[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] April 6 Today we did flight ops in the morning, followed by a fabulous lunch of grilled mahi mahi, during which SN Stephanie Deck made the noon approach in the wardroom. This is a long-standing, time-honored maritime tradition wherein a bosun’s mate gives the Captain the deck officer’s regards and…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] April 4 Today I got another tour of engineering and all things related to making the boat go, this time courtesy of MPA Andy Molnar. All respect to EO LT Todd Raybon, I think he was a little afraid I might possibly perspire. Andy suffers from no such inhibitions; this…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] April 4 PO Dorothy Davies, who was one of the Support people serving pizza last Saturday, sends out the XO’s P.O.D. (Plan of the Day), where we find out what we’re supposed to be doing tomorrow, as opposed to what we actually will do, given altered circumstances and alternative tasking…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] April 3 Box ops, still walking the beat, although Ops has spiced things up by substituting a hexagon for the box, with track lines, which keeps everyone a little more on their toes. I have noticed that there’s what you might call a “go to” guy in every department. On…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] April 2 It’s 94F on the bridge. It’s 120F in the engine room. See the photo of PO Warren Grimes next to the thermometer if you don’t believe me. I got the engineering tour today courtesy of EO LT Todd Raybon. First thing required, steel-toed boots, borrowed from LTJG Morgan…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] April 1 A real day off – the first since the ship left San Francisco 20 days ago. No drills, no go fast alerts, no fishing vessels who might be smuggling migrants, no haring off after ghost radar contacts. Palm Sunday services were the only organized event. Sun and seas…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 31 When I was up in the bow last night I saw thunderheads developing off our stern, and this morning they paid off with thunder, lightning and rain. At 0730 they were mopping up the residue in the bridge. Ops (LT James Terrell) is standing the four to eight…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 30 Prior to refueling the helo, the bridge crew guesses how many gallons it will take to fill ‘er up. I remember this from the Alex Haley, it was and is a subject of competition and raillery and people are very stoked when they win (the winning guess is…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 29 We came upon a floating refrigerator. (It seems to be a trend, as this is the second floating refrigerator of the patrol.) This naturally constitutes a hazard to navigation which must be removed. In this case we remove it with 9-mm handguns, shotguns and M-16s. Not an organization…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 28 Recently we made a Brief Stop for Fuel/Brief Stop for Logistics (BSF/BSL). CWO Tony Parker, our supply officer or Suppo, bought a bunch of $5 phone cards from our Husbanding Agent (HA) on shore and sold them to the crew at cost so they could call home from…