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.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
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.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Two Days Without Stopping, Then an Abnormally Long Friday
This week was super busy for me... along with the rest of the ship. Since we pulled back in on a Monday, no one got a weekend after a very busy eight-day underway. Had Monday and Tuesday evening to unwind a little, but then it was back at it again on Wednesday for my duty day. Started off with the first watch, although the watchbill was very late getting posted... I found out as I got there that I had five minutes to get armed up and on watch (no time for breakfast). The watch itself was the most stressful thing about the two days... started out on the wrong foot, thinking I lost one of my ammo clips (which would be very bad)... turns out I had only slipped it into the wrong pocket on my belt without noticing. Thank God, the Petty Officer of the Watch I was relieving noticed it and all was back to normal.
Then there were a thousand phone calls to answer, most of them having questions for the Officer of the Deck. And I had to pass lots of things over the PA system... "secure the mess-line", "officer's call", "quarters. all hands to quarters for muster, instruction and inspection", "muster duty sections (time & place) for turnover"... and whatever else anyone needed to have passed. Like I had to blow the whistles for colors for the first time, because no duty admin person was on the bridge... and I didn't know my whistle didn't have a little ball in it... and it didn't sound very good. The XO even told me to go practice blowing a whistle. Then the CDO wanted department heads to muster at a certain time, and the first time I passed it, the mike broke in and out, so I had to "belay my last". Then my OOD told me the wrong thing to say... and the CDO came over and I had to "belay my last" again. I had to bong the CO ashore, and later on, returning on board; at least I managed to do that right. All the while the OOD was busy with checking in contractors... and the next day I ran into one at the NEX... he said, "Hey, I saw you on the Quarterdeck yesterday... you had to pass something three times!" What a reputation! Not only that, but the OOD wanted me re-write the deck log at the end of the watch because he forgot to have me write a line at one time, and I wrote the wrong word tense on another line... and apparently, although the Navy allows three errors on one deck log page before it has to be re-written, Truxtun's policy seems to be more strict. So twenty minutes later, I finally went and had lunch. I was so relieved to be relieved.
The rest of the day, back with my division, I spent working in Sonar 1. We were re-painting all the bulkheads and angle-irons bright white... they had long since yellowed and gotten very dingy-looking... so it was a pleasure to work on that... even if the lights were out in the corner I was working on (contractors were working on the lights) and I had to hold a flashlight in one hand and the roller in the other. This took us into the afternoon and it was soon time for dinner. Then there was sweepers, and parts on the pier that I had ordered for my division. I got them all inside and put away, and managed to put in another open purchase request which I finished just as the section was mustered for training. We talked about chemical protection gear for Damage Control, then did an exercise topside with a big hose for Force Protection. But that wasn't all! A passageway back aft near where Captain's Mast was held was found to be rather dirty, so we were tasked with cleaning it up... even though it belonged to other divisions to take care of. Were we overjoyed to do somebody else's work or what!
I had exactly four hours sleep before I had to get up for my second watch... we were short because of people busy with other things or being on leave... and I had the last watch as well as the first. Being in the wee hours of the morning, it was much more relaxed. I do enjoy watching the sun come up, but that's about the only thing. Had to pass a couple things for the beginning of the day, but very soon I was off to do the muster report, have a quick breakfast, and head up topside for quarters. Did the daily check right after that, then had to get to turnover before I had finished. Had an appointment that morning to go get a new ID card... because I am now an official Second Class Petty Officer (E-5)! When I got back, we still didn't have the paint we needed for the day, so a bunch of us were let go to have lunch together off base. But when we came back, all was ready and we fell to... touching up Sonar 1, then painting the passageway outside it (for the same reason) for the rest of the afternoon. I really love painting like this... taking care of our spaces to make them look really well kept. We kept getting compliments from the BMs and GMs who were going by as we worked.
Friday was a different story. Spent the morning touching up our work... I took care of a lot of edging in Sonar 1, and then we gathered up all the painting supplies and they got returned to the paint locker. What was put out at Quarters in the morning was there was to be a couple hours of cleaning, besides the top-side Fresh Water Wash Down. And liberty was going to be in the hands of the department heads. So we were done with our space by 1100 at the latest... but liberty was held up for another four hours because of bureaucratic whatever-that-was. Didn't eat lunch in anticipation of getting let go, and kept busy by shining brass in our newly-painted passageway... and then unexpectedly, had to write up a subordinate for being disrespectful to me (this wasn't the first time)... so that was a big learning experience. We were finally let go, three hours or so after that, and it seemed as if the entire ship exited at the same time.
Then there were a thousand phone calls to answer, most of them having questions for the Officer of the Deck. And I had to pass lots of things over the PA system... "secure the mess-line", "officer's call", "quarters. all hands to quarters for muster, instruction and inspection", "muster duty sections (time & place) for turnover"... and whatever else anyone needed to have passed. Like I had to blow the whistles for colors for the first time, because no duty admin person was on the bridge... and I didn't know my whistle didn't have a little ball in it... and it didn't sound very good. The XO even told me to go practice blowing a whistle. Then the CDO wanted department heads to muster at a certain time, and the first time I passed it, the mike broke in and out, so I had to "belay my last". Then my OOD told me the wrong thing to say... and the CDO came over and I had to "belay my last" again. I had to bong the CO ashore, and later on, returning on board; at least I managed to do that right. All the while the OOD was busy with checking in contractors... and the next day I ran into one at the NEX... he said, "Hey, I saw you on the Quarterdeck yesterday... you had to pass something three times!" What a reputation! Not only that, but the OOD wanted me re-write the deck log at the end of the watch because he forgot to have me write a line at one time, and I wrote the wrong word tense on another line... and apparently, although the Navy allows three errors on one deck log page before it has to be re-written, Truxtun's policy seems to be more strict. So twenty minutes later, I finally went and had lunch. I was so relieved to be relieved.
The rest of the day, back with my division, I spent working in Sonar 1. We were re-painting all the bulkheads and angle-irons bright white... they had long since yellowed and gotten very dingy-looking... so it was a pleasure to work on that... even if the lights were out in the corner I was working on (contractors were working on the lights) and I had to hold a flashlight in one hand and the roller in the other. This took us into the afternoon and it was soon time for dinner. Then there was sweepers, and parts on the pier that I had ordered for my division. I got them all inside and put away, and managed to put in another open purchase request which I finished just as the section was mustered for training. We talked about chemical protection gear for Damage Control, then did an exercise topside with a big hose for Force Protection. But that wasn't all! A passageway back aft near where Captain's Mast was held was found to be rather dirty, so we were tasked with cleaning it up... even though it belonged to other divisions to take care of. Were we overjoyed to do somebody else's work or what!
I had exactly four hours sleep before I had to get up for my second watch... we were short because of people busy with other things or being on leave... and I had the last watch as well as the first. Being in the wee hours of the morning, it was much more relaxed. I do enjoy watching the sun come up, but that's about the only thing. Had to pass a couple things for the beginning of the day, but very soon I was off to do the muster report, have a quick breakfast, and head up topside for quarters. Did the daily check right after that, then had to get to turnover before I had finished. Had an appointment that morning to go get a new ID card... because I am now an official Second Class Petty Officer (E-5)! When I got back, we still didn't have the paint we needed for the day, so a bunch of us were let go to have lunch together off base. But when we came back, all was ready and we fell to... touching up Sonar 1, then painting the passageway outside it (for the same reason) for the rest of the afternoon. I really love painting like this... taking care of our spaces to make them look really well kept. We kept getting compliments from the BMs and GMs who were going by as we worked.
Friday was a different story. Spent the morning touching up our work... I took care of a lot of edging in Sonar 1, and then we gathered up all the painting supplies and they got returned to the paint locker. What was put out at Quarters in the morning was there was to be a couple hours of cleaning, besides the top-side Fresh Water Wash Down. And liberty was going to be in the hands of the department heads. So we were done with our space by 1100 at the latest... but liberty was held up for another four hours because of bureaucratic whatever-that-was. Didn't eat lunch in anticipation of getting let go, and kept busy by shining brass in our newly-painted passageway... and then unexpectedly, had to write up a subordinate for being disrespectful to me (this wasn't the first time)... so that was a big learning experience. We were finally let go, three hours or so after that, and it seemed as if the entire ship exited at the same time.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
One Year in the Fleet
As for order of business today, a bunch of people from the division were gone on leave or liberty, but we still managed to get everything we needed to done. Prepping Sonar Equipment Room 1 for painting, and working with the tech rep on a console. Also managed to get a hold of a business contact for a part we need ordered, and I found myself following my mentor, STG2, around today by accident, sort of like I did last year.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Eight Days in June
Tuesday, June 18:
Well, here I am again! For yesterday's Sea and Anchor, I was back topside for line-handling. I was sent midships to take on and cast off the line for the tugboat. The
schedule this week is jammed-packed with events going on; for Sonar today, we
had some demonstration with "torpedo banding" that I had never heard
of before. Basically, it's showing that we can load a torpedo into the over-the-side
launchers, and handle it safely; and it
took most of the day.
After dinner, I went
straight to bed, as I knew we had the Sonar exercise starting at 2300, and
watch afterwords until... about now... that really helped me be awake, as I got
five whole hours of sleep! Other people were up practically the whole time.
The Sonar exercise went
pretty well. Started late, but we got done around 3ish. I was able to track a
fake sub and make reports over the Sonar net, so that was exciting, and kept me engaged the whole time.
Wednesday, June 19:
Boy, yesterday was long! My
watch was during the night exercise, so that was a stroke of grace! During the
day I managed to get a lot more naps in... our leadership is understanding that
we're on a reverse schedule, so it's been going okay.
I was selected for random
urinalysis, and after that, worked on ordering parts for a long
while. After dinner I went to take a nap, but I was woken with the task of
returning the Hazmat we had checked out for that torpedo check the day before.
I asked the person who woke me if they could, since they were in uniform, but
they opted out. That made me mad, and so I returned it, still in my Navy
sweatpants and sweatshirt... it was quick, but my LPO found out after I got
back and made me feel bad about it, since I knew that to do work like that, you
have to be in uniform of the day.
After that, I couldn't get
back to sleep for the 2 hours until watch and the scenario, so when they
announced ESWS training in the classroom, I decided to get up and go to it. Got
some signatures that I needed, so it was good I did.
The scenario was kind of
rocky, but we made it through. Went to bed at 3, had to get up for Quarters and
sweepers at 7. But then they let us go back to sleep, and I just got up and had
lunch. The turkey burger was delicious!
Thursday, June 20:
We've made it past the
half-way point! Five out of my nine watches this underway are done!
I did get to sleep the whole
morning, like I said, but I spent the entire afternoon working on ESWS
signatures... I got Deck done, and Combat Systems, and finished up most of
Engineering and all of Hazmat... all from the first half of the qualification.
But yesterday's evening
watch was a bear. Besides going to the Ops brief in the wardroom, I worked
practically the whole time on running our prediction software to generate
ranges for our Sonar.
While I was asking questions
about the slides I was making, my sonar supervisor told me I didn't belong and
I should have been a nuke rate (Navy for Geeky). And another time he yelled so
loud that I cried afterwords (which I hid as much as possible). Somebody then
told a joke about what you call a fish with no eyes? ... a FSH. Lol... and I
told them about the Blind Cave Fish that really don't have eyes... and they
said I suck the fun out of everything. Lol... I know they're just being callous
and coarse, and they don't intend to be mean... but when I'm tired, it's hard
to let it all slide.
And THEN, I even stayed over
an hour past watch to finish up the last slides... and the next watch section
was loath to let me leave with two more remaining. As it was, I got 2 hours
sleep before the scenario... which lasted until Reveille... making it five
hours long when it was supposed only take an hour and a half. I was dying for
bed at the end.
So right after 0600, when we
were done, I had breakfast... which tasted pretty good... then I went straight
to bed for the rest of the morning. Got woken up around sweepers time because
today of all days they decided to blare music through the loudspeakers... and
it was some awful country song about some girl looking so swell that the
singers rolled their car windows down to look at her. "Can't you see
through the glass? Or are you country-gangsters with tinted windows?"
Anyway, that made me mad
because once I woke up I was freezing cold and terribly tired. But I did get
back to sleep and was reasonably rested when I woke up for early lunch and the
afternoon watch, which I spent the whole time working on the slides for the Ops
brief tonight, which I finished just fine.
Friday, June 21:
With all our scenarios done,
we are certainly on the down-turn here; just the weekend to get through
now… and not much on our schedule. Friday started off awkwardly…
our last scenario finished at about 4:30ish or 5 in the morning, so I just
slept for an hour or so in a chair in Sonar Control (where we stand our watch).
My Sonar Sup woke me up right as watch began… and was sort of grumpy
and wouldn’t
let me go grab any breakfast. I did manage to ask someone to get a muffin for
me, and he did… actually two, plus an apple… so it worked out okay.
I just didn’t talk to my Sup for the rest of the watch unless he asked me
a question. It was really hard to stay awake the first couple hours (since
everyone else hit their racks). About
half-way through I decided to get up and clean up the space to stay awake, and
that did the trick.
After watch was lunch, then
some brief ESWS training, then seconding a safety tag for another Sonar tech. Then I
took a marvelous shower (as marvelous as showering in something that resembles
a well-used phone booth in an earthquake can be), and went to bed for a good
four-plus hours. I woke up half-way through to see if I was hungry enough to
get up for dinner, but I wasn’t and fell back asleep promptly.
Got up for more ESWS
training in the classroom, but didn’t get the signatures because our
teacher was the Junior Officer in charge of the program under discussion…
and he was long-winded. But the info he put out was useful, and a good
refresher. After that, I found myself to be ravenously hungry, so I tried to
go on the mess decks to heat up some instant mac’n cheese, but that was
thwarted because the first session of the Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention
training was still going on. To wait for it to end, I hung out in the
crew’s lounge back aft with a bunch of other people, also waiting, and
Men of Honor was playing, and that’s one of those movies that I’ll
always sit back and watch, no matter where it is. I watched from when the main
character graduated Navy diving school to where he lost his leg… then I
decided to try again… and Mid Rats was open! Don’t ask me what
“Rats” means… I just know that’s the term they use for
late chow. And they were serving some delicious chicken pot pie (except it was
in a big pan), so I ended up eating dinner after all!
On the way to bed, I felt
the Lord wanted me to go up and pray, even though it would mean losing an hour
or so of sleep. So I went up and gave the first prayer of this underway…
and the first in a very long time. Shared some famous passages of Psalm 103,
and then afterwords, spent a good bit of time on the bridge-wing, praying and
looking at the full moon blazing on a very calm sea on a very clear night. The
stars were faint with the brightness! What a sight!
I managed to sleep for an
hour or two before getting on the late watch. Goodness, it’s freezing in
berthing! It’s fine if you’re just there for a minute or two, but
after laying still for a while, the shivers creep up on you. I even put my wool
blanket over my fleece, and my other fleece over my head as well as shoulders.
Since the scenarios are over, we had normal quarters and sweepers, and of course, the afternoon was taken up with a SAPR training. This one was much better than all the others I've had, mostly because the CO, XO and Master Chief gave it, and they never really beat any dead horses, as is a hallmark of these trainings. And we had pizza and ice cream as on every Saturday underway. The Junior Officers were serving, and I was dished up with a little of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate! So delicious! Then I had the mid watch, and I was off to bed, ready to sleep in for Sunday's holiday routine.
Sunday, June 23:
Started off with helping another female out with urinalysis. Only E-5 and above can officially observe, so we're always doing it for each other. Then I went to our little casual church service in the classroom, and during our chit-chat found out that we're getting a Muslim Chaplain to accompany us on our deployment.
Had a lovely lunch (it actually was alright), then that afternoon we had a general quarters drill for a few hours. Then I went straight to early dinner, and my final watch of the underway! And my Sup let me go for most of it so I could get a bunch of ESWS training with the ship's Oil King. This required me to get a pair of fire-retardant coveralls from the DC'men, and hang out in engineering while we went through the sign-offs.
Monday, June 24:
Started pretty early. I set my alarm for 0530, only to be awoken by the 1MC's call of "Reveille, reveille. All hands heave out. Reveille." and "Breakfast for the crew." just before it was set to go off. My station for Sea and Anchor (pulling into port) was logkeeper in Sonar Control. I checked into my station, then was sent topside to participate in FWWD (fresh water wash-down). That took a long time, but I enjoyed the view of Virginia Beach, the smell of the salt water and felt the force of the wind in my face. Returned to Sonar for the rest of the evolution, and soon we were pierside.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Holiday Duty, Once, Twice
The last two duty days book-ended my extended leave that I've been on, to visit my family in Washington and move my husband out here to Virginia with me.
The first was Memorial Day, Monday, May 27th. Whatever people say, holiday duty can be the best... and this one was by far the best duty day in my memory. There were no drills, and my watch, the first Petty Officer of the Watch, went by quite quickly. First it was the business about the flags for colors... the Pier SOPA (Senior Officer Present Afloat) - the ship on the pier with the most senior captain - was sending mixed signals for how they wanted the flags flown for the holiday. Per instruction for Memorial Day, the largest flags are to be flown from both the flagstaff aft of the ship and the mast... both at half-staff for the first half of the day. Of the four ships on the pier, all were doing something different. It finally got resolved, but it took a good deal of time before it was all sorted out. And I'm pretty sure the SOPA made us raise the flag the whole way before it was time.
The next issue we had was the intrusion alarm we had. Turned out to be a malfunction, but I had to call away a Security Alert to be sure. So I passed "Security Alert, Security Alert. Reason for Security Alert, intrusion alarm (in a certain space)" over the announcement system. I was so flustered, I forgot the next part of the message that tells the security team to lay to the armory. They figured it out by themselves, though. Then I secured the brow... meaning I stood out on it, allowing no one access to or from the ship.
After watch, I had lunch and then rested for an hour or so. Then I got with the chief who agreed to proctor my Physical Readiness Test. We headed over to Q-80, the pier-side gym, where we found a corner and I did 92 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, and an Excellent on the stationary bike (burning 136 calories in 2 minutes). The Outstanding sit-ups, combined with the Good and the Excellent ratings gave me an overall Excellent score.
Returned to the ship just in time for sweepers, which Chief let me do in my PT gear. She also let me check out on leave right afterwords, and that was very exciting. I went to the pool and swam a 4 or 500 before going home, having dinner, finishing the dishes and doing all my laundry before I left for Washington very early the next morning.
-
Back from leave, I had a regular workday on Thursday where I fixed an open purchase request, tried to figure out that one check that's been on hold forever and ever because of our test equipment, and get access to a computer program that I ended up not needing, and talking to supply about orders for parts that were cancelled.
Duty on Friday, which was Flag Day, June 14th, also went pretty well. The workday was more of the same as before. Except this time there was a ship pulling into our pier, and in the afternoon, one pulling out. It's the responsibility of the duty section of the other ship (ours that day) to provide people to take in or cast off the mooring lines. So this I did twice, even though the tech rep for the check came as I was heading out to the first working party. I found out later that he wasn't able to make the test equipment work either... so I didn't feel too bad about not being able to figure it out or miss him looking at it. The ship pulling out in the afternoon was going on deployment, so there were a bunch of families and friends on the pier watching as the ship's company, mostly in dress whites, maned the rails. I saw a destroyer's anchor come up for the first time, and I got pretty excited for my own upcoming deployment as I watched this crew go out.
I had the evening watch, as POOW again, and again it went by pretty quickly. Our watch-bill coordinator was the OOD; it was my first time standing with him, and he gave me more to do than some of the other OODs I've had. I was very glad to be on watch during sweepers, colors, and duty section training... and I was able to get a full night's sleep in my own rack. The Berthing 2 floor had been repaired and finished while I was gone. It is now shiny, new and clean! Got up early on Saturday to take care of the daily checks and the muster report before morning sweepers, and helped sweep up the female berthing as well. Took out the trash as we left, and then freedom!
The first was Memorial Day, Monday, May 27th. Whatever people say, holiday duty can be the best... and this one was by far the best duty day in my memory. There were no drills, and my watch, the first Petty Officer of the Watch, went by quite quickly. First it was the business about the flags for colors... the Pier SOPA (Senior Officer Present Afloat) - the ship on the pier with the most senior captain - was sending mixed signals for how they wanted the flags flown for the holiday. Per instruction for Memorial Day, the largest flags are to be flown from both the flagstaff aft of the ship and the mast... both at half-staff for the first half of the day. Of the four ships on the pier, all were doing something different. It finally got resolved, but it took a good deal of time before it was all sorted out. And I'm pretty sure the SOPA made us raise the flag the whole way before it was time.
The next issue we had was the intrusion alarm we had. Turned out to be a malfunction, but I had to call away a Security Alert to be sure. So I passed "Security Alert, Security Alert. Reason for Security Alert, intrusion alarm (in a certain space)" over the announcement system. I was so flustered, I forgot the next part of the message that tells the security team to lay to the armory. They figured it out by themselves, though. Then I secured the brow... meaning I stood out on it, allowing no one access to or from the ship.
After watch, I had lunch and then rested for an hour or so. Then I got with the chief who agreed to proctor my Physical Readiness Test. We headed over to Q-80, the pier-side gym, where we found a corner and I did 92 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, and an Excellent on the stationary bike (burning 136 calories in 2 minutes). The Outstanding sit-ups, combined with the Good and the Excellent ratings gave me an overall Excellent score.
Returned to the ship just in time for sweepers, which Chief let me do in my PT gear. She also let me check out on leave right afterwords, and that was very exciting. I went to the pool and swam a 4 or 500 before going home, having dinner, finishing the dishes and doing all my laundry before I left for Washington very early the next morning.
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Back from leave, I had a regular workday on Thursday where I fixed an open purchase request, tried to figure out that one check that's been on hold forever and ever because of our test equipment, and get access to a computer program that I ended up not needing, and talking to supply about orders for parts that were cancelled.
Duty on Friday, which was Flag Day, June 14th, also went pretty well. The workday was more of the same as before. Except this time there was a ship pulling into our pier, and in the afternoon, one pulling out. It's the responsibility of the duty section of the other ship (ours that day) to provide people to take in or cast off the mooring lines. So this I did twice, even though the tech rep for the check came as I was heading out to the first working party. I found out later that he wasn't able to make the test equipment work either... so I didn't feel too bad about not being able to figure it out or miss him looking at it. The ship pulling out in the afternoon was going on deployment, so there were a bunch of families and friends on the pier watching as the ship's company, mostly in dress whites, maned the rails. I saw a destroyer's anchor come up for the first time, and I got pretty excited for my own upcoming deployment as I watched this crew go out.
I had the evening watch, as POOW again, and again it went by pretty quickly. Our watch-bill coordinator was the OOD; it was my first time standing with him, and he gave me more to do than some of the other OODs I've had. I was very glad to be on watch during sweepers, colors, and duty section training... and I was able to get a full night's sleep in my own rack. The Berthing 2 floor had been repaired and finished while I was gone. It is now shiny, new and clean! Got up early on Saturday to take care of the daily checks and the muster report before morning sweepers, and helped sweep up the female berthing as well. Took out the trash as we left, and then freedom!
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Aloft Pics
Looking down on our commissioning pennant... from the very top of the mast.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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!
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!
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The Week That Never Ended
The last week and a half, continued from the last post, was the most interesting I've had so far in the Navy, as pertains to my job. Every day we had to stay late, as in 19 or 2000, the First Classes were always working on getting the power-point brief put together... initially, and then fine-tuning it as we went.
I was very pleased with my watch team (the division was split up into two teams, blue and gold; I was gold); we worked rather well together and got our job done, when the system behaved. :) My friend, STG2, did a bunch of extra work, I think it was Wednesday or Thursday, rebooting some of our computers and bringing a vital system back online. I helped her, and watched her, trying to take in as much as I could. The class I went to for being a technician had a lot to do with finding things in the tech doc, but had hardly anything to do with understanding how to troubleshoot computer systems... which is the majority of what we do as techs.
On my duty day this week (Wednesday the 15th), we were also conducting checks with some tech assist guys... and I did the underway check on the fatho. We replaced the bulbs in the door, and found out that one of the fuses was out of spec. He wouldn't continue the check until we had the right one, but that I couldn't find anywhere... not even with three other divisions or the electronics officer. Since we needed to get this checked off our list, I volunteered to go get one out in town. I tried the obvious first, Auto Zone, Radio Shack, O'Riley Auto, but they didn't have one small enough. O'Riley was helpful though and directed me to Audio One a couple miles down the street. They didn't have it, but directed me to the people who did... 4.5 miles away. It took me an hour to do it, but I came back with a little pack of the right fuses. After lunch, we finished the check and all was well.
My only watch consisted of a 5 hour stint in the Combat Systems Maintenance Central, to keep an eye on the alarm panel and let the right people know if something went off. Afterwords, I stayed up and did the dailies before crashing for a couple hours (0300 to 0530) in Sonar 1 because I was too lazy to want to change in and out of my uniform. My team rolled right into a two-hour scenario, waited through the next one, and then did the final two-hour scenario after lunch. I was wiped out! But just as people were getting ready for the debrief, I was told that our consumables had come in and LS1 was waiting for me on the pier. I went right outside, still in my fleece from being in Sonar Control all day, and walked into a brilliant sunlit, warm afternoon. The fleece came off and a bunch of supplies came in... we ordered some cleaning stuff (like new brooms! and a mop caddie!) that everyone was excited about.
Friday was the final day of our exercise, and it didn't involve me at all. So after getting their early to help set up the system and listen to the final brief, I made myself useful after that by taking out some of the trash. First I worked on getting the dead console batteries (that we replaced underway) recycled at the site on base. It's a bit of an operation getting them there... they weigh 35 pounds each; with one in each hand, a person gets tired pretty quick. Took them up the one ladder to the deck one at a time, then leaned back as I walked down the 15-foot ladder to the pier with both in my hands. I dropped them off at the end of the pier (with permission) and drove my car over to pick them up (I was parked a ways away). From then on it was easy!
Came back to find that the chairs we ordered for the division had arrived, so I picked up one box and carried it all the way to sonar (Master Chief helped me for the last bit of the ways... she is so helpful!). The guys managed to get the other three inside while I set to work assembling them. The assessors were pretty surprised to come back after lunch and find plenty of places to sit down! That's what I call good timing!
We were finally let go at 1345... so I guess it only felt like it would never end.
I was very pleased with my watch team (the division was split up into two teams, blue and gold; I was gold); we worked rather well together and got our job done, when the system behaved. :) My friend, STG2, did a bunch of extra work, I think it was Wednesday or Thursday, rebooting some of our computers and bringing a vital system back online. I helped her, and watched her, trying to take in as much as I could. The class I went to for being a technician had a lot to do with finding things in the tech doc, but had hardly anything to do with understanding how to troubleshoot computer systems... which is the majority of what we do as techs.
On my duty day this week (Wednesday the 15th), we were also conducting checks with some tech assist guys... and I did the underway check on the fatho. We replaced the bulbs in the door, and found out that one of the fuses was out of spec. He wouldn't continue the check until we had the right one, but that I couldn't find anywhere... not even with three other divisions or the electronics officer. Since we needed to get this checked off our list, I volunteered to go get one out in town. I tried the obvious first, Auto Zone, Radio Shack, O'Riley Auto, but they didn't have one small enough. O'Riley was helpful though and directed me to Audio One a couple miles down the street. They didn't have it, but directed me to the people who did... 4.5 miles away. It took me an hour to do it, but I came back with a little pack of the right fuses. After lunch, we finished the check and all was well.
My only watch consisted of a 5 hour stint in the Combat Systems Maintenance Central, to keep an eye on the alarm panel and let the right people know if something went off. Afterwords, I stayed up and did the dailies before crashing for a couple hours (0300 to 0530) in Sonar 1 because I was too lazy to want to change in and out of my uniform. My team rolled right into a two-hour scenario, waited through the next one, and then did the final two-hour scenario after lunch. I was wiped out! But just as people were getting ready for the debrief, I was told that our consumables had come in and LS1 was waiting for me on the pier. I went right outside, still in my fleece from being in Sonar Control all day, and walked into a brilliant sunlit, warm afternoon. The fleece came off and a bunch of supplies came in... we ordered some cleaning stuff (like new brooms! and a mop caddie!) that everyone was excited about.
Friday was the final day of our exercise, and it didn't involve me at all. So after getting their early to help set up the system and listen to the final brief, I made myself useful after that by taking out some of the trash. First I worked on getting the dead console batteries (that we replaced underway) recycled at the site on base. It's a bit of an operation getting them there... they weigh 35 pounds each; with one in each hand, a person gets tired pretty quick. Took them up the one ladder to the deck one at a time, then leaned back as I walked down the 15-foot ladder to the pier with both in my hands. I dropped them off at the end of the pier (with permission) and drove my car over to pick them up (I was parked a ways away). From then on it was easy!
Came back to find that the chairs we ordered for the division had arrived, so I picked up one box and carried it all the way to sonar (Master Chief helped me for the last bit of the ways... she is so helpful!). The guys managed to get the other three inside while I set to work assembling them. The assessors were pretty surprised to come back after lunch and find plenty of places to sit down! That's what I call good timing!
We were finally let go at 1345... so I guess it only felt like it would never end.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
A Little Bit of Class and a Lot of Work
That was the week of May 6th through 10th, evenly divided.
Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday, the Truxtun's entire Sonar division was in class on base in Norfolk, getting a solid refresher on our various watch-standing duties. When they split Combat and Sonar, we operators had a few lessons on the marine environment and our basic segments that were very helpful; the instructors were knowledgeable, and answered all our questions.
The rest of the week we continued the learning on board with the instructors looking over our shoulders as we simulated real situations. It was the most Sonar I've done since joining the Navy... and although a little stressful, it was absolutely essential for getting to know the system and procedures for real.
I especially enjoyed having classroom time with the entire division. It's rare that we're all together in one room for so long... there's usually someone off doing something else. And it afforded us time to hang out a little too, especially at lunch time.
Thankfully, my duty day landed on Wednesday, which was a super-long day anyway. I had the afternoon quarterdeck watch with Chief, for the first time. She was very amiable, and the watch went by quick enough; I saluted my entire division ashore as they left around 1900. I was kept pretty busy the whole time with phone calls and what-not... there was only an hour and change left after evening colors went down.
Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday, the Truxtun's entire Sonar division was in class on base in Norfolk, getting a solid refresher on our various watch-standing duties. When they split Combat and Sonar, we operators had a few lessons on the marine environment and our basic segments that were very helpful; the instructors were knowledgeable, and answered all our questions.
The rest of the week we continued the learning on board with the instructors looking over our shoulders as we simulated real situations. It was the most Sonar I've done since joining the Navy... and although a little stressful, it was absolutely essential for getting to know the system and procedures for real.
I especially enjoyed having classroom time with the entire division. It's rare that we're all together in one room for so long... there's usually someone off doing something else. And it afforded us time to hang out a little too, especially at lunch time.
Thankfully, my duty day landed on Wednesday, which was a super-long day anyway. I had the afternoon quarterdeck watch with Chief, for the first time. She was very amiable, and the watch went by quick enough; I saluted my entire division ashore as they left around 1900. I was kept pretty busy the whole time with phone calls and what-not... there was only an hour and change left after evening colors went down.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
A Week Underway, Coming Back on Duty
(Written Tuesday, April 30th)
Wow, this underway was a busy one. There were drills practically non-stop, but thankfully the only one I had to participate in was General Quarters. The GQ watchbill got switched around somehow, so instead of being where I should be (in Sonar 1 as a repairman) I was stuck with the gunner's mates below the 5" deck gun as the person to check the serial numbers on the shells to be loaded. There was nothing to do, since this was a drill, so I got a lot of rest. First in a chair for about 25 minutes, then sitting next to the door for the same time (where it was warmer), then I curled up in a corner below the mount for the remaining hour.
Monday, the 29th, I was back outside as a line-handler for sea and anchor. It was pouring rain out, so we all got drenched. It was a little chilly, but the wind wasn't bad at all (at least where I was... on the starboard side to take on and cast off the line that one of the tugboats used to pull us away from the pier. We were standing around for a couple hours though... lots of delays somehow. It felt wonderful to change into dry clothes and eat lunch when they let us go from that. The rest of the watch stations had to stay at sea and anchor for a couple more hours, but at least they were the inside the skin of the ship stations.
Other than that, I worked a good deal on ESWS (surface warfare qualification), getting sign-offs for two whole sections (Supply and Operations), and made appointments with Engineering and Deck for Wednesday, when most of the drills are over. Also started on Anti-Terrorism, but it's a recent addition to the qualification, and our recent AT guy just left the ship a few weeks ago. So the guy who got thrown into the job wasn't familiar with the questions... that and he's one of those guys who goes into a lot of detail. Three line items took a half-hour. :-)
Besides the GQ on Tuesday, I had a couple maintenance checks to accomplish that morning (requiring a tag-out for electrical safety, and "hazmat", or regular detergent to the rest of the world). So although the check itself was extraordinarily simple, it took a good couple hours to get done. GQ lasted all through normal lunch hours, so I ate lunch about 2:30 in the afternoon, and had dinner (after doing some studying on my own) just before it ended at 5:30ish. I spent a bunch of time after dinner walking around the main deck of the ship and recording where all the damage control equipment is located, so I can have a practical focus for my DC studying. I think I learned a lot just by looking around. Then it was time for yet another Sonar watch.
(Written Thursday evening, May 2nd)
During the mid-watch (Tues night to Wed morning), we had a very unexpected casualty with our cooling water unit. The officer of the watch for combat systems called and asked us about some overheating alarms he was getting. Immediately, I thought... SKID! So we went down there and found that the cooling unit was completely out of water, and had shut off because of it! So our supervisor shut down the system so it wouldn't overheat while we got engineering to send us some water through the inlet pipes. Even after it started coming in, it wasn't filling like it should, so the officer and I looked around our sonar spaces, and he noticed a drip valve that was doing a lot more than dripping. The watch team before us had simply wrapped rags around it without telling us about it... and when we discovered it, there was a bit of water all over the rags they had put on the floor to catch it. We found the connected valve and made sure it was tight. This stopped the water and we think, solved the problem. The tank filled up just fine, and the system went back to normal. I wiped up the water with the rags, wringing them into a bucket, and all was well.
I got a couple hours of sleep, and was up in plenty of time to eat my daily shredded wheat and granola cereal for breakfast. Spent the morning in slight frustration, trying to meet with someone for ESWS training who wasn't where he said he'd be... and then I tried to find a Boatswain's Mate for some primer paint for a space of ours, but couldn't since they were all busy with the small boats. Then I did my Corrective Maintenance that was scheduled for that morning... changed out a light bulb (smaller than a dime) on one piece of gear in CIC (combat info center).
I finally did track down the person for my ESWS signature, and coped with the schedule change for early lunch and watch (an hour ahead of time) for a six-hour watch. I tried to work on the brief for the wardroom that night, but my secret account was still not set up right. After being at the command for as long as I have (nearly a year; end of next month) I called Radio again and again until everything was working. Saw all the secret-side emails for the first time... some ranging back to mid 2012. But just as I was going to start on the brief, they called General Quarters, and I had to go back to the room below the 5" gun... and that lasted for FOUR hours. I was very rested and ready for action when it was lifted. Got relieved from the watch soon after, enjoyed breaded shrimp for dinner, then did a lot of work on my ESWS book, organizing it and copying all I needed to for the first three sections... and continued to work on finding answers for the anti-terrorism stuff. I stayed up to give the first prayer this underway, even though I had the late watch. Read the first bit of Psalm 1, and prayed for the usual things... safety and rest. Nothing crazy happened during that watch... just copied over my DC notes from the day before and that ate up practically the whole ordeal.
Went right into today...goodness. Today started off with a visit to the Navy's underway gas station... a USNS fast replenishment ship. I was on the watchbill for being a line-handler at the refueling station on the aft missile deck (gas + missiles... hmm :) It took us (around 15-20 line-handlers) all our strength to get that heavy nozzle across the span-wire and into the receiver. But our job was over when it was accomplished. Very glad I wore gloves, because the rope we were pulling on was covered in greasy something. The weather was beautiful out there though... I really enjoyed it on the whole. We all stood in a line at parade rest while coming alongside the big auxiliary, and again as we broke away.
The big job, though, was back in Sonar, replacing the heavy batteries in one of the consoles. My friend and I had a heck of a time with the people who control tag-outs. They were trying to make us do more than necessary... which would make it impossible for us to finish during the day... but our LPO went up there and straightened things out. That didn't make it any easier, though. This particular console hadn't ever had the batteries changed before. Everything was very tightly fastened, and we had to uncomfortably wedge our heads and shoulders underneath in order to take the old ones out, and put the new ones in.
That sentence took a second to write, but the operation took literally all day. We were interrupted with a General Quarters drill, but only for an hour or so. Each screw was excruciating... and every step completed a small miracle. For instance, a tool had to be rigged out of two tools taped together in order to begin in the first place. How wild it was! But we managed, I suppose. It was a relief to sit in a chair after we were done. I have several bruises on my left thigh, my right knee and my left elbow.
Gave the ranges brief (very briefly) for the wardroom (the UNREP debrief and Sea & Anchor brief were both held beforehand on the mess decks, so the Ops brief was brief indeed), and back in Sonar, I tried to get my secret-side account to work for the weekly acoustic cuts we're supposed to classify. No luck, of course. It never ends... until tomorrow! :-) Gave another prayer, simply on my old reliable, Psalm 23 (it is so much easier when I don't have to read what I'm saying over the 1MC... don't have to hold my flashlight and study words instead of thinking about how my voice will carry, like I should), and I finished by reminding the crew that the Lord never leaves us and always loves us.
(Written post-underway, Sunday, May 5th)
Friday was not exempt from drills, no matter that we pulled in that day. First was a continuation of gas-mask drills that turned into a GQ... and lucky for me, that was during my scheduled watch time that morning. S&A was set early, around 1330, and I stayed on the flight deck this time and helped fake out (set down in neat rows) all three of the mooring lines in that area. Then I set up my line to be ready when we moored, opening up the section of wire mesh that passes over the chock opening (where the line passes through), putting the line through and back over the rail, and tying the heaving line to the mooring line on the second try (the way they trained us in boot camp; not bad for not doing one for several months!). I stayed out on the flight deck all the way past Virginia Beach, Cape Henry, VA-13 bridge/tunnel passage, Ocean View, I-64 bridge/tunnel passage, and up to where we were passing the carriers at the naval station. This was my duty day when we moored, and I had the first watch as POOW (petty officer of the watch) and had to change from coveralls to the working uniform, besides getting dinner and my necessary items for watch.
The first two hours of the watch were absolutely wild. I was passing words over the 1MC every other minute for so-and-so to muster here or there, the posting of four successive watch-bills (for over the weekend), the working party to get the shore power connected (which they did in record time!), calling out "Liberty Call; Liberty Call. Liberty Call for duty sections..." - every one but mine), and bonging the CO ashore... (four bells)... "TRUXTUN, departing." (stinger). [Boy, do people get upset if you get that wrong... one guy was relieved of his watch once, because he kept messing up the bells.] Between all these things, I had to answer the phone... and had to transfer two or three calls as well. Then of course, there were the people checking out on leave (good for them!), the ship's log to keep up with, and personnel to salute as they left the ship. The other three hours of watch went slower, but at least time did not stop. I soon was talking with my husband, checking the dome pressure, and going to sleep!
Going home Saturday morning was very nice, indeed. Sunrise (turning off the lights), sweepers, turnover, and the dailies were done before I knew it, and soon I was free as a bird, walking down the pier with my bag in one hand and a bag of berthing trash in the other (to be deposited at the end of the pier).
[Post Script... I loved this last line from my husband's last email for the underway...
"Prayers for your Friday, and that you don't have to replace any more teeny tiny lightbulbs, or batteries, or grab any Incredibly Heavy Gigantic Greasy Hoses. So looking forward to hearing your voice again."]
Thank you, Michael!
Wow, this underway was a busy one. There were drills practically non-stop, but thankfully the only one I had to participate in was General Quarters. The GQ watchbill got switched around somehow, so instead of being where I should be (in Sonar 1 as a repairman) I was stuck with the gunner's mates below the 5" deck gun as the person to check the serial numbers on the shells to be loaded. There was nothing to do, since this was a drill, so I got a lot of rest. First in a chair for about 25 minutes, then sitting next to the door for the same time (where it was warmer), then I curled up in a corner below the mount for the remaining hour.
Monday, the 29th, I was back outside as a line-handler for sea and anchor. It was pouring rain out, so we all got drenched. It was a little chilly, but the wind wasn't bad at all (at least where I was... on the starboard side to take on and cast off the line that one of the tugboats used to pull us away from the pier. We were standing around for a couple hours though... lots of delays somehow. It felt wonderful to change into dry clothes and eat lunch when they let us go from that. The rest of the watch stations had to stay at sea and anchor for a couple more hours, but at least they were the inside the skin of the ship stations.
Other than that, I worked a good deal on ESWS (surface warfare qualification), getting sign-offs for two whole sections (Supply and Operations), and made appointments with Engineering and Deck for Wednesday, when most of the drills are over. Also started on Anti-Terrorism, but it's a recent addition to the qualification, and our recent AT guy just left the ship a few weeks ago. So the guy who got thrown into the job wasn't familiar with the questions... that and he's one of those guys who goes into a lot of detail. Three line items took a half-hour. :-)
Besides the GQ on Tuesday, I had a couple maintenance checks to accomplish that morning (requiring a tag-out for electrical safety, and "hazmat", or regular detergent to the rest of the world). So although the check itself was extraordinarily simple, it took a good couple hours to get done. GQ lasted all through normal lunch hours, so I ate lunch about 2:30 in the afternoon, and had dinner (after doing some studying on my own) just before it ended at 5:30ish. I spent a bunch of time after dinner walking around the main deck of the ship and recording where all the damage control equipment is located, so I can have a practical focus for my DC studying. I think I learned a lot just by looking around. Then it was time for yet another Sonar watch.
(Written Thursday evening, May 2nd)
During the mid-watch (Tues night to Wed morning), we had a very unexpected casualty with our cooling water unit. The officer of the watch for combat systems called and asked us about some overheating alarms he was getting. Immediately, I thought... SKID! So we went down there and found that the cooling unit was completely out of water, and had shut off because of it! So our supervisor shut down the system so it wouldn't overheat while we got engineering to send us some water through the inlet pipes. Even after it started coming in, it wasn't filling like it should, so the officer and I looked around our sonar spaces, and he noticed a drip valve that was doing a lot more than dripping. The watch team before us had simply wrapped rags around it without telling us about it... and when we discovered it, there was a bit of water all over the rags they had put on the floor to catch it. We found the connected valve and made sure it was tight. This stopped the water and we think, solved the problem. The tank filled up just fine, and the system went back to normal. I wiped up the water with the rags, wringing them into a bucket, and all was well.
I got a couple hours of sleep, and was up in plenty of time to eat my daily shredded wheat and granola cereal for breakfast. Spent the morning in slight frustration, trying to meet with someone for ESWS training who wasn't where he said he'd be... and then I tried to find a Boatswain's Mate for some primer paint for a space of ours, but couldn't since they were all busy with the small boats. Then I did my Corrective Maintenance that was scheduled for that morning... changed out a light bulb (smaller than a dime) on one piece of gear in CIC (combat info center).
I finally did track down the person for my ESWS signature, and coped with the schedule change for early lunch and watch (an hour ahead of time) for a six-hour watch. I tried to work on the brief for the wardroom that night, but my secret account was still not set up right. After being at the command for as long as I have (nearly a year; end of next month) I called Radio again and again until everything was working. Saw all the secret-side emails for the first time... some ranging back to mid 2012. But just as I was going to start on the brief, they called General Quarters, and I had to go back to the room below the 5" gun... and that lasted for FOUR hours. I was very rested and ready for action when it was lifted. Got relieved from the watch soon after, enjoyed breaded shrimp for dinner, then did a lot of work on my ESWS book, organizing it and copying all I needed to for the first three sections... and continued to work on finding answers for the anti-terrorism stuff. I stayed up to give the first prayer this underway, even though I had the late watch. Read the first bit of Psalm 1, and prayed for the usual things... safety and rest. Nothing crazy happened during that watch... just copied over my DC notes from the day before and that ate up practically the whole ordeal.
Went right into today...goodness. Today started off with a visit to the Navy's underway gas station... a USNS fast replenishment ship. I was on the watchbill for being a line-handler at the refueling station on the aft missile deck (gas + missiles... hmm :) It took us (around 15-20 line-handlers) all our strength to get that heavy nozzle across the span-wire and into the receiver. But our job was over when it was accomplished. Very glad I wore gloves, because the rope we were pulling on was covered in greasy something. The weather was beautiful out there though... I really enjoyed it on the whole. We all stood in a line at parade rest while coming alongside the big auxiliary, and again as we broke away.
The big job, though, was back in Sonar, replacing the heavy batteries in one of the consoles. My friend and I had a heck of a time with the people who control tag-outs. They were trying to make us do more than necessary... which would make it impossible for us to finish during the day... but our LPO went up there and straightened things out. That didn't make it any easier, though. This particular console hadn't ever had the batteries changed before. Everything was very tightly fastened, and we had to uncomfortably wedge our heads and shoulders underneath in order to take the old ones out, and put the new ones in.
That sentence took a second to write, but the operation took literally all day. We were interrupted with a General Quarters drill, but only for an hour or so. Each screw was excruciating... and every step completed a small miracle. For instance, a tool had to be rigged out of two tools taped together in order to begin in the first place. How wild it was! But we managed, I suppose. It was a relief to sit in a chair after we were done. I have several bruises on my left thigh, my right knee and my left elbow.
Gave the ranges brief (very briefly) for the wardroom (the UNREP debrief and Sea & Anchor brief were both held beforehand on the mess decks, so the Ops brief was brief indeed), and back in Sonar, I tried to get my secret-side account to work for the weekly acoustic cuts we're supposed to classify. No luck, of course. It never ends... until tomorrow! :-) Gave another prayer, simply on my old reliable, Psalm 23 (it is so much easier when I don't have to read what I'm saying over the 1MC... don't have to hold my flashlight and study words instead of thinking about how my voice will carry, like I should), and I finished by reminding the crew that the Lord never leaves us and always loves us.
(Written post-underway, Sunday, May 5th)
Friday was not exempt from drills, no matter that we pulled in that day. First was a continuation of gas-mask drills that turned into a GQ... and lucky for me, that was during my scheduled watch time that morning. S&A was set early, around 1330, and I stayed on the flight deck this time and helped fake out (set down in neat rows) all three of the mooring lines in that area. Then I set up my line to be ready when we moored, opening up the section of wire mesh that passes over the chock opening (where the line passes through), putting the line through and back over the rail, and tying the heaving line to the mooring line on the second try (the way they trained us in boot camp; not bad for not doing one for several months!). I stayed out on the flight deck all the way past Virginia Beach, Cape Henry, VA-13 bridge/tunnel passage, Ocean View, I-64 bridge/tunnel passage, and up to where we were passing the carriers at the naval station. This was my duty day when we moored, and I had the first watch as POOW (petty officer of the watch) and had to change from coveralls to the working uniform, besides getting dinner and my necessary items for watch.
The first two hours of the watch were absolutely wild. I was passing words over the 1MC every other minute for so-and-so to muster here or there, the posting of four successive watch-bills (for over the weekend), the working party to get the shore power connected (which they did in record time!), calling out "Liberty Call; Liberty Call. Liberty Call for duty sections..." - every one but mine), and bonging the CO ashore... (four bells)... "TRUXTUN, departing." (stinger). [Boy, do people get upset if you get that wrong... one guy was relieved of his watch once, because he kept messing up the bells.] Between all these things, I had to answer the phone... and had to transfer two or three calls as well. Then of course, there were the people checking out on leave (good for them!), the ship's log to keep up with, and personnel to salute as they left the ship. The other three hours of watch went slower, but at least time did not stop. I soon was talking with my husband, checking the dome pressure, and going to sleep!
Going home Saturday morning was very nice, indeed. Sunrise (turning off the lights), sweepers, turnover, and the dailies were done before I knew it, and soon I was free as a bird, walking down the pier with my bag in one hand and a bag of berthing trash in the other (to be deposited at the end of the pier).
[Post Script... I loved this last line from my husband's last email for the underway...
"Prayers for your Friday, and that you don't have to replace any more teeny tiny lightbulbs, or batteries, or grab any Incredibly Heavy Gigantic Greasy Hoses. So looking forward to hearing your voice again."]
Thank you, Michael!
Friday, April 26, 2013
Questions, Questions
Every day was a longer day this week... getting out between 1530ish and even 1700 once. But once I have in my mind that it's going to be that way, there's no getting frustrated about waiting to be let off. I've kept myself pretty busy every day, even when I had to come up with things to do myself.
Monday was, as I said in the last post, taken up with LOK tests and an NKO course about cyber security.
Tuesday it was more of the same for the division, but I also worked on a fathometer check... one that's notorious for being difficult to understand. I was running up to ask the ETs (electronics technicians) questions all day about this cord or that part or the test equipment itself.
Wednesday, I was directed to work on the division's consumables issue (we haven't had anyone who knows how to order office supplies in over a year... I asked a lot of questions of supply in the last couple weeks) and managed to get a list sent out for a quote.
Thursday was the very late day. I got the quote back from SERV MART (local government supply store), worked on getting that information printed out on the right form and routed with an official USS Truxtun "Action Correspondence Route Slip" to my department head for approval (with running it by my LPO/LCPO first, of course). And there were a couple MRCs that needed completing too.
What made the day super late was a combination of things. My duty section had to run a DC drill, even though it wasn't my duty day. They did this to make sure people were available and not on watch during the full-scale drill. I was assigned as a "Utilityman"; this meant that I set boundaries or smoke screens, or whatever was needed. They did a "white smoke" drill, and I learned how to set a smoke shield around a doorway that responders had to have open for the fire hose to go through.
The drill went pretty well... it's just that the brow cracked right as the drill was getting over, so the brow was secured (no one could leave!). And it was after 1600. I ate dinner, since I was there, and enjoyed the tasty steak cubes that were on the menu. Then I went back to Sonar to continue consolidating our acoustic analysis charts. The brow was repaired and opened around 1630ish, but I stayed a bit longer to finish a certain page I was working on.
Friday was great fun! Did one check, worked on more charts, received a package from the pier for the division, and then got dressed up in my service uniform (khaki blouse, black pants/cover) in order to go to a GMC's (chief gunner's mate) re-enlistment ceremony downtown, on the forecastle of the USS Wisconsin (BB-64). Thankfully, I remembered to go back to Sonar 1 for my 2nd class crow pins before I got to the quarterdeck. I had to take off my 3rd class ones... don't think I've worn the uniform since standing watch in San Diego at school!
The ceremony itself was the nicest I've been to. The Weapons department head was there to read chief's bio, and another Lieutenant (who was a long-time friend) said a few words and gave out the certificates. First, chief was honorably discharged, then after a few words, he took the oath of enlistment again, and even his little kids participated (and got certificates too). Then the party retired to Buffalo Wild Wings by the MacArthur Center Mall for a celebratory lunch. I had picked up STG3 so she could go too, and I drove her home as we left.
Monday was, as I said in the last post, taken up with LOK tests and an NKO course about cyber security.
Tuesday it was more of the same for the division, but I also worked on a fathometer check... one that's notorious for being difficult to understand. I was running up to ask the ETs (electronics technicians) questions all day about this cord or that part or the test equipment itself.
Wednesday, I was directed to work on the division's consumables issue (we haven't had anyone who knows how to order office supplies in over a year... I asked a lot of questions of supply in the last couple weeks) and managed to get a list sent out for a quote.
Thursday was the very late day. I got the quote back from SERV MART (local government supply store), worked on getting that information printed out on the right form and routed with an official USS Truxtun "Action Correspondence Route Slip" to my department head for approval (with running it by my LPO/LCPO first, of course). And there were a couple MRCs that needed completing too.
What made the day super late was a combination of things. My duty section had to run a DC drill, even though it wasn't my duty day. They did this to make sure people were available and not on watch during the full-scale drill. I was assigned as a "Utilityman"; this meant that I set boundaries or smoke screens, or whatever was needed. They did a "white smoke" drill, and I learned how to set a smoke shield around a doorway that responders had to have open for the fire hose to go through.
The drill went pretty well... it's just that the brow cracked right as the drill was getting over, so the brow was secured (no one could leave!). And it was after 1600. I ate dinner, since I was there, and enjoyed the tasty steak cubes that were on the menu. Then I went back to Sonar to continue consolidating our acoustic analysis charts. The brow was repaired and opened around 1630ish, but I stayed a bit longer to finish a certain page I was working on.
Friday was great fun! Did one check, worked on more charts, received a package from the pier for the division, and then got dressed up in my service uniform (khaki blouse, black pants/cover) in order to go to a GMC's (chief gunner's mate) re-enlistment ceremony downtown, on the forecastle of the USS Wisconsin (BB-64). Thankfully, I remembered to go back to Sonar 1 for my 2nd class crow pins before I got to the quarterdeck. I had to take off my 3rd class ones... don't think I've worn the uniform since standing watch in San Diego at school!
The ceremony itself was the nicest I've been to. The Weapons department head was there to read chief's bio, and another Lieutenant (who was a long-time friend) said a few words and gave out the certificates. First, chief was honorably discharged, then after a few words, he took the oath of enlistment again, and even his little kids participated (and got certificates too). Then the party retired to Buffalo Wild Wings by the MacArthur Center Mall for a celebratory lunch. I had picked up STG3 so she could go too, and I drove her home as we left.
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