Short Day - Long Day

All in the same weekend! Friday morning went pretty quickly, actually. Even though the last 40 minutes felt like a few hours (we were itching for freedom!). I made sure the empty XBT canisters got staged in Sonar 1 so they could easily be taken out when we were let go. Other than that, I had my pre-underway check on the fatho, and that went perfectly this time, as I knew what was what, and what to do.

Sunday, however, was Duty Day. I arrived at the last safe minute I could (a few before turnover), and occupied myself rather well until my afternoon Petty Officer of the Watch assignment: I'm nearly finished now with my Safety P.O. PQS. I enjoyed watch pretty well... the weather was calm, and the sunshine and water were pleasant to look at. My legs and feet didn't hurt much at all... probably because it was part of the normal working hours instead of an extra four or five hours standing up after the working day, during the mid and night watches. Not only was it nice out, but I had good company on watch with me. The other Lay Leader was the OOD, and the messenger was interested in talking about the Lord.

Besides all this, the half-hours passed by pretty quickly as I had to make an announcement over the loudspeaker for the people on the ship next to us who had folks working aloft (there are special precautions to take if there are). There was also word to be passed for Eight O'Clock Reports, the striking of 8 bells at noon (signalling all is well), and mustering the duty section for pier sweepers. I didn't find the right entry in the book for eight o'clocks, so every khaki (chief or officer) who came to the Quarterdeck asked about it. :) Thankfully, my OOD was confident and took responsibility for telling me what to say. My opinion of her as an officer was raised.

And GM1 gave me the full quiz for the Force Protection audit: I was caught a little off guard when it came to the six levels of force, but I managed to remember even the maximum range of my pistol! I was pleased with myself for that! And after a brief refresher, I nailed the Navy's definition of "Deadly Force". Verbatim:

"Force that a person uses, causing, or that a person knows or should know would create a substantial risk of causing, death or serious bodily harm." 

I moved the commas around for it to make more sense... First time I read it, I had to read it a couple times to get it straight. Whoever wrote it must have loved the word "causing". :)

Anyway, it was a good duty day overall.