Truxtun and Comfort

Five Days Out

My 3rd anniversary (21SEP) of joining the Navy, and I had Saturday duty and double watches. The first watch and the last watch (the last one was all Sonar Techs!). 

Starting Monday, 23 September, we went back out to sea for a few INSERV demonstration rehearsals. S&A was set from 09-11, then I took the first watch (after lunch). I observed a MOB (man overboard) drill from CIC for an ESWS item, then had some DC training, then a CSTT (combat systems training team) drill, and finally worked out on the bike before bed.

24SEP started with a GQ drill during my first watch. My LPO had me find out the measurements for the tape markings on the torpedo countermeasures tow cable, and then I prepared for late watch scheduled maintenance checks with hazmat and tagout and the associated spot check. Had steak and lobster (and scallops) for dinner, and then an All Hands Call on the flight deck for awards (But you should have heard the rumors fly about the ship's schedule all day long in anticipation of it! Lots of people were talking about Syria.). That evening I observed another MOB drill, this time from the bridge.

25SEP started very early with the late watch, did the scheduled maintenance, so it went faster than normal. After breakfast, there was a connected underway replenishment (UNREP) and my station was on the forecastle for the first time in a long time. Managed a little rest before another MOB drill (this time requiring us to muster with our divisions). All of Sonar went to early chow because of our schedule... but when we got there, we were all surprised to learn that we were required to get a flu shot at the same time. Nothing like a hamburger and a shot in the arm! Not long afterwords they manned the stream team, and a few of us re-taped a bunch of the tow cable, until we ran out of tape. After dinner, I had a spot check with OPS (operations officer). Worked out again (proud of myself for doing it twice in one week underway!), then managed a short rest before the mid-watch, in which I trained our new guy on lots of things, including the dailies.

26SEP: There was a field day until lunch, and the new guy and I took care of two passageways and two spaces ourselves. That evening, CMC (command master chief) sent an email to the crew, calling out my division for being the "most impressive" and giving us a "BZ" or Bravo Zulu, which is Navy code for "Well Done".

"Clean decks, high dusting, sparkling hand wheel and all the corners and angle irons.  But most importantly, witnessing the TEAM effort with all paygrades pitching in, set a positive tone for me."

That night we had a quick and successful sonar scenario. I verified the frequency of the thing we tracked. It was fun to watch the drill go so well with equipment and personnel working so fluidly.

27SEP: Pulled in mid-morning, and I was able to observe Sea & Anchor from the forecastle for ESWS. As we were coming up the Elizabeth River, we passed a Frigate going out to sea, and rendered passing honors. Even though I wasn't on the watch-bill, I joined everyone in falling in at parade rest, and in saluting as the whistles blew as we passed. Since it was my duty day, I obviously stayed on board. I wrote a job and searched for a couple part numbers on our computer program for jobs. Conducted pier sweepers just before sunset (picking up lots of trash in the parking lot). Up in plenty of time for the last watch, and it went by quickly enough, I guess. LSC was my OOD, and he said he knew someone on the USNS Comfort (hospital ship) that is moored across from us on our new pier. Apparently, on that ship, an E-5 would have their own stateroom. What a shock it would be for somebody like that to come to a fighting ship and have to share a berthing with 50+ other people!

Turning over the duty on Saturday morning was very pleasant... I had two whole days to relax at home!

In the End, It Was Alright

Wednesday was my duty day, but my watch wasn't until very late. I started off doing a maintenance check after the usual morning stuff. Just as I finished, a tech rep had arrived, delivering a very important piece of gear that had been CASREP'd (it was really important). I installed it right away with a bit of help from the tech assist. The hard part was screwing the ten mammoth cables back into the transmit/receive unit afterwords. This was a little bit of a deja vu, as last year I had to screw all hundred or so of them back in. And even though it was only a little, I still had to take my blouse off, it got so warm down there. My hands and arms were bright red (and I imagine my face was too) from straining.

After a quick lunch, I mustered with the duty section for line-handlers. There were about ten of us who went to the next pier to cast off the lines for the huge USNS Robert E. Peary that was getting underway. The long lines were so heavy I had to heave around (pull) on the line so we could get it over the top of the bollard on the pier and let it be retrieved by the ship. When I got back to the Truxtun, Senior had been looking for me... he and the ASWO (our DIVO - division officer) needed some particulars about the installation for reporting the CASREP complete. And right after that, I closed the associated job.

I was so hungry when I went to bed... I almost ordered pizza... but the online site I was using required a street address... and that was too complicated for me. Went to bed around 2130 after talking with my husband, and experienced one of the worst feelings of my career so far when I was woken up by someone a half-hour after I was supposed to be on watch; I had fallen back asleep after my alarm. I made it out there as fast as I could, but that was still much too late... it takes extra time to arm up to be the Rover. As it turns out, I was relieved late by the oncoming duty section... so much so that we called the galley to keep some food for me for breakfast. For tomorrow's duty day, I am assigned two watches as a consequence. Even though I feel very bad about what I did and don't really need more watch to be reminded how bad it is to be late, I don't mind taking the extra watch either. And I will be bringing another alarm clock!

That was Thursday morning. It was extraordinarily awful. While waiting to get relieved, my monthly cycle started as I was standing there... and I was helpless to do anything about it. After Quarters, I did three maintenance checks, all while teaching our new guy that arrived this week. I showed him all our spaces back aft, and then we walked through the two checks up forward together.

Right after that, I had to rush to get to the Little Creek Joint Expeditionary Base (about a 20 minute drive) for a gun shoot to keep people's qualifications up to date (so they can still stand armed watches). It was for the pistol, and it took quite a while to cycle everyone through. I was very pleased with my score... 227 (just shy of an Expert score!) Next time I will be more careful and go even slower. Even though it was pretty late in the afternoon when I finished, I had to go back to the ship to work on an issue. Ended up leaving later than normal.

Today, after a normal sleep in my own bed, I'm feeling much better and more relaxed in general. Right away in the morning, I had to go to a site on base for a simulated M-16 gun shoot. Although it went really fast, I really enjoyed it. I shot better than any of the nine guys on the line with me. And it was wonderful to get to go to my Senior Chief's re-enlistment in downtown Norfolk on the USS Wisconsin.

Today marks the end of my first three years in the Navy (and without NJP - non-judicial punishment - or Captain's Mast) so I earned the Navy's Good Conduct Medal (the patch I had bought online after visiting the USS Constitution in June 2010... without realizing what exactly it was):

It was a difficult, busy and sometimes frustrating week. But it's one foot in front of the other... left, right, left, right.

Oh... and just before the re-enlistment, I walked around the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and I saw a model of the USS TRUXTUN... from World War I:

 From the placard:

USS Truxtun (TBD-14), Scale 1/8" = 1'

The Truxtun was one of the first torpedo-boat destroyers authorized by the Navy. Like other ships of its class, this veteran of the Great White Fleet was originally intended to combat torpedo boats, not submarines. As submarines developed into formidable weapons, these "destroyers" became the most effective anti-submarine ships afloat. The Truxtun patrolled the Chesapeake Bay during the summer of 1917.

Rehearsals and Sunday Duty... to Get Things Done

Thursday the 12th, the ship had a rehearsal for Friday's rehearsal for the stuff we're doing this week. Just as that sounds, it didn't seem like much to us in Sonar, as we were not incorporated into the scenario. Much of the week I spent trying to get Supply and the vendor in town to get our plexiglass screen completed, so it would be ready for this week. It ended up getting paid for on Thursday, so on Friday I was on the phone to the vendor again... and they got it done that morning. I picked it up after work, then installed it while on duty on Sunday. The process ended up being rather complicated, but it got done... and the new screen looks so much better than the old one. It felt good to see tangible evidence of improvement from all my efforts.

Sunday duty went by pretty quickly. I had the first watch... and that was easier than usual since the duty section had a Dress Whites inspection at turnover, then a whole hour of training a bit later. They had every person practice ringing the bell, as well as some vehicle inspection training on the pier. It's much easier to get through the watch when things are going on. I also managed to sweep up around the quarterdeck and in the OOD shack... it seems like it's messy every time I have Petty Officer of the Watch. After being relieved, I ate the tacos I brought from home for lunch, installed the plexiglass screen, then worked a long while (interrupted by Pier Sweepers - stacking 19 stacks of used pallets for pick-up, and then colors) on a brand new maintenance check... which included a very complicated tag-out, and training from someone used to the equipment... my brain was fried by the time I went to bed... which was not long after I cleared the tags.

The hardest thing about Sunday duty is rolling right into a Monday workday. Got up very early to turn the system back on and make sure everything was good to go for integrating with the rest of the ship for the scenarios. We weren't at our fully-manned condition all day, so I was able to get a few things done on the side. I caught up with our division's MOV (material obligation validation - making sure our parts on open jobs are still needed and current), and took care of a last minute Open Purchase request for consumables. It seemed like every time I came back to Sonar Control there was something else I needed to do. :)

Today I managed to get some medical stuff done for an upcoming maintenance check... going into an air-pressurized Sonar Dome... last time I had blood work done, but today it was urinalysis and an EKG... the latter to make sure my heart would be able to handle the PSI change. And we haven't even done the physical yet.

Before and After Leave

My four-day leave over the weekend was incredibly nice... even though I dreamed about the Navy every night, I was able to leave it all behind me and relax with my Mom and my Grandparents, spending quality time with people I love very much but don't get to see very often.

To tell you the truth, I don't remember much about Wednesday or Thursday last week. I know that right before I left on Thursday afternoon, I made sure things were where they should be. I had a dentist appointment that morning, and had another pleasant experience with Navy dentists; it was over before I knew it.

First day back, the other tech and I managed to clear up a little issue we had with the fatho repeaters, and I figured out what was going on with the open purchase and other things from last week.

Today, though, I kept very busy doing all the maintenance checks... four of them. Knocked out the tag-outs in the morning and everything went pretty smoothly.

Three-Hundredth Post

An extra duty day... with no watch! After Labor Day now, the ship has gone to three-section duty. And as a benefit to the crew, the Executive Officer put out a late Liberty expiration this morning in order for parents to be able to take their children to their first day of school... and I know one Mom in my division was very happy about being able to see her kids off. I really enjoyed the late expiration too... I slept in, had a wonderful breakfast and time for one episode of Dick Van Dyke on Netflix before I went to work. It was time for lunch only minutes after Duty Section turnover.

Finally found time for a security spot check before I went to eat, and I helped another tech with trying to find the right item for a job to be written, then took care of two maintenance checks during the rest of the day... both needed hazmat checked out... grease and detergent (the grease gun needed loading... what a nasty job that was... I think it would qualify for the TV show Dirty Jobs). However, the LS checking me out the hazmat did it for me... I only helped by holding the can of grease as he dug into it with his gloved fingers. I'd never seen it done before, so that was very helpful and nice of him.

And they both required Danger tags on the relevant circuit breakers... and people in the division were very willing to help out with that too, so it didn't take too long. Every tag-out requires a "second" in order to verify that everything was actually done correctly.

After dinner I finished up the second check, then we had Duty Section training. After that, I finally ordered the expendable parts I've been having a whale of a time trying to order... when I finally got with Supply, it took a few tries to figure out that I needed a certain kind of access to our system before I was able to get to the right screen... and it only took roughly 15 seconds. Incredible how important it is to know what you're doing in the system and have access to it.

If that wasn't enough, I was on the hit list for not having completed an Information Awareness training online (that I had completed back in the Spring). But if they say so, you do so... and I did. Another wonderful hour on Navy Knowledge Online. This one is more creative than most... but an NKO is still and NKO no matter how up to date they get. This time around I didn't get tripped up by the question that requires me to take my CAC (common access card) - commonly referred to in the military as a "CAC Card" - before I left my desk to investigate something in the virtual government office I work in. Hah! So even though my name is printed in the POD for tomorrow as a delinquent, I am not!