[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 21 Big gun go boom. That pretty much sums up the morning’s activities, a drill on the 76-millimeter gun mounted forward. To give you perspective, the casings from the ammunition are the size of umbrella stands. At ten hundred Chief Greg Colvin and PO Josh Hendl heave the Killer…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 20 Today a fishing vessel would not respond to our hail so we sent a boat over to talk to them. We see gear in the water and it’s smaller than your average mother ship, but it gives us a chance, the captain says, “to push the button.” The…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 19 XO Steve Rothchild says our forecast is 4 to 7 foot seas. That’s been our forecast ever since we left port. I look over the side and I’m no expert but I’m thinking those hardly deserve to be called waves, never mind four foot ones. Temps everywhere coming…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 18 In the back of the bridge is a stack of cardboard boxes. This morning the captain materialized in the middle of ENS Dan Schrader’s OOD (Officer of the Deck) training watch to toss one of the boxes over the side for a simulated man overboard drill. We go…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] March 17 A little before nine a.m. I felt the ship turn hard right rudder, so I went up to the bridge. We spotted a fishing boat on the radar. The captain says that drug smugglers often use fishing boats as mother ships for go fasts. The go fasts will…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, 2007] Friday, March 16 Hello Danamaniacs, Coasties, friends and family! Once again I write from on board a Coast Guard cutter underway. Man, I love my job. Last time it was 16 days in the Bering Sea on board the USCG cutter Alex Haley, a 282-foot medium endurance cutter out of…
For those of you who have already read Prepared for Rage, you know “gators” is slang for interrogators, and that I’m referring to Bob and Mary in the Gitmo scenes. I was not, repeat not looking forward to writing those scenes. Not big with the torture, nope. I love Jack Bauer but I cringe and…
I was interviewed about Prepared for Rage this morning by a very nice woman named Diana, which interview is to be broadcast on the approximately one thousand (my editor said) radio stations served by Westwood One continually for a month. I’m told this is a satellite broadcast heard all over the West Coast, so everybody…