Jen's Navy Times: Five Days Underway...Goodbye Florida! Hello, Home!

For some reason, no one seemed as excited about getting underway for real. It's as if all our energy was sapped when we were told we had to wait two more days (on top of the other delay from Friday). Almost like I didn't really believe we were getting underway, or that it didn't matter as much. But we did finally set sail (figuratively) on November 1st. Before we did, we had breakfast to get through and all the trash to get rid of. There were remnants of the paper trash bags from two days before in the Chief's Mess, and in their berthings that I have to take care of. Got that all set up again, and before I knew it, we were Haze Grey and Underway.

(colors before getting underway)

I had reported to the flight deck (on the back end) for line-handler duty, but I had been taken off the watch-bill (probably because someone thought I was gone). Didn't even see Florida fade away. I went back inside to help on the mess decks and I didn't go outside again until that night around 2030. Took my breath away when I saw all those stars... not a cloud in the sky. It was as dark as I've seen it in the woods in Washington or Minnesota, but here there was no break in the horizon... only the ship's superstructure behind me. The Milky Way stood out so brightly, I could have traced it; and I could hardly see a single constellation for all the stars.

Next day (Nov 2) I thought I was a little late... didn't wake up until 0500. But it turned out we didn't have to report until 0530 underway, since there is a night shift. So, saved by coincidence! When setting up the Chief's Mess for lunch, I noticed how luxurious we have it in the modern Navy. Only a short while ago I re-watched Mister Roberts (1955) where a ship begs the supply ship for a crate of oranges, as they hadn't had fresh fruit in months. Today, I set up fourteen different kinds of fruit... the same that was offered to the general mess and wardroom: apple, banana, kiwi, pear, grapefruit, orange, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon. You see, we had a fresh fruit stores on-load just before we departed Mayport.

(I did get a chance to go top-side... what blue!)

Things were going fine all day, but that night, everyone started field-day-ing all the supply compartments, as Chief promised we would. I handled the Chief's Mess myself, and worked until 2100 (three extra hours after dinner). CS1 inspected my work and mostly looked at the deck underneath the cabinets, the one place I didn't clean. But he let me go, only with instructions to get it next time. Went right to bed as the Internet was down (even though I finally did fix my computer access with Radio).

Next day (Nov 3) was a fine morning: felt like I had a long sleep (the best sleep in the world is out to sea!), and breakfast was already panned and ready to be put on the line. These last few days I had been fighting (just a little) with certain cooks over getting enough of the food for the small, skinny pans for the Chief's Mess, so this was very refreshing. After breakfast though, the ship started going faster, and I felt a little uneasy in my stomach with the rocking as I emptied the Chief's trash. I admit I even forsook sweeping my assigned passageway after Quarters because of it. I sat down at the booth in the corner of the Chief's Mess near the galley door and stayed there for quite some time. CTTC came in and I saw her take a sea-sickness pill. I high-tailed it to medical right after that and got one from HM1 who was standing outside her door with a bottle of pills in hand. I didn't feel alone at least. Went back to sitting down... Senior soon came in and he distracted me with conversation. He recommended eating some soda crackers, and I think it did help. After lunch we secured all loose articles for high-speed maneuvers, but they ended up getting cancelled.

That night we had pizza and wings, and I watched a lot of college football on the flat screen TVs. Got lots of compliments on how clean the mess looked... and then we had an ice cream social a couple hours later, as is the tradition for Saturday nights at sea. No Internet again... I never got a chance to chat with my husband the whole trip.

Sunday the 4th was the best morning in the world to forget to set your alarm. I was an hour late! But everyone else covered for me nicely, and technically, according to the Plan of the Day, I was right on time! In any case, breakfast went off without a hitch, and the Chiefs were still able to place there orders for eggs... there is another guy assigned to the Chief's Mess and he was there. Don't know if I can handle all this wonderful sleep and getting to bed early!

It was an odd Sunday too... we had Quarters, just like any other working day. The one thing that really reminded me what day it was was the presence of the NFL on TV. There was a special dinner that night because of our impending return. Master Chief served crab legs, grilled scallops and steaks to the long lines of hungry and thrilled customers. After dinner I found all the FSAs had scattered after I came out from finishing with the Chief's Mess. Our MA was off at some sort of drill, so lots of people just left. And the scullery was not within CSC's standards. I was the only FSA to help the cooks throw metal over the side that night, and when I got back to the mess decks, she was irate, and had apparently paged the FSAs to come back and clean it up. Only two others stayed to help... and we were not let go until 2100... again.

Monday the 5th was the big day. Sea & Anchor was set in the late morning, and again, I had no station. I went out to make sure, and loved the view of Virginia! I thought of what it must have been like for the English settlers who saw this same bit of land in 1607 after a much longer and harder voyage then mine. I didn't even mind the biting wind stinging my eyes, just so I could have a look at it. My husband had flown in the night before and was at the house, as was confirmed to me in a Facebook message on my phone (we finally had reception!). My heart was near bursting.

I was let off a couple hours after we were pier-side. The culprit was the trash room... It had to be emptied and cleaned... CS2 Kolsh was awesome, and worked very hard, helping us out. Then GSM1 was my savior and let me leave before dinner, although the chain of command didn't want to let me go. He had promised I would be let out early, and he took my place so that I could see my husband sooner. What a nice guy!

I was off like a flash, walking my way towards the mini NEX where I would be picked up. I was even able to hitch a ride with someone from the Enterprise, which had just pulled in the day before, although we had left them behind in Mayport on Thursday. Go figure.