I Live In A Shipyard...

Tonight was the christmas party for the crew and family. Overall, it was good time and people were enjoying themselves, which was probably due to the cash bar. Unfortunately, given my luck, I couldn't drink, because I was on duty. In fact, I guess I am lucky to be able to go at all. During the party, they were giving out door prizes and they snuck in the awarding of the CAP'd sailors, which surprised a lot of people including the CAPees. CAP stands for Command Advancement Program, which is the ability for the captain to promote those sailors that have worked hard and earned a promotion, but were unable to advance because of their rate being closed. I must say 2/3 of those CAP'd were very deserving of it. The remaining third seemed very political, but what isn't on a ship or in the navy for that matter?

Anyway, I was walking back to the ship when it hit me. I live in a freakin' shipyard. On my door step there are thousands of tons of steel just laying around. Some are in various stages of looking like a piece of a ship and there is more that is just laying around. Never have I imagined that I would be living in a random small town in Maine and, furthermore, in a giant steel factory. Does this sound crazy to anyone else, but me? It's all the more reason for wanting to get underway.

Speaking of underway, the number of days is getting smaller and all that's keeping me going is the little milestones I set for myself. Be it daily milestones or weekly, they are keeping me from going 'crazy go nuts.' One such milestone is the Fast Cruise. Don't kid yourself. Yes, the words "fast" and "cruise" are used but we are neither going fast nor going on a cruise. Instead, we simulate like we are going underway, simulate going on watches, simulate setting sea and anchor detail, simulate UNREPs. I think you get the idea. But, at the end of the fast cruise is the first wave of those going on holiday leave. When that is over, I will be spending a week far, far away from this place. I have a feeling that it's going to be an excellent leave, so that when I do come back, I will be refreshed enough to endure a few weeks before we finally tear down the Kennebec River. Until then, I remain in a shipyard...

3rd Class

On Thursday, November 30th, I received word that I was selected for advancement to Petty Officer 3rd Class. Needless to say, I was excited. There was quite a battle in the third week of September between the test of my rate and myself. Two hours later, I would have sworn to you that that test kicked my poor, little ass. Alas! It did not. In turn, I, apparently, kicked it's ass. How? I haven't the foggiest. Our rate has been closed for some time since the merger in 2003. Last cycle, the Navy advanced over 100 to chief. Given that, we knew that the rate was beginning to open up. One thing that came to a surprise was how it opened up. It would be logical to assume that the rate would open up from the top-down. 100 are made chief would open up 1st class, then 2nd class, and then finally 3rd class. The opposite happened. 79.2% were made 3rd class, 66% were made 2nd class, and only 29.4% were made 1st class. Unfortunately, during this arduous fight, a sea brother was left behind. As long as we are both are aboard Gridley, there will always be MarPar.

The Frocking (putting on the crow) will take place this Friday. The pay, unfortunately, will not come until 6 months later. Go Government!

Across The Brow

Wow, yeah, so I have not posted on this for quite awhile. Most of you who do actually come on here and read my ramblings have probably givin up on me. I don't blame you.

A lot has happened since the dreadful morning of OC spray. I went TAD (temporary duty) to Norfolk, VA for a school on a terminal that I will most likely never see, but I had an absolute fabulous time while I was out there. The monday that I came back I went under the knife. Nothing serious, just that the oral surgeon was not so gentle getting those wisdom buggers out of my gums. The good news is that I was completely out the entire time and got some really cool pain killers. It's been about 3 weeks since then and my gums are healing nicely, but also in that time I had to pack up all my stuff and move aboard the ship. I quickly found out that I had way too much stuff. Not so much room on these floating grey steel things.

We still have some time here before we sail away, but I cannot wait till we do. Once we get out of the Kennebec we are that much closer to San Diego and warmth.

Settling In

Oleoresin Capsicum spray is something I would not wish on my greatest enemy. After getting sprayed with it they had us go to 5 different stations for about 30 seconds each kneeing, punching, using a baton to block, using a baton at 2 stations, fight off a guy trying to take your baton and then command him to get down to be in a position for cuffing. I'm writing this 2.5 hours after getting spray and it still sucks. The best part of it tho is that I have a watch in about an hour. So, I'm settling in nicely. More at 11.

Taking A Page From The Book of 'Right On'

Farewell, San Diego. We had a rocky start, but we worked it out in the end. I look forward to our next meeting.

The only thing left is stopping in the schoolhouse to pick up my grad cert from the ECAT hotel, get my service record, and catch a plane at 2200 (10pm for you civies). The thing I guess I was dreading the most has passed and, unfortunately, I don't feel much better about it. The good things is that it's over and, depending on the results, I don't have to get pissed off at myself for another couple months. ECAT (my last class) was nothing. In fact, I question how it was worth an order modification to take it. Filling training quotas is always nice, I guess.

Hello, Maine. You're looking good today. Do you want to be friends?

Wait and Hurry Up!

Those who have dealt with the military know that they are big fans of 'hurry up and wait.' In a rather unusual turn of events, however, I find myself in a "wait and hurry up" situation. This has been on my mind for the past couple weeks, but not to this extent. My time here in San Diego is numbered down to two hands and a foot. That's not the problem. The problem lies in what I will need to do in the last few days before my transit. Let's start off with what I've known about. These next two weeks, I start yet more schools (3 this time). Word around the campfire is that these schools aren't that bad, so I'm not too worried about them. Also, at least during the first week, I will being staying after class to study for my advancement exam. That's the second thing that I've known about - 3rd Class Petty Officer Exam, September 21st. This, my friends, is still the wait part. The 'x' factor, so to speak, became painfully clear yesterday when I recieved my flight itinerary. From the looks of it, the day after I take my advancement exam and the day of graduating my last class is also the day I catch a red-eye to Maine.

You might be thinking that this doesn't sound all that bad and on the surface it isn't. Handling these three things separately is cake. Handling two at a time isn't bad. Combining all three is gonna be a pain in the ass for one reason. You can never rely on the navy. This, actually, is a good time for me to throw in a good 'for instance' concerning my advancement exam. I was given an astoundingly great opportunity to help a shipmate check into the command. This excellent opportunity allowed me to follow someone around telling him where to go and what he needs to do. It's even better when this person out ranks you and doesn't like taking your suggestions making you look like a complete jackass in front of other people who out rank you. It's a pleasure, I tell you. Anyway, such an opportunity was truly a blessing in disguise. If not for said check-in, I would not have found out that somewhere along the line the ESO (the office that runs the advancement exams) did not get my worksheet, thus no test for parm on 21 SEP. Yes, the navy is very reliable. So, with all three things occurring so close to each other significantly increases the probability of something going wrong, which, in turn, makes my day all the better. Not to mention the fact that I have to run around and check-out. Oh yes, we need not to forget about the packing and the worry of things not fitting. Needless to say, my stress level will consistently begin to compound over the next couple of weeks and the worse of it is that there is nothing I can do about it right now, but wait.

Heaven to me right now would be accelerating to the triple digits and ascending to 35,000 feet.

By the way, when I do post things in the future, I'll try not to bitch so much...