Another boring day on duty. I won't be able to go to Pasadena to watch the rose parade but at least I'll be able to catch it on TV tomorrow. As well as drink some beer and eat munchies. I feel sorry for the next duty section, they have to be here the day after. I'm sure not very many of them will be in any mood to work.

I made beef stock last night. first time at it, and I've come to the conclusion that it sure takes a damn long time. cooking it at pressure in a pressure cooker was about 1 hour but all the prep and just brining the damn soup to boil took about as long as it does to make beer. I can't wait to use it though on maybe some rice dishes or just as soup I won't know till the feeling hits sometime it's great to live alone. I also have rib eye roast aging for Saturday, or Friday if I can't wait. All I need is a probe thermometer, and an electric knife, both of which i could probably find at Bed Bath and beyond. If not there is always Brookstones.

started batch 3. This batch I'm using american Hefenwiezen for the yeast. I'm also using pellet type hops because the man behind the counter told me that it easier and imparts more flavor to the beer. Can't really prove one way of the other since I dropped half of it on the floor as I opened the bag. I also learned some things about malt extract and grain malt. Grain doesn't impart enough fermentable sugar by steeping. In order to extract the sugar one must let it sit in water for an hour at 150 - 155 degrees farenheit.

YEAST AMERICAN HEFENWEIZEN
ATTENUATION 70 - 75
FLOCULATION LOW
FERM TEMP 65-69
OG: 1.084

batch number 2 finally finished, well in the bottle anyways. It still tastes kind of malty but seems to have stalled out at a final granity of 1.044. Which is about 55% attenuation. I think the malty flavoring is because I didn't get all the hops into the batch this batch.

As I was doing my laundry I had an interesting though. It stemmed from people who say that they love beer but really couldn't explain the difference between a lager and an ale, not to mention that most of those that claim to love do not notice that Anheuser Busch tastes the same whether it is called Michelob or Budweiser. All that brought to mind the thought that maybe very few people actually understand what Love actually means.
To many Love is a just a word that means to extremely like something. But my view is that cuts the true meaning to a much lower mark. Love is to like something to a point of fanatacism. When One Love a child they know all about the child that they hold so dear, not just the way the child walks or talks, but also the likes dislikes, the reason why the child feels that way toward this or that. This endearment could go so far as to lead one to dishonesty to ones self. A mother when informed that her baby may not be the innocent that she sees him or her to be will go through denial. What of a Fan, rooted from fanatic, that continually returns year after year, donating hard earned money and time to a sports team hasn't given their all to return the investment.

chicken dinner
pretty tasty boneless chicken thighs that I set out to thaw at 1400 in beer and water, didn't have enough beer to cover all of the chicken. Then I seared them in olive oil and butter, and smother them in half an onion, 4 roma tomatos, that I had soaked in wine while I was searing the chicken. On top of it all I put some portabello mushrooms and let the whole thing simmer while I rode my bike for 30 minutes.
I went out to register my car, I didn't have my renewal notice, beats me where it might be. I went to poway because there is always parking there. But after seeing the line I decided I should go home and try to find my renewal notice one more time so I could renew online instead.

Original gravity: 1.056

attenuation: 42.85

I moved the batch to the bedroom so I wouldn't keep seeing it and be tempted to contaminate the mix by countless testing. Since I do most of my living, including sleeping, in the living room it should be good idea. Of course it isn't helping, as things go if I don't set a schedule then I'll have tested the whole batch before I can bottle it. I know the flavor is the yeast will be making. It's going to be stout, so I can't wait to see what else is out there to try. I could have leona fashion a carboy cozy like mom use to make for the appliances in the kitchen as I was growing up.

More's furniture store called me this morning. They claim that my furniture won't be ready till beginning of January. Not really the best time for me and it kind of annoys me. I have to be back at work on the 27th of December. Of course if I ask pretty please I'm sure that I can get a day off for the delivery if I beg and pleade a bit, but that won't work after after the 7th. The ship will be going out for a start up cruise, to get our blood flowing again after such a long time on stand down. The biggest thing that annoys me is that if I'm going to spend a grand on furniture they should bend over backwards to make sure the damn thing gets here. I don't know maybe it's just I expect too much from a multimillion dollar corporation.

fg= 1.062

attenuation= 36.73

still not time to bottle. I wish it would hurry up so I could start the next batch. I might have to buy another carboy so I can make corrections that I made to this last batch. Now I know that once the bubbles stop doesn't mean that the brewing is finished. I have to first wait for the yeast to floculate. Than I'll check attenuation to make sure most of the sugar has been eaten by the yeast. I'll have to take precautions not to contaminate the mix since I'll have to open the vessle to take samples. I also found out how to use the racking cane. I discovered it works best when conneced to the siphon. It makes it useful in stopping the flow of beer without having to worry about it squirting all over the place.

batch 2

original gravity: 1.098

final gravity: 1.066

batch 2

yeast: english ale

Hops: domestic fuggle

OG

original gravity:1.098

2nd day of leave, yaaay. I have no idea what I have in mind for Christmas but I know one thing I doing gift buying a little different from other Christmasses. I plan on buying gifts for everyone that I plan on seeing at christmas. Since that'll just be my parents it'll do wonders at saving money.
Tonight I I'm cooking my second batch of beer. I'm using domestic fuggle hops and english ale yeast. I figure I'll just change the yeast till I find the one that I like.

Another fun day. Today was PRT, YAAAY. Thats right boys and girls today was the day we slackers and fat bodies get to tempt fate and prove to the Navy that we are not fat and lazy. It helped to make me aware of one important fact; I need to get back to regular excersize. I passed crunches with a little creative counting, push-up I did cleanly but barely, and the run I put in the effort at the beginning but before the mid-way point I remembered that I'm too old to try to be a hero. So I make a good score, so what? It's better that I use my increased amount of time for being an old fart to help the younger crew that are in danger of failing to keep running. I had to pass the finish line 1.5 mi away in 14 min and 45 sec. I made it in 12:32. That's 2 min. less than in my hay day but I'm still young enough to recover and maybe even surpass my time.
I took my time getting back to the ship afterwards. Even though I don't feel I put that much effort I still followed the rule of thumb that the best time to eat fatty food is up to 60 min. after one excersizes. In that window the carbs and fat one eats is actually used to fuel the body. Afterwards though the body will hold on to it like money.

Just another fun day on the USS Princeton. The departing XO, LT CDR Katz, is leaving, and he, with MAC is trying to show the new XO what a wonder command he's inheriting. Especially his beloved OD div. Somewhere between the time he arrived and the midway through 'pac he began to see us as a bunch of shit bags. So now he wants to put the new XO into the same opinion. With most of the division either in PO Indoc or Indoc. We don't have that many people to put in the many places that their needed. That's normally so this week anyway, unfortunately we also had to support the A-gangers in they're maintenance check with the anchor. With all this going on we still had to get the berthing inspection ready. I think we did a good job with the people that we had available. I was only unhappy with, who ever was suppose to clean the head failed to scrub the toilets and therefore left yellow stains that the XO could have seen from across the berthing. Basically he climbed all in our asses, with MAC see right behind him saying, " I though I told you about this yesterday."
By luch time I was ready to head out, so I used doing runs for supplies as an excuse to have an extended lunch.

this one of those days that I just live for. All was quiet just a day of writing jobs, giving maintenance men hell, just to make sure they were doing their check in accordance with the card. I don't want them to go to a spot check without a clue and end up standing tall before the man. At about 0930 I headed down to the berthing for one reason or another and noticed there wasn't any berthing cleaners. So we had 30 minutes in which to clean the berthing heads and showers, vestibules, and yada yada. So I had to stop all work topside and send them all below to get cleaning.

All day long I think of things that I would like to put into my log but when I open my page I can't remember a bit. I spent most of the day cloistered away in the apt. Mostly watching videos and playing Morrow Wind. I bought Lion King, Lion King, and Twin Towers. I actually worked out today. After 8 months of nonactivity I need get back into the I groove again. I can't really use the equipment on board the ship because of the rolling when we hit heavy sea. So since that is just about always I didn't really want to start.

I often wonder to myself when I get enough time to stew in my juices. What is it that drive those of us that have seen fit to pursue in the service of ones country. Not those that sign up for a 4 yr hitch, one has to cut a bit of slack for those that make their decision through ignorance. I am speaking more of those of us that decided to throw away 10 to 20 yrs of our life as we strive for that grass crown. What keeps us striving, sacraficing our time, and our lives. We keep coming back enlistment after enlistment. Even after we miss Birthdays, weddings, graduations and other family get togethers, we keep coming back. Also the working enviroment isn't that much to be desired either. Looking past the obvious discomforts that normal human beings couldn't do without, like air condition, and privacy, or being stuck in a can with 200 to 5000 people you normally would avoid. In the military one has to be a leader whether one wants to or not. There is no way to avoid it, trust me I've tried to avoid it all more career. Slacker in the military are vary rare, especially if one looks past the first termers. So if one has problem being assertive they would be better off not reenlisting because going will just get harder. There is no camping, if one reaches a point that he or she may be comfortable with too bad it's move up or get out. I'm sure this could come off to others as a piss, a moan, or a bitch, but it's more like a why.

Last day of 'pac has ended and all that is left is the wake up. I don't know if what I'm feeling is "Channel Fever" since I've had a screwed up time clock since we started on this merry go round. All I know is that if I tried to go to sleep I would toss and turn for awhile before finally drift off.
Can't wait for the morrow. I will be driving in the boat, the plan is to launch us before we hit the pier and I'll shadow the ship all the way in. Some are a little jealous of this honor but I don't think there is reason for it. Before I can tie up the ship has to tie up, tugs have to be gone and the anchor raised. Then there the little thing about the tides. if the tide is low enough we may have to wait for the crowd to disperse enough to get a crew out to handle the boat lines. The only good things is that I don't have to wear my blues.

Once more we are out of the furnace and back into the deep blue sea. So that means that the air is a little cooler, which means more coffee, yaaay. If I had to give an adjective describe this day I would have to say shit. It started okay enough, can’t say nice because of the GQ drill in the moring, I despise GQ’s. Todays GQ was a main space drill in AUX 1. Since I’m in repairs 3 my locker was back up to the back up. In other words my repair locker just went to the Quarter Deck for training while Repair 2 relieved 5. While we were up there killing time DCC decided to hold some training. And did he learn a thing or two. One thing he learned was that half my fire party isn’t even basic DC qualified. When he learned this he told me in such a way as to be holding me accountable, I guess because I’m the scene leader. Of course I refuse to accept it. I don’t recruit these people into my locker they are assigned to me. I train them in the job that they are required to perform while in the locker but I’m not qualified to sign PQS. So I don’t think it’s on me whether or not they get their signatures.
After GQ it was the start of the fresh washdown, and in the afternoon ship wide field day. Of course as always when the whole ship uses fresh water the pressure on the focsle drops to about angel piss. So unless we pull out fire hoses, 150 psi of salt water, we don’t expect to wash away anything more than the illusion of doing something useful. After chow while the rest of the ship did a field day we in OD continued on with the wash down. Oh did I mention that we were still getting water water from over the side. So we broke out the hoses and wash down the deck with firemain water. Then mopped that up with swabs and a bucket. And all the while Neptunes REX helped out by throwing more salt our way.
On top of all this is BMC calling down to the office every 5 minutes asking silly questions, making stupid threats if anything fall through the track.

Back again back again to Jabel Ali. This time though it doesn't resemble the mess decks. I finally got around to getting a replacement ID card, no thanks that is to PNC.
He set up the trip to the Nimitz for those in need of ID's but he didn't see it all the way through. He didn't give any of his people any information as to who to speak to, transportation or anything of the like. He just told his lackey to muster the ID card needy at 0900 and he would be along. Of course that never happened. 0930 we were still standing in the p-way. Finally his rep used a little intiative and said, 'Fuck This,' alright maybe not those exact words but close enough, and herded us out to grab one of the buses that princetons rented. When we got to the Nimitz we waited at the quarter deck for another 30 minutes while the Nimitz tried to find the duty admin guy. This time wasn't as comfortable as the time spent waiting in p-way in the Princeton because the temprature was rising steady as noon approached. It was only 1030 and the heat was about 90 degrees already. When the duty PN came up he at first told our rep that he couldn't comply with our request. He stated that the CO and the XO had mandated that they couldn't give out any cards. But after much begging and pleading by our PN he relented. He told our PN to have us come back in an hour or two and he would support us. When our PN gave us this report half our crew was still discouraged because of the time they had already waited in the heat. Me though, even if I had suffered the same heat as they, and was feeling dehydration creep upon me, did not like the thought of coming all the way out to the carrier pier and going home empty handed. It wasn't like we just walk down a couple of berths to get here. We had to take a van, and it took him 20 minutes. Then I waited in the heat, losing prescious fluid. On and on and on I could go, but the end is always the same. I came this far so I'll cowboy up finish what I started. But first to lunch, we couldn't eat on the Nimitz so we ate in the sand box. The sand box in my day was a dirt field alongside the piers where ships could entertain their crews while they waited on a cab to take them to Dubai. Jabel is actually mostly commercial. Their claim to fame is having the largest harboring system, and that
s alot of warehouses and corporate offices. To see any good Liberty one needs to go to Dubai, Thats where all the Malls and Movie houses and the such are at. The Sand Box though is now only a name that the old salts understand the connotation. All that is gone now, now they have food vendors of every sort. KFC, Subway of course they're everywhere, but even Fuddruckers. Unfortunately I didn't see this until after I he newsworthy events, and to keep writing and talking about the story even when there's nothing new to say. Note that the complete absence of any defense by the pro-Bush forces -- no one is arguing in print either that they didn't do it or that doing it was somehow justifiable -- works toward their basic objective, which is to have everyone forget about it.

I have to admire the capacity of the right wing to maintain silence when anything they say would only make things worse for themselves, and to keep making noise about the misconduct of liberals even when there's nothing new to talk about.

Corn does have one actual item of new (at least new to me) information: He describes in some detail the process by which investigations in such cases go forward, giving great prominence to the discretion given to the Director of Central Intelligence over whether to refer the matter to the Justice Department.

That being the case, George Tenet needs to feel pressure from people he respects. It's a little puzzling to me why we aren't hearing more public outrage from retired CIA officers and from the larger world of people not in the government, or no longer in the government, with credentials to make a fuss about what seems to have been an illegal, politically-inspired act damaging to the national security.
, with credentials to make a fuss about what seems to have been an illegal, politically-inspired act damaging to the national security.

Out of the NAG, yaaaaay. Rumor is that we will be going back there before we bounce out of 5th fleet, but word is at the moment that after this we head across the equator where it is a little cooler. Then we will head back up to the gulf in time to chop into 7th fleet and then home.
At the moment though we are in Jabel ali for a little Liberty. I haven't been on the beach yet because sometime while underway I had lost my ID. I tore everything to pieces looking for the damn thing but all for naught. BMC finally got word that I had been spending time on the ship and put into motion getting at least an application filled out. It will get me on and off the ship provided I have a picture ID. I wasn't in a hurry to go through the motions of reprting it lost because there isn't anywhere around to get a new card, and it's as hot as a sauna out there.
I had the first duty day and I drank two full bladders of water from my camel back and sweated it all out. 140ozs worth and not only did I not have to pee, but I had a headache to boot. I have duty tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to standing around in that hot sun. Being hot and sweaty doesn't do much for morale. Everyone is real short on patience. When I say sweaty I mean at the end of the day we have to peel our coveralls and t-shirts off. Having to deal with that and LT Aycock makes me want to kill a person.
LT Aycock is our OP's boss and really puts an effort into living up to his name sake. But being a cock isn't good enough for him, he wants to be the cock. He needs a lot of prayer, his time in the Navy has left him very bitter and hard, and my section has two of his favorite people. Me, because when he arrived it was right after 'pac of 2001 and I was the work center supervisor. I had a fucked up Work Center. Many a check was left undone. But all that had placed me into his shit catergory and once there is no hope. So since then I have picked up the work center, and even got high marks when the inspectors came to look over my book, albeit it took a week of long nights. I played the lead in preparing the ship for our work ups and evetually our inspection Survey, which rose the bar for others that follow. All this hasn't changed his out look of me. his other favorite person is BMC. BMC is always having knock down drag outs with the prick to get money, or supplies, time for repair for an upcoming inspection.
Now The Cock has one more month till the end of his career. After that he starts that long death spiral as a line officer at a personnel command.

Hi guys
I'm killing time as I'm standing watch. I have to stand by just in case we have to man up to lower the boat for boarding. I'm using this time to record all my Rock disks into my computer. I have two more to go, unfortunately one of them is blank so I have only one. It's the sermon, Jesus and the Law for March 30th.
While we're out here with the Aussies and the Italian we're sending people back and forth to spend time with the other ships to see how they live. BM3 Boyd just came back and we sent BM3 Burch over today. Boyd said that the Aussies didn't have any beer aboard. He said he went to the chiefs mess and they told him that if wanted a brew he could sign one out in his name. 'Brew' to him meant beer so he went straight to the mess decks to get his brew. Turned out that beer in Aussie meant coffee. Burch spent his day giving tours to the Aussies that came over to the Princeton. They watched flight quarters from the LSO shack, and came out afterwards to discuss how my signals differed from theirs. Not by much they just tell the riggers what to do before sending them in. We want the chains and chocks to be removed at the same time as the other side we send them out and THEN tell them to remove chains. They didn't get to see the pilots signal to me so they thought that I didn't wait on the pilots to give permission to send people over the murder line. Lastly they wait on the pilots order the chocks and chains removed, then signal the HCO, then send the runners in. I wait until either Amber, or a green deck, then I wait on the pilots go, and then send the runners in. Other than that it was the same all around.
Other than entertaining guests, launching the helo, and lowering the boat, we're still doing the same as always ( cutting holes in the water). We did have a wonderful unrep today. It was VERTREP only, in the middle of our unrep two fishing boat crossed in front of us. the USNS saw them first and blew 3 blasts. Don't really know why they needed to tell the fishing boats that we were operating under astern propulsion, instead of giving them 5 short blast for Danger or Doubt. I don't even think the fishing boats knew what whistle signal they were hearing. They probably got their Capt. License by buying their boats. Eventually we had to change course.
Well fun fun fun fun but I got to run, and wake my relief that is. I'll write y'all later.


Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. -Psalm 62:8

Hi guys
What a morning, Flight Quarters, boat OP's, Flight Quarters. Starting at 0400 for recovery of Saberhawk, right after that RHIB came back for a hot pump and a crew swap. Then all things were quiet till 0830. Then we had to lower the port RHIB, it was sitting in it's skid since we got because of a transmission prolblem. The powers that be decided that since we couldn't use it they were going to give us another one and hold on to ours till we leave out of the pond. Since we couldn't drive it over to the tug we used the sea painter and steadying lines to tow the boat to the port quarter, where we switched boats with the tug drivers. I don't know how I was picked but I ended up in the RHIB with a toll bag, because someone told BMC that we will need to hold on the slings because they are made for the davit. Beats me where that was pulled from, the book says that boat sling are not interchangable with other boats. Of course that probably from the time where boats could look the same but could differ greatly from another. BMC made it very clear that if we had any showstopper he wouldn't be very happy about it so stand by. Hey but no stress right. In the end though I didn't change anything. It was just too hot and sweaty weather to be screwing with stuff, especially if I didn't think it was necesary. When I say hot and sweaty I mean at by lunch time I was soaked through and through with sweaty. The good thing about that is whenever I went in for some A/C when I came out I would reamain cool for a good 5 minutes. So as soon as we switched out boats I made my approached and was hoisted out of the water. As soon as the boat was in the skids, before the belly bands were passed, flight quarters was called away and all but two people, left to install the bands, manned up on the STBD side. Me, Denis, Foreman, and Manalo, headed up to the flight deck.
Flight Quarters was a long, hot, pain in the butt. The first bird in was Saber Chicken for a hot pump, which went smoothly enough. But after that we were blessed with double desert duck hits. The first Duck was okay it just sat on deck for awhile, firstly for a hot pump, but later it was because they weren't sure how much baggage they wanted to carry. So we placed all the luggage and outgoing mail on the bird only to have to take half off it again. The second bird sat on deck because the Pilot didn't want to take on fuel. Ufortunately that would mean that by the time they reached Bahrain, 2 hrs later, they would be running on vapor. So they wanted to be sure exactly how many pounds were going to carry. All the while the ship kept telling them to take on fuel. the poor grape had to run up and from the spaces to the flight deck 2 to 3 times as would send for him and then send him back. Eventually, after they burned off enough fuel, they agreed to take on fuel. The Air Crew didn't appreciate the fact that it would take the Fueler 5 minutes to get on station. I thoght it was humorous since it was the Air Crew that sent the man down stairs. I wasn't LSE for the second Duck though. Manalo was looking a little ragged, so I let him stand around under the flight deck ceiling fan. by the time we got rid of the last duck Saber was ready to land again. This time was for shut down. I had finished off my water bladder prior to the first duck departing, so by the time we had strapped down Saber Hawk I was out of breath, light headed, and my heart was ponding. I guess it was a good thing then that was the end of flight quarters.
Now I'm finishing off the night on stand by. I wake up the davit section If we have to man up the boat davit or the fan tail to off load PAX. I also have flight quarters later during this watch also. But that is the the fun over here on the sunny side of the world so I'll just say so long for now.


Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. -Psalm 141:3

I was dragging today. Flight quarters went down last night at 0130, and then again at 0430. I felt the pain at 0130 because I was stupid enough forget that when the POD say alert 30 it means to be determine. after that I didn't feel tired until after the 0430 flight quarters, mostly because my sleep was longer, but after we shut down the bird I went to the classroom to get some sleep. I normally sleep in the lounge in the berthing but one of our non watch standers was watching TV. It really wouldn't have mattered if he turned off the lights or turned down the TV. The only thing that pisses me off is that he has been off the bill since we left on pac so that he can get his ESWS done. He pissed and moaned about he doesn't get enough time to study for ESWS. So now he still doesn't have his ESWS, while other who have been standing watches while they studied have their. It pisses me all hell, unfortunately he doesn't realized how it makes others feel. If one points it out to him he whines about how he'll get his ESWS when he's damn ready to. Well thats nice, in the mean time everyone else that get deprived of sleep

What a fuckin' day. I got a little sleep, the night before I worked the non-watch standers till 1930 getting the spar target ready for delivery to the Bridge, yaaah. I have no idea what we're going to do for Sunday now that we don't have the target tow to deploy so the pilots can bomb it.
I slept from 2130 till 0130 to launch the helo. Then after an hour and a half of screwing around on the computer I got another hour of sleep. Then it was off to flight quarters again. Took me a little while to get into my coveralls, but I proved to be 3 percents smarter than they were. I kept thinking that the legs were inside out, but they weren't. Then after I got the coveralls on I realized they were someone elses. So I had to climb out them and into mine.
They called Flight Quarters away at 0500. The bird came in, shut down, and Flight Quarters was secured at 0527. I thought I had 30 minutes till the next Flight Quarter, at least that is what the POD said. So down I went to get some breakfast in, because right after the next Flight Quarters would be Vertrep and right after that would be Conrep to get some fuel from the Bridge. I had just sat down not ten minutes later and Flight Quarters was called away again. I scarfed down my scrambled eggs and bacon, and left my Oatmeal to chill before heading up to the helo hanger again. I don't know why I threw away my coffee, good coffee is a rarity, I guess I really didn't expect to return to finish the meal.
When I got back up to the hanger the Det was still climbing over the helo and the 'hood' was up. that annoyed my, calling away a detail before everything was prep'd kind pisses me off. The fact that we have other things to do besides hanging out on the flight deck like some teenage girl waiting on some boy to call. So I waited for 10 more minutes until they closed the hood. After we launched the bird it was 0600, time scheduled to start the Vertrep. The FSO was HCO and promised to have beakfast standing by for after the Vertrep. I reminded him that right after the Vertrep we had to roll right into Fuelling at sea stations, but thanked him for the thought. He did try at least to unfuck a bad situation which is all I ask of leaders. While I said this the XO came into the hanger. I guess he overheard my tactful grumble because he delayed Vertrep till 0630.
I really wasn't into the vertrep, which isn't a good thing since I'm the primary safety observer. I guess what ever sleep I did get didn't help to clear my mind. BMC had to walk me through preparing retrograde for return. It was alot of stuff being sent back, I didn't even realize how many pallets we took on till we started stacking them in nets. I thought we would send everything back in 4 nets but it turned out we needed two retro runs, 6 nets, and the remaining slings. The first retro hit I thought we were going overload the helo. Not only were we going to send back the pallets and nets but the spar target, a four man lift, and 2000 ft of double braid nylon line, a 6 man lift. The helo came in and picked up the load and flew off so at first I thought all was good. I mean if the pilot was uncomfortable with the load all he/she had to do was drop it and tell us to lighten it. however once they were clear I had the distinct impression that the bird was being kept aloft by max power and god's will. But as I watched the 46 take away the retrograde I kept thinking to myself that after all the 46's were retired how was the 60's going to take it's place. H-46 was made for cargo next to the 53's nothing is better at lifting. 46's though have no wind evelope, they can come in sideways, backward, wheel over deck, it doesn't matter where the wind was coming from because of her tandem rotors. Sometimes though the pilots get so carry away with her abilities get forget her limitations. For instance it doesn't think for it's self. 60's are only good at cargo handling, they can't carry internal loads, and are limited to 3000 lbs external. Also 46's can carry 20 people at least, the 60's when hollowed out carry about 12. All and all the 60 is a great replacement for the UH-1 but that doesn't make it fit to replace everthing.
After the Vertrep I had barely enough time to change out of my yellow cranial and life jacket for white hard hat and life vest. The fueling went smoothly, but I did notice that slop is starting to find it's way into the many thing that we do. Slop in most things is annoying but on a rig it can be dangerous.
After refueling nothing much got done, light sweepers on deck, and berthing cleaners. I don't know how I got through the day, at lunch I fell asleep watching a movie in the office. I don't know how I'll plan to survive if we go from 2 flight deck teams to one. It use to be I could stay awake all night long take a two hour nap and be good to go till 1900. Those were the days, I'll miss them as I get older.

What a day so far. Once again I have the duty. I did get to go to services in the afternoon, in fact flight quarters wasn't sounded until right after services conclusion, I'll have to remember to thank God for that one. The flight quarters at 1430 though sucked. There barely a breeze out today in the gulf and the ship seems set on plodding along a 5 knots so there is no wind across the deck. We've been in the gulf for 3 months now so tempers are beginning to wear. At least this 'pac we are getting to see some ports which is good. I don't care if all I see is Bahrain, the Vegas of the Gulf, where the holy go to remove there masks, all I care is that I get away for just 3 hours at least. That would be 3 blessed hour away from the people that annoy me, and that I annoy.
As for me I'm basically sick and tired of this ship. I have an office where exhaust air blows intead of sucks warm humid air. I've been here for 5 years now which is too long of a time for anyone. It's kind of like being an immortal among the mortals. After three years everyone you knew when you came aboard has left and all that came aboard months to a year after are leaving.

Last flight quarters of the night. Yaaay I won't have to sleep on the couch in the berthing I can actually spend some quality time with my rack. I talk to the Det about the droop stops popping out during shut down. As the main rotor decreases is speed the droop stop go in. This prevents the blade from striking the tail as the rotor comes to a stop and centrifical force no longer holds them erect. He told me that the springs are starting to go bad. I asked him if it weren't a bad thing for the above mentioned reason. He answered that that was the reason the they hoped that if the blade hit anything it was the people in front of the helo. I commented that that may be a bad thing also. I referenced a chief that went into the rotor arc before getting permission from the LSE, just walked right in. The computer that keeps the cyclic stick in the up position went off line momentarily causing the stick to move forward. This caused the rotor also the move forward, causing the blades to droop to 4 ft off the deck. One of the blades struck the Chief, I would say that it bashed his head in but there wasn't much to called a head by the time the chief hit the ground. The blade it self had a big chunk taken out of it and this is what I referenced. The Det'r commented that the blade had struck him 3 time before he fell, darn chief just didn't know when to die. It occured to me that when one voluntarily subjects themselves to dangerous enviroment they tend deal with it by adjusting they're humor to the grotesque. We make fun things that should scare us. Getting ones head shortened by a rotor blade, falling out or a boat as it is being lower over the side or raised up to the rail.

another long night. The good news is that it only happens once every other night. The bird took off at 2200, then two more times till 0500. I'm sure she'll contiue to go aloft but after that it's someone elses duty day. Today wasn't a hot sweaty day, more like hot and clammy. Not enough heat to have to keep wiping my face like yesterday. Today was hot enough to put a layer of sweat on my skin that would evaporate because of the humidity in the gulf. Giving one the feeling of being sticky all day long. It's never as bad as when one transits from the air conditioned interior to the weather decks.
We did an unrep at the wee hours of the morning. That was thought up to beat the heat, it was a good idea. Now that it's getting near summer time it's getting hotter during the noon periods. Unfortunately nobody is use to being awake at 0500, I mean this is the Navy for crying out. The only people up at the time are watchstanders.
It took us forever to get the rigs set up. No one had thought of having more stations running than normal would require more jackets. I would have to suck that up a bit since I'm a senior enlisted in the division. I did think of setting the jackets out for line handlers. If it weren't for the carrier to shadow our ineptitude we would be under the microscope, one of the reasons that chief was pissed.
All week long my PaPa manual was missing I asked all my maintenance men if they had seen it. Everyone one of them told me they haven't seen it. Even the prime suspect, of course. He had a spot check so needed the book to verify his maintenance card. So he had taken it from the office to the location of the spotcheck. He kept telling me that he brought the book back after the spot check. Well right when I was contemplating having to create a new manual my prime suspect comes in with the manual. God I'm relieved, I can't even imagine what a pain in the ass it would be to print all the MI pages up, find a LOEP, line out all the nonapplicable checks and get Satan, I'm sorry I mean, The Cock, damn there I go again the dept. head to sign all of my line outs.

I should be going to bed but I'm not known for my intelligence. The week is okay, the Duck pissed off the yesterday but that isn't a new thing. When they came in to pick up mail their fricken air crewman got out of the helo before chains were installed. I don't give a shit if that happens as long A: there's a reason, and B: they don't get in the way. Well this guy broke rule 'B', while my rigger my installing chains he stepped between the wheel and the rigger. When they launched the moron stood between me and my rigger, so if any thing happened I wouldn't be able to signal him out of the landing circle. I told the fuck to get his ass into the bird and close the door but he claimed he needed to witness us pulling the chain. Well duh moron, when we pull them we hold them up for all to see, we even count them for you so won't have to use any of that compicated new math. After the flight quarters I talked to the HCO. I told him that if that moron doesn't get into the helo next time then I'll just stand there like a moron with my hand in the hold position. I understand what the fucks are watching for, people stamping marks onto the helo. It's an air tradition that isn't very funny, and something they initiated but don't find funny anymore. They jumped out of the helo after chocks and chains were removed and stamped giant duck prints from the center of the flight deck to edge. Of course we got them back, should have used stripping or boot black instead spray paint, we even should them how screwed they were by switching the sample from JP-5 to apple juice. I guess now though they're still suffering from the backlash as they revisit ships and they stamp paint onto the side of their aircraft. Before you know it they realized what they should have thought of before they started this game, that they are in a world of shit. But like I said I talked to the HCO and he talked to their pilots. So when they showed up later on in the day the aircrew sat on the passenger ladder safely out of the was. It was his show of defiance but I don't give a shit as long as it doesn't hold up my production.

Well another month and the changes are apparent. Sinur is now in supply, right now he says he likes it, who wouldn't with all the air conditioning in the middle of the gulf. I could be like cranking, a break from the crunch but boring in the long run. Who knows he could overcome his misgivings of the rate and actually find it is actually a rate that he likes. In the end he would look back and see all the fun and excitment he may have had in deck, and think though it was a bright spot it didn't out weigh the B.S. . Denis is off the flight deck for now while he learns to run the bridge watch as the BMOW. Now I'll have Burch and Masterson on the flight deck. Cox doesn't like that Masterson is now running chain when Burch has put in his off time to learn the position. I don't think it's a good idea either since we'll just have to change him later on when he make MA. However since I didn't speak up in a timely manner I guess I'll have to suck it up. There is a fix and I'll bring it up tomorrow morning, if I remember, that we just trade Burch out with Sinur since Sinur is now supply. The middy that we have is pretty active in our activity. Up till now the ones that we get are either lazy or snactched up by other operations divisions because of the unfavorable stench that accompanies deck work. To the uninitiates our lot in life is dirty and lowly. Filled with long hours of painting and sweeping. Though since we have alot of area outside in the weather where dirt and salt do fester. Our duties are punctcuated by underway replenishment, Flight Quarters, Boat Operations and the like. All of the reasons I enjoy my job. Now that I've become BM1 though I won't be able to do some of them since they are considered more suited for Junior personnel. That is the problem with growing up, you can no longer do the things that you enjoyed when one was younger.

Hi people
Well it's nothing but fun and games here in the Gulf's yachting, and shooting club. The weather is hot and sweaty, a little better than balmy. Nothing much going on, the war against rust, dust, and boredom continues. I have the flight deck duty today, but flight ops are pretty light. No flight quarters till 1500. We have a couple of middies in our division and we're trying to get them involved in all aspects of deck evolutions. BMC wants to get them into the nitty gritty and of painting and sweeping also. Though that isn't happening yet we did put them into the boat for VBSS training, and I brought one onto the flight deck for today's flight quarters. The det was a little leery of it, I guess they want to be sure he won't walk into a rotor blade and add more work into their day. Their on and off when it comes to amount of attention they pay to operations. Sometimes they let us run the deck, as it should be. Sometimes their looking over my shoulder making want to just turn control over to them and go below and do something useful. They told us this morning that their may be a chance that we may be going into and out of river city so if you don't hear from me for awhile that is why. Ther may be a chance that our next port visit will be Bahrain again. I would be a little upset if I didn't get visit Dubai one last time before the end of my last sea tour but I think I would get over it if it meant not staying out triple sticks like last time.

today was a fun day. It all started though as another one of those exciting days where I knew right away that the wardroom was going to put us into harms way. The Capt. wanted to run the forward and aft vertrep stations while we ran both forward and aft fuel stations. Well that has a lot of complications, the biggest would be that the powers that be wanted us to run the phone and distance lines in the same break that we have to run our station to station phone lines. Each one of these lines are 150' long and have to be tended by line handlers. That means too much line and too many people in a little space. I don't think the Captain either understood this or didn't want to but I saw a potential for a lot of problems. As it turns out the USS Bridge didn't care for it either so we had to move our operation to the flight deck. We had two sets of drops today, and as I was assisting in the second set of loads the Captain came over the 1MC announcing the name of those that were advanced. My name was third on his list, and Walsh was third to last. So at first I was thinking," Yes", then I was thinking, "wait a minute if Walsh didn't make BM1 then who shall I pawn off all my work to".
The Vertrep went like all the rest of our vertreps just that this time was spent on the flight deck instead of the focsle. To Summize, I try to get the helo to put the load where I want it, helo does it's own thing, eventually I'll just stand there with arms spread in hover signal while helo try's to find room for the rest of cargo. One of the cargo load that they tried to fit a nook or cranny was our eggs. We also got about 300 lbs of mail brought over in three triwalls.
We had a couple more Flight Quaters through out the day. Desert Duck Stopped by to drop off more mail and get some gas. Then Saber Chicken came in for shut down. Desert Duck wasn't suppose to get back to us until an hour and a half later, but I guess things went a lot faster than expected because not even 30 minutes went by and she was back again for more gas for her trip home.
All day long I was enjoying the glow of being called BM1. I couldn't get any work done because everything I needed for working was in the office, which happened to be blocked by all the mail that was stacked up to the ceiling.
Well it's late so I should be getting on though there is still much to tell but I'll write later

Well this has been an interesting week. It's getting really hot outside, at the moment it's 0100 in the morning and it's still 80 degrees out. We had a vertrep earlier this week and after the end of it my cranial liner was soaked. Later on the night the ship went dark and dirty, that means we lost complete power. It only lasted about 30 minutes but it was interesting. Everything went off line, light, computers, the 1MC, you name it we lost it. I was in the deck office when it happened, playing on my laptop. It was the only item to not lose power.
The next day we had a couple of MK-5 patrol boats give a our scat team something to aim at. Of course since they belonged to us we made sure that the weapons were unloaded. After the SCAT drills the patrol boats gave pony rides to the crew, This lasted from 1400 to sunset. When they got thirsty we rigged up the hose reel on the helo deck to give them a sip, boats that is not people. At last check people didn't perform as well as boat when filled with JP5. I didn't go for a ride till the last couple of rides partially out of indignance, I'm a driver not a rider. But also because I get Whiney when it's hot out. It is a trend that I've noticed building for awhile, I try to shut my mouth but eventually it will come out. I think it's pent up frustration that seeps out when I'm preoccupied with being uncomfortable.
We had a gun shoot this week, Shotguns from the fantail. I've been due to requal for as long as I've been on this vessel but never got around to it. mostly it was because of laziness, I mean I would have to go all the way to the fantail - WHINE WHINE -. This time I didn't feel like doing anything else so went to blast some ocean. Before we got to shoot we had to go through our brief. We were expected to combat load and regular load. Combat load is drop the shell through ejection port and rack it home, regular is just load up the mag and pump. The guy before me looked scared stiff of the darn thing, I thought it was just jitters one gets when they first experience the kick of the recoil but gunner said that he was just plain scared of guns. I could remember the days when I first fired a shotgun. All I could remember was the shock of the recoil into my shoulder. I was only vaguely aware of pumping the gun, if one isn't ready for the kick it could be a little scary.
Today I got my second NAM, yeeeeeaaaa. It was for the work I put in as Workcenter supervisor. I remembered to shave, and I shined my shoes. However I neglected to iron my coveralls, and prior to the award ceremony I had flight quarters. Normally one doesn't worry about ironing coveralls, in fact to some it would seem a little anal. But Coverall's are the unform for underway, and when they come back from laundry they look like they've been rack press. When I say radk pressed I don't mean folded neatly and place into my rack locker. I mean wadded into a ball and shoved under my mattress. When I was at flight quarters I discovered one of the filler nets were still down from yesterdays MK-5 refueling details. So I climbed into the nets on either side clip it back on. What I didn't stop to realize was that the sand storm that we constant drive through, almost like rain squall back home but not as refreshing, coats everthing. As I climbed onto the net I got dirt marks on my knees, and butt. BMC asked me if I got my coveralls from a particularly hygenically challenged individual. Then when the Capt. goes to present his award to me I forget to salute him. I just looked at him with a dumb expression on my face. Then think that maybe he needs me to lift my pocket a bit to receive my medal. It wasn't until after he went to the next guy that I realized my mistake. The first thing the guy next to me did was pop tall and salute.

Another unrep over. It's getting hot out there, after 1 1/2 hr on deck I finished off a 70oz bladder of water and the liner of my cranial is soaked, and not with water. I don't know how many pallets we got on my station I kind of lost count after the first ten. Only one mishap as far as I know. The working party was breaking down a pallet of parts and pony ( mail ) when the helo was called inbound. The parts were still wrapped in plastic, but the net was undone. When the helo came over deck and the rotor wash hit the pallet all the light cargo blew off the pallet. After the light cargo went the plastic didn't do much good so the rest of the items started to blow off. I don't know how many of them blew over the side, I just hope that any of the parts were for me didn't.

I hit the tread mill yesterday and now my back is killing me. I forgot that running works more than ones legs. I have the duty today so I'll use this as a recovery day, and start slow Manana.

, It's another fine fine day. Especially now that we are in Bahrain on Liberty. All of you salt dogs that have yet to set foot in Bahrian since '96, like me, it is a much different place. I can't take pictures, that much hasn't changed, but the Dome has changed immensely. Also now they have an Oasis. It has a tailor shop, restaurant, hoagey ( Subs to others) shop, and the likes. If I knew whether I were coming back here I would have had some shoes made since I know we're not going to Thailand.
I did laundry today, It was kind of chilley. They had 3 AC units that one alone was too big for a space that small. At least in the U.S., in a place as comfortable as the Gulf it was just right. I would sit in the laundrymat thinking that the Gulf wasn't that bad and step out and remeber why I stayed in the laundrymay in the first place. I wish HI had a laundrymat as comfortable. I wish I hit the beach yesterday, despite the fact that it was in the black all day long; that means it so hot that no one ventures topside. Also activity is restricted to breathing and other necessary items. We can't hit alot of places here because either the Saudis, the biggest hypocrites in the area, Al Quaeda. The Saudis Think this place is one big Las Vegas, and They are the local Mafia. And Al Queada has this place scoped out as a possible strike point. As far as I'm concerned Al Quaeda and the Saudis are in the same boat. The Saudis if we looked hard enough are the main propagators, kind of like the ruling scots in braveheart. I have duty on the only day we get to leave the support facility, also I have no wish to leave any confines till any port outside this area of schizophrenia. One can change ones actions but ones heart. Until one does that person can fake wisdom but not understand it. This is the difference of grace and law. Law unto itself only points to our sinfulness, grace helps us understand how it affects ourselves and thereby us. We are not our own, we have been bought by the blood < Thereby his love> of another. So must give ourselves to keep his laws so that we may give greater glory to him. If we do not how can we truly accept his gift. If we try not does that not make us liars. That is why I must admit to myself and him, more to me than him, my weaknesses.
After I did my laundry I hit the ship to put away my cleaned clothes hit the beach. Me and Walsh stopped by the Command staging point, they want to make sure we're fed first, and headed to the desert dome. At which point he just wanted to read, so I went out to meet the crowd. I hung with OP's dept. all night long. About the time I got warmed up, I could tell because that is when I start dancing, it was time to come home.
I met someone that came from the Pasadena Office. She was sold through Knutzen, but he gave her up to Jerry Fontanares, and I was the bus driver. Hey Jerry, if she sounds familiar than let me know. When she returned from Boot, I took her with a couple of DEPpers to an Trojan's game and a soccer game. I didn't bring a camera so I can't send a picture.

I had a wonderful time in Bahrain, at least better than last time we were here. I didn't get any pictures so you be able to appreciate the changes they made here. It use to be a transient port, but I think this will be the central hub of operation. They now have more Marine and C.B.'s than you could shake a stick at. I did laundry on the first day and it was they only time I've done laundry that I wasn't sweating my ball off because of the heat from the dryers. I think it's because the AC untis they were using were too big for the room it was installed in, and 3 of them on top of that. coupled with the heat normally generated from a laundry room, and the outside heat radiating off the windows I would think that the temp kind of broke even. I only hit the beach once this time through, the first night my regular babysitter, Walsh, had duty. The third night I had duty, and the last night Walsh had duty again and the alternate left without me. Duty was a little rough. I had the 0300-0800 M-14 rover, I slept from 2030-2400 because I wanted to try my hand at the sewing machine. I only have one utility shirt with a 1st class crew, the one from the pinning ceremony. Since the pinners only put a pin through the patch and sew anything I needed to put the rest through. Short story would be that the sewing machine kicked my ass. I ended up sewing a little with machine and got so fed up that ended the rest by hand. I didn't feel the lack of sleep until about two hours into the watch. My title was Forward Rover but me and the other rover were checking in at the Quater deck on the fan tail and the Pilot house. Beats me who thought those titles up but it was probably from the wardroom since reality tends to run a bit loose up there. I paced myself by going to one spot and hanging there for a couple of minutes then heading to another spot closer to where I had to check in next. After the fourth check in I would stop at one spot and my eyes would take a little longer to blink than normal. If weren't so hot here I would have had a cup of coffee in stand by but since was also sweating like a race horse I utilized my camelback instead.

Good climb today. I use climb I did 137 floors in 30 minutes. I didn't really feel like going but I have to get into the gym. I had goals when I came out here. finish my arabic tapes, not happening yet. Increase my score in the PRT, do able if I can stay off the cigars.

Fathom
Fathom was originally a land measuring term derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "fætm" meaning literally the embracing arms, or to embrace. In those days, most measurements were based on average sizes of parts of the body, such as the hand or foot, or were derived from average length between two points on the body. A fathom is the average distance from middle-fingertip to middle-fingertip of the outstretched arms of a six-foot tall man. Even today in our modern Navy, Sailors can be seen "guesstimating" the length of line by using the Anglo-Saxon fingertip method; crude but still reliable.

I was out on the flight deck and remember a little fun we had with the Desert Duck the other day. It seems that while the Duck was making one of her deliveries she tagged our flight deck. When I say tagged I mean got out of the helo after chocks and chains were removed and, in the of all, including the CO in the pilot house, stamped big yellow duck feet on the flight deck. Well to say the least that kind of annoyed alot of folks. So this time out our DET put together some stamps and glued them to the palms of their gloves. The plan was that Denis and Sinur, my riggers, were to chock and chain the bird. Then just before departure two of the det would replace them. I thought that the riggers going into the helo hanger and emerging as two completely different people might be a little suspicious. I mean the only thing in common with the two sets was Hamilton and Denis, both of which are black. However Hamilton is 6' at least, and Denis is shorter than me. As it turns out they the air crew wasn't even paying attention. Our grape, fueler brought out bottle of apple juice in a sample bottle. After he took the real sample bottle with real JP5 he placed it in his bucket and removed the bottle of apple juice and swirled it. Now apple juice looks nothing like JP5. JP5 looks more like Budwieser, apple juice looks more like Ship Fuel ( DFM ). Also when one swirls apple juice a lot of bubbles are produced because of the surface tension of the water. The air crewman just looked at the apple juice and gave the pilots a thumbs up. The Grapes just shrugged pulled the top off and took a swig. We didn't really expect the duck to believe that the apple juice was JP5. In fact he should have commented on how dirty our fuel was. So since they were so unattentitive as to allow a bottle full of apple juice to pass inspection I guess they wouldn't notice a 5' black guy growing an extra foot.
Well the time came for the chains to be removed and out went Hamilton and his partner to remove chains. after they broke the chains and were waiting for the signal to remove chocks they took off the gloves they were wearing and put on the ones with stamps. Then they stamped the heck out of helo, Ham' didn't care if he were seen or not he just put paw prints everywhere. His buddy tried to avoid detection. So off she went with paw prints of one side and hawk track on the other.
I knew of it though I kept telling people I didn't want to know, citing plausible deniability. What I didn't appreciate was the manner in which the duck had hit us. It wasn't in a sneaky fashion. They waited till Chocks and Chains were removed. Then kicked open the door and just put big stamps all over our flight deck. If I had been of the flight deck I would have been hard pressed not to wet the guy down with a fire hose.
Well that it for now but I'll be writing later.

Today was pretty good. I had duty on the flight deck, we had an unrep, vertrep, boat ops, focsle ops, and 50 cal training. The unrep was just to get a taste of fuel. didn't even last an hour from set up to break down. The vertrep wasn't even that exciting, we were to get 16 pallets of cargo on deck. I was, as always so far, LSE for the focsle. We received 4 pallets in two drops, then waited around for what seemed like 15 minutes for the helo to make another pass. Finally we got word that the helo was finally coming to give us as many hits as we could take in our little square. What that should have meant was 10 - 15 pallets worth, what it turned out to mean was one. So in the end it was a whole lot of sitting around, we didn't have enough hits to send decent load of retrograde back.
While waiting around for another delivery we noticed a triwall box on a pallet wrapped in a net roll off the USS Bridge's flight deck and into the water. When I saw the event I made a snide remark that we were going to lower the RHIB to retrieve it. It turned out that that was actually prophetic, except foe the retieve part. Right after the vertrep we set flight quarters again to recover our helo. Me and my riggers were sitting in the hanger waiting when the word was passed over the 1MC to man the focsle. It appears that somewhere word got out that our mail was in the triwall so the capt. wanted to save it. First we sent the swimmer out to hook up the box, and tried to haul it board by hand. When it proved to be too heavy we lowered the RHIB to save it. When the RHIB pulled alongside the box they discovered it didn't contain our mail. Just a bunch of trash, so we went from rescue op to SCAT training. While the RHIB was safely away from our newly aquired target the gunners plugged it with a shit load of .50 cal rounds.
After that fun and games we finally landed the helo for a hot pump relaunch. But just when I thought we were done for 3 hours flight quarters was set again 30 minutes later. This flight quarters was for shut down, after I which I just left thinking that that was that bird shut down now it's time for chow. So down I go to get some pork chops. It turns out that 'that' wasn't over yet. I discovered my mistake after I had finished eating and was headed to the office for some serious fuckin' off. Over the 1MC I hear, " BM2 Baxter helo hanger." Damn, that's the third time this 'pac. I know this because people, mainly bosses, count this for you. When I get to the hanger the bird is turing on deck and crash and smash is still in the hanger. I asked when did we resume flight quarters, and received the answer that they hadn't secured yet. This time wasn't a big deal, as soon as I headed out on deck and assumed control the bird shut down. Of course I didn't stick around for the HCO to ball me out for leaving station, he didn't ask me to stay and I wasn't going to volunteer.