The Halfway Point of School Apr 16-23rd

My long drive was over and I knew my morning was going to be super early. This Monday morning I had to be at Firefighting School at 5:30am. Yea it was early like the wet trainer but once again I did have a lot of fun. It is not often that you can get fully dressed out in firefighting gear and fight fires. Let’s be clear though, that gear was heavy! The lightest thing that I probably wore was my coveralls, gloves, and helmet. The firefighting suit…HEAVY, steel toe boots with steel soles…HEAVY, harness…HEAVY, oxygen tank…HEAVY. I could barely walk, so I did more of a waddle to each station versus a sophisticated, chest up walk. They gave us a few simulators so we fought different types of fires. I got the opportunity of being on oxygen, fighting an ordnance fire, using a fire extinguisher (which was waaaaay heavier than I expected), making calls and fighting a fire in a closed space. I enjoyed my time to say the least but being in this atmosphere is very hot. It’s already hot outside and all that gear increases the heat on top of being close to a real fire. The biggest threat that could have happened was that someone passes out because they are dehydrated so the instructors preached hydration before we actually started. I wasn’t able to get a picture in all of the gear but I was fortunate enough to do a full dress out on my 1^st Class Midshipmen cruise.

The rest of the week was pretty smooth but as you should expect there was another exam. Engineering was pretty difficult to me but I passed. I know I’ll need to review all the information from engineering because I will be working in the engineering department on my ship. One thing about being in BDOC is that some of the more technical lessons come easier to those that have actually been on their ship and seen all of the equipment that we are learning. I haven’t been on my ship and won’t be going until the end of the year when we receive it so I behind the curve a little. I of course do my mental release but I definitely zoned out for the rest of the week lol.

We were learning about this program called 3M and this is the go to system for work request or task that needs to be done on your ship. There are different types of checks that every ship needs to do so you constantly need to check this system as an officer. I need to be checking this daily versus my sailors who may check it once a week. You also can’t finesse the system because it does document the last time each person logs on and who approves what jobs through the system. This was actually my second time learning about this program, I learned this in my second school so this was kind of a refresher. I won’t be able to get the full effect of the system until I physically get on my ship and go through all the jobs that need to be done.

I Stayed in Town This Weekend

The title says it all lol. I stopped city hopping for a week. My Friday night was pretty chill and I actually hung out with my friend who was a pilot. Same branch, completely different lifestyle. I can give him SWO lingo and I’ll get told I don’t speak SWO but I he talks in pilot slang I don’t know what’s going on either. It was pretty cool talking about our differences in our work but it is somewhat similar. Saturday was full of running errands and I ran outside for the first time in two weeks. I got a lot of work to do since I took two weeks off but I will do fine on my PRT when I get back to California.

I had plans to go to the gun range and I did but I was not able to shoot that day since I went alone. I have my concealed weapons license and all but it was more of a suicide prevention thing because it was my first time there. In simple terms a lot of people will go to a gun range alone and rent the guns, buy ammo, and shoot themself in the range. Pretty gruesome but I fully understand. I’ll just go back next week and get some shooting on. I just want to practice a little since we have a gun shoot graduation week and I haven’t shot in a while.

Besides my errand full weekend I didn’t do much of anything but plan on my trip to D.C. next week. I have to study damage control since the exam is next Wednesday but that weekend should be fun. I am really looking forward to seeing the African American museum and finally taking some amazing pictures with my camera. Oh yeah, I’m trying to knock off a few food spots that I saved for D.C. off my list too. I also need to visit Hampton, which is not that far from where I am, but I keep pushing it off. I still have some places I need to see in the area but I still have time to see them all and share with whoever is reading.