty officer, he said, "I don't like it when people are just sitting around". Anyway, I'm making notes on how I would want to act if I became an officer.

Unfortunately, we had to wait nearly an hour for the duty driver to take us back to base... and we didn't get back until a quarter to five. And I got a rather dark sunburn on my face and forearms. We had to wait a while for the duty van at lunchtime too. But we had enough time to go with them to Subway on the dry side of Naval Station San Diego.

One More Hour of Work

The 10 fridges we took out of boxes on Wednesday had to be moved into rooms today. Thankfully, advance planning (shocking, I know) had taken place, and they were all on the same level (stored in a 2nd floor maintenance room near the rooms they were replacing). So it didn't take us very long to get the white ones out and the black ones in. I was entrusted with driving the truck again... and we got all 10 old ones loaded up in a bit. While we were waiting to be released, Ron (the assistant BPO guy) got me some hot chocolate (and I managed to drip some all over myself! lol!). Witte was the one who noticed... so I had been walking around the base for an hour with an extremely soiled blouse. Parker invited me to come inside Lib Hall after I was done and watch the rest of "Kung Fu Panda" with them. :)

Sports Day!

Today was a base-wide sports day! We still had to muster at 0730, but this time in PTU... gold t-shirts and blue shorts (and sweatpants & shirts if desired) with tennies. There was a huge formation on the triangle behind the base entrance and we all stood at attention for colors. Even Captain Moss came out in his PTU to address us.

I signed up to play dodgeball... and my slapped-together team got eliminated right away. But I didn't get hit... I just threw the ball so accurately, the other guy caught it. :)

Wandered around for a bit watching the 5K run, the basketball, volleyball, bench-pressing, and yoga. I did decide to join in the group doing stationary bikes for a half-hour with a trainer that made us up our speed or our resistance... good workout! And they gave us a Naval Base Point Loma fitness t-shirt. After that I decided to have lunch at the galley, since the line for hamburgers would take an awful long time. Both were free, so I opted for the much shorter line.

Duty, Dreadnoughts & Taking Charge

I had it stuck in my head that watch started at 0630, like all the others do, when I signed for it on the watchbill yesterday. So I got up at 0530 in order to get breakfast beforehand. But on my way over, I thought about it and realized that if it started at 0630, it would have said 0700 instead of 0600, like it was. Arrived at Bldg. 52 (named Sims Hall for Admiral Sims) at 0602... and there was a chief waiting. :( He called the quarterdeck after I apologized to let them know I had arrived. It's the only five & a-half hour watch that starts at that time and it was my first time standing it. My watchbill coordinator called my phone to get me on watch right as I assumed it. I hope this doesn't mean I'll get in trouble next duty day.

The watch itself went really smoothly. Between calling the quarterdeck every hour to report "all conditions normal", I kept myself busy by reading "The Dreadnoughts", a book I had picked up for $1 at the library sale a while ago. I'm rather unfamiliar with WWI era naval history, so it was an interesting read. Got through the first 50 pages (all the pictures helped) and got up to the launching of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906. I didn't know that it only had one fight in the Great War. They say the ship itself only rammed a submarine in 1915... It was more important because of what it was than what it did.

This was my first day as a full-fledged petty officer. Some friends congratulated me as I stood my watch, and in the afternoon (after lunch - boy it felt great to sit down! - and back in my NWU's) when I reported to my working party at the base hotel, I was put in charge of the group. We had to un-pack about 10 refrigerators, get rid of the cardboard and Styrofoam, sweep up and load 3 other fridges on the truck. Since I had done this before, I knew exactly what to do, and we did it fast. Relly (the BPO) and his assistant congratulated me on my advancement as well. They are such nice guys.

Petty Officer

NWU, NSU, Dress Blues, Dress Whites

There's a lady in a van who parks just outside the barracks every evening... she said she's been doing this business for 20 years, and it was her father's before her! She does all kinds of sewing and mending and overnight dry cleaning. A life-saver! She did all this (pictured) and more in just an hour tonight! Charges $2 for a small tab (camo) and $4 a patch (dress uniforms).

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.

Hello!

Hello, from my webcam in the lobby of Liberty Hall. You may ask why I'm sitting around during working hours? Well, I have a sweet working party this week. I've been assigned TAD (temp. assigned duty) with Bldg. 52 for the Mine Warfare conference... Yesterday we helped check people in, and then later on I helped out inside, running the microphone around when people had questions to ask. And that was about it. Today I'm on the afternoon shift again, and that's nice, since I have a doctor's appointment today. Apparently, this lasts for the rest of this week, and then I'll go back to TSC Holds on Monday.

More Fridges

My task today, with three other girls, was to unpack the fridges from the warehouse that were at the base hotel (BPO) and throw away the material and cardboard. We started out slowly, but by the time we got to the room with 25-30 units, we got a system down. I think at least 15 units were stripped down after our hour-and-a-half. We filled a dumpster with the Styrofoam and stacked a cart four feet high with the flattened cardboard (and threw it in the recycle).

It was hard work; much more than I expected!

Back and Forth

Came back on Memorial Day from a lovely weekend at home!

Tuesday the 31st, we moved the furniture back into the rooms that we moved them out of last Thursday... for the carpet had been replaced. My group leader was rather nonchalant about getting anything done, and we watched a good bit of the History Channel on many breaks.

Yesterday, they decided to put me on the Galley Staff. I spent the short morning until 1000 picking up pine cones and pine needles from the yard next to the galley. The latter were hanging on the bushes like tinsel on a Christmas tree. We were back at noon and done in an hour. It was another round of sweeping and mopping the floors, and then we were let go.

I decided to spend the evening volunteering at the library, and so I did a half-hour on the bike when I came back at night for my workout.

Today they put me back on the BPO, along with some of my former classmates. It was more refrigerators today. 20 picked up and dropped off, then several replaced in rooms. Tomorrow it will be getting rid of the white ones we replaced, and driving them over to the sub base.

But in big news, I talked with SH1 & IC1 this afternoon, and it looks like HARP duty will work out! I hope I can get the dates in August that I'd like! I just need to check in with the Fitness Advisor, FC1, to make sure I'm still in regs, and then on to getting signatures! :) Boy, would I like two weeks at home! :)