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. :-)