Clarification on the previous post...

I just wanted to clarify that everything that happened today was in a drill--- there were no people injured, no missile attacks against SBR, no fires or flooding. We’re still kicking and making our way through the Western Caribbean.

However, we failed some pretty crucial parts of the drill at the beginning when we had to set “zebra” condition. The ship is divided into different “sections” of air and water tight doors that are used to keep a/c in spaces that you’d want cool, and not lose it to spaces that would be impossible to cool regardless. It also pressurizes the different spaces on the ship. Normally, we are in condition “yoke,” but in the event of GQ, the first thing that has to be done is go around securing different hatches that are normally open to prevent the spread of oxygen or gas around fires.

Apparently, people were coming back to the locker officers reporting that they had set zebra when indeed they didn’t go the full step to screw all the bolts in tight. Around 1330 today they called away GQ AGAIN and we all had to go back to our spaces to practice setting zebra. We also had a de-brief from the morning’s drill to talk about what went wrong and how to improve next time.

Luckily, my fear of hearing “ENS Harris, your presence is requested in the Executive Officer’s stateroom” over the 1MC in regards to my performance as locker office never came into existence, and there were communication problems across all the different lockers; repair 2 was hit with a missile and the people there had to move to repair 5 and the two lockers meshed and comms were a nightmare.

Overall, it was an eventful day and I’m sure we will be running MANY more GQ drills in the upcoming weeks.

Another laid back Navy day...

Wow- ok, where to begin? I can’t believe it’s 5 day of our deployment- it feels like a month has gone by! How can it only be July 28th???

The past few days have been busy, though I’ve been lucky to be on a schedule where I sleep for 5 hours a night at the same time every night! I’ve been busy standing watch, getting my PQS taken care of, and running the division.

The biggest thing on my plate right now is preparing for the inspection called ULTRA-S at the end of the deployment in late September. The closest thing I can compare it to in the civilian world is like an auditor. Basically, a bunch of people, who do nothing but study the in’s and out’s of frigates every day, come on board for like 4 days and study us. Our exercises, our divisions, our maintenance, our drill- EVERYTHING. Basically, they’re looking for stuff that we do wrong, which is inevitable on a ship of 200 people doing 200 million things a day. To prepare, we have check sheets for each “program” that our divisions run and we have go through in the next few months and “audit” ourselves to make sure that everything is current and up to standards and that we are doing things on time. My divisions owns the tag-out program (where you have to put a “caution” or “danger” tag on equipment that people may want to work on to warn them of the dangers of working on that machinery) and the electrical safety program, which is just what its name states.

I haven’t gotten to the tag-out program check sheet, but going through the electrical safety program, I have to make sure that everyone in the division is qualified to issue and use tools (and update their equals to the most recent ones), ensure the they are receiving CPR training, issuing tools safely and by the standards, and that the crew is receiving electrical safely training annually. Prior to pulling into Trinidad, I will probably have to give the entire crew a brief on electrical safety.

Aside from that, I am personally working on my maintenance qualification, my electrical safety qual, and my basic damage control qual, all which must be completed prior to ULTRA-S.

This leads very well to my latest and greatest story on damage control. Today we had a massive training scenario where we set was is known as General Quarters. GQ occurs in a battle type of environment, where the whole ship reports to their respective battle stations and prepares to do whatever it is that is called away. Normally it is a small drill, such as toxic gas or firefighting or the like. Today however, we did an integrated training exercise where we simulated a transit through the straights of hormuz to the gulf of oman while being attacked by Iranian forces.

(I must here interject that this is a very similar setting that this very same SBR encountered when they were hit by a mine in 1988. Also, for any of you ROTC kids following this, it was very similar to our battle problem in NASC 302 last semester. After participating in this GQ, I can now say I would much rather be on land planning the defensive air strike, than be on a US Navy frigate suffering the casualties)

My GQ station is at Repair Locker 3 as the Repair Locker Officer U/I (under instruction). Basically, the ship has 3 “fire stations” known as repair lockers from where they fight fires. I am currently there as the U/I for whenever we call away GQ, which has happened exactly twice on the ship: once to fight a fire and once for a toxic gas, both times however, the casualties were secured by lockers other than my own, and my guys just stood by as stand ins.

Today, as we tracked Iranian enemy aircraft, our repair locker stood by. We were hit by numerous missiles that caused fire, flooding, and medical casualties. As the medical casualties were called away, the locker officer who I was learning from had to leave to report to the Triage, as he was a triage officer. We stood around for an hour or so and nothing really happened; the other lockers fought fires, combat fought the enemies and we thought all was fine. Then, around 10:30 am, we had casualties by repair 3. First, my locker leader (the enlisted guy very qualified in repair lockers) became a “casualty” and rendered useless. This was followed by the loss of 2 more guys and a class Alfa fire. I of course, have absolutely no idea what was happened; I’d observed this in about 1/10 the scale exactly twice and my phone talker (the guy communicated with Central) did not understand that it was his job to clearly talk on the phone; he couldn’t copy down and track the casualties fast enough, and couldn’t report our progress to central fast enough.

It was basically a huge circus of medical emergencies, fires, floods, etc, with me at the helm as locker officer with no leader who knew what he was doing. The next most qualified guy was the on-scene leader, meaning he was at the front of the team leading everyone into the fire and comms got so tangled that I couldn’t even communicate with him. All in all, I felt like I was hit by the mack truck of damage control, ironically NOT in control of anything.

In the end, the fire was put out and the flooding stopped and the medical casualties treated, but in the interim it was basically like being in the middle of a storm trying to stay tied on the ground. Most of it wasn’t my fault; as the watchbill should have been configured to ensure that an Ensign who isn’t damage control qualified who’d never been to repair locker school, would not be in charge of a repair locker in the middle of an massive ship-wide integrated training exercise.

Now that it’s all over, I just want a strong drink and a nap, but alas I must get back to work for the remainder of the day and then stand watch tonight. It looks like we will be pulling into GITMO this weekend to refuel; unfortunately for me, the only thing I will see is the pier from the ship, but if it’s any consolation, no one can leave the base. (Obviously, because it’s Cuba).

I am very much looking forward to our port visit in Curacao, though it will be short, it will be a well-deserved one day break. Luckily, I don’t have duty on the one full day that we’re there, which coincidently is also August 5th, my birthday! Hopefully I will have a bunch of JOs to go out with.

In the mean time, we are busy keeping our eyes peeled for Columbian cocaine transporting ships and hoping that we make a good bust in the next few weeks! Otherwise, this could turn out to be a pretty monotonous deployment, with nothing to take us away from the daily routine of watch, fixing things, and admin stuff.

I will try & update again this weekend; even though I have duty, I shouldn’t be too busy so hopefully I will get a chance to respond to everyone who I haven’t yet already! Miss you all!

MWR, JOPA, and Tiger Cruise...

I went to bed last night at 1 and slept in til, get this… SEVEN! I did hit the snooze like 7 times and completely missed breakfast, but overall I’d say it was worth it. Apparently underway we have these “morning talk shows” over the 1MC that starts out with a song of the day and jokes and trivia and a current event/sports update, along with birthday announcements. Thank goodness, or else I definitely would have continued sleeping!!! Today started out alright with watch, I left to do some spotchecks and have our weekly meeting with the CO. Like I said, he is always asking me questions that I don’t know the answer to (and obviously aren’t expected to) but he ALWAYS finds me later and makes it a point to ask me if I’ve figured it out… luckily the guys in my division are rock stars and always teach me what I don’t know. Today during our meeting he was like “ENS Harris, do you have any questions?” and I was like “no, but I do have an answer for how many fire door breakers we have and where the breaker is located.” (which he asked me earlier) He seemed pleased after I answered correctly, and then he suggested that we take a field trip down to Aux 2 so I could show the breaker to all the new Ensigns and teach them about it. Overall, I would consider the evolution was considered a success.

As today was Wednesday, there were cheeseburgers for lunch and as always, they were extra greasy and delicious as usual. However, I pretend to make it healthy by only get one piece of cheese and not eating the bread. So far, the FSA has been really good about my “one a week rule”; that is, he is not allowed to serve me dessert but once a week. You can imagine how difficult this is as 1) I love desserts 2) they’re really good 3) we have them for lunch AND dinner and 4) sometimes the days suck so much that dessert is the only good thing. Today we decided that eating only two bites (Molly sized bites too, not the Dan sized one that equates to like half the cookie…) does not technically count as dessert. So I had two bites of banana cake and it was amazing.

After lunch things turned south (literally too, as we shall pass Havana, Cuba tomorrow), and this report that I had to have done by 1600 was being uncooperative to say the least. That is, the computer, the parts, and the people, and the information I needed were darn near impossible to track down. All of this in between 3 training/lessons while trying to locate a SIPR (the computer that is secured and considered “secret”; ie you can send messages and stuff that can’t slip out) computer. Long story short, but one of the 2nd tour divos seriously stepped up and basically did everything for me while I was in training. Luckily for me though, the nature of my job (ie; everything breaks all the time) will require me to write many many more of these reports.

That this JO (junior officer) stepped up to help me in my time of need is what we would call JOPA in action. JOPA stands for Junior Officer Protection Agency and it serves for JOs to help other JOs so that they don’t get in trouble or yelled at by the senior officers when a JO finds themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. Which, as a JO, is where we spend 90% of our time. Basically, looking out for each other and covering our backs which overall helps us as JOs.

Thankfully I got in a quick 20 minute workout on the elliptical, which may not sound that impressive but it’s about 89 degrees where the gym is so you sweat buckets. And I use the term “gym” loosely, as it is really a bunch of ellipticals and weights tied to the wall along the centerline passageway (the hall) where you generally feel as though you were in the way as the handles of the elliptical whip back and forth.

Hmmm ok a few more ramblings… I hope everyone is enjoying this blog, unfortunately I won’t be able to write SUCH long rambling emails as I will soon move to do my watches in CIC and then onto the bridge where there sadly, are no computers.
Right now, the ship’s MWR team (which stands for morale, welfare, and recreation; ironic enough because all 3 are generally low to the point of non-existence…) was doing another fundraiser. They like to sell things to us and turn the money around and use it for fun things; ie- snacks, fishing rods, fun stuff in ports, movies, etc. Today they were selling “no-shave chits”, which means that for $5 you can go until we pull into Curacao and not have to shave your face. You can imagine my excitement when I was told I didn’t have to shave my face…

…kidding! For girls, it’s what I like to call a “ponytail chit” which means you can wear your hair in a ponytail or messy bun. It’s great! No more pins and hairspray and pokey things into my head! This obviously does not sound exciting for most, but it definitely takes a few minutes out of my day from having to do my hair and also I don’t get a headache. Overall, a $5 well spent today!

The only other relatively exciting thing to report is that there is a possibility for us to have a “Tiger Cruise” upon our return in a few months. For those of you who may remember, ABC Family or the Disney Channel did a movie like 3 years ago called “Tiger Cruise” where a bunch of family/loved ones from the crew of a carrier were out to sea for a few days, 9/11 broke out and the carrier, along with a Hilary Duff-esque character who played an Admiral’s daughter, had to turn wind and head for Afghanistan to fight terrorists.

If that story does not ring a bell, then I apologize for wasting the last minute of your life.

However, the above storyline is EXACTLY what Aharon Laufer (dan’s brother) thinks my life in the Navy is going to be like. Except with less terrorist hunting and more pirates of the Caribbean type of action where we race around with our eye patches, seeking out Colombian drug lords with cocaine. Ok, yes that is what we do, but I’ve learned it’s a lot less glamorous than that. And we don’t wear eye patches.

Anyways, back to the Tiger Cruise. Basically, we let some of the crew members fly back early, and instead fly family members out to the ship for a few days. And since significant others/wives, etc, aren’t allowed for obvious reasons, Aharon is super psyched at the chance to be a passenger on our tiger cruise. There is a chance that we will be picking up “tigers” as they’re called, in Key West or Port Canaveral. Although we’ll only be underway for like a day, it is still a possibility. I can be bribed in care packages… cash payments… we can start the bidding whenever….

Just kidding! Anyways, keep checking back for updates about the possibility of a tiger cruise.

I suppose it is now time for me to get back to standing watch- 2 more hours left to what should be another 6 hours of sleep! Yesss! Expect I’m not too excited b/c I know it will all end soon. Til then, thanks for reading!

Molly deploys!

Since Molly doesn't have access to blogspot on the ship, I'm the blogger middle man. I will be posting updates from Molly as I get them. Enjoy...
Dan

This morning we finally departed from Mayport! I spent some time in aft steering getting some PQS signed off while we were pulling out, then I went to the bridge to see us leave. There were lots of tornados in the water and it started raining SOOOO hard. The ship was rockin’ and rollin’, but after that it calmed down. Luckily so far, the ship hasn’t rocked too much, I don’t feel sick at all; if anything, these waves make me sleeeeepy. But everyone said this is lucky and it will get worse. Uh oh!

I spent the rest of the morning on watch in Engineering, where I will be for the next week. I also had some DC (damage control) training in hopes of finishing the 60+ pages by next week. Lots of things started breaking (as always!) and I had to give my first report to the CO about it. I didn’t know the answers to some of the things he asked me, but I think it was ok b/c if you admit you don’t know, they just tell you to find out.

We had some flight quarters today and brought on our 2 helos (though it was delayed by a few hours due to the tornados in Mayport). I watched that from CIC which was kinda exciting. I spent the afternoon working on some stuff and then we had some medical training which consisted of a bunch of gory pictures of amputations and burns and cuts. Definitely not up my alley.

I am standing the 0800-1200 and the 2000-2400 watch everyday, which is nice; engineering has 5 hours on and 10 hours off (“off” being relative b/c you still have to do your normal full work day in there) and I have the same watches every day. It is great b/c it means I can get into an eating/sleeping/working out schedule that will be relatively stable; ie- a guaranteed 5 hours of sleep during normal people sleeping hours. The only bad news is I’ll be rotating out next week and into watched of 6 hours on, 12 hours off. We’ll see how that goes.

So far it’s just a lot of watching standing, doing your job, fixing the stuff when it breaks and as a non-qualed JO, doing lots and lots of PQS and learning stuff. Lots of stuff. I better get going now as we have our nightly ops/intel brief. Thanks for reading and I hope to update as often as you can read this, but if not, it’s probably because my days are similar to what you just saw above: eat, stand watch, work, sleep, fix things, etc.

more pics

home sweet home

now that you all had enough time check out the pics of my new apartment, here are a few of my stateroom on board SBR. what appears to be small and cramped is actually spacious in comparison to what most of the male JOs live in.

also, i am heading out to sea tomorrow so you'll only be able to reach me using my email (MHarris@ffg58.navy.mil). i am hoping to be able to update twice a week; that may be a little ambitious after days on end with little to no sleep, but i'll do my best!

also, i can't access facebook messages/posts so if you wanted to say "hi" via facebook, you should just shoot me an email. that's it! i'm out! anchors aweigh!

webster's: navy edition.

hi everyone!

my apologies for the hiatus in my blog posting, working life has certainly taken a toll and has been keeping me SUPER busy. in the past 2 weeks, i have seen the ship into dry dock and spent hours and days learning about my job. i am happy to say that last weekend, admist a 54 hour long work day, i qualified inport officer of the deck, when means i stand on the quarterdeck in my white uniform (and a gun/holster!) and oversee everything going on on the quarterdeck and generally running/facilitating the day's events. it was the first of many many quals on the looooong journey to get my SWO pin in what will hopefully be october of 2008.

at the suggestion of my aunt becky (and extending something that i created orginally for dan), below is my Navy Acronym Volume I. this will give all of my readers something to refer back to when my posts turn into one long sentence of words that you can't pronounce and probably lack a few vowels. if you have any questions, let me know!



A Civilian Guide to Surface Warrior Jargon

SWO: Surface Warfare Officer

SBR: Samuel B. Roberts

Desron 14: the Destroyer Squadron of which my ship is a member; it consists of many of the frigates on the waterfront

CO: Commanding Officer

XO: Executive Officer

CMC: Command Master Chief (the highest ranking Enlisted person onboard)

DH: Department Head (Lieutenant or LtCdr in charge of 2-5 divisions)

Divo: Division Officer (this is what I am)

ENG: Engineering Department

CHENG: Chief Engineer in charge of the Engineering Department
On SBR: CHENG is my DH; LT Gunn

Auxo: Auxiliary Officer, vaguely in charge of engines.

Electro: Electrical Officer. (ME!)

DCA: Damage Control Assistant; in charge of the damage control of the ship; a 2nd tour Divo
On SBR: ENS MacLeod (Iain), my mentor

MPA: Main Propulsion Assistant; an LDO who has been in the Navy for like 16 years specializing on main propulsion.

OPS: DH in charge of Operations
SBR: a LT who likes Sponge Bob to an unhealthy degree

CICO: Combat Information Center Officer.
On SBR, my sponsor Christy is CICO.

First: the 1st Lieutenant (in this case, he is technically an Ensign) in charge of the Deck Crew.
On SBR, ENS Neal is the 1st.

Ordo: Ordinance Officer; in charge of the ship’s weapons.

Nav: The Navigator, a 2nd tour Divo

Commo: Communications Officer, vaguely in charge radio/internet/IT, etc

Traino: Training Officer: 2nd tour Divo in charge of overseeing the training pipeline of the officers and making sure that the crew is scheduled to attend any necessary schools.

AirBoss: a pilot in charge of the flight ops and pilots onboard

QD: Quarterdeck; where we stand as people come up the brow onto the ship. The colors, a picture board of who’s who on the ship, and people in whites stand there.

OOD I/P: Officer of the Deck Inport: what I am currently working on and the officer in charge of what is going on on the QD and around the ships
CDO: Command Duty Officer: Officer who is in charge of the duty section and acts at the “representative” of the CO when he’s not there

OOD I/P U/I: Under Instructions: what I am right now; I’m not qualified, but under the instruction of another OOD.

OOD U/W: Officer of the Day Underway. When you’re OOD U/W, you’re in charge of the entire bridge team and the movement and actions of the ship.

SUPPO: Supply Officer, a female department head in charge of all supply issues onboard

Disbo: The disbursing officer, in charge of our money and stuff.

FSA: Food Service Assistant: These are the guys that make/serve our meals and clean our staterooms

O-Call (Khaki Call): Officers Call; when all officers and E-7 and above meet to pass on word in the morning

POD: Plan of the Day; a schedule of the day’s training and events. Published every day by the XO.

Quarters: When the Divisions meet every morning to pass down the POD.

LCPO: Leading Chief Petty Officer; the Chief in charge of every division. My Chief is EMC LaPointe.

LPO: Leading Petty Officer; the leading Petty Officer in each division. My LPO is EM1 Alexander. He basically runs the division.

EM: Electrician’s Mate. The rate of all of the guys in my division.

PQS: Personal Qualifications of Standards; what we have to sign off on in order to make different quals.

PMS: Planned Maintenance Schedule; basically every week every piece of machinery in all of our spaces has to be checked to make sure that it is running smoothly.

Spot Checks: Every week, as Divo, I have to check one piece of machinery in all of our spaces (we have 7) to make sure that the EMs are doing their jobs and checking what needs to be checked.