4 Down, 3 to Go

     I have learned more about being a sailor and about myself in the last 4 months than I ever dreamed possible. How can what seems an eternity also feel as though it has been no time at all?

     Deployment started with me floundering about, attempting to gain my sea legs, trust from my shimates, making my way around the ship, and adapting to a new schedule. I was only accutely aware that we had guests aboard to assist in fulfilling our mission. The US Coast Gaurd accompanied us on the first few weeks enforcing maritime security laws. With the help of our boarding teams, they were boarding various vessels we encountered to ensure no trafficking of persons, drugs, or illegal fishing was taking place. Collaberation between the Navy and Coast Gaurd led to safe and organized boardings, though their days proved tough with a constant rotation of teams boarding vessels several times per day.

     As we wrapped up with the Coast Gaurd we pulled into Brisbane, Australia for some R & R. There were thousands of sailors as we pulled in with several other US Naval ships. The city was saturated with sailors and the night life was popping, but soon it was time to get back on the clock. War games were calling! Our ship was privilaged to 'play' with other US and Australian Naval ships in several days of

orchestrated war games. We were able to show off our finely tuned skills and brush up on others. It was a huge success and an honor to be part of.

    From there, our focus shifted to the more serious note of escorting the USS George Washington, a nuclear powered air craft carrier, to their destination. My ship is designated as an underwater warefare warship; sub hunters. We were responsible for maintaining a safe perimeter for travel of our strike group. With exagerated efforts from our helos and sonar equipment successful execution was acheived. Now, it was time for a brief stop in Guam to refuel and resupply with some liberty to enjoy. However, as we were working to bring supplies onboard our sub hunting skills were needed for real time naval efforts. We were to head right back out to sea, leaving liberty on the shores of Guam.

     This would have us roll right back into another Coast Gaurd collaboration and yet another liberty disappointment in Guam. It was August at this point with no liberty since June. Needless to say we were all going a bit crazy. I believe I described it in an earlier blog as the dark ages...
     Whispers of Japan came about, then a shift to San Diego. As plans for San Diego solidified the crew grew giddy with the option to fly family out to meet us as we were to arrive in a US port. We started steaming in that direction, but had a couple weeks before we would make it there.

     As we made the cruise I was able to get an entry level Security Reaction Force qualification. We learned tactics in weapon retention, takedowns, tactical movements and room clearing. We were also certified to carry OC spray, but not before we were sprayed and taken through an obstacle course...A bit of advice; don't run from the authorities, my  friends. You will have a very negative experience.
    
     I also receievd a qualification to stand armed watches. We were able to set up a gun range on our flight deck and were taught and qualified to shoot pistols and rifles. I managed to score high enough in the pistol portion to earn and 'expert' designation. It doesn't mean much other than bragging rights and I can wear a special ribbon on my uniforms.
    
     When we finally arrived in San Diego it was an amazing relief to be on land! We hadn't stopped anywhere for over two months. And I got to see Zach! We had a beautiful time, but came to an end all too soon. It was a crushing goodbye and low spirits as the thought fo 3 more months at sea came to the forefront of my mind.
    
     On the bright side, we are more than halfway through and have several port calls scheduled for the coming half. As I get back into the swing of things the more excited I will be to make the most of these experiences with much more learning and growing to be had I am sure.

NavySpeak: Liberty- Free time, time off from work to play or relax

Just Call Me Augie Farks

DISCLAIMER: PG-13 entry (Sorry Ma and Momma H.)

So much of our job as sailors is preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. It can feel, at times, like Live Action Role Playing (LARP). Drill after drill we drill again. Often running drills into the evening or right away in the morning after a midnight watch. Firefighting, HAZMAT, flooding, live gun shoots, medical emergencies, missile firing scenarios, force protection, man over-board, and engine failures. All of which have little chance of happening, on a scale that would be detrimental, thus making it all too easy to become complacent. However, we are in a situation now, that may make us take on these drills with more motivation.

It's time to re-fuel. Plan A has fallen through and plan B...well, plan B is 4 days away. 4 days... This isn't your run of the mill I got a flat tire-call dad type of scale. This is there is no one to help for multiple days and hundreds of miles, DO NOT fuck this up, someone-will-die type of scale. By no means are we in dyer distress (today), but it opens my eyes to how vast the ocean truly is and, even more pertinent, how important it is that we face causalities with precision and speed. Practicing day in and day out my seem like a game of LARP, but being prepared for anything could mean the difference between going home or meeting Davey Jones.

NavySpeak of the Day:

'Rack'- Our bed; stacked three high like bunk beds, the mattress opens up to storage where we place our belongings. Other related terms: 'Rack out'- a term we use to say we are going to bed. Also, rack ops (operations).

Hello, My Name is _______________

     My name is USS Chafee. I live in Peral Harbor Hawaii and love my career as a US Naval war ship. I was commissioned in 2003 as an AEGIS destroyer. I am named after former Rhode Island senator and secretary of the Navy John Chafee. I work hard transporting my family around the Pacific Ocean so they may carryout their duties as United States Sailors.
     I love star gazing, watching sunsets, and long ocean cruises. However, the salty seawater does a number on my skin! It will rust my equipment if I don't keep it in check. The crew spends much time rinsing my surface with freshwater from hoses and much physical labor to chip and repaint where they were too late. They work up a good sweat, especially so close to the equator. I like to think it's a labor of love, but without me they wouldn't make it long.
    Recently, I've enjoyed a number of flybys of jets, helo flight operations, and we've even played war games with some of our allies in a large training event. With all the excitement we haven't been able to stop much. My guys are feeling the drag of deployment...we've entered the dark ages. What excitement there was before we left, has diminished as the days and weeks drone on without a port visit.
    There has been many efforts in keeping morale up. Sunday picnics on the flight deck have become a crew favorite. Enjoying grilled food, games, cigars, and watching the sunset. Fishing and movie projections are a bonus too! They have shown interest in many tournaments and competitions ranging from card games, to video games to talent shows, and photo submissions. Almost daily, there are gun shoots to participate and learn. The M240 machine gun was a few days ago and that was pretty amazing. One particular sailor (me!), helped carry the ammo and both guns up 4 floors (or decks as we call them) and was exhausted long before getting to shoot. There have also been M9, shotgun, .50 cal, and our 5" gun/cannon shoots. All guns need to be in working order, and those operating them are required to be proficient. The said sailor is also learning how to load and operate the 5". One round of this ammo is 70 lbs.! Lifting weights are in order if she is to load more than 5 rounds at a time....
     With all this, still the most talked about event is our next port visit, still to be determined. As always, I will do my best to deliver them safely. Hopefully it will be soon!

NavySpeak of the Day:
Belay my last; used to make a correction when you misspeak.
Example: "The girl has red hair, belay my last, she had blond hair."

Untitled

Gazing out at the endless blue,
some would say it's a peaceful view.

Where the ocean ends and the sky begins,
is a seamless portrait of a battle with in.

My chest burns hot with active frustration.
Yet, saturated in pride and determination.
A tear of repeated sacrifice
one full of commitment, but compromise
defies my fierce loyalties.
But my fears; enveloped in comradery.
This pure proud heart has been betrayed;
Fischers of sorrow being portrayed.

These weights and wings of turmoil will be
What paints our flag as the land of the free.

You Want Me To Do What...?

0430: "Reveille! Reveille! All hands heave out! UNREP gear will be issued at 0515."

A steady stream of sailors pour from the inside of the ship donned in lifejackets, hard hats, and chem lights (glow sticks). We are headed to man our stations as part of the underway replenishment (UNREP) detail. It's so windy topside, I'm getting blown off balance and the sea spray wets my face. Most of what I see are figures lit only chem lights, scurrying about the deck to prep for the upcoming event.

Underway replenishments are one of the most dangerous evolutions we perform.We have to get into what we call 'battle dress' in which watches, rings, and dangly things are to be removed, sleeves are rolled up, and pant legs tucked into our boots.

Off in the distance a glimpse of our supply ship can be seen. The ship will replenish our inventory of fuel, food, repair parts, mail, and other goods. Our helicopters can airlift pallets of supplies from ship to ship, but fuel lines must be brought over by other means; man power. (This is the part of being a sailor that the recruiter fails to mention...) Along with about 15 other sailors, I will be responsible for hoisting a fuel line from the supply ship to our ship. Practical and simple enough in theory, but in reality its a game of tug of war with Goliath.

The task is initiated when both ships give the ready sign. they aling themselves so they are traveling at the exact same speed, totally parallel from each other with noly about 300 ft between themselves. Doing so causeing a strong current in the water that seperates the two. The pilots and their team of navigators must be extremely vigil with constan corrections in their efforst to maintain positive control. In the pilot house they are unable to see what i can see...The water below looks violetn; like a river you may fo white water rafting in. Except here, if you fall in, you drop 30 ft firts, and then get sucked under a moving naval vessel props fully engaged. (ill just let you chew on that). The sight makes us that much more apprehensive about what we are about to do.

When the ships are in place, a shot line the size of twine, is shot from one ship to the other using a modified rifle. The line is collected and pulled in by the line handlers (thats me!). The mear repitition of hand over hand movement is enough to start a burn in your shoulders, let alone the progressive weight of the line as it gets larger and stronger.

The size of the line is finally sturdy enough to handle the bulky fuel lines. From the supply ship they hook their fuel line to their end of the rope and let the fun begin! The added weight and tension is enough to get all 15 of us huffing and puffing.

With rhythmic commands of  "heave! heave! heave!" comes an agonizingly short give to our rope. Again, we heave!, heave!, heave! and our muscles protest. Fatigue is the biggest challenge, until it begins to rain. It whips our faces and slicks the rope. Tap outs become necessary to hold our ground. For a split second we lose minimal ground, but with potentially catastophic consequence. The front line handler gets danerously close to going overboard. This brings on quick fierce commands that cut through the rain and a renowned sense of 'oh shit!' felt by all. We've regained our grip physically and mentally; our tired muscles and the rain forgotten. We heave simultaneously for what seems like ages and the memory of pained muscles return.

Finally, the command to "avast!" came. It is quickly followed by the command to snap and lock the fuel line in place. It seemed a daunting task, but our mental strength, more powerful that our physical after the threat of losing a  fellow sailor, rang true. With one last perfectly synchronized heave, the fuel line was locked in! Victorious hollers from below, where the fuel line is actually connected, gave heed that we were successful. Resounding sighs of releif and grunts of triumph flared throughout us line handlers.

I want to give a shout out to all my friends who were there that day! It was crazy stressufl and unnerving task, but we came together and got the job done. Hooya!

This was a particularly stressful UNREP. We will be doing these several more times throughout deployment. Prayer is much appreciated!

NavySpeak of the Day:
Unsat; short for unsatisfactory. Used informally like slang
"The lunch menu was so unsat today!"

Relaxing in Style Down Under

So I had an absolute blast in Australia! We had a 5 hour transit up the channel to the pier we were going to moore to. An Australian, who knows the channel well, came on board to drive our ship through it. I am part of the sea and anchor detail as a line handler, so I was on the flight deck the and helped him aboard. I was on the flight deck the whole time. Until we were actually needed at the pier, we were mostly just on standby enjoying our first glimpses of Australia. Then we were responsible for tossing lines and securing the ship to the pier. There were several of my ship mates who had their families meet them in Australia. They were all waiting on the pier for them. As we pulled in we passed the carrier we've been escorting, which was moored already. We all got into formation and rendered a salute as we passed them out of respect.

It took us several hours to prep for liberty call. Our spaces had to be cleaned, trash had to be off loaded (so much trash!!!). We formed an assembly line and passed like a hundred bags down to the dumpster. Some stuff we can discard over the side of the ship as we travel, but things like plastics and metal we can't so that’s what it mostly consisted of.

It was a mad scramble to throw stuff in back packs and get off the ship when they let us leave. Australia was a liberty port for us. Which means that we got the day off as long as we weren't on duty that day. Our duty days are 24 hours and we have them 1x every 4 days. It's essentially a skeletal crew to keep the ship afloat while in port. I only had one duty day so I got a hotel with another girl for two nights. They had buses that ran to and from Brisbane or Gold Coast pretty much all day, but the initial buses we so backed up that my group decided to take a cab. We were staying in Gold Coast which was like an hour from the ship. Our taxi tab was...surprising! It was $350 Australian dollars! Ugh! We split it between 4 people and because of the exchange rate it was about $280 US dollars, but still! We just wanted to get our liberty started, so it was worth it to us.

We pulled in with an aircraft carrier with about 4000 sailors on it. My ship has about 300 people so the city was popping with sailors! We had a news segment on the local channel because of the saturation of the city with us all. Night life was incredible! There were people everywhere! It was a Friday that we pulled in and there were the local Australians out as well as over 4000 sailors who have been cooped up for a month and itching to spend their money and relax. You couldn't go to a bar that wasn't crawling with people. There were a lot of live bands and fantastic food! I was able to try kangaroo and I had the best lamb I've ever had. There was plenty of shopping and souvenir shops as well.

We spent part of an afternoon at the beach. It was winter there so the average temperature was about 65 during the day and 50 or so at night. (they use Celsius so when the taxi thermometer read 18 degrees I freaked out a little). Needless to say, I didn't go in the water, but the beach backed right up to skyscrapers and the shopping district so it was relaxing to just sit around and walk the shore and enjoy the skyline.

We also, went to a wildlife sanctuary where I got to hold a koala bear! It was so fun! He hugged me and clung right on. He was really smelly though. During the days leading up to getting to Australia the hot topic on the ship was that most koalas have chlamydia...? I didn't believe it, but the second I got a whiff of him I thought of that! Ahhh!  There were Tasmanian devils, wombats, dingos, and of course kangaroos! We were able to enter the space where they kept the kangaroos. They were very friendly and let us pet and feed them.

I wish I was able to upload some photos. We were moving from one thing to the next so fast that I couldn't hook up to wifi to download what I wanted to...I we are Facebook friends I have a few postings of the photos I took with my phone, but nothing posted that I took with a real camera. I guess there will be a cascade of photos one of these days for you to enjoy.

Australians seemed very nice. They are an English speaking country, but have different words for things. They call elevators 'lifts', parking lots are 'carparks',garbage is 'rubbish', and restrooms are just 'toilets'. They drive on the left side of the road which I never got used to. Even as a pedestrian that changes how you walk on the sidewalk and the direction you look when crossing the street. 

They welcomed the US Military. We were able to exchange memorabilia with the Australian Navy and one of the local police department. There were no major incidents and I had a great time bonding and relaxing with my shipmates. It's a strange relationship to live and work and hang out with them. It's something I was told, but I am starting to feel it's truth. I haven't spent much time on board and already I feel like I have known them so much longer.

We pulled out this morning and I am trying to get back to the grind...I have watch at 0130 and will be up all day tomorrow working and then watch from 2200-0200. Yay to jumping right back into things!! Up for 24 hours, then 4 hours of sleep, and another full day of work....ugh! I should've slept more when we were in Australia...lol

Goodnight!

A Lot of Frazzle With a Pinch of Dazzle

     I haven't written in a while for several reasons. It had been hard to find the combination of time and an available computer. Also, I just wasn't feeling up to it, honestly, the first several days at sea. I was taking in so much information I was completely exhausted come bed time. Now that I have been at sea for a couple weeks I feel like I can paint a fairer picture of my experiences.

     As we ceremoniously stood the length of the boat and pushed off the pier, I saw clusters of families embrace and disappear as we set out to sea. The goodbyes lingered as we passed the air force base and people had lined the shore waving and shouting best wishes and blessings. Our jaws were clenched a little tighter to fight back hot tears. We were now at full capacity with minds on the mission. There were seas to patrol, a country to protect, and a ship to relieve. 

    We hit the ground running with life on deployment and let me tell you, it is a fast paced world. I got lost in the mix for several days. I was feeling overwhelmed with the giant list of qualifications that were staring me in the face. I had few friends to talk to, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing at any given time, I had trouble relaxing and felt anxious all the time. I hadn't contacted home, taken anytime to myself, and the sheer number of qualifications was extremely daunting. This led to even less sleep than our schedule allowed and a recoil into a small depression. I hated life here and bitterly asked God to get me home and why He had placed me here in the first place. I had plans on turning to the Chaplain to see what my options were, though I knew they were few to none. There was absolutely no way I would be continuing this deployment or life as a sailor.

     I did end up talking to the Chaplain. However, God has other plans for me than letting me quit when things get rough. The Chaplain was able to bring me back down from the misery I was feeling. We made a manageable list of goals for the next two weeks. We prayed and he told me about the church service he was holding the following Sunday. He stressed the need to take time to myself everyday and do things unrelated to the Navy. He taught me how to be on deployment.

     Since then I have turned a corner. Trust and believe that there are times, on almost a daily basis, I feel like I can't possibly get through another day; that I've met my breaking point. But with God I can do all things. I have shifted my focus to my smaller list of goals, daily devotions, and concerning myself with how others are feeling. We are all feeling similar heartaches and are in the same boat so to speak... ;)

     The command had done a fantastic job of providing activities and distractions a few days a week to help with our moral. We have had an ice cream social and karaoke, a talent show, board games, bingo and popcorn, and we have a 'steel beach picnic' on Sunday afternoons. The grill is brought out to the flight deck for a BBQ, there is music and lawn chairs, and people bring out their fishing poles and guitars. We are able to socialize right there on the flight deck, play games, and watch the sunset. It has been something to look forward to each week and an opportunity to get to socialize and build comradery.

     Daily life is hectic, demanding, and long....My unit performs general maintenance on our system and runs through strike scenarios almost on a daily basis. As a ship we run training such as general quarters (simulated attack on the ship), man over-board drills, active shooting/anti-terrorism scenarios, medical emergencies, live fires of most of the weapons on board, and fire fighting. We train for the worst and hope for the best. In reality there are several flight ops a day as well as investigations of various contacts we monitor on a 24 hour basis, an enormous effort from the food specialist, and engineering department to keep the ship and crew running.

     We got a break from seriousness last week as we left the northern hemisphere to enter the southern hemisphere when we crossed the equator. The Navy has a tradition in which a ceremony is performed when this happens. They also have a tradition when the ship crosses the date line. We just so happened to do both at the same time! Sailors who have crossed the equator in the past are nicknamed Shellbacks and those who have not are nicknamed Pollywogs. The 'Wogs' undergo an initiation to be honored with the title of Shellback. It mainly consists of mildly embarrassing tasks including a silly uniform, a lot of singing, and a water logged obstacle course. This lasted all morning and about 150 of us not only earned our title as Shellback, but Golden Shellback for crossing both the equator and the date line at the same time. (I am now 16 hours ahead of the Central time zone).

      I will not have photos until we port. We are not allowed to insert anything into the computers on board for fear of operational security breaches.

     Thank you for your continued support, and love from afar. I'd love to hear from you all! Email, regular mail, photos, and packages are welcomed. There will be plenty of people who need a pick-me-up so if you feel so inclined to send mail to my shipmates or my entire work center please do so. Let me know if you'd like the mail to go to someone else in need and I am happy to deliver.