Adventures in Panama

Hi all! I write this in the 20 minutes that I have to actually breathe and regroup my thoughts. Things have become SO busy SO fast (I know, I’ve been saying for a month and a half that I’ve been busy--- turns out, I’ve been lying, I didn’t know what busy was until Panamax started!)

We pulled into Colon, Panama last weekend. I’d have to say that GTMO and the detainee camp was a nicer port visit than Colon. Many of the sailors onboard joked that Colon (pronounced like the smelly perfume worn by men) should actually be pronounced like the body part, as that is more an accurate description.

Colon is at the northern outlet of the Panama Canal, where ships pull into and anchor around as they wait to go through the Canal. Only a few ships can go through at a time, and a lot of it is political, so if you have more money, you get to go through without having to wait in line or at optimal hours. (incidentally, the Navy gets to go in for free, but we go in at night- apparently we can’t afford the daytime rate)

We spent 2 days pierside in Colon getting ready for the exercises, but unfortunately Colon is apparently super sketchy and so we weren’t allowed off the pier. The pier did happen to have an oversized warehouse that had been converted into a duty free/pseudo mall area, equipped with all the perfume and liquor you could ever imagine, as well as a Pizza Hut, and multiple bars. There are few things certain in the Navy except that where there are sailors, there is alcohol within an arm’s reach. I was able to procure a large bottle of Petrone tequila which was relatively inexpensive and I am looking forward enjoying a margarita upon my return.

We worked a lot in Colon but were able to enjoy a few hours off at night. We were also pierside with USS Wasp and Mitscher. We are now in our area of operation, kicking off what has already proved to be an exhausting exercise!

Yesterday, we spent much of the afternoon participating in divtacs, where all of the ships maneuver at close ranges in different and changing formations. A helo was launched with a combat camera crew to get the whole thing on tape; earlier this morning we had them onboard to photograph our boarding exercises with a Brazilian ship and they said they took over 2,000 shots of the photoex (photo exercise). It is a shiphandling nightmare however, as the commands to move are given over a tactical fleet phone, and all of the commands are coded. I was the tactical signals officer, which meant I spent about 4 hours with a phone pressed against my ear, attempting to encode and decode signals from ships who’s English was not exactly clear and understandable, while 15 people around me were screaming as we were 300 yards away from like 20 ships. Did I mention we were launching our helo simultaneously?

After my 7 hours on the bridge as conning officer followed by tactical signals officer, we moved onto a dry refueling at sea (which means that we just hook up the cables and simulate refueling) with the USS Wasp. They had to do a RAS during a recent ULTRA inspection and were unable to, so we helped them out by coming alongside, while filming the evolution, so they could send it back to the inspectors.

The CO of the Wasp was very appreciative and while it is usually the receiving ship that sends back gifts to the other ship, since we were doing this for the Wasp, they sent over a box of tasty cookies and whatnot, which was exciting. It was also at night, so all we had to go by were the glowing flight deck lights. It was pretty cool, except I was tired after 9 hours on the bridge.

And then today happened. I woke up at the usual time for the morning watch from 6-noon. Again, much of the morning was spent on the red phone decoding messages from other ships out here. Then, I got about 3 hours today to actually do work (you know, like that division I have to run?) and then from 1600-2200 (with an hour and a half break for dinner) we did leap frogs with another ship. This exercise of course had to require yet another watchbill, which I found myself on again, as the tactical signals officer. (mind you, I wasn’t actually on watch at this time, this was during my 12 hours “off”) so, I was on the bridge again from 1600-2200. leap frogs are similar to when little kids play leap frog by hopping over each other in a long line (except of course, we don’t actually hop out of the water). Leap frogs consist of a few ships in a vertical line and the rear ship passes all the other ships in front of her, while coming alongside at a distance you would use to refuel at sea, coast along for awhile side by side at the same course and speed, and then move on to the next ship. When the last ship gets to the front, she becomes the guide and the new rear ship hops up. I got to take a spin on the conn which was also exciting. Overall it was fun, except for the fact that after leap frogs concluded at 2200, I had to go BACK on watch from midnight to 6am. If you have been following the math all along, that would be 18 hours on the bridge in a 24 hours period. And those 6 hours? I WISH I spent them in bed, luckily I had 6 hours to actually get some real work done.

Also, in more exciting news (and by exciting news I mean, news that increased my work 10 fold), our PAO is no longer with us on board, so I am the newest Public Affairs Officer for the Sammy B. this means I have to write a whole bunch of press release articles for DESRON about what we’re doing, as well as put together the ship’s newsletter. So, while many of you probably didn’t read the last one, now that I’m going to be spending half my life making this one, I will be sure that every last one of you receives, reads, and appreciates the news from the Sammy B in the form of our newsletter and the other 300 press releases I have to write.

Today we are having the “Holy Helo” visit us onboard- yes friends, you read that right- a holy helo, from the Wasp (we don’t have a Chaplain onboard) so we have 3 chaplains spending the day today conducting Catholic and Protestant services, as well as offer counseling and anger management classes (although I doubt that 3 chaplains in one hour can manage all of the anger that is festering on the ship). I don’t think I need any counseling, but I do miss getting hugs; I never realized how much I took advantage of hugs (there are no hugs in the Navy esp on ships) so I look fwd to coming home and hugging everyone I see. Well, not everyone, but everyone I know.

While the days right now are very long and we are so busy with this exercise, plus getting ready for ULTRA, I am definitely feeling as though things are starting to wrap up around here. Luckily there is a lot to keep us busy and I no longer spend 6 hours of the midwatch thinking about exactly what I want to eat for dinner my first day home. Surprisingly though, after all that thought, I still haven’t come to anything conclusion as to where I want to go to dinner. Go figure!

I am really looking forward to our Cozumel port visit, and while we will be busy entertaining dignitaries and prepping for ULTRA, it should be a fun port call, definitely beating out GTMO and Colon. I am getting sad though as I read lots of emails from people starting classes at UVa and spending weeks on end at the beach and starting “real” jobs (those kinds of jobs where you get more than 1 day off every 2 or 3 months) and going to Homecomings and getting together for Molly B’s wedding; things that I wish I could be around for and people that I know I won’t be able to see for awhile because I’m in the Navy. That’s kind of sad and so I try not to think about it- hopefully we’ll stay busy so I can stop being sad.

Looking forward to seeing everyone I can in just a few short weeks! Be looking for another update as we move into the next phase of our deployment! Thanks!