Warheads on Foreheads

10 hours confined to a chair during a missile scenario today….scarfed a meal, snack for another, potty breaks were limited, watch before, and after….BUT I love my team. We got strike team t-shirts and wore them for the scenario. We took pride in our 88 warheads on foreheads today! We get a long together and we performed well.  Many laughs were had, despite our sore butts and stretched bladders.

Trudging through deployment isn’t half as bad when the sun is shining…Happy Thursday!

NavySlang: Warheads on foreheads; a term we use when dropping bombs and missiles on the enemy.

Chest Candy

As part of being an enlisted sailor we have the opportunity to earn a warfare qualification. I am on a surface vessel so I have earned my Enlisted Surface Warfare Area qualification. I wear a special pin on my dress uniforms indication I have completed the necessary requirements. Essentially, you learn about every part of a surface ship. The weapons, the communications, supply services, damage control procedures, water production, plumbing, how the ship runs, among so many others. I earned mine last deployment and I couldn’t have been more thankful when it was over!!

As some of you know I talk a lot of about the helicopters we have onboard.  We have 2, a flight deck, and 2 hangers. We do a lot of flight operations and it is a large part of our daily activities. Because of this, it was decided that we would get an opportunity to earn our air warfare pin! This is pretty uncommon for destroyers so I jumped the change to earn some more ‘Chest Candy’. So far, I have actually found it more interesting than the surface material. They have given us a very tight schedule to complete, but the air department has been gracious with their dedication to teach us all about their world….totally asking for a ride!

Started a book! A novel about a plaque….shocker, I know. Also, creeping into my anatomy coloring book and flashcards. Establishing a routine with built in ‘me time’ is essential to survival on deployment. I need to keep my mind busy. I have made the mistake of not doing so and it is detrimental to my mental state onboard. Nothing will wear me down faster. Card games or board games with my work center are a new thing to this underway for me too.  Among our favorites are ‘Exploding kittens’ and Telestrations…

Look forward to posts with a brighter attitude. I am really working on not complaining and I think I have done a pretty good job. At least, better than I have in the past.

ZZZZZZZ

We have guests onboard! A group from the Naval Post Graduate School is doing a sleep study and chose the Chafee to conduct a portion of it. Our ship is on various rotations of watch schedules including 12 hour shifts, 3 and 9, 5 and 7, and a handful of others. (These watches are in addition to our normal work days, keep in mind). We are wearing wrist watches that measure level of activity. Somehow, it can tell when we are sleeping, moving about, and resting. They can even measure the quality of sleep. We are to keep a daily log of when we sleep, how often we are working out, what types of caffeinated drinks we consume and things of that nature. We will be studied for 2 weeks now, another 2 weeks mid deployment, and a final 2 weeks towards the end. With the data they collect they hope to construct a friendlier environment for staying vigilant and keeping rested.

I got to see the raw data from the watch after the initial 2 weeks and I felt that it was pretty accurate! Very interesting to put together how I feel I sleep and the science of how well I sleep. So far, so good. Let’s hope it stays that way for as long as possible!

In With a Bang

You’ll be happy to know the first blog post of deployment 2017 is on a positive note! And, packed with goodies. We’ve been very busy and have already done some pretty cool stuff.

I’ve recently started working more closely to our 20mm gatlin gun. Formally known as the closed in weapon system or CIWS pronounced ‘See-whiz’. She’s a beast and requires a lot of attention. I suppose I would too if I had the pressure of being the last line of defense for the ship against air threats. Of course firing at a rate of 3000 rounds a minute doesn’t help her high maintenance personality either. One successful PAC fire, or practice fire, under our belts and high accolades from the captain have brought us closer together.

In addition to the CIWS PAC fire, we’ve also shot our 5” gun successfully. It’s essentially a cannon hurdling a 5” round projectile at surface or air targets up to 9 miles away. If you’re anywhere in the forward part of the ship it will not go unnoticed.

Of course the drills continue. Man over board, firefighting, battle stations, helo crash, medical drills to name a few. I’ve managed to come full circle from ‘launching’ Tomahawks, starting IVs, firing .50 cals and dressing in full firefighting equipment. And will do it all again this week….

A taste of R&R was all we could afford in our 1^st port visit. We were in Manzanillo, Mexico for about 24 hours. The luckiest of the bunch got 6 hours of liberty (free time off ship). But a much appreciated 6 hours it was!

Doesn’t quite feel like deployment yet. Maybe because I’m well calloused at this point, maybe because I know what to expect, but mostly, I know, it’s because I have so much support. I have gotten an outpour of little messages and notes and what an encouragement they have been! My mental state couldn’t be better at this point. Zach is also doing well, but you should contact him yourself! He would appreciate it and is always up for visitors…just saying.

Stay tuned!

For King and Country

I'm sure you all have hard by now that the US launched over 50 tomahawk missiles into Syria a few weeks ago. We heard shortly after I happened; actually we were in the middle of a tomahawk scenario ourselves when we got the news. Sort of brings some scary reality to my job. That could've easily been my ship, my planning, and my finger on the launch. Those lives are forever changed or gone completely.


If tasked with a strike, I will be blind to most of the facts regarding the why, at least right away. I know the expectation there is of me, but trust and believe it will be done with a heavy heart and a lot of prayer.


Also know this. I am called to protect. I will not hesitate to utilize the training and skill God has allowed me to refine, if called upon to do so. My family and my flag will be guarded with a strike of precision and efficiency; a strike that will not require a second. Do not make the mistake of doubting a prayer warrior and a women with a calling to protect.






You can't hate me 'cause my nature's nice
and my heart's for the people of the world tonight
if you got a problem with it take it up with life
'cause if you try to push me it ain't gonna be nice
                    
                                                       -TFK-

The Ultimate Employer

Eval season and Easter season; one of the same as a 2^nd class in the Navy. Seemingly unrelated, they both snuck up on me this year. Being underway since the beginning of March will do that.

Evals came first this year. The way the system works there are only a certain amount of top scores given. Being a new 2^nd class this year and the pool being naturally larger I was under no illusion to get one of the top score. But, I have proven myself many times over with the quality of my work and my generally good work ethic to expect the next tier down. Like a kick to the chest when I wasn’t looking I get the 3^rd tier down. Come again?! That’s for people who merely meet standards. That’s not how I roll and the numbers back that up. I was also meritoriously promoted last summer! How is it that now I am perceived by the command to only meet standards….?! I was genuinely up set and the more I thought about it the angrier I got. Not only did I take a blow to the ego, but I felt unappreciated. Also, on paper, it looks like my performance has degraded severely. This will hurt my chances at advancing and with any special programs I apply for. I felt like my chain of command did a real injustice.

Well today is Easter….kinda put things in perspective. Without God’s mercy and forgiveness we would all be damned. In the grand picture, a bad eval is so petty. My human nature will continue to remind me what a crock my eval was, but then I remember something my mom is always telling us. “We work for Jesus. He is our boss.” I know that I do my best and God knows how hard I work. He knows my true eval score. When I get all hot and bothered about it again I will try to remember that I will be accepted into a special program and/or be promoted with His timing because he is in control. Easier said than done…

Honorary Corpsman

The less I think about home and how tired I am the better I’ve found my moods. I’ve made a couple goals for myself on this underway. There are some work related qualifications I’d like to get. I’ve been slowly working on them during some of my down time has helped. I’ve passed a couple oral boards so far and I have one more in mind. I am also trying to branch out from the normal FC pipeline and get what quals I can in the medical dept. These are more personal goals as no one expects these quals from me.

I’ve been able to participate and contribute to CPR and first aid training on the ship. I have also helped with a couple mass casualty drills. Drills and training are fantastic! It’s a good way to keep my mind fresh and familiar, but I want more! Lol. In my persistence wearing down my chief corpsman and demonstrating I kinda have a clue about what I am doing, I will be starting some basic corpsman quals. This will mean I can actually perform limited medical procedures; administering vaccines, takin vitals, drawing blood ect… I have even been cleared to standby as emergency medical support for certain evolutions and respond to medical emergencies as they may happen on the ship.

I’m not entirely sure of my end goal, but I know I want to be in the health care field. Right now, this is my best option. I only pray that it works out.

Navy Slang: Sweet/sour comms; a term to describe the quality of communication on a channel/frequency. Sweet is a clear comms path vice sour; a path somehow blocked.