Show me the money!!!

Hi Friends!

I’m getting settled into life and the routine here on ABOT. I finally got all of my paperwork, travel claims, etc filled out, scanned and sent to the Carrier where our Admin folks are for processing. Now it should only take 3-4 months for the bastion of efficiency that our Navy pay and personnel system is to finally see the money ☺

On the money--- there are a few benefits to being out here on ABOT. No, I’m not talking about the food or the skype or the fact that you don’t get seasick or that we stand a set watch every day… those are things that make ABOT way cooler than a ship. Being the suzy sunshine that I try to be, I like to look on the positive side of everything. The ONLY way that deployment is better than being at home, and I mean the ONLY thing, which does NOT outweigh all of the negatives, is the amount of money that you save. Yes, it is part due to the fact that I can’t find one of those little machines that like to read my credit card to spend all of my money, nor are there any grocery stores or Pottery Barns or Yogurtlands or any of the other beauties of capitalism that like to help me take my money off my hands. No folks, I’m talking about the price tag that the Navy has put on taking you away from your families for a ludicrous amount of time on bulky, decrepit, rusty, hot and gross pieces of steel in some of our less desirable waterfront property around the world.

While deployed to a “combat zone,” we are privy to federal-tax exemption as long as we are in the zone for at least one day (this is why you may see ships try to manipulate their schedules to get into the Gulf one day earlier or stay one day later as long as it crosses into the new month, as this allows the ENTIRE crew to enjoy that ENTIRE month without seeing the government’s hand dip into their money) Maybe you think this is wasteful; I say until we find a way to stop buying $10 staplers and $5,000 toasters, a few tax few months here and there while we’re on a roll never hurt anyone.

In addition to this, the Navy has also quantified how much I miss my husband and how much it sucks for us to be apart at the whopping total of $250 per month. Sorry Dan, I promise I miss you more than that, but Uncle Sam says I can only miss you $250 worth each month; that’s less than $10 a day, but luckily it is enough to buy sufficient Yogurtland each day to wallow in and think about how much you miss me too. Enjoy your yogurt ☺

Additionally, we get a sweet little extra hand-out for hazardous duty pay and what I learned today that is known as “hostile fire and imminent danger pay.” Yes, you heard that right. I’m not sure if I should be grateful or downright terrified. Intrigued, as I had never heard of said phrase, I decided to google it.

According to the Department of Defense website, “hostile fire and imminent danger pay” is defined as:

A member of a uniformed service may be entitled to Hostile Fire and Imminent Danger pay for any month in which he/she was entitled to basic pay and in which he/she was:

* Subject to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines;
* On duty in an area in which he was in imminent danger of being exposed to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines and in which, during the period he was on duty in that area, other members of the uniformed services were subject to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines;
* Killed, injured, or wounded by hostile fire, explosion of a hostile mine, or any other hostile action; or
* On duty in a foreign area in which he was subject to the threat of physical harm or imminent danger on the basis of civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism, or wartime conditions.

Don’t worry Mom, it’s really not that bad over here. I think they give us this because until they started stationing Sailors on ABOT, they didn’t have a “living on a 40 year old structure that hasn’t been surveyed by qualified engineers in like 39 years, made entirely of bent, melted rust that is about to crumble into the ocean with a bunch of sketchy people while you breathe in oil fumes 24 hours a day duty pay”- apparently, this is the best thing they could equate it to. And for your information, Uncle Sam gives me more for missing Dan ☺

Alright, so now you’re wondering “where do I sign up for ABOT?” (or at least Gaby is ☺ )

Well now would be a good time to show some pictures to illustrate the luxurious living conditions at Hotel ABOT. Basically, we live in what we call CLU’s (pronounced "clues") which stands for Compartmentalized Living Unit. It is a connex box or what you would see on a big shipping merchant ship that carries containers (like the ones that are lifted up and down by the big cranes that you see at the Port of Baltimore, or wherever).

Up to four people can live in a CLU, we have 4 right now because our intell officer is in the process of turning over and we have a girl from NAVCENT here for a few days for some meetings, but normally it will just be me and Nicole. They put two CLU’s next to one another and stack them 3 high- that’s what makes up our little “dorm-like” building. The insides are not glamorous, in fact, whatever designer recommended the faux wooden-laminate walls should be fired.

The beds are bigger than on a ship, but the mattresses are super uncomfortable. The CLUs are all covered in that Vietnam-style textured camouflaged jungle-y looking stuff. I guess for shade? I have no idea?

I have included a few pictures of these CLU’s. The one from far away is a view of the catwalk leading from where we work to P-4 (platform 4) where we have our CLU, our bathroom (which involves a trip down a flight of stairs, across some metal grates, over a few pipes and across some slabs of wood that make up more grating- so easy and graceful in wet rubber flip-flops to the shower--- NOT!), the DFAC (where we eat) and some other stuff. By the way, our bathroom is two CLU’s stacked on top of one another, the bottom is the toilets and the top one is the showers.