On Top of the World!

Coming in Monday morning, I had no idea how I'd spend my time... there wasn't anything to do as I was aware of. Ha! I was busy all day! Started off right away, coming in from Quarters topside... Combat needed our equipment online, so there was some starting and restarting to do. Then after sweepers, I had to do it some more. Afterwords, I found out my tasking for the week... accomplish the check we've been having problems with for months, and the check that none of us have ever done before... going aloft and checking our antenna on the top yardarm of the main mast. No one in the division was aloft qualified, so that was my new mission.

First, I wrote and got a response from the manager of the specific check I was still trying to finish. It took all day, but that's understandable, as he's based in Washington State, and three hours behind us. Then it was a matter of getting aloft qualified in a day. Ship's force was going to go aloft the next day, so I decided I would make it happen. Both checks would be lost if we didn't get them done this week.

I got with the ETs for the rest of the line-items (I've had a couple trainings before, but never enough), then had an oral board with ETC (electronics tech chief). This passed, I decided I'd write up another list of things to order that got left of the first order, and I had just about finished when the 50-man working party for unloading the ship's food stores was announced as inadequate. They needed more bodies, so I went to the mess decks and spent a solid hour helping move generally very heavy boxes (some frozen) from one person to the next in the main ladder-well. When I finished with this, I walked my aloft qualification around for four or five signatures, including the XO and CO.

Tuesday was rather busy as well. I was worried all morning that the ETs were going to leave me behind from going aloft (always have to do it in pairs for safety), but it was sort of out of their hands. The ship wouldn't allow anyone aloft all morning for some reason. So I worked on getting the fatho check done, but of course, the test equipment needs looking at by an ET first. I remembered the aloft check required a tag-out, and according to procedure, needed to be tagged out by taking out the fuses to the distribution box. That required getting the right safety gloves from tool issue, and routing a "energized work chit" to be signed off by the Captain. I managed to get 3 minutes to eat lunch (spaghetti and meat sauce) while on my way to look for my Department Head (lieutenant). Once the Captain signed it, the CSOOW (combat systems officer of the watch) helped me write the tag, as none had been done before by anyone on board.

So following the checklist on the work chit, I pulled the fuses associated with the correct gear (to keep us safe from radiation while aloft), then headed up to see the ETs. They were very helpful, and dropped everything to help me by being my safety observers (and showing me how to get up there). I was warned I might get scared once I saw how high it was, but as I told them, heights don't bother me in the slightest if I know I can't get hurt (when I'm tethered to something... and I can hang on). And goodness, what a view from up there! After the clean and inspect check, ET2 took me up a few feet more to the very top for some pictures... boy, was it fun!

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing... five-hour, "sit down and monitor the alarms" watch (during training!), a good rest, and then more tags to run in the morning!

Also of interest, last week the females had to move out of our usual berthing so that the deck could be redone (needed it badly in places), so yesterday, I was shown where the new one was, since I had never been there before and would need to move in for my duty day today. This morning, I picked out a bottom rack for the day, put brand new sheets on it, and stowed my PT gear and toiletries. When I got my t-shirt and shorts out for this cycle's BCA (weigh-in), I remembered why I like the top rack so much better... it takes a bit of struggling to open up the rack at the angle so low near the deck. And I passed the weigh-in, thank goodness! A highly profitable day.

 Today, my LPO told me that I was the first Sonar Technician on the Truxtun to ever go aloft!