Just wanted to thank all those who prayed for me this morning and thank the Lord for the strength He gave me cuz without it I wouldn't have passed the physical readiness test (PRT) at 5am this morning!! I did 58 curl-ups, 40 push-ups and ran 1 1/2 miles in 11:52...I know, they aren't the best scores but they are passing and are quite an improvement for me!! I was really worried I wouldn't be able to do enough push-ups but the Lord gave me the strength to do 3 more then the minimum I had to do.

On a side note...the Navy just gave us all brand new Tungsten E palm pilots!! I haven't had time to play with it yet but it looks really nice. Definitely an up grade compared to the one I have been using. Guess there are some perks to being in the Navy! :-)

The weekend of freedom is about over. :-( Though we screwed up our rooms and almost failed room inspections on Friday (so we were told- too much dust...like we're going to get all of it cleaned up!) we still were granted off-base liberty Saturday and Sunday (though we had to drill on Saturday morning but at least we got that out of the way). So 5 of us- including Nikki, Micah and I- head to Boston on Saturday. The original plan was to take the Amtrak from Providence to Boston but we left to late to catch the train so decided to drive up to Boston, park at a subway station and take the subway to downtown. There we walked The Freedom Trail which is a trail that leads you to 16 (I think) historic sites such as Paul Revere's house, the site of the Boston Massacre and the USS Constitution. Of course we had to be in uniform- summer whites (OIS rules) and as annoying as that was/is we did look sharp. So after getting a free ride on the subway we had lunch at a quaint Italian place we found on a side street. The food was wonderful and we were stuffed BUT the manager/owner/boss wanted to treat us to dessert so we all had connoli (I hope I spelled that right) which was quite good! Then we walked the trail which is pretty much what we did all day. There is way too much to see in just one afternoon but it was a lot of fun. We were stopped by a lot of people who wanted to thank us for serving or ask other random questions. Sometimes it was cool but other times just annoying. :-) We got into one museum free which was good cuz I don't think it was worth the price had we had to pay. By the time we made it to the USS Constitution (nicknamed Old Ironsides, built in 1790's) it was closed for tours for the day BUT since it still has a crew of Navy sailors that give the tours (I think that would be a wonderful duty station!) and since we were in uniform (officer's at that!) they were happy to allow us to come on board and a first class petty officer gave us our own tour!! It was definitely a highlight of the day as we learned so much about the constitution. It was also weird boarding an official Navy vessel where everyone was saluting us! It's still a little hard for us to get used to people calling us sir/ma'am when they are twice our age and often have been in the Navy as long as we've been alive!! From that point, which is the end of the trail, we started back stopping at Coldstone Creamery for yummy ice cream. We caught the subway a little earlier this time and didn't walk all the way back to the start- again riding for free. :-) By this time I was ready to head home- too long in the sun and not enough water. But it was a great experience and I hope I can get back to Boston sometime while I am stationed on the East Coast. Today we went to a church that micah found an "ad" for in the Navy paper. It turned out that the pastor, Kerry Baker, graduated from Cedarville in '01 (at the age of 38 no less)!! And the members of the church were very friendly, the music really good and we sang a lot...so it was a very positive experience!! Then we spent the afternoon at Barnes and Noble, TJ Max, and Wal-mart...oh, after lunch at Taco Bell! It was very exciting...though still very annoying to have to wear summer whites! :-) This evening Nikki, Micah and I watched What a Girl Wants while we shined our shoes in preparation for service dress blues inspection tomorrow (don't be confused by the term "dress blues"- they are really black. And people think I am color blind!) :-) And now I have things to do and am wasting time in here. Oops! Well, I am almost done with OIS and I couldn't be happier...I'll make it!

For some reason I am unable to read my comments using the computers here in our dorm. So, for those who are reading my blog and commenting, thanks and I am sorry that I am not responding to those comments...all 2 of them. :-)

Anyway...last night was "Battlestations" and we all survived! Until 6:30pm the day was just like any other day except we didn't have any PT in the morning (which actually made it a wonderful day!). Then at about 6:30pm we started Battlestations with the announcement of "general quarters, general quarters! All hands report to your battle stations!" This is the announcement used on ships during a general quarters drill or in case of an actual emergency. When heard, all of us, like those on a ship, headed to our repair locker. In our case just one of the wings on the 3rd deck (in a ship the repair locker would be certain areas of the ship). We were dressed in PT gear with coveralls over that, OIS ball cap, black socks with coveralls tucked into them and sneakers. We also had our seabags with all the gear that we might need during the night...basically just changes of clothes and a couple power bars. We had to "abandon" ship last night as she was sinking and so the night began. There were 3 repair lockers and we had 23 people in ours. Our first stop was the Buttercup where we saved our ship by patching up the holes and repairing the broken pipes. Like before, this was a very fun evolution. My role was investigator which means I went down first and found the damage and reported back to the scene leader who sent repair teams out. It was a physically easy job and so the whole thing was a lot of fun. Our next stop was mass casualty where we divided up again. I was assigned to a litter/stretcher team. First we had to move a bunch of supplies that were blocking the hallway of the ship and then we had to bring out our injured shipmates...can't remember what the actually scenario was but there were a bunch of injured sailors on the middle and lower levels of the engine rooms and so we had to bring our stretchers down into the compartment and bring out the injured. It takes a lot of work to haul the litters up and down the ladders! We took the injured to triage where others in my repair locker were triaging them and taking care of them. This evolution turned out to be a lot of fun too. It was "smoky" and dim and it was a little stressful but I am sure nothing like a real emergency. :-) We then marched over to the pool where the scenario was the USS Indianapolis which sank in 13 minutes in 1945 (I think it was). After putting on a shirt and pants they turned out the lights in the building and we had to jump off the 5 foot tower and then swim 6 lengths of the pool together as a group to simulate swimming 200 yards away from our sinking ship. We then gathered in a circle and talked about home to keep our morale up. :-) Following that we all got into a life raft (a big 16 person one) and learned about survival at sea...very basics of course. The survivors of the Indianapolis were at sea for 84 hours before they were found...almost 900 made it off the ship alive but only 300+ were rescued alive. :-( This evolution was fun and it was nice being in the water. Swimming in the dark was a little scary at first but it really wasn't too bad. Don't forget by this time it's like 1 in the morning! We then marched 2 or 3 miles to the firefighting trainer. The march was probably the worst part of the night! I was exhausted, sleepy, and my feet were wet cuz it kept raining off and on. But I made it! At firefighting the scenario was the USS Stark was was hit by two missiles igniting a major fire that made the inside of the ship reach 2500 degree in a short amount of time. Obviously we didn't do anything with temperatures that hot. We basically did the same things we did the first time we were at the firefighting trainer except this time we had to move quickly...very quickly and it was a little unnerving cuz I couldn't wear my glasses and so my range of vision was quite limited and though I could handle everything find I just feel flustered and out of sorts when not wearing my glasses! :-) Fortunately that doesn't last long cuz those suits are so hot!! And the fire was only about 150 degrees. The next 2 evolutions were team building exercises. One involved being shot at with paintball guns...I was hit once but unfortunately it was in the head so it sting quite a bit and I have a knot that is very tender! Not my favorite activity of the night. Our last evolution ended about 5:45am and for some reason they had a bus come pick us up and bring us back to the dorm!! I think it was because the road was too busy and not because they felt sorry for us. :-) After a short debrief we went to chow...dirty, sweaty, tired and very hungry. We threw laundry in the machines, hit the showers and then all hit the racks (about 8am)!! I slept till almost 3pm and since then have been working on odds and ends...did all my laundry, read mail, had chow etc. I am actually already kinda tired again even though I've only been up 5 hours. :-) We don't have PT in the morning but instead have drill...but even that's better then PT...well, sorta! Oh, I chose my poses etc for the formal picture they took here at OIS. I was quite pleased with how my pictures turned out. Spent a lot of money on the pictures but I didn't think they were overpriced...I know all the family wants one! (Well, my siblings better want one! ;-)) Guess that's pretty much it. I am very glad Battlestations is done...we're pretty much finished with things here...just have to go through the actions until graduation now! yay!! Maybe I'll make it after all. :-)

Wow! I don't even know where to begin as I attempt to explain what the past 3 weeks have been like...some words that come to mind are: frustrating, impossible, exhausting, boring, exciting, stressful, hilarious, stupid, insane, eye-opening, exhausting, lonely, fun, challenging. I am sure I could think of more but that's good for now. It has definitely been a challenging 3 weeks...more than I ever imagined. I really considered quitting the first week and had it not been so difficult even to quit would probably have done it! I had no clue the transition from civilian life to military life would be so hard. Then add to that the fact that we get 6 hours (max) of sleep each night- getting up at 4am- and doing more physical activity then I've done all my life (yeah, I know, I am way out of shape!). Things were just very tough. As the weeks have gone by we are getting more freedoms and things are getting easier...I am sure part of it is that we're adjusting to this lifestyle but they are also letting up on us. In fact, this weekend we had on base liberty meaning we can go anywhere on base we want, for the first time since we've been here. (And we actually have Monday off!!) And Micah, Nikki and I had special permission to attend a local Baptist church so we got off base for the first time in 3 weeks too!!! Last night Nikki and I went to the Officer's Club with many other classmates but we were only there 2 hours and weren't impressed at all. Basically just a place to get get some drinks...in fact several people came back to the dorm pretty drunk. :-( Anyway, it's been hard too because of all the little rules that we just find frustrating. The first week or two we couldn't talk during our 10 minute meals, couldn't have caffeine and still can't have dessert. Our rooms have to be spotless and beds made to precision, uniforms pressed and everything pinned on perfectly (get out that ruler!) It's kinda fun wearing the uniforms cuz it makes me feel like I am really in the military but they too can be annoying...have you ever tried to eat meals wearing an all white outfit that can only be dry cleaned?!! We can only use the phones (even our cell phones) on the weekends. I guess coming from our independent lives is why it has been such a challenge...I can't imagine being married and having kids and coming to OIS...that would be even harder!! We spend most of our time now in class trying to stay awake and trying to absorb a little bit of Navy knowledge. We've already had our "final" so paying attention in class is even harder now! The first week was a lot of administration stuff which made it easier to stay awake during the days. We actually don't do that much physical training...just an hour or so at 5am and sometimes another hour in the evenings for those of us out of shape. :-) I am getting better but still have a long way to go. We have done some fun things and I am going to paste what micah wrote about those cuz he says it well so here's his version of "Buttercup" and firefighting.

Firefighting- we had lots of briefing and lectures about it and then put on all the equipment, oxygen tanks, boots, the fireproof suit, the helmet, etc... and fought fires in a dark building with fire hoses and extinguishers. It was all simulated at the firefighting school nearby. Great teamwork exercise! I agree with micah...it was fun but definitely physically exhausting. I have a lot more respect for firefighters now! And it was a little unnerving to breathe wearing the masks and tanks...guess it would be simliar to scuba diving which I've never done. Great learning experience though!

Ship Repair "Buttercup"-- this was the same kind of thing.. but the ship (simulated) was filling with water and we were to patch the holes while it was filling... up to our chests in water, using precut wood and rubber seals to patch "missle holes".. .lots of teamwork involved... quite exciting. Again, lots of fun...even more then the firefighting. I am sure this wouldn't be fun in a real situation but in this case it was fun- total chaos in a "ship" filling with water...what could be better? :-) That was a definite highlight of that week and probably even OIS.

We're down to 2 weeks and counting. Graduation is Sept. 17th and we're all counting the days. The next 2 weeks shouldn't be too bad unless we make too many mistakes or goof off and get in trouble...I am hoping people are smarter than that but after last night I am not so sure!