Pic from my home-school 5th Grade Science book called Observing God's World.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Little Did I Know...
... that this concept would be so important to me later on in life.
Pic from my home-school 5th Grade Science book called Observing God's World.
Pic from my home-school 5th Grade Science book called Observing God's World.
Less Could Be More
We were supposed to have lots to do this last week. First it was integrated scenarios, then Combat Systems Training Team (CSTT, pronounced "C-sit") drills, then an in-depth inspection of our spaces (called DITS... don't ask me what that stands for exactly).
We did indeed do our CSTT drills on Wednesday, but since the other warfare areas got behind in there scenarios, they didn't really play with us until Friday... when I had to duck out early for my first topside rover watch on board. I think it was Tuesday, the 23rd, where we all came in an hour and a half early, then sat in Sonar ALL DAY, waiting for them to incorporate us into the scenario. We did whatever we could to keep sane... lots of singing, talking, and swinging from the ceiling. Senior bought us four Pizza Hut pizzas, and that was very yummy. It wasn't long after that we were finally incorporated, but we never found anything to track with the inputs we received.
Wednesday was very busy though. Had to get stuff set up on the missile deck for a torpedo event, and that took the entire morning. I wasn't directly involved, but I spent a lot of time as a runner, getting this or that from Sonar or wherever. Also did a couple maintenance checks to get them out of the way. In the afternoon, we had our CSTT drills, and I was directly involved in that, and chosen for the first team that was evaluated. We had three drills to go through: one on the Dome, one on the Skid, and one an electrical fire in Sonar Control. I forgot to keep my hands on the CO2 bottle at all times, like they teach over and over again, but otherwise, we knocked it out of the park.
Thursday I bothered about printing more of the tech doc to our aux, and talked with Senior about the job we have in for it. We were on standby for scenarios, which didn't happen for us.
Friday, we started off doing our scenario and had a couple engagements before I had to leave for watch. Had topside rover for the first time on board... I had it once as an extra watch on the pier in Yorktown back in March. It was a lot nicer than POOW... got to walk around, observe everything, didn't have to answer the phone, and later on, I got to watch the divers come out of the water and pack up their equipment. Since it was the afternoon watch, I also got to see my division get let off (pretty late for a Friday) and I went to the quarterdeck to salute them ashore between my roves.
After a meager dinner, there was duty section training and a DC drill... just refrigerant leak, but this time I got to go down and see what is done for the first time. Then my counterpart and I had to take care of two maintenance checks, and then I took care of educting the sump again. While I was waiting for that, I finished sorting out the schematics I printed out for our auxiliary equipment, and traced some lines with the help of the troubleshooting guide. Have to dig into it more come Monday.
We did indeed do our CSTT drills on Wednesday, but since the other warfare areas got behind in there scenarios, they didn't really play with us until Friday... when I had to duck out early for my first topside rover watch on board. I think it was Tuesday, the 23rd, where we all came in an hour and a half early, then sat in Sonar ALL DAY, waiting for them to incorporate us into the scenario. We did whatever we could to keep sane... lots of singing, talking, and swinging from the ceiling. Senior bought us four Pizza Hut pizzas, and that was very yummy. It wasn't long after that we were finally incorporated, but we never found anything to track with the inputs we received.
Wednesday was very busy though. Had to get stuff set up on the missile deck for a torpedo event, and that took the entire morning. I wasn't directly involved, but I spent a lot of time as a runner, getting this or that from Sonar or wherever. Also did a couple maintenance checks to get them out of the way. In the afternoon, we had our CSTT drills, and I was directly involved in that, and chosen for the first team that was evaluated. We had three drills to go through: one on the Dome, one on the Skid, and one an electrical fire in Sonar Control. I forgot to keep my hands on the CO2 bottle at all times, like they teach over and over again, but otherwise, we knocked it out of the park.
Thursday I bothered about printing more of the tech doc to our aux, and talked with Senior about the job we have in for it. We were on standby for scenarios, which didn't happen for us.
Friday, we started off doing our scenario and had a couple engagements before I had to leave for watch. Had topside rover for the first time on board... I had it once as an extra watch on the pier in Yorktown back in March. It was a lot nicer than POOW... got to walk around, observe everything, didn't have to answer the phone, and later on, I got to watch the divers come out of the water and pack up their equipment. Since it was the afternoon watch, I also got to see my division get let off (pretty late for a Friday) and I went to the quarterdeck to salute them ashore between my roves.
After a meager dinner, there was duty section training and a DC drill... just refrigerant leak, but this time I got to go down and see what is done for the first time. Then my counterpart and I had to take care of two maintenance checks, and then I took care of educting the sump again. While I was waiting for that, I finished sorting out the schematics I printed out for our auxiliary equipment, and traced some lines with the help of the troubleshooting guide. Have to dig into it more come Monday.
No Sleeping In
Saturday Duty, 20 JUL 13:
Friday was a pretty quick day: I brought donuts in for the division, and that was a good start. With all the events going on there weren't enough people for fresh water wash down... so they put it in the POD (plan of the day) for Saturday... my duty day. But before we left, two senior petty officers and I did some quick troubleshooting on one of our auxiliaries... one reading was out of tolerance on our maintenance card... it works just fine, but with our inspections coming up, everything has to be perfect. This particular issue has been a good learning experience for me: I didn't realize how much more I need to take ownership of issues and be proactive about them.
So after being underway the previous weekend, and having busy workdays all week, I had the "dute's" the next morning. And since turnover is the next morning, that meant that I had to wake up early both Saturday and Sunday.
And what a day: I promptly forgot about routing tag-outs for divers (they were coming on Monday), and spent the rest of the morning finishing up a quote request for open purchase items. Had to go to early lunch for watch reliefs, then had the afternoon watch as POOW (petty officer of the watch, on the quarterdeck). Stood that with the prior-enlisted sonar tech Signals Officer, who watches all the message traffic and has all the dope about what's really going on with our schedule. He shot down a rumor for me that had been running around the ship for at least a week about a big change... that's not happening now.
Right after watch, my husband visited me on the ship, brought some delicious pizza on board to share, and followed me around on a personal tour of the ship from the bridge up top to the laundry back aft. It was a bunch of fun to show him everything!
After he left, I got some drinks for the quarterdeck watches (OOD & POOW... who was also a sonar tech), then started learning how to educt our sump. More words that scared me when I came on board. :) It's just getting the excess dome water overboard. Pretty easy... just have to know what valves to turn. And it's written on a placard for you. No problem.
Got a couple hours of sleep after that, then I had the last Petty Officer watch... again. I wasn't supposed to be doubled up, but there was someone who went on leave that the watch-bill coordinator didn't hear about or didn't remember. Ten hours of standing up? Well, that's why they call it 'Service'.
The oncoming sonar tech had us all go down to berthing to do some cleaning before we left, but that didn't take long. Took out the trash (that seems to always be left for us), and made it home without falling asleep much. I definitely missed a second or two while waiting at the light by gate 5, and woke to find a few car lengths ahead of me open. When I got home, I slept for six and a half hours. And the next morning, it was back at it again.
Friday was a pretty quick day: I brought donuts in for the division, and that was a good start. With all the events going on there weren't enough people for fresh water wash down... so they put it in the POD (plan of the day) for Saturday... my duty day. But before we left, two senior petty officers and I did some quick troubleshooting on one of our auxiliaries... one reading was out of tolerance on our maintenance card... it works just fine, but with our inspections coming up, everything has to be perfect. This particular issue has been a good learning experience for me: I didn't realize how much more I need to take ownership of issues and be proactive about them.
So after being underway the previous weekend, and having busy workdays all week, I had the "dute's" the next morning. And since turnover is the next morning, that meant that I had to wake up early both Saturday and Sunday.
And what a day: I promptly forgot about routing tag-outs for divers (they were coming on Monday), and spent the rest of the morning finishing up a quote request for open purchase items. Had to go to early lunch for watch reliefs, then had the afternoon watch as POOW (petty officer of the watch, on the quarterdeck). Stood that with the prior-enlisted sonar tech Signals Officer, who watches all the message traffic and has all the dope about what's really going on with our schedule. He shot down a rumor for me that had been running around the ship for at least a week about a big change... that's not happening now.
Right after watch, my husband visited me on the ship, brought some delicious pizza on board to share, and followed me around on a personal tour of the ship from the bridge up top to the laundry back aft. It was a bunch of fun to show him everything!
After he left, I got some drinks for the quarterdeck watches (OOD & POOW... who was also a sonar tech), then started learning how to educt our sump. More words that scared me when I came on board. :) It's just getting the excess dome water overboard. Pretty easy... just have to know what valves to turn. And it's written on a placard for you. No problem.
Got a couple hours of sleep after that, then I had the last Petty Officer watch... again. I wasn't supposed to be doubled up, but there was someone who went on leave that the watch-bill coordinator didn't hear about or didn't remember. Ten hours of standing up? Well, that's why they call it 'Service'.
The oncoming sonar tech had us all go down to berthing to do some cleaning before we left, but that didn't take long. Took out the trash (that seems to always be left for us), and made it home without falling asleep much. I definitely missed a second or two while waiting at the light by gate 5, and woke to find a few car lengths ahead of me open. When I got home, I slept for six and a half hours. And the next morning, it was back at it again.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Back In Port
We tied up to the same berth we had before we left... and boy, was that a relief... to be able to go right to your car! I had heard we'd be coming back to a different one, so I was pleasantly surprised.
Tuesday the 16th, it was pretty hard to go back into work. I don't remember much from it... pretty non-descript day. I know there was quarters and sweepers...
Yesterday we were pack mules. First I had a Combat Systems drill (which went really well), then I helped with the stores on-load evolution. Lots of drinks and snacks being stocked up... I was being passed cases of soda from the Executive Officer! Pretty much everyone helped out. But right after that, there was an on-load of lots of heavy stuff for my division... the XO asked anyone to help us, and we got quite a few to help... especially officers and chiefs. Once we staged everything on the boat deck, I was passing things between the Command Master Chief and the Executive Officer! The rest of the day I cooled off in Sonar 1, working on the next batch of Open Purchases. I went into the maintenance cards to look up some specific required cleaning materials by their part numbers. Suddenly, we were let go! Time passes while you're busy!
Today I spent the day handling ammo... all day, either waiting to handle ammo in the heat on the forecastle, or down in the deep magazine ("deep mag") forward, next to sonar. I'm pretty tired, since we were carrying very heavy charges and shells.
Tuesday the 16th, it was pretty hard to go back into work. I don't remember much from it... pretty non-descript day. I know there was quarters and sweepers...
Yesterday we were pack mules. First I had a Combat Systems drill (which went really well), then I helped with the stores on-load evolution. Lots of drinks and snacks being stocked up... I was being passed cases of soda from the Executive Officer! Pretty much everyone helped out. But right after that, there was an on-load of lots of heavy stuff for my division... the XO asked anyone to help us, and we got quite a few to help... especially officers and chiefs. Once we staged everything on the boat deck, I was passing things between the Command Master Chief and the Executive Officer! The rest of the day I cooled off in Sonar 1, working on the next batch of Open Purchases. I went into the maintenance cards to look up some specific required cleaning materials by their part numbers. Suddenly, we were let go! Time passes while you're busy!
Today I spent the day handling ammo... all day, either waiting to handle ammo in the heat on the forecastle, or down in the deep magazine ("deep mag") forward, next to sonar. I'm pretty tired, since we were carrying very heavy charges and shells.
Underway Weekend
Written 12 JUL 13:
Yesterday was possibly the
worst I've felt in a long time. I was grumpy from the moment they set sea and
anchor for getting underway right after quarters. I didn't have a watch
station, so I busied myself by sweeping our passageway and cleaning up sonar 1
some more. There were a couple more bulkheads that had lots of tiny paint
splatters near them on the deck from our major painting operation a week or two
ago. Right as I finished, there was a fault with our system that I had to join
everyone in Sonar Control to contribute. There was really nothing I could do
since there is another more experienced tech in the division. She
already did all the checking that could be done... and they decided to just
restart the system... and that fixed the problem.
I was feeling pretty queasy
at that point (stomach always feels a little lousy the first day underway),
more than normal, so I got a sea-sick pill from medical and then had some
lunch... which mostly solved that problem. I think it was because my stomach
was empty, and I took the opportunity right after sea and anchor to re-make my
bed from the "habitability inspection" we had the day before... where
they check to make sure everyone has Navy-issue bedding; so personal mattress
pads and extra pillows and blankets have to disappear for the inspection.
After lunch I managed to get
a couple hours of fitful sleep in sonar 3... and then after dinner I did a lot
of ESWS training with Combat Systems and Engineering, all the way up until my mid watch... which with our scenario, ended up going past 4am... I was so
tired, I could not keep awake. After the rest of the division got back from
doing an event back aft, my Sonar Sup sent me to bed. Thank God for him! So I
got just over two hours of perfect sleep before I had to get out this morning
for a lightning-fast breakfast (they had grab-and-go bacon/egg/muffin
sandwiches!) and an underway replenishment for taking on fuel. I was stationed
on the missile deck with ten other line-handlers (including three other sonar
techs) for a top-off of our fuel tanks.
WRITTEN 13 JUL 13:
I did more ESWS after I last wrote yesterday, doing the general introduction to Combat Systems with FC1... who is very through in how he goes over each line item. I did manage to get it signed off, so that was good progress at least.
Watch started after dinner,
and this was the first one for me while actually underway with a real
submarine. So we had to monitor our underwater telephone to record whenever the
sub made contact with its assist ship. Hearing the spoken word through water is
garbled enough, but add to that a German accent, and spoken without warning at
random times... it was really hard to make it out.
And then I took over
monitoring the passive noise, and I really couldn't see anything there either.
Felt sort of useless, really. But I just have to realize that this is normal
and that I need to not feel like I let anyone down. :)
Right after watch, I tried
troubleshooting some equipment that was not responding (it got fixed by of the other tech) before we started our
five-hour exercise with the sub... so I was down in Sonar for nearly ten hours
straight. And it was only because of our Senior Chief that we were let go to bed at
0300.
From there I slept solid
from 0330 to 1045 this morning. Time has sort of lost its meaning out here. Got up
and went straight to lunch where the line was long and the food was terrible.
While we were waiting, the CO came down the passageway and got mad because no
one called "attention on deck" for him, although it's the rule to not
call it in the mess line or on the mess decks during meals.
Then watch! Yay! Had a good
talk with my Sonar Sup about our screw-up guy (who's in our watch section), and
gave some training to an FC3 who's going up for her ESWS board pretty soon.
That felt pretty good! Anyway, watch will be over in a mere hour and a half,
then it will be pizza for dinner (yay!), an ice cream social later(a little time to
relax), then yet another late-night session with the sub.
Sunday the 14th, I had the first watch, then the last watch too (we were in four sections, and I was fourth). I didn't have much time for writing letters this last day underway. I was supposed to have Non-Lethal Weapons re-certification in the morning, but it got rescheduled for after dinner since the ship was rocking pretty strongly at the time. Did get a little rest after watch, but I had to be up after an hour for a two-hour clean ship evolution in the early afternoon. The NLW training was my Lever II OC contamination while practicing take-downs and defense with the baton. The pepper spray sure hurt my forehead, but it was not even half as bad as getting a direct spray like last year. This was only contact with a rag with OC on it. And I got to lay my LPO out at the first station... which was fun. Then we had another scenario... but I was allowed to clean up first! Thanks!
After Sea and Anchor on Monday morning, I took care of the weekly checks as we went right into a "regular" workday. No rest for the weary! :)
One Day Underway and Back
It was miserable coming in on a Sunday while my husband is at home with me. The command made us come in Sunday morning the 7th at regular working hours to make sure all the pre-underway stuff got done on time. At least it was a long Fourth of July weekend we were coming off of. Our division twiddled our thumbs most of the day... but I kept myself busy, employed and sane by doing a through cleaning of the Sonar 1 Equipment Room... cleaning up residue paint splatters off the floor with the tip of my knife for the first couple hours, then going through our tool cabinet again (like I did last year when I organized and labeled it days after checking in). I was prompted to do it because we had some of the open purchase items I ordered come in... and they needed to be put away... and one thing led to another. Also took care of the computer desk table, drawers and shelves. After dinner I spent a few long hours catching up with friends and family on my phone on the aft missile deck. Needed to charge my dying phone before I called my Darling in the evening, so I still kept busy by shining the brass fire valve in our passageway. Senior Chief came by, and after asking why I was working at 2100, he said he wanted me to charge my phone all the time. :)
Our underway time on Monday, July 8, wasn't too early. I didn't have a Sea & Anchor station, so I spent my time printing out the technical manual to our underwater comms set. I watched our sonar demonstration going out to sea, and when they set the underway watch, I was in the first section and only had a half-hour before I was relieved for lunch. It bit back after our scenario for a couple hours after taps... we had the last watch in the wee hours.
The 9th was strange... went straight into Sea & Anchor, and I spent it finishing printing out pertinent pages from the same tech doc as before. Then I re-organized our safe (I'm the security petty officer for my division), shined more brass in our passageway, and didn't really notice much difference between S&A and the workday. After lunch there was an intensive berthing cleaners ship-wide. My main contribution was bugging the BMs for TP and brownie paper towels, and wiping up the residue of the flooding from the night before in my isle, and finally getting over 20 TPs and 6 brownies from the BMs. And I kept busy the rest of the workday... replaced the paper in our depth indicator, then changed out a very complicated lamp in a piece of equipment in Combat. Lots of screws! Finished up just as we were being let go!
The 10th was a regular day in port... quarters, sweepers (back aft for me), went through my email and deleted a lot of extraneous stuff, then I fixed the cover of one of our first classes. And after shining brass in the dome cage and lunch... there wasn't much going on. Next day we were going out through the weekend.
Our underway time on Monday, July 8, wasn't too early. I didn't have a Sea & Anchor station, so I spent my time printing out the technical manual to our underwater comms set. I watched our sonar demonstration going out to sea, and when they set the underway watch, I was in the first section and only had a half-hour before I was relieved for lunch. It bit back after our scenario for a couple hours after taps... we had the last watch in the wee hours.
The 9th was strange... went straight into Sea & Anchor, and I spent it finishing printing out pertinent pages from the same tech doc as before. Then I re-organized our safe (I'm the security petty officer for my division), shined more brass in our passageway, and didn't really notice much difference between S&A and the workday. After lunch there was an intensive berthing cleaners ship-wide. My main contribution was bugging the BMs for TP and brownie paper towels, and wiping up the residue of the flooding from the night before in my isle, and finally getting over 20 TPs and 6 brownies from the BMs. And I kept busy the rest of the workday... replaced the paper in our depth indicator, then changed out a very complicated lamp in a piece of equipment in Combat. Lots of screws! Finished up just as we were being let go!
The 10th was a regular day in port... quarters, sweepers (back aft for me), went through my email and deleted a lot of extraneous stuff, then I fixed the cover of one of our first classes. And after shining brass in the dome cage and lunch... there wasn't much going on. Next day we were going out through the weekend.
One, Two, Three, July
This was so long ago, I don't quite remember everything we did, even when I went back and looked at old PODs (plan of the day) I had saved on my computer at work. I've since had to delete them all though, because the Outlook Express Inbox was shutting down on me because I had too much saved in it.
The only thing I remember about July 1st is that a few of us had a heart to heart talk about getting along in the division just as we were getting let go before 1500.
The 2nd was my duty day... other than my evening watch as POOW with GM1, there wasn't much to it. Skipped out on training, and was able to go to bed at a descent time!
July 3rd was a little wild. Got up early to take care of the daily checks on the water cooling system and dome pressure, and I did that on purpose since we were all mustered early to be line-handlers for a German submarine tender that was pulling in at 7ish. And as we slipped the last of the doubled-up lines on the bollards on the pier, another STG2 and I rushed back to the ship and changed into our dress whites for morning colors. We had volunteered for it the evening before, since there was quite a number of folks in our section who didn't have their whites with them on duty... so chief ended up doing colors with two first classes. Didn't want that to happen again in the morning! :(
Soon after we changed back into the working uniform, I was let go early to help set up the command picnic in Virginia Beach. Chief and ET3 were also there, and it was no problem to get it done. Once the picnic actually started, we all enjoyed pulled pork, ribs and fried chicken (catered), and a fun game of volleyball... with several officers and enlisted participating in a casual game together. I managed to dig a few out myself! It was nice to introduce my husband to a few of my fellow sonar techs.
The only thing I remember about July 1st is that a few of us had a heart to heart talk about getting along in the division just as we were getting let go before 1500.
The 2nd was my duty day... other than my evening watch as POOW with GM1, there wasn't much to it. Skipped out on training, and was able to go to bed at a descent time!
July 3rd was a little wild. Got up early to take care of the daily checks on the water cooling system and dome pressure, and I did that on purpose since we were all mustered early to be line-handlers for a German submarine tender that was pulling in at 7ish. And as we slipped the last of the doubled-up lines on the bollards on the pier, another STG2 and I rushed back to the ship and changed into our dress whites for morning colors. We had volunteered for it the evening before, since there was quite a number of folks in our section who didn't have their whites with them on duty... so chief ended up doing colors with two first classes. Didn't want that to happen again in the morning! :(
Soon after we changed back into the working uniform, I was let go early to help set up the command picnic in Virginia Beach. Chief and ET3 were also there, and it was no problem to get it done. Once the picnic actually started, we all enjoyed pulled pork, ribs and fried chicken (catered), and a fun game of volleyball... with several officers and enlisted participating in a casual game together. I managed to dig a few out myself! It was nice to introduce my husband to a few of my fellow sonar techs.
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