Two things that are just as prevalent underway as in port are training and drills. Training isn't much different; we have all the same sessions, just compressed into a shorter time frame. One noticeable difference is that now, the training at least feels more relevant than it did in the shipyard. There, we were in a long term shutdown, but our focus was geared toward an operating plant. Now that we actually have one, the lectures seem more worthwhile. As for drills, they're easier now because there are far fewer parameters to simulate. We can also actually take many more of the casualty actions than we could in the yard. When we went to run drills yesterday, the Submersible Death Trap fell back on one of its old habits - it ran real casualties back on us. In the middle of the set, we lost a machine and ended up in a totally unbriefed and unexpected condition, one that required us to step back, assess, recover, and ultimately scrap the rest of the drill agenda. As seems to often be the case, BilgeMonkey was on watch when all this went down. The plant has an affinity for going out of whack when he's involved.
Radio has come through for us these past two days, by pulling down the latest editions of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. Thus the major questions I posed two days ago have all been answered. (Obama has sealed up the nomination, Big Brown royally stunk up Belmont Park, and the Celtics held serve in the NBA Finals.)
Finally, some recent quotes from the bowels of Memphis. All names are changed to protect the innocent - and by "innocent," I mean "witty and/or foolish."
"I have no problem with my under instruction shanking you." - Carbs
LevelSeventy: "Not exactly." Carbs: "What is this, a fucking Hertz commercial?"
Mumbles: "I'm looking forward to some alcoholic beverages." Carbs: "You mean speech therapy, Mumbles?"
ForrestSabre: "We all love the environment." JackBauer: "Not so much."
LevelSeventy: "I found a hanger for my water bottle." CornFed: "I found a hanger to get rid of babies I don't want."
"I don't know if want to go [to New Orleans]. They're so whiny. They have one little hurricane..." - CornFed
