Damage control

As an HT, I am usually on a fire party for emergencies.  I am already not afraid of heat or smoke as witnessed by my choice to make a living using heat and fire to build stuff.  As a young HTFN, I got to experience my first real General Quarters(Battle Station) and mass conflag all at once.  At the time, mass conflag was not as exacly defined as today.  The Cole had not yet been bombed.  I was assigned to mess cranking duties on the cruiser, and the generator dropped the load.  We were already trying to evade a typhoon.  The Engineering Officer of the Watch(EOOW) came over the 1MC announcing system(a big PA) and informed us that we had lost power.  A second announcement very shortly after stated the reason- a Class Bravo(flammable liqud) fire in the forward engine room.  Off go the gongs.  Off go all hands to their assigned stations.  Mine was the aft repair locker.  We were the relief hoseteam for the engineering hose team.  Everybody is generally crapping bricks.  As things progress, one guy manages to slam his hand in a fitting closing it.  Our back up generator spikes, and causes an electrical fire in the associated switchboard.  Yes, two fires for the price of one!  Our newest electrical powered phones(IVCS), were now officially useless.  I had been told when I asked, “It is highly improbable that we will lose forward and aft electricity all at once.”  The brand new nugget of a Damage Control Assistant was on the ball.  “Loss of comms.  Reestablish via soundpowered circuit 2JZ.”  Sound powered phones require no electricity whatsoever.  Very much akin to two tin cans on a string.  Our nugget of a locker officer, wasn’t sure where it was, or how to use it.  We managed to unf*&%$ ourselves and get both fires out.  A lot of training later ensued on using basic communication equipment.  Apparently, our nugget wasn’t the only one confused.  As we were given the all clear, the bells started ringing for the Flying Squad, which is the rapid response emergency party.  We thought it was a mistake.  Not so.  This is a good place to reiterate that every single drainage valve and fitting is closed during General Quarters.  A chopper pilot decided that the lack of shower traffic during this emergency meant he could shower.  He opened the deck drain.  As he showered, the water hit the next closed valve, and came back up the way it went in.  This caused the “JO Jungle” set of staterooms, and the Warrant Officer staterooms, to be flooded to about one half inch deep.  By the way, DO NOT PISS OFF A WARRANT OFFICER is in the top five of things not to do in the Navy.  That poor pilot wished he would have paid more attention in Damage Control Familiarization training.  There you have it.  Two fires, one personnel injury, and a flooded space, all while evading a typhoon.  Adventure indeed.

Weapon stuff

In my short life, I have used or become familiar with lethal and less than lethal weapons.  Every thing from a thousand pounds of BOOM! to a few ounces of WHACK!  I personally like the option of less than lethal when it exists.  If I can give a stupid, not normally malicious person, a second chance, I will.  All they might have is a charlie horse, or a bruised arm.  My mind sees lethal and less than lethal as two different people.  The drunk guy with beer muscles trying to grab the OODs gun and being stupid, as opposed to a gun brandishing certified bad guy.  I am not a hippie or a let’s all turn guns into shovels guy.  Sometimes less than lethal is not an option.  But, everything from baton to bomb have a common denominator.  Individually, that item is just a hunk of wood, plastic, what have you.  During Kempo class, the Instructor was asking us what was more dangerous, the stick, or the hand?  That one was easy.  To make the point for the less weapon savvy, he set the stick down, and asked if it could hurt him from there.  “No!  It is the hand that wields the weapon that is the danger.”  I agree.

History

For those of you that don’t know history, let me give you a primer in true snipe fashion.  King George was pulling dirty political tricks on the colonists.  The colonists called BS! in true Yankee fashion.  They had the balls to fight tooth and nail for their rights.  Off the top of my head, here are some of the dirty tricks.  Meetings in strange,uncomfortable, and inconvenient locations.  Taxation without represenatation(The power to tax is the power to kill-Franklin).  Now, the dimmocrats are up to the same dirty tricks with the Republicans.  Not inviting them to meetings, and then giving them guff for not attending.  Wanting to use taxes to support voter fraud.  The last time this happened, there was a shot heard round the world.  I may slightly misquote this next part, but the sentiment remains.  “Alas, the Tree of Liberty, must from time to time be watered with the blood of true patriots.”  I think it was either John Adams or James Madison.  Please leave a comment if you happen to know the correct quote.  Trivia for the day, James Madison crossed the Delaware with George Washington.  He was a member of the VA militia.  We need ballsy men(or women) like that back in the halls of government.  The link to the the State of Mass Confusion(aka Mass Backwards) has the post that set off this mini rant.

So, somebody finally called BS

I think I just fell in love with Governor Blunt of MO.  I guess this how this whole checks and balances thing works.  Granted, it should have been the courts, but he basically said that sh^t don’t fly in my state.  I hope those law enforcement clowns get fired.  No more truth squad.  WFW(spoken Whiskey, Foxtrot, Whiskey). It  is phonetic alphabet for wha, f’ing, wha.

Respect

I do not like people who lack respect.  My parents taught me from very young about how to respect things that needed respect.  Things such as the US Flag, elders, veteans, police, firefighters, etc.  On Guam, a little respect goes a long way.  I have made a lot of friends here by showing basic respect.  A lot of people have asked me why I refer to Mr. McCain as such, or as Senator McCain.  It is very simple.  He is an honorably discharged Naval Officer(I don’t remember if he retired or not), who is also a Senator.  As such, per long standing regulations he must be addressed or spoken of respectfully.  Of course, I may, on my own time, voice disagreements with his policies.  Unfortunately, if that other Senator gains office, I will be obliged to speak respectfully of him, truth squad or not.

Dear old Mom

My Mom is one of her only family members that doesn’t vote dimmocrat.  She feels she would be shooting my brother, a Staff Sergean in the USAF, and myself in the back if she did.  This leads to a lot of consternation from her parents, which are both old school party line dimmocrats.  If someone with a D after their name said S*^t was the cure for cancer, they would line up to eat it.  I love my family, but when they ask me about political stuff, i give what the USN calls “intterrogation answers”.  Short and simple such as, “That man is my Commander-In-Chief and I am requied by federal law not to say bad things about him in public.”  That usually does the trick.  it’s a bit of a stretch, but I usually don’t want to hear a bunch of ranting and raving.  From my Mom comes an e-mail worth a look. 

Slip of the Tongue OR Was It???? 
 
57 STATES
What’s in the heart comes out via the tongue! 

Hey, folks, you want to tweak the Drive-By Media with me right now?

You are aware, probably, that Barack Obama lost his bearings recently and said
that he was going to campaign in all 57 states.

You heard this ? And most everybody chalked it up to, ‘Well,  he’s tired.’

You know, this is a Dan Quayle moment. I mean, Dan Quayle goes out there and
misspells ‘potato,’ and we still hear jokes about it.

Barack Obama says he’s gonna go out and campaign in 57 states!

He was just tired, you know, it’s been such a long campaign, he’s been so many
places, he probably thinks there are 57 states.

Well, I have here a printout from a web site called the
International Humanist and Ethical Union.

And here is how the second paragraph of an article on that website begins.

‘Every y ear from 1999 to 2005 the organization of the Islamic conference
representing the
57 Islamic states
presented a resolution to the United Nations Commission on human rights called
combating.’

Obama said he’s going to campaign in 57 states, and it turns out that there are
57 Islamic states.

There are 57 Islamic states!

So did Obama just lose his bearings, or was this a more telling slip, ladies and
gentlemen?

The rest is up to you.

Weekly Navy jargon

This week’s term is sea lawyer.  As alluded to earlier, they are usually an unholy pain in the the ass.  A sea lawyer “excels” in quoting the fine points of regulations, usually to avoid work.  The best way to deal with one is the phrase “Show me in writing.”  If sea lawyers were correct half the time, SN would be leading Petty Officers, we would be required to get off early for doing any actual work, and they would have to get 8 hours of sleep per night.  The rules for sleep are two hours in time of peace, one in time of war.  Many future posts will probably pertain to sea lawyers, because they are freaking everywhere!

Somebody needs bitch slapped

with the Bill of Rights.  Over half of my blogroll has the video talking about Missouri “Truth Squads”.  It wouldn’t even be funny if it was in Mad Magazine or The Onion.  I can think of a few of the amendments to The Bill of Rights this doesn’t set right with.  I am officially pissed.  I know men who have died defending the Constitution.  Now this assclown wants to urinate all over it, and their memory.  I almost want to move to Missouri just to stir the shit.  Now I want to scream from the rooftops the B. Hussein is a jackass, a communist, and a terrorist.

But he can’t…can he?

My two special children, FN Pokey and SN Gumby, sometimes forget they are in the Navy.  I do not like being interrupted during morning quarters(formation, roll call, etc).  One day, we decided to not wear covers and be informal.  Sn Gumby, the resident sea lawyer(unholy pain in the ass), would not shut up about uniformity.  Being a Petty Officer Second Class, I can usually keep things going.  My pointed reminders to be quiet were falling on deaf ears.  I have a normal speaking voice, and my military voice, which we call a command voice.  I had had enough.  “HAZMAT DIVISION, ATTEN SHUN.  PAH RADE REST!”  We do not speak at parade rest, and it is uncomfortable as hell.  SN Gumby was sure I couldn’t do that.  As soon as he tried to open his mouth, I informed him pointedly that we do not speak at parade rest.  Apparently, he was feeling guilty, because he thought I was going to write him up.  The junior second(an MM2), who had seen the whole thing, pulled him aside and explained that the words this kid was putting in my mouth were never uttered by me.  And, since I was the acting LPO, I did not need anyone’s permission to write him up if I so desired.  I didn’t of course, because our usually short quarters had morphed into twenty minutes of them standing at parade rest.

The art of snerk

On some days, my wit can be razor sharp.  In 9 years, I have seen a lot of people be a lot of things.  FN Pokey wanted me to take him to a porn store outside of the tourist trap district where the liberty bus drops sailors off.  I mention this to the roommate, who has no semblance of a brain mouth filter.  He usually says what everyone is thinking.  He wants to come along, too.  We are planning to give this kid a hard time.  In the store, I immediately find the biggest, nastiest, bell and whistle having dildo, and at the top of my lungs holler, “FN Pokey, is this what you were looking for?”  I think he tried to crawl under the nearest book shelf.