Petty Officer Second Class!

 First call... first call to Colors. (21 NOV 12, 1648)

I made it, I made it!

The scores came out late on Tuesday the 20th... people were finding out on the Navy Advancement Center's page on Facebook. I didn't bother because I thought for sure I'd be disappointed (with that little twinge of hope that never leaves me - I told myself no, but I was bursting with yes, yes, yes!). I heard people get congratulated every now and then, but not me. But right before dinner, someone came by and congratulated me! I could barely believe it! While I was serving, Senior Chief came over to shake my hand, saying I was on a fast pace for first class. :) That night I went to the NEX and got everything I needed for my uniforms.

All the next day, between serving the chiefs, cleaning their heads, laying down a thorough sweepers in the p-way, taking out trash, and doing the scullery that night, I got lots more congratulations. The CO announced the 31 names of people from Truxtun who were advanced over the 1MC during sweepers. People began to leave for our Thanksgiving 96-hour liberty that afternoon. It was very slow during dinner. Couldn't leave immediately though... we had LSC on duty that day, so she inspected our cleanup afterwords. When we did leave, I took my uniforms with me so I could sew the new tabs on the next day (Thanksgiving) at my friend's house.

Although I had Thanksgiving off as well as the weekend, I had to come in on Friday. It was a pretty easy day... Holiday Routine... no Quarters or Sweepers or anything like that. We did have breakouts after breakfast... I shared a pie with my friends during lunch and took a nap in the Chief's Mess during the toxic gas drill that included the mess decks after lunch... and I took all the morning's trash out just before dinner. Worked the scullery all three meals... but very easy as there was only the duty section there to eat.

Signing off for the first time as an STG2 Select...

Situations Rectified

I had work this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. And although I thought Chief told me on Friday that I'd just have to find someone to switch with me for Thanksgiving, she ended up approving the Special Lib chit. CS1 gave it back to me approved on Saturday. That was a very pleasant surprise! :)

Today, as the ship's plans changed at 1500, I was let off. I was only there because we were going to get underway early tomorrow (it was technically my day off). As I changed, I noticed that my military ID card was nowhere to be found. I searched high and low... literally: all through my rack, and even the deck of the head... in the pockets of four garments... in Sonar 1, the scullery, the galley... even the cleaning gear locker (everywhere I had been during the day). I obviously had it this morning at 0630 (I was allowed to come in late), and I remembered putting it in the left breast pocket of my coveralls (like in boot camp). I checked with the quarterdeck and the duty master-at-arms. No returned cards.

So I found out in order to get a new one I'd have to get a special request chit signed and go to PSD (the ID card place) that was probably closed. No, wait, there's another one at the NEX. I was told I'd need a form from admin... and that the request had to be signed by MA1... (he said he didn't, but he did anyway)... then someone told me all I needed was the request signed by the CO, and I could get back on base in the morning. Then admin said no... I needed the chit signed by my entire chain of command. Got MA1, my LPO, Chief... then back to admin, and that's all I need. Then someone told me if I get it undersigned by the DIVO, then I'd just use the form. Got DIVO's signature (found him in his stateroom), then ran into the Sonar Divo (ASWO) and she got the CO to sign the bottom line for me. Then I went back to Sonar 1 and found my ID at the desk in the card reader where I'd left it while trying to log into Navy Knowledge Online for the second version of that silly training I completed back in AUGUST on the Code of Conduct (if separated or captured). Good grief! So frustrated and so relieved! Even though it was two hours later, I did get to go home.

The weekend was much calmer. Saturday I served all three meals, and Sunday I washed the trays, plates, cups and utensils in the scullery. I found time both days to scrub the grime in the sinks in the scullery to make it look better in there. Saturday I watched a couple movies on the mess decks during down time... MIB:3, and Dark Knight Rises. Rather entertaining for a duty weekend. Sunday went much slower... but that's probably because it was the second day.

A Mere Three Days that Seemed Much Longer

The hardest thing to bear during this underway was the fact that we weren't going anywhere. There was lots of testing and training, of course, but for an FSA like me, who isn't on any watchbill at all... it was long.

So I did some training with the Sonar guys on my own. Our recently honored STG1 "Truxtun Sailor of the Year" (congrats!) suggested this to me while I was trying to get online for something or other before "Sea & Anchor" got going (pulling away from the pier and getting underway). I used to be assigned to Line 4, but ever since we left Mayport, my name was nowhere to be found. Not bad timing actually... the weather took a drastic change from calm and cool to very windy and stormy in a matter of a couple hours.

After breakfast on Tuesday, we had to get all the unsorted trash out as soon as possible. I had the wardroom and chief's mess bags and time was running out. Even though the wind was whipping and the rain (or sleet, maybe?) was very cold, I went all the way down the pier and back with no coat (or warm article of clothing of any kind). I held the flap of the collar of my blouse up over one ear to stop it from getting stung from the cold and the wet. Tricky to do with two big bags of trash. By the time I got back to the ship I looked like the object of a Man Overboard drill. I nearly felt like it too.

There were spots on my undergarments that weren't wet... but other than that, I was dripping. Changed into some refreshingly dry clothes and coveralls forward in my berthing (I needed to switch from NWUs anyway :) then stuck my dripping things into the drier in the self-serve laundry back aft.

This first day was neat because I was able to eat all my own food... had bacon, cheese eggs & toast at home before coming, and brought my leftover lasagna for lunch and my leftover Olive Garden for dinner. :) I also worked lunch and dinner in the scullery again. The other guy took care of the Chiefs... it's as if I needed a break from the routine with my old routine. We also had a Captain's Call in one of the helo hangers that afternoon where the CO rewarded some people and told us all he knows about the ship's schedule.

As I was saying, I did some training with Sonar. Did some signoffs on my qual for working the fatho-meter, and other auxiliaries... then STG1 suggested I join the Divo (our officer), Senior and a couple other techs working on a torpedo countermeasures check early the next day. Although very tired, I enjoyed doing something with my division again. And besides that, since I lost sleep, the mess MA let me skip working breakfast... which was very nice. Had to clean up all the Chief's dishes afterwords though... the other guy was keeled over, feeling sea sick. Thankfully, I haven't had any problems with that beyond feeling a little queezy before taking a pill.Took one each day, just to be safe.

That morning (the second day) was taken up with a GQ drill. Dong, Dong, Dong... General Quarters. All hands to General Quarters! I went to Sonar 1 again, and this time I felt more confident in saying what I should over the Sonar net. I stayed awake just fine (can't say so much for the last practice in Norfolk - yikes!) and thought of how fortunate I was to have sleep the night before. Lunch was crazy, because it was right after the drill and the whole ship was hungry! I was serving Chiefs hamburgers from the grill before I ate myself. During clean up from lunch, there was a Toxic Gas drill which included the mess decks. My role was to get the heck out of the way. Retreated to Sonar for a little Facebook. :)

Maybe I spoke too soon about my rest... during Heat Stress, Eye Protection and Ear Protection trainings by powerpoint after dinner, I could barely keep awake even with one of the new seaman poking me in the arm every so often. LOL

Finally remembered my now-dry NWUs Wednesday night and put them away neatly in my rack. I was at a loss when I tried to get into my sweats right after that though... I finally remembered I had uncharacteristically left them out that morning. Checked the table over in the corner, and thank God, they were there instead of being thrown out. Nothing except an exact list of articles can be left out... I thought to look there since I saw a new posting of the berthing rules in one of the stalls in the head  just before.

Thursday, there was an UNREP, or underway replenishment, where we come alongside some sort of supply ship and take on fuel or stores. I wasn't a part of it, so I'm not sure what went on. I worked on getting a chit printed out for Special Liberty on Thanksgiving, but Chief ultimately shot it down. Lunch was crazy again... I was doing three things at once... taking care of the Chiefs, plating up more desserts, and keeping the cups and utensils filled on the mess decks. We were spread out a little too thin, and I even caught myself being short with someone.

Chief had me scrub the floor under the stainless steel counters in the Chief's mess and my little corner of the galley. She had a meeting with all the cooks about the schedule and about qualifications while I was scrubbing away with some steel wool (there were some tough spots) and all of a sudden I felt like Cinderella.

Coolest thing happened though... I got my Lay Leader approval from the CO! (via Admin) So I went up to the bridge at night to ask permission of the OOD to give the Evening Prayer. He gave it, of course, so at 2155 (tattoo, just before taps) I read a prayer I typed out the hour or so before over the 1MC (PA system).

Today we pulled in during lunch hours, so lunch was three hours long in order for all the people to get a chance to eat. After lunch all the FSAs were pulled aside to get the 30+ bags of trash up two ladders from the trash room and onto the pier (and then down the pier). And when I got back, the Chief's mess line still needed to be cleaned up... and a pile of dishes needed cleaning. Soon after that though, I was let go. Whew!

From Rack #30 and Near It

I went on a picture craze one night while we were in Florida...

A few instructions...

And outside... I know it looks like prison, but really it's just a fan of some kind. I'm sure I'll find out when I do my Surface Warfare qual.

In the Chief's Mess

Since it is the center of my life for these last few weeks... I thought I'd give a tour. Obviously, this is set up for breakfast... the most important meal for me. We take egg orders and take the china plates out to the cooks to be loaded. I did cook LSC eggs once... it was a special order and it was after the meal "secured".

Tues, Thurs, Fri & Mon

(that's Wed the 7th, Sat & Sun the 10th & 11th off!)

Well, I couldn't get out of what work I had fast enough this week. My husband was here with me until Sunday night, and to make it more bearable, he had to work a couple days too (long distance on his laptop). It was a lot of fun to come home to him after working, as if it was a regular occurrence.

I got a lot out of Tuesday... I was able to take my PFA during the day... the curl-ups (97), the push-ups (37), and for the first time, the bike (115 calories burned in 12 min.). Haven't seen the official score yet (it hasn't been posted in my file online), but I know I did just fine. I think it's a combination of Outstanding, Excellent and Good... which should average at an Excellent. Not bad.

They let me off for most of lunch for this... I stopped by a mini NEX for a chicken salad sandwich, and went to the Q-80 gym for a real shower (the ones on the ship are obviously cramped). Earlier, one CS1 had told us we were required to take it on our day off... but that morning the other CS1 was looking for volunteers. My hand went up so fast... I was very glad to take care of it first thing.

One of my assigned tasks while a Chief's FSA is to empty the trash in their forward berthings and sweep the passageway from outside their mess down to the mess decks... maybe 15 or 20 yards in length. Unfortunately, during the morning sweepers (right after Quarters) it seems like the busiest p-way on the boat. I sweep my pile to the side after a stroke or two to protect it from passers-by. They schedule a half-hour for sweepers, and sometimes I've wondered that this is why it's for so long.

Friday I was counting on being let go early (the MA told me it was okay), but so many people were taking the PFA at the last minute (this was the last day for it), they needed me all the way through lunch. So grateful they let me go early (around 1300), but up to that point I was getting upset because it was up in the air. I was filling in in the scullery while the MA went and asked Chief. [I really admire our MA... he helps out with the work, unlike the previous one, who'd sit back and direct and even yell sometimes.]

Monday back on board was very laid back. And rightly so... it was Veteran's Day, observed. It was the bare bones crew... only the duty section... and no one was directing us at all. I had to ask a couple people to take care of the deep sink after breakfast (I did the scullery, as the Chief's don't get served in port on a holiday or weekend). Since there was no Quarters, and really nothing at all more to do, I told everyone to come back at 1000 (hour before the meal).

I felt like I was stealing something as I left the ship to go do laundry at the self-serve place a couple blocks down (if piers can be equated to blocks...) the road. While the load was drying, I went to MC'Ds (as painted on the parking stalls) for a coffee and a yogurt parfait. It truly felt like a holiday! I walked back to the ship alongside a CS on duty, and we commented on how wonderful it would be if every day was so relaxed (it seems to us, lowly, junior Sailors, that having inspections, field days and musters are really just busy work intended to keep us from doing our regular work and getting what needs doing accomplished... but when you factor in that everyone doesn't have the same standards... well, I suppose that's the way things have to be in an organization like the Navy).

When I got back to the mess decks, on of the CS1s was worried that we all weren't "where we were supposed to be"... i.e. sweeping the P-ways and sitting around in case someone needed something. I volunteered to be the latter after lunch. Turned off the annoying TVs once everyone left, and read a bit in my Bible. The new Sonar Tech (that's going to replace me as an FSA on December 8th - yay! -) wondered why on earth I was sitting around on the mess decks in the middle of the afternoon... just you wait, Henry Higgins! :)

Next day we were getting underway again.

Five Days Underway...Goodbye Florida! Hello, Home!

For some reason, no one seemed as excited about getting underway for real. It's as if all our energy was sapped when we were told we had to wait two more days (on top of the other delay from Friday). Almost like I didn't really believe we were getting underway, or that it didn't matter as much. But we did finally set sail (figuratively) on November 1st. Before we did, we had breakfast to get through and all the trash to get rid of. There were remnants of the paper trash bags from two days before in the Chief's Mess, and in their berthings that I have to take care of. Got that all set up again, and before I knew it, we were Haze Grey and Underway.

(colors before getting underway)

I had reported to the flight deck (on the back end) for line-handler duty, but I had been taken off the watch-bill (probably because someone thought I was gone). Didn't even see Florida fade away. I went back inside to help on the mess decks and I didn't go outside again until that night around 2030. Took my breath away when I saw all those stars... not a cloud in the sky. It was as dark as I've seen it in the woods in Washington or Minnesota, but here there was no break in the horizon... only the ship's superstructure behind me. The Milky Way stood out so brightly, I could have traced it; and I could hardly see a single constellation for all the stars.

Next day (Nov 2) I thought I was a little late... didn't wake up until 0500. But it turned out we didn't have to report until 0530 underway, since there is a night shift. So, saved by coincidence! When setting up the Chief's Mess for lunch, I noticed how luxurious we have it in the modern Navy. Only a short while ago I re-watched Mister Roberts (1955) where a ship begs the supply ship for a crate of oranges, as they hadn't had fresh fruit in months. Today, I set up fourteen different kinds of fruit... the same that was offered to the general mess and wardroom: apple, banana, kiwi, pear, grapefruit, orange, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon. You see, we had a fresh fruit stores on-load just before we departed Mayport.

 

(I did get a chance to go top-side... what blue!)

Things were going fine all day, but that night, everyone started field-day-ing all the supply compartments, as Chief promised we would. I handled the Chief's Mess myself, and worked until 2100 (three extra hours after dinner). CS1 inspected my work and mostly looked at the deck underneath the cabinets, the one place I didn't clean. But he let me go, only with instructions to get it next time. Went right to bed as the Internet was down (even though I finally did fix my computer access with Radio).

Next day (Nov 3) was a fine morning: felt like I had a long sleep (the best sleep in the world is out to sea!), and breakfast was already panned and ready to be put on the line. These last few days I had been fighting (just a little) with certain cooks over getting enough of the food for the small, skinny pans for the Chief's Mess, so this was very refreshing. After breakfast though, the ship started going faster, and I felt a little uneasy in my stomach with the rocking as I emptied the Chief's trash. I admit I even forsook sweeping my assigned passageway after Quarters because of it. I sat down at the booth in the corner of the Chief's Mess near the galley door and stayed there for quite some time. CTTC came in and I saw her take a sea-sickness pill. I high-tailed it to medical right after that and got one from HM1 who was standing outside her door with a bottle of pills in hand. I didn't feel alone at least. Went back to sitting down... Senior soon came in and he distracted me with conversation. He recommended eating some soda crackers, and I think it did help. After lunch we secured all loose articles for high-speed maneuvers, but they ended up getting cancelled.

That night we had pizza and wings, and I watched a lot of college football on the flat screen TVs. Got lots of compliments on how clean the mess looked... and then we had an ice cream social a couple hours later, as is the tradition for Saturday nights at sea. No Internet again... I never got a chance to chat with my husband the whole trip.

Sunday the 4th was the best morning in the world to forget to set your alarm. I was an hour late! But everyone else covered for me nicely, and technically, according to the Plan of the Day, I was right on time! In any case, breakfast went off without a hitch, and the Chiefs were still able to place there orders for eggs... there is another guy assigned to the Chief's Mess and he was there. Don't know if I can handle all this wonderful sleep and getting to bed early!

It was an odd Sunday too... we had Quarters, just like any other working day. The one thing that really reminded me what day it was was the presence of the NFL on TV. There was a special dinner that night because of our impending return. Master Chief served crab legs, grilled scallops and steaks to the long lines of hungry and thrilled customers. After dinner I found all the FSAs had scattered after I came out from finishing with the Chief's Mess. Our MA was off at some sort of drill, so lots of people just left. And the scullery was not within CSC's standards. I was the only FSA to help the cooks throw metal over the side that night, and when I got back to the mess decks, she was irate, and had apparently paged the FSAs to come back and clean it up. Only two others stayed to help... and we were not let go until 2100... again.

Monday the 5th was the big day. Sea & Anchor was set in the late morning, and again, I had no station. I went out to make sure, and loved the view of Virginia! I thought of what it must have been like for the English settlers who saw this same bit of land in 1607 after a much longer and harder voyage then mine. I didn't even mind the biting wind stinging my eyes, just so I could have a look at it. My husband had flown in the night before and was at the house, as was confirmed to me in a Facebook message on my phone (we finally had reception!). My heart was near bursting.

I was let off a couple hours after we were pier-side. The culprit was the trash room... It had to be emptied and cleaned... CS2 Kolsh was awesome, and worked very hard, helping us out. Then GSM1 was my savior and let me leave before dinner, although the chain of command didn't want to let me go. He had promised I would be let out early, and he took my place so that I could see my husband sooner. What a nice guy!

I was off like a flash, walking my way towards the mini NEX where I would be picked up. I was even able to hitch a ride with someone from the Enterprise, which had just pulled in the day before, although we had left them behind in Mayport on Thursday. Go figure.

(returning from her last deployment... after over 50 years of service as our country's first CVN)

A Semi-Normal Workday and a Wild Day Off

We were supposed to get underway Tuesday morning... for Home. The whole ship anticipated it to a point you can hardly describe. We had enthusiastically taken out all the trash and set out new bags to separate the metal, plastic and bio-degradable. It was twenty-five minutes before Sea & Anchor was supposed to be set, and I went out to the flight deck to be early. I was decked out in my parka liner and gloves, because of the cold wind. Then the Captain came over the 1MC speaker and informed us we were stuck here for another couple of days due to some sort of condition of the bay in Norfolk. He was just as disappointed as we were.

So then it became a normal working day. And how very disheartening it was to go about the routine knowing we weren't making any forward progress towards home. We had to deal with all the paper trash bags we had set out for separating trash at sea... paper/food, plastic, and metal. Don't remember much else from the day... When I came in from the flight deck, just after the announcement, I ran into a chief who told me that I wasn't allowed to wear my fleece liner with my coveralls while we were pier-side. Well gee... I thought we'd be getting underway... give me a break.

Wednesday the 31st was wild. I was let go for the day after Quarters. As I popped into Sonar 1 to grab my filled out form for the yearly physical health assessment (PHA), STG1 asked me if I was excited for tomorrow. I was very confused when he said I was the only other person he knew who was... I thought he was referring to going home... in fact, he was talking about the special TAD (temp assigned duty) orders that came in for most of the sonar techs the night before... including me... to go out to sea with a couple of destroyers for over two weeks starting the next day! Dumbfounded, I stared in disbelief. My husband had already bought a ticket to come see me when we got back to Norfolk. It would have been exciting, but I had a greater longing. STG1 said he would talk to Senior Chief about it for me, and I thanked him.

But as I walked down the p-way from sonar, I came across the CO at the cash card machine. He proceeded to tell me how he had thought of me personally for these orders: how it would be good for learning my job. Immediately I felt bad for asking to get out of it. STG1 hadn't thought the orders would change, so I agreed with the CO that it was a great opportunity, although I mentioned it was too bad about missing my husband in Norfolk. Then I stopped by medical for the PHA. Found out I was way past due for my dental checkup, but other than that and a hearing test, good to go. Then I weighed-in for the Physical Readiness Test... 9 lbs over, but my BMI was just fine... so I passed with room to spare.

I set out to enjoy my time off before the world turned upside down the next day. Went to the gym and biked and ran the elliptical for 30 minutes. After the shower, I had a text from my friend saying that admin was waiting for me (paperwork for the TAD) and I hurried back. When I got to admin, they needed my bank info for some special pay, so I went to berthing for my checkbook. When I returned, I ran into the XO, who told me that my chain of command had worked everything out so that my friend could be substituted for me.

[She was going to Mast that day with our LPO (leading petty officer) for having a personal relationship with him. I know they didn't do anything morally wrong... like showing favoritism or anything like that, but it is against the letter of the Navy's law... no relationships in the same chain of command. The CO was gracious, and only gave them restriction, and moved our LPO to a different ship.

Actually, that was one of two other Masts today. Last weekend, a couple GM3's decided it would be fun to steal some candy and headphones from a local store. Except they were caught, arrested, and went to court... missing a day of work. The CO, over the announcement system yesterday, said they embarrassed the ship. I thought he was pretty easy on them, giving them only the full 45 days restriction. The third wasn't too big a deal... an E-3 overslept off the ship on a duty day. She got only a little restriction. Goodness! So many in one day!]

So everything is back to normal (I'm excited I still get to see my husband, and disappointed I missed out on the training at the same time... very conflicted). I spent the rest of the day at the NEX and the Internet cafe, and even found time for a stroll on the beach, picking up a few last shells before we leave tomorrow. I also picked up dinner for my friends who could not now leave the ship, and we spent the evening together talking about everything. They're both leaving for Norfolk by van in the wee small hours to go to those destroyers tomorrow. 

Working Weekend and a Medically Messy Monday

Saturday was super long. Little confusion in the morning about if we were operating the wardroom. After breakfast Young and I worked our tails off field-day-ing the mess decks. The cooks were working hard on the galley, and I don't believe we had a break before lunch began. Juggled the jobs around a bit, because I did not have to do the Chief's mess (weekend in port). After lunch we all watched the Florida-Georgia game... so many turnovers! Unfortunately, it took 2 hours for Chief to let us off after dinner, instead of the usual 30-40 minutes. She had us field-day-ing some more... including cleaning under the scullery equipment. We were all ready to leave when we did.

I took the duty van to Town Center for a visit to Panera Bread at 1945 (about 20 min after we were let go). They gave me a free coffee when they noticed my NWU-style laptop bag! Not only that, but when I went back to pick up the chicken noodle soup-to go I paid for, the guys in the back gave me two extra bowls of broccoli-cheddar for free (they were closing soon). I spent all the time there posting the pictures of the dolphin encounter I had at Marineland a couple weeks ago. Wouldn't have been able to finish if they hadn't been open the extra hour for Saturday night.

Sunday was a little better. More easy-going cooks (they rotate every day), and I was asked nicely to field-day the Chief's mess corner of the galley. Inspired to put everything straight, I worked the entire time between meals again. The most difficult thing was cleaning all those salt and pepper shakers; they were a shambles. :) After serving a very satisfying brunch (tuna casserole and grilled sandwiches) I was pretty tired from standing up for the two-hour meal. After taking out the trash, and watching a bit of the Dolphins-Jets game, I took a beautiful, half-hour nap in the back corner. It was grilled steak for dinner... and that was so popular, we ran out for the last half-hour of the meal. Sailors had to satisfy themselves with the baked chicken breasts and legs. :) After everything was cleaned up, a bunch of us watched the Cowboys-Giants game. Nail-biter to the end!

What really surprised me though was after watching an ad for the new movie Lincoln, one of the guys started talking about how Lincoln didn't care about slavery, and how he owned slaves himself! I stood up for the former president and emphatically denied these absurd allegations. Oh, here's a neat site on the topic: http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/02/lincoln.html. The cook who swore up and down that Lincoln did, said he found this undeniable fact on the Internet somewhere. Sigh.

It was so surprising, because earlier in the day, while Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter was playing on one of the mess decks TVs, another cook swore up and down that Lincoln actually did believe in vampires and sent out military units to destroy them, or keep them from coming here from England. LOL! Where and when will it stop? At least the cook admitted that this was a conspiracy theory. But he seemed convinced of it himself because of "documentary proof". Oh, dear.

~

As for my medically messy Monday, I worked breakfast and then found out after quarters that I was off for the rest of the day. But my name was mentioned on the list for people still needing the yearly Typhoid shot (I was due yesterday, actually). HM1 told me to go to the medical building on base to get my blood drawn for an HIV test (mandatory, of course) first, so after changing into my regular working uniform, I walked all the way to medical... in the refreshingly chilly October wind (that reminded me of my favorite parts of boot camp... when we got to march outside).

The problem was, they didn't have the order in their system. So after sending me to go put my info into the system with records, they said I'd have to get with whoever sent me to put an order in. Unfortunately, I didn't have the quarterdeck's number (it's changed a few times with all our recent moves) and all my friends were not answering. Thankfully, the assistant supply officer was there too, and she gave me a ride back to the ship. But when I dug my hand into my pocket, I realized I had left my ID card at medical. I showed my driver's licence, and both watch stations let me back onto my ship. Thank God, but it scared me!

HM1 had sent the order in, but it got fouled up along the way. As she had me right there, she gave me the Typhoid shot in my left arm. Since she needed to pick something up from medical anyway, she drove me back over there, got me in the system and blood was drawn from my right arm. Drove me back too! So nice! Although punctured twice, and although I was very flustered and frustrated about the whole thing, I found my ID card in the waiting area when we went back to medical, so everything ended well.

I stayed on the ship to eat lunch, and fill out the form for my yearly physical health assessment (PHA), but they didn't have time to finish it with me. Will have to do that tomorrow when we start the weigh-in's for the PRT. So many acronyms!

For the rest of the day, I bummed around on base between noon and six-ish. Did my laundry (took a nap while I did), ate at Pizza Hut, went to the NEX at least twice, and bought a sandwich on my way back to the ship. Ran into someone from A-school the 2nd time at the NEX... turns out she's on the other DDG on our pier... #68... USS The Sullivans. But after dumping my things off at my rack, I went back outside to see if the duty van with my friends going to Town Center was still there... and it was. Four of us Sonar Techs went out to eat at a sushi place, then looked around in B&N, then got cheesecake to go from the Factory on the corner. Took a while to get picked up again, but we all got back to the ship in one piece.

Part-Timer

Wednesday the 24th was my scheduled day off before getting underway this weekend. I left Tuesday night and Got Out of Dodge. Turns out with the submarine that pulled in that day (and docked next to us!), the Best Western I stayed at was nearly full (but not full enough!). That meant I did see some uniforms the next day, but I didn't see them long. Picked up my car rental and spent a wonderfully lazy day of doing whatever popped into my head. Some eating, shopping, reading and also swimming a 500 at the glorious, 7-lane, Olympic-sized, outdoor pool that's only open til 1300. That's the problem with NS Mayport... everything closes way too early for working Sailors. When I took a friend out to dinner, she told me about the schedule change, and about how the barge was taken away that morning. I hadn't got my bike off yet, so I was a little worried until I got back that night and found it safely parked in the port helo hanger with everyone else's. Whew!

Thursday morning was a wild one. As soon as breakfast was over (I spent about 5 minutes eating mine after quarters), I went right to cleaning the forward Chief's berthings. The male berthing took a while... I cleaned and set up the hand soap dispenser that was lying on the counter and had to wipe down practically every inch of the sinks and mirrors, besides the usual sweeping. The female berthing took about one minute... had to empty the trash.

When I got back to the galley, the cooks were yelling for me to set up the Chief's mess. A busy one too... Taco Thursday. Besides the usual line items that sit in the heating sinks, there were the taco fixings and lots of fruit to set out. Besides all this (and making sure everything was kept full during the meal), I took care of all the galley trash, taking a load of six bags out to the dumpster. I had about 10 minutes to eat my taco (while watching the stupidest zombie movie on AMC... of course), and besides that, I was on my feet all day. So by the time lunch was all cleaned up, I put myself on break. Lay down in the rack below mine (which is empty) with my pillow and fell asleep for almost an hour. Got up refreshed and ready to take on dinner and with the firm belief that the Navy should adopt siestas into the working day.

Due to the schedule change, I was told I had the rest of the day off when I got back to the mess decks. And just 15 minutes later, over the 1MC (announcing circuit), the XO said they were holding a mock PRT (physical readiness test) for command PT that day. I was excited, as this was the first one I had been able to participate in (due to my FSA schedule... we have to be ready with dinner when everyone is done) and with the upcoming PRT, I could check myself. Passed everything, and blew the curl-ups out of the water like normal. 96! ...an Outstanding without practicing for them! My push-ups were dismal, as normal; only 26 (but a Satisfactory is a mere 13 for my age group). I walked with a small group to the other on-base gym to see what my bike score would be. With 103 calories burned... that was a Satisfactory... which is really not, in my opinion. I need to burn 138 for an Excellent, which would be just fine by me. But we only did 12 minutes, whereas in the actual thing, it can take up to 14. So I think I was on a good track.

Silly weather... Hurricane Sandy popped onto the weather map and delayed our getting underway. And because Chief didn't want the other section to have to work a 3rd weekend in a row, she changed up the schedule, and now I'm working Saturday and Sunday, even though I worked last weekend.

Because of this, I was given half of Thursday off, and all of today off, although I had to be there for our "Fast Cruise" drills. I was under the impression that we'd actually be getting underway for the day, but all it meant was that we would be pretending to in order for everyone to know what to do (especially our new people). The first was Sea & Anchor, where I read my book out on the flight deck (where I'm assigned as a line-handler). The second was a General Quarters drill, and I remembered where I was supposed to be. This was the general purpose, and I did learn that I needed to have my flash gear (knitted hood and arm-length gloves for fire-fighting) with me; so it was a success. But what I really loved about the day was being able to sleep in and eat my own cereal for breakfast (on my own time) and not worry about any work. I ate lunch on the ship (took a break from watching a movie in Sonar 1) and felt very odd, just eating and letting everyone else do the work. It was very Deja Vu from before I was cranking.

When Monday Feels Like Thursday

Monday was my forth day in a row working, but it is also the first day in the week and the first normal working day in a few.

The worst thing about life in the Navy is waking up. After that, things went fine for me today. Started out right, making coffee for the Chiefs, then I cleaned up the previous night's mess in the scullery... digging the food out of the grinder with little paper plates. Set up the washer, sent everything through it, then got the dishes out on the line with a little help from my friends.

Worked the Chief's mess, then had quarters like usual. CSC then gave the other guy and I a tour of the Chief's berthings and showed us what we needed to do. I'm in charge of the forward berthings, and have to sweep them, empty the trash, and stock the TP and brownies (paper towels). I was unable to do all that yesterday (especially as I had to hunt both down), as I was kept busy in the galley hauling trash out (I lugged 19 bags myself over the day... pretty much everything) and doing the deep sink for one of the slackers in the division. This last thing took from well before lunch to well into dinner. The other guy simply refused to do it even though he was assigned to it as I found out later. Not a big deal for me though. It was my first time on it, so it wasn't so bad.

CS2 got me out of there at 1800, and I went over to the barge to finish up getting moved back onto the ship. Took a shower, did my laundry, then packed it away and made my very own rack onboard Truxtun. It was a late night, but well worth it to be moved back in.

Today has gone much smoother... It's good when a person already knows what to do when the day begins. After all my duties were done in the morning, I went out to the bow to sit and rest. Saw a few schools of Jacks... they were huge! ...as they swam next to the ship, just below the surface in the parts illuminated by the penetrating sunshine. Also saw dozens of pelicans out for a feeding frenzy, a seahawk circling above, a heron gliding across the bay, and the usual egret.

This time I did the Chief's Mess during lunch, like I'm supposed to, but I also helped out the new guy on the deep sink. I scraped the remaining food off of pans and put some of the clean things away for him. Took out a few bags of trash (can never get away from it), and helped out in the scullery, putting things away, or out on the line where people needed them. After breakfast I had got some condiments up from stores, and just before dinner I was able to get CS1 while he was at his desk so he could give me coffee creamers... both the mess decks and the Chief's mess were out. This could have been a crisis. :)

CS2 had me wrap nine loaves of white bread, five for dinner and four for tomorrow. There was the usual trash after dinner (a good shrimp dinner too!), and then I helped with breakouts for the next day, organizing the bread cabinet and putting the six trays of 30 eggs each into the refer. I felt like I was all over the place. Had to sweep the p-way after all this, then to top it off, the mop handle broke just as we were about to finish. Randomly, Chief had us gather up all the paper plates and plastic utensils just before we were let go, for the people working tomorrow to move down to stores so no one wastes them.

All Sorts of Emotions

Friday was the last day in drydock. Everything was normal until lunch... The air conditioning went down during the thickest part of the meal. Normally the scullery gets to about 88 degrees... Without the air, the steam from the 180 degree water made it 98 in that little room. It was about 15-20 minutes before the relief began to blow down on me. The sweat was dripping off my face, but I knew I just had to soldier through it.

As I nearly finished, I was aware of someone with a khaki belt behind me. Assumed it was either a duty officer come to read the temps, or a Chief come to rinse out a coffee mug. Turned out to be the commanding officer... who stopped by in order to compliment me on my writing of this Navy blog. He said he recently happened upon it, and that he enjoyed it, and that I should continue it. Was that ever nice to hear! Absolutely made me smile the rest of the day. :)

Saturday was rather singular, even though it was a typical breakfast to begin. I worked the scullery on the barge alone for the last time. Lots of things were carried over to the ship while I finished up the dishes. Quarters was brief, and right afterwards I made sure to get my bicycle aboard before we sailed away. By 0830, I figured out that we didn't have to haul *everything* over to the ship that morning, so I made my way to the ship with a book in my pocket so I wouldn't get bored out of my mind with all those hours of waiting.

I went straight to the port helo hanger to wait with the other sonar techs assigned line-handling near there. I fell asleep sitting in a chair from the gear locker. When I woke about an hour later, I had a perfect imprint of my belt buckle on my right forearm. A self-inflicted, extremely temporary, very red tattoo of the ship and crest (with every detail showing).

Right as I woke at 1000, the drydock began to intentionally sink into the river. We watched for the first hour as the water slowly crept up under us, finally lowering us to water level a few hours later. It was neat to see the steep steps up the side of the dock disappear into the murky depth every few minutes.

A few minutes after the hour, we went in for lunch. Tuna sandwiches on paper plates... And then I hung out in sonar one for the first time in a long time. Watched a bit of the air show going on in Jacksonville Beach, then it was time to man the sea & anchor stations. I am a line-handler on line four (on the fantail). My line leader assigned me to help get the three aft lines out of the hold. The other guy assigned wasn't very pleased about having to do it, but I didn't mind. What you haven't done, you can't truly dread. :) It wasn't too bad... A little warm... And I had always been curious about how to get the line out.

Then we waited a real long time. Got underway (clear of the drydock) on schedule, and we were towed to Naval Station Mayport by various tugs. Saw lots of dolphins around the the ship, especially as we arrived. Saw lots of pelicans, gulls, bright-orange butterflies, a few floating jellies, and the ferry all loaded up with people (who looked like they were taking pics as we passed in front of them). But the most thrilling thing was watching the Blue Angels perform as we transited. The #5 jet circled our ship! I was suddenly struck with how cool it was that we were in the same service. Fat Albert, the Angels's C-130 transport plane was the first to fly over us... and it looked like it was right over my head!

Dinner was pizza and pasta... By that time we had tied up to the pier and been let go from our detail. So I stayed on the mess decks after eating and helped out with the trash and the like. We had a bunch of breakouts of food for the next day. I had to carry big hunks of frozen meat up the three ladderwells on the barge in order to cross the brow onto the ship, then down two ladders to the galley... Over sixty steps, one-way. After finally being let off, I went fishing off the barge (to escape the long wait for the shower) and caught a salt-water catfish within seconds. Then I decided I'd start moving my stuff over to the ship to avoid having to do it while the whole ship was busy. I ended up taking nearly everything over, and that wore me out.

Today drove me nuts. We in supply put in a whole workday's worth of effort by the time the sun came up. We made countless trips over those sixty steps, bringing *all* the mess gear (what a loose term!) back to the Truxtun. With that completed, it was time to clean. I was shown what had to be done in the Chief's mess, as they picked me to be their "crank" or food service attendant because they felt they could trust me not to talk about what I hear in there. I'm very flattered, and I hope I keep the coffee to their expectations. :)

We even served lunch in there today after CSC said I didn't need to get it ready for a few days. I made sure all their things were moved over with everything else. I even made a special trip for carrying their little brass bell. Oh, that's right... I need to find some polish for tomorrow.

Dinner was disasterous though. My knees and feet hurt pretty bad from all those steps... Combs and I even took out ten bags of trash ourselves before it started. Then I had the great idea of getting the dishes out for dinner to help people feel back to normal. Didn't bother to check and see if the food grinder (garbage disposal) was working or not. Turns out it wasn't. So there is a huge mess there still, and I hope it can get straightened out tomorrow. It was the last thing I needed right then, after a really long and tiring weekend. I wanted to tell the cooks to leave me alone and other worse things... and I nearly burst into frustrated tears. Thankfully, nothing like any of that happened, and they finally let us off at 1900. I'm now resting (with my feet up) and I feel tons better.