Just as easily as I can fall into life in port, the monotony of life creeps up and settles over us like a blanket. When will the next port be? After that long taste of land, being out on the water is less appealing daily. I’m itching for land, and ticking the days off on my calendar till our next port. Oh how we pine for solid ground. These are the moments when you stop taking all of the little things for granted. The food varieties, fresh fruit, soft toilet paper, herbal essences shampoo (I ran out 3 weeks ago!), the list goes on and on and on and on.

The girls have taken a stand. The other night we neglected all of our work and obligations and had this huge karaoke night in the wardroom. It was just what we needed after the stresses of sea life. At first it started in one of the staterooms and my friend K has this plug in karaoke machine that has thousands of songs on it and 2 microphones. The helo was taking off so H was back there because she’s the helo control officer so we called her and told her to get her butt up  to the stateroom as soon as she was finished. I was a back up dancer. There were 5 of us total.

We started getting really loud at this point and we were laughing hysterically because myself and E cannot sing… AT ALL. I mean I don’t think you can even begin to understand how bad I am. I have never karaoke’d in public, not even if I was really drunk, because I still think I would be told to get off the stage. It’s seriously that bad. So the fact that I was even participating in this completely sober can only mean one thing, I’ve been out at sea far too long and have lost all reason.

H and K were actually pretty good singers, and E and I were really bringing them down. Well a few minutes after we started getting really loud there came a loud knock on the door and this officer from the medical detachment was standing there looking very aggravated. She started yelling at us, telling us to keep it down, saying that she was very busy, la-de-da. Seeming that none of the medical officers onboard really do anything, we knew this was not true, so we just laughed and she was furious. We told her we would be quieter and then as soon as we shut the door we were louder than before. We were willing to start this war.

She didn’t come back but we decided to move our party to the wardroom and so we did. 5 minutes later she walked in to eat dinner all of a sudden even though dinner was over and she was glaring at us. We sang louder and danced around until she left.

I had my second SWO board for my pin, two days ago and I passed! I have to go before the captain for my final board and he will drill me with questions and then if he thinks I am ready he will sign my letter and I will get my pin.

A couple of nights ago when I was on the 0200-0700 watch on the bridge I listened in while a vessel was being hijacked by pirates. It happened around 0330 in the morning. All of a sudden someone started screaming frantically on the bridge to bridge radio saying their ship was being attacked and they needed assistance immediately. I of course picked up the phone and started talking to them.

We were collecting information, but the position was too far away for us to provide immediate assistance so another ship in the area went in for the rescue. The merchant ship calling for help was on fire and it was an oil tanker. Could be a very bad day for people in the vicinity. There were explosions coming from the engine room and everyone had run up to the bridge and locked themselves inside. Shortly after, they abandoned ship. The Philippine Sea was pulling them out of the water approximately an hour later. I couldn’t believe that I was the first contact with them, it was pretty cool.

It’s a vicious world out here. The merchant vessels are very vulnerable and I would be extremely afraid to be on a merchant vessel crossing this part of the world. Being held hostage for over a year is not in my life plan.

Since our next port is going to be extended, we are planning different things to do such as a paintball tournament. This I am very excited about. I love playing paintball! And we will have dinner parties. SUPPO, will have a wedding down. He was just promoted from LT to Lieutenant Commander and normally when you go up a pay grade you take the wardroom out for a party called a “wedding down” in which you are supposed to spend at a minimum the difference of your pay-grade. He said I could help him plan it!!! I love planning party’s!

Well there’s not a whole lot going on at the moment. I’m reading a very engrossing novel called Unbroken about Louie Zamperini an Olympic runner who got drafted into the War in 1941 and was on a B-24 Liberator which ended up crashing in the ocean. He and the pilot survived and floated for 40 days some 2,000 miles to the Marshall Islands where they were picked up and put into a POW camp by the Japanese. It’s a very intense and emotional read but I can’t put it down. More soon!

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

This article appeared first on Dynamic Soarer.