Queue the Mental Fray

     Time! We've been underway for 6 days and the 1st tear has been shed. (Pretty good if you ask me!) Keeping this blog, among a handful of other methods, help me to process and deal with the stress level of life at sea, but sometimes my life strings fray and fall in the forms of tears. I miss everything about home, and the stressors here are too many to name. They wouldn't be so bad on their own., but it's a slow and constant drip over the hours, days, and weeks that etches away at my resilience. After few tears, and a couple deep breaths, a quick convo with my friend Jesus I  can shift my focus to something else for long enough to press on.
     The blue out here is unlike anything I have ever seen. It's the champion of blues. A blue with a Swarovski shimmer when the unfiltered sun gleams off the rolling water. The promise of sounding waves and freshest untouched air and a gentle warmness of Mr. Sunshine on my face; a moment that represents more that a place, but a peace of mind, a  reminder that it is well with my soul. I know the plans I have for you. They are plans to give you hope and a future (or something to that effect. You know the verse or look it up if you don't. Jeremiah 29:11...I think....somebody help me out here...)


Navy Slang: Belay my last; a phrase we use to retract and correct a statement. "She has red, belay my last, blue boots on."

It's a Great Day to be a Destroyerman

     Lord be with the ship as we transit throughout the Pacific. Provide us with safety during high risk evolutions and vigilance with watch standing. Give us rest as we need, clear and concise minds, and perseverance to press on.

    Yesterday evening into the early morning hours proved Chafee at its finest. Not the paper  crap; the things you can record like a score or make a plaque out of; the kind of thing that allows you to stand up with a body bruised and bloody.

     The averagely long day relentlessly bled into a ship wide effort in recovering a piece of failed equipment that was essentially dragging behind the ship. The night drug on with blunderous (if I’m making that work up, which judging by the red line under it I am, I claim it! I’ll just check that off my bucket list) improv on how to get his equipment back on the ship without further damaging it and maintaining crew safety. This was a major equipment failure with a high potential for additional consequences. “All hands on deck” (pun intended) was the command and the crew provided. Though the situation was one with incredible stress and potential for danger, calm, cool, and collected described leadership and that trickled down to the crew creating seamless cooperation and perseverance. The recovery was successful (around 0100 or 1am) and there has been a major schedule change, but I am so very proud to serve with these sailors. They proved we won’t be knocked down and out of the fight.

     My pride dulled with time and exhaustion as I immediately started my 5 hour watch. I was still processing my 20 hour day and busy dreading the next 12 hours when a medical emergency was called away on the 1MC. As part of the medical response team I raced towards the designated space to what I only knew as a ‘a man down’. I arrive to see a fellow shipmate on the ground. He is conscious and a quick assessment revealed no life threatening injury, and having appropriate responses to questions and simple direction. He was escorted to the medical space for further assessment. Not being a designated corpsman my support was no longer needed so back to my watch as scheduled. Needless to say that today has been a battle with fatigue and minor brain farts as yesterday never really ended for me….Blank stares and a lot of snapping of my fingers as if that will help the answer come to my tongue have plagued my conversation. Let’s hope for a less….eventful day tomorrow.

 

Navy slang: Swab; a mop. “Before the inspection, please swab the deck.”

Ground Hog's Day

     The days are starting to run together. I don't even really know, or care, what day of the week it is. It doesn't matter, each day is the same and they seem to drag on and blur together. I emailed Zach, and some other family, the other day and my intro included "I'm finally emailing!" It occurred to me later, though that phrase seemed appropriate at the time, in reality it had only been 2 days into the underway. I still feel like using "finally" and it has been 4 days. Crap, I thought I was doing so well! One day at a time, one day at a time. I'm thankful to be busy and if there's one thing I've learned in the Navy, and generally in life, is that time will go on and this too shall pass...

     Speaking of, I missed the Sunday service this morning because I had watch, and the day we left port I realized I forgot my bible. womp womp... I borrowed one from the library but it's not 'mine' and it smells funky.

     Best actors and actresses was the topic on watch tonight. This is one of the more appropriate topics we've dissected while trying to stay awake and make the time pass. Matt Damon (catch your breath), Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman, Angelina Jolie were among the top picks,. Along with being a very conservative topic it was surprisingly civil. In fact, I don't even recall and cussing or name calling! Proud or not, the stereotypes about sailors are generally true...pray for us, lol.

 

Navy slang: bulkhead; a wall. "You can hang those flyers on the bulkhead."

A Parallel Universe

....just another....(yawn...) 0200 watch in a dark, cold, quiet room trying to stay awake. The ship's operation tempo or optemp as us acronym and abbreviation masters like to call it, has always been a topic of complaint and one of the toughest parts to acclimate to underway. It provides long working hours and little sleep or rest. I will try to paint a picture for you. The way I see it is like two schedules running parallel to each other. You have the normal work center/ship activity like equipment maintenance, underway replenishments (an unrep is how we receive supplies at sea), general training, drills, flight operations, exercises with other ships, and boat operations....the list could be endless. Typically this is from 0700-2200. Running along side this we have a 24 hour watch rotation. Watch is a 4-5 hour time frame in which you are responsible for a certain warfare area. You may be monitoring alarms, radar, equipment, cameras...ect. The 24 hour watch rotation couldn't care less if you just spent 12 hours doing maintenance and the 4 hours before that on watch. If you have the next watch you stand it. This is why I complain that I am so tired all the time. On average we might sleep 5 hours a day (I should mention this may not be all at one time also). Good news though! Since being underway the rotation has changed a bit. We are now on what is known as circadian rhythm. It's a rotation that studies have shown to be the most effective in vigilant watch standing. Instead of 5 hour time blocks that may move throughout your days, we have 3 hour set watches 2x per day. On top of that, we muster daily at 0900 instead of 0700. This has been a huge relief. It is now easier to schedule regular maintenance and daily work center tasks and for those who need it, we get an extra couple hours rest or time to work out or study. Most of the ship participates in this, however there are a few watch stations that do not have enough qualified people so they  miss out on this (my watch being one of them....boooo!!!)
     Now, if we can just get rid of all the bells and whistles life would be grand! Yes, those pesky Bluetooth stations, wife hotspots, hot tubs....oh wait, that's not what I mean when I say bells and whistles. I mean literal bells and whistles. Bells are rung on the hour and half hour over the ship's intercom system (1MC). The number of bells reflects the time of day. Those aren't the worst thing passed on the 1MC. The whistle blasts.....the whistles blasts are the worst! Piercing screech of whistles at the beginning of ever major evolution and meal time. Thank the Lord they stopped doing it in the morning for wake up (reveille). Think of the worst alarm ever and never being able to turn it off or hit snooze.
     Overall, the changes we've made have been really good and we are off to a great start this underway.
     Thank you, as always, for your extra prayers and thoughts. Please keep Zach in mind also. He is still in HI taking care of the pups and coping with becoming a bachelor for a while.


Navy slang: Hamsters; chicken cordon bleu, processed and frozen from a bag. " What's for dinner? Hamsters and rice."

Sea Legs or Bust

     Well. it's that time in a sailor's career to get back underway; to get back on the saddle, back to the grind, or whatever euphemism your heart desires. Point is, we're back at sea for an extended amount of time and I'm trying to get my sea legs back. So far, I have only felt sick for a few hours. It's strange because last year the entire deployment I only felt sick a handful of times. So this is a pleasant surprise (eye roll). I'm not talkin' hunched over and straight up green, but enough dizziness, headache, and sour stomach to dread the beginning of long hours, bland food, tight quarters, and family deprivation that is my reality for the next several weeks.
     Other than feeling a bit queasy, getting underway was somewhat underwhelming. Typically, I play an active role in the detail responsible for detaching the boat from the pier and getting us out of the harbor, but not today. My work center had a strike scenario today. We were graded on a theatrical Tomahawk missile strike. It involves many other ships and an off ship entity simulating a missile campaign. We do several per year and numerous 'in house' practice scenarios, but this one took all our man power and we were unable to help with other evolutions. It went fairly well and we will get out results in a few weeks.
     For now, I just keep chuggin' along getting back into the swing of that life at sea.


Navy slang: Brownies; paper towel that are the color brown used to dry your hands in the bathroom. "Please throw your brownies in the trash , do not flush them."