Deck Department, Crew Journal

November 1, 2009
The day started early for a Sunday, with anchor detail, and then flight ops starting a little after 10am. Now that we are back in open water deck force gathered on the rescue deck in case a helo should crash. After the original muster though, we were able to warm up inside as long as we stood ready in case anything should happen. By 1430 we were done for the day, except to stand by in case there were any pipes. There was a rush as shipmates went in search of either mail or phones. Thank you to all the friends and family that sent letters or packages. They were met with great joy and excitement. After so long with the only contact to those back home being e-mail, some of us spent several hours on the phone talking. Tomorrow is also holiday routine, as well as setting the clocks back one hour and getting a little extra sleep.

October 31, 2009
Today, being the last of the month, held a lot of events and changes. Tomorrow we say goodbye to the scientists who have been on board for the past month, as well as to shipmates BM3 Torres, SN Almeria, and SN Robinson-Rivera. We will also be welcoming aboard some new shipmates.
We did well on our inspection yesterday and that meant holiday routine, which was especially appreciated as tomorrow’s schedule is a regular work day complete with 18 helo trips to get all the scientists, supplies, and shipmates transferred.
It is also time for the mess cooks to change out again. The old mess cooks counted down the hours until their last day had come to a close, and the new mess cooks enjoyed their last day of deck force. December’s mess cook list has already been given as well, so that plans can be made for the rapidly approaching holidays.
It is also a Saturday night and that meant “Trivia Trivia Trivia.” The evenings questions were all slogans or catch phrases for companies and products, such as “Think outside the bun” or “The fabric of our lives.” It is also Halloween, and so for trivia a few of the crew dressed up in anticipation for the costume contest. There were some scary, and some creative costumes, but all inspired chuckles and smiles from shipmates.
There were three categories for prizes; scariest, most original, and best impersonation, with a gift card as the prize for each. The categories are as follows, contestants listed from greatest to least for number of votes. The first category held 3 contestants; FS2 Rainstar, SN Matthews, and Mr. Langelier. FS2 Rainstar had made use of Doc’s fake injuries for drills and made quite a gruesome site with blood and guts coming out everywhere. SN Matthews did a great job on creating realistic looking gashes, and with frizzled hair she made a scary zombie. Mr. Langelier was the first to enter, but dressed in Penguin Pete not as many people found him scary. The second category also held 3 contestants. Erin Sheridan had a creative polar bear costume, and represented one of the polar bears captured and tagged on this trip, complete with a collar, painted number. I went dressed as a snowball, with pillows, white clothing, and paper snowflakes taped all over. Mr. Langelier again tried with Penguin Pete. The final category had five contestants, XO and FN Brown entered as a team, Mr. Boyle, MST3 Tetreault, and again Mr. Langelier. However, XO and FN Brown had the competition won before it had even started dressed only as themselves. Mr. Boyle represented one of the scientists, and MST3 also made a good scientist dressed in a lab coat and rubber boots.
After the costume contest there were a lot of good snacks, and a scary movie was shown in the hangar. Although I had watch I still had some chills as while on watch we told stories of noises and shapes noticed while doing security or BMOW rounds.

~SN Klineburger