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”.