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.

Did I Eat Today...?

You’d think that living on a moving vessel, traveling hundreds of miles over the course a few weeks, I’d have plenty to look at; an abundance of scenery and landscapes. Well…I don’t. The ocean, in all its glory, is pretty consistent in the way she looks and this if I remember to go outside. Things get pretty crazy and before I know it 3 days go by without me going outside. Or, maybe the weather is bad.  It was a few days ago. Rocking all about, going outside can be dangerous. In fact, sometimes they prohibit us from even going outside because of the sea state. Sea sickness meds were like candy for a few days!

My ship is relatively small so I see the same people in the same sleeping area, the same work spaces, same mess decks….Today is no different. In fact, in the last 24 hours I’ve spend 20 of them in the same space. The command information center ,or CIC, or even just combat for short. Two back to back exercises sandwiched between watch. Lucky me!

We did very well in the Tomahawk exercise and the other event was a live fire exercise with shore batteries called naval surface fire support (NSFS). We trained with a marine unit on shore who were learning how to spot. We fired a round, and as the spotter, they told us how to adjust to more accurately hit the target. We followed their direction and when the shot was lined up they gave the order to ‘fire for effect’ with a certain amount of rounds.

Our 5” gun, with 70 lbs rounds, is more like a cannon. It takes many people with specific responsibilities to safely and successfully put rounds down range. We haven’t participated in an NSFS event in a long while but I am glad to get the opportunity to practice with the boots on ground. Heaven forbid we actually need to utilize NSFS.

Zach left on a vacation we had planned several months ago today! My ship’s schedule changed and I am on a warship instead of a cruise ship. He has some excellent company though and I know he will have a blast! I cried when he told me about dropping the dogs off at the kennel for boarding. Pearl didn’t seem to care, but I guess Norman got really anxious. My poor baby has been through a lot in his 10 months of life and I hate to think of him being scared to leave us for a while. At least he has Pearl…sure she was a real comfort…(sarcasm). No judging me for crying.  I don’t think I would under normal circumstances, but I’m hardly living my life of normalcy at the moment.

I will say, though this is not my comfortable home, that topside, fresh ocean air and the purity of the forever ocean is some of the best TAG time I ever get. (Time Alone with God…yes an acronym, but I picked this up at summer camp before I knew what an acronym was). Sometimes, this doesn’t necessarily reflect my attitude. I need to work on that. Who doesn’t?

Navy Slang: No joy; A phrase to describe some sort of interference with communications. “Hey, what’s the status of you hearing me on the radio?” “No joy”.

Vector! Vector! Vector!

It’s always fun having inside jokes, or using code words only your sister knows. Mostly, it’s contained to being mean behind your boss’ back or harmless shenanigans as a child, all of which are usually light hearted and meant for fun. There are real life applications, however. To instill a more serious note we military folk call them prowords. Prowords are passed along communication paths to stay anonymous to those outside your circle of friends who may be listening in uninvited. We use established prowords to identify threats, friendly or enemy units, among many other reasons.

For example ship A trying to tell ship B they are taking on enemy missiles and are launching counter attack missiles might say “Ebola, this is Patient Zero, Vector! Vector! Vector! Hot Zone, Vaccine away at time 0023!” If you know me even a little these prowords are mine and made up, but you get the idea.

One of the reasons we are on the water right now is to validate our missile launch sequence…. Yes, you’ve got it we launched a missile today! It wasn’t a tomahawk, so I didn’t have a hand in it, but I saw it and will have a hand in post launch maintenance in and on the launcher itself. Oh, the glory or being in the same  division as the Vertical Launching System Gunner’s Mates, or as we call them VLS GMs because it’s the navy and we like acronyms.

The few minutes leading up to the launch in the combat information center or (CIC cause Navy) was almost eerily quiet. There was communication with the ship launching the drone which acted as our target and that was about it. No hum of voices or hectic movement.

The illuminators from my ship locked onto the drone which acts as a homing device for our missile and it was Vector! Vector! Vector! time. The hatch of the launcher opened up and some smoke billowed for about ½ second, then the tip of the missile came through immediately followed by a wall of fire! After about 2 seconds all there was left was smoke. As it dissipated I could see the launcher caked in soot and other chemicals around the launch area. I couldn’t help but think about having to help clean it up…Play hard, work hard as they say.

NavySlang: Gun deck; to cut corners in performing a task. ‘You could get into trouble if you’re caught gun decking your maintenance.’

It's the Little Things

We continue to press on with no notice drills and scenarios, and other work centers are busy as well ensuring all aspects of the ship run smoothly to prep for a busy year underway. We fight small battles daily with clashing personalities, little free time, lack of sleep, few comforts of home, and just yesterday, no water.

Water production was severely degraded and most bathrooms were shut down, and showers were not an option. When the water production picked up again a day later, my shower was freezing…what a drag!

With the crazy of the ship its important to take time to myself. I've noticed that I could work 20 hour days and still my to do list is never complete. I have to force myself to take 30-60 mins for me to stay sane.

The various committees on the ship take turn coordinating small events to boost morale too. Last night there was a special dinner put on by the  1^st classes for birthdays this month. They take orders (what kind of quesadilla you want), what you'd like to drink and so on. There was even cake! It's small, but goes farther than you’d think.

Keep that in mind when sending letters and things. Honestly, its not the content, but knowing someone is thinking of us out here is huge!

NavySlang: Rate or rating; our job title or designation. ‘What rate are you? I am an FC or fire controlman.’

...

So I haven’t written in a while. The phrase “if you can’t think of anything nice to say, don’t say it at all” comes to mind.

NavySlang: The enlisted ranking system:

                E-1; seaman recruit (SR)

                E-2; seaman apprentice (SA)

E-3; seaman (SN) yeah, yeah, get your giggles out now

*E-4; petty officer 3^rd class

*E-5; petty officer 2^rd class

*E-6; petty officer 1^st class

E-7; chief petty officer

E-8; senior chief petty officer

E-9; master chief petty officer

*referred to by their rank and rate. An FC2 is an E-5 fire controlman

Plan of Deception

After spending 4 unexpected day s in San Diego for repairs we are back underway and feels as though we are playing catch up. Not to say San Diego was a vacation. Certification events are in full swing late into the evening, the watch must go on , and the ebb is ceaseless. Some encouragement comes just from knowing we’ve been gone for 2 weeks now so there is some justification in feeling drained.

We joke around about our leadership telling us to be ‘flexible’ which I’ve taken as ‘we pretty much don’t know what’s going on today, but be ready for 'it' anyway.’ There’s a P.O.D or plan of the day that comes out  to help plan our day, but we have nicknamed it the plan of deception as of late. Our strike group, or a group of navy ships sailing together (not to be confused with strike warfare or tomahawk warfare) has a heavy hand in our schedule. Because there are multiple ships permissions have even more channels to go through and coordination to get maintenance done gets more complicated. It is seemingly impossible to get things done when you send requests through 12 of the correct channels for approval and a big last minute denial is thrown in your face. It’s not uncommon for maintenance to be done in the middle of the night because it’s the only tie it doesn’t interfere with other events going on within the strike group.

In addition to planned theater exercises my work center is in the midst of no notice tasking. It’s exactly as it sounds. We get no notice or advanced warning of a training event. It’s their way of better simulating a real event. This is why we stand watch 24 hours a day. The person on watch is notified we are in receipt of tasking, they tell the proper channels and it is announced on the 1 MC (ship’s intercom). Wherever we are at that time we drop everything and respond. Our response is timed and the call for tasking can be done anytime of the day. Today, just before hopping in the shower I hear it…..and when I say just before showering, I mean I had one toe in already. I threw on a sweat shirt, my coveralls (our uniform underway), and ran up scuttles and through p-ways in my shower shoes yelling at people as politely as I could to get out of the way. We don’t train like this often so I received many confused stares until it clicked that I am a tomahawk FC and they called away tasking….it also doesn’t help that the p-ways were dark by this time of night so my awkward shuffle, hair a-mess, and mismatched uniform may have actually been somewhat frightening. I was the butt of all jokes tonight, but I told them it was this or show up in a towel so they are all actually lucky!

So why were the p-ways   (passage ways) dark you ask. At sunset most lights inside the ship are turned from white lights to red lights. The color red is able to travel the least distance of any color, so we turn red lights on. This way if a door or hatch opens to the outside white lights doesn’t seep into the night exposing our position. It’s common with the helos to be doing night operations so we take some risk there, but risk management my friends.

Some of you have asked my address while at sea and if I need anything. Letters and packages are much welcomed! Any info on normal people life and photos I would enjoy. As far as items I may need, I have compiled an amazon list to make it easier.  It is all set up with the ships address. You just click and purchase or use it as a guide for suggestions. Generally speaking,  notebooks, black pens, bobbie pins, hair ties, toiletries, feminine products, chapstick, gum, tea, snacks, tuna, soup, nuts,  books, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, condiments, and seasonings are good care package materials. If you’d like to send to someone other than myself I will make sure it gets there, just let me know. Thank you all for your support! Prayers and mail are excellent fuel.

*Personal email: hamannlily@gmail.com I will not have as much access to this one as my work email.

Work email: lily.hamann@ddg90.navy.mil

Address: FC2 Hamann, Lily

               USS Chafee DDG 90

               Unit 100199 Box 812

               FPO AP 96662

Amazon List: Search hamannlily@gmail.com and the list will be labeled ‘Underway’