Preparing for the deployment has taken much of my time. It has been very eventful this past few days to say the least. E arrived back in the states from Ecuador on Friday and then she and my mom and dad drove down yesterday to bon voyage me today when my ship pulled away from the pier.

Sister–Sister

MY SEESTER &I.

The goodbyes were very hard. I had to say goodbye to my roommates and my family, and emotions were high. My roommates and I stood in a circle hugging for 5 minutes straight and when we pulled away from the pier this morning that’s when I finally realized 7 months is going to be a loooong time on the ship. The atmosphere was very different today. There was an anticipation in the air, for what I cannot be certain of, I just know it felt different.

FAMILY<3

As I walked down to my room to change out of my summer white uniform once we were headed out the channel, I also realized that this crazy ship is no different. We went from event to event. I will not be sleeping today and probably not tomorrow either. I have a scenario from 0300-0600 and tomorrow isn’t looking any better either.

Right after manning the rails.

Our first Steele beach picnic is this Sunday. That’s when everyone gets to relax and they grill on this huge grill we have and we listen to music. Apparently there will also be a mini driving range set up on the flight deck. I guess that’s what gets to happen when the commodore is embarked.

Pulling away from the pier.

The seas have already been treating me poorly. As soon as we got underway we started rocking. It doesn’t help that we are headed straight across to open ocean. Luckily, I started taking the pills two days ago, but even still I’m really feeling it. I can’t even go up forward to my spaces because it is horrible up there and the bow is just pounding into the water and I can’t handle it.

I wonder what the seas have in store?

For a complete listing of all of my deployment articles Click the Link: MY FIRST DEPLOYMENT

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