Nathan’s Ramblings

So I am getting down to the last months of my Navy career, well not really I got about 8 months left to go but the time could not go any sooner. A lot of my friends and my family keep asking me why I do not stay in and make a career out of it. For one it is not for me, I do not like the micromanagement thing. If I was married that may be a different story and I might reconsider. I do get paid a little more than the average Joe because I have a daughter, but I am not married, me and the old lady broke up before I had joined, and I have stayed single since and it has been a blast.

I am getting exceptionally good at shooting pool, and that will be the thing that I miss most about living here in Virginia. The other day me and Paco were shooting a race to 10 playing nine ball, and I managed to clear two racks from the break. One of the racks I had ran the entire table, the other one I sunk the nine ball off of a combo. By the time we were on our way to our second race in nine ball, I was getting kind of tipsy, like I had said in a previous post that they have waitresses there at Q-Masters and they are very friendly, they do a good job of talking me into getting and buying drinks, and for some reason I am a sucker and I always give in to their charm.

We only have one short cruise left, well, me and my career as a sailor I will only have one cruise left. That will only be for a couple of weeks, and I cant give the details of why we will be going out on this cruise, they do not tell us lowly petty officers a lot of information, I really don’t care either way because I know that I am a short timer and my time clock is ticking, I am almost there and I almost made it.

When I get out I plan on going to school full time, I will have about 6 months off through getting unemployment and I will use all of that time by taking classes. I will not have to pay for tuition nor will I have to pay for any books, because the navy offered me the Montgomery gi bill which will pay up to 30 grand for college. I want to go into something like internet marketing, that way one day I can work for an seo company and make tons of money. I may change my mind though, I do like to mess with computers so whatever I decide to do it will definitely be computer related.

I do not regret making the choice of serving for my country, it has made me a better person and has shown me a lot more discipline than when I was younger and just a normal citizen. I still have quite ways to go though and I will enjoy that time by staying in the gym and working out, and of course playing some pool with my homie Paco

The best thing about being out to sea for a long time is, that when you come back you have a lot of money that is in the bank seeing that you can spend much while you are out there. So today I went shopping for some new clothes, because I am in dying need of some clothes. My store of chice, keep it cheap, marshalls all the way.

I got myself a cool pair of nikes, about 4 shirts and a couple pairs of pants. Also got me a cool looking little ecko hat. The next place that I went to was the NEX mall that they have in Virginia, which is open to all military and their family members, they have way better deals on a lot of electronics and stuff because the store isn’t taxed as much as other regular civilian owned corporations.

With that being said I got myself a crap load of DVD’s, a new laptop, and a bunch of cool vide3o games for the computer, which I could probably live without but I know that I will be playing the hell out of them, I have nothing but time on my hands. Just a short post today, explaining that basically I spent a grand today in a matter of hours.

So the ship has finally returned into port, and the time couldn’t have came any sooner, actually it very well could have but I am just glad to be back. No more waves rocking the boat back and forth, no more fire drills when we are only working on about 2-4hours of sleep if we are lucky. No more 14 hour days, no more saving tons of money, oh well now it is time to spend some money and party, I deserve it, my shipmates deserve it, we all deserve it. Now I can back into playing pool, getting my drink on and meeting some nice local girls from the United States again.

Not that I have any complaints what so ever about the foreign ladies over in Spain and Greece, it was the communication barrier that was the hardest part of it. But either way I am just glad that we are all back safe and unharmed, things can get crazy and dangerous when you are out in the sea of enemy waters, not that there is a country that has the power of our navy, but it is always best when the confrontation is avoided, we were only there for our presence.

Since I have been out to sea though I have got into way better shape, the best shape that I have been in my whole life, I know for a fact this is going to end though. There is no way that I can keep up with hitting the gym hard for 2 hours a day, 5-6 days a week when I am in port. I am just not that type of person, I enjoy my time that I have off way too much to do put all my spare time into trying to look like captain America. I like having fun, I like spending money and I like to party and shoot pool, meet people, relax, watch tv and movies when I get the chance to take some time off you know what I mean.

Being out at sea so long, I really didn’t have many ways to spend money, I didn’t have to pay rent electricity, phone bill, nothing. Everything was taken care of because I had lived on board in the first place, so over the half of year plus I was out to sea I had managed to save a substantial amount of money, to be exact I know have over 7 grand in my bank account. Not bad for a lowly E-4, but not the best either. The thing is if you want to make money in the military you either have to be above a chief, an officer, have children, or be married, then you will make extra income just because that is the way the military system is designed. You will also get free housing, meaning that you will not have to live on the ship, your house will be paid for by the military as long as it is not a million dollar home or anything. I am just happy that we are not out to sea anymore, the sucky part of it is we will probably be back out to sea within a couple of months, but it will not be for a long period like the previous one that I had just went through.

It has been a couple months since I last posted on this blog, and that is due to the fact that I am still out at sea. We did manage to land and dock at a couple of ports though, which was a great relief, and it was some time that was much needed off. The first port that we had docked up in is Spain. Spain is a wonderful country and I much enjoyed my visit there. There was some great places to shop, the food was great, and the guys I went out with as liberty buddies were Spanish, so they could communicate with all of the locals. The beaches were beautiful and the so were all of the women that were there, the locals were very friendly too.

I only got to go out in town a couple nights seeing that I had to stand a duty day while we were in port, but those two days that I got off was what I needed. I got a chance to eat some great food, and also got a chance for me to get a nice buzz on, which was well deserved. I did get a chance to go to the Universal Studios that was in Spain, which was amazing, cost me a pretty penny but when you cant go out and spend money because you are stuck on a ship you tend to rack up a good amount of money.

The second place that we had pulled into a couple of days later was Greece, and that country was amazing. The shopping there was way better than spain in my opinion. I had purchased a couple of antique swords while I was there, you are not allowed to bring them onto the ship and bring them back to the states with you, but the merchants offered to mail them to the United States that way I wouldn’t have to worry about getting into trouble with the Navy.

The food that we got in Greece was not as good as it was in Spain I must say, or maybe I am just very picky about what I want to eat. There were beaches also in Greece, which was cool and the weather was very warm so me and my friends got a chance to catch some rays, which my skin needs after being inside a ship for about 3 months straight not seeing that much sunlight. Overall the port visits that our ship had turned out to be great, I took a lot of pictures, and I had bought a lot of post cards for family members. Also left with a good amount of souvenirs in my hand, I spent a couple of grand but was well worth it.

So we have been underway out to sea for a couple of weeks now. With all of the marines that are on board it is getting, and is, very crowded. See I work in the hydraulic shop as an engineer, the good thing about this is that we also control the washing and drying machines that are on the ship. A couple of years ago someone had put a washer and dryer in our shop, which means that we do not have to sit down in the hole, at the ships laundry room for hours at a time to do a load of laundry. We get priority over everyone else, because we only have to wait for the people that are in our division to finish, not the whole damn ship and all of the marines that are on it.

One thing that sucks is since there are so many people that are on the ship, we have restrictions on when we cant do laundry even though the machine is in our shop. These are called water hours, the ships evaporator can only make so much potable water a day, and when the ship is packed you can easily go over the limit of the maximum amount of potable water. Laundry is the least important, showers and drinking water are essential. Then every now and then we will have an evaporator that will stop working, there are only 2 on the ship so if one is out of commission then we have to bust our ass to fix it or there are going to be a lot of thirsty and smelly marines and sailors.

On a side note, I have been going to the gym every single day, my plan is to be super buff by the time we return home in about 5 months from now. This is the best time to work out, because there is really not much else that you can do, but sit around and watch movies or read books, play video games. Some people choose to do this but I prefer to benefit my body and my health, and getting my ass in shape. I maxed out today at 200 pounds on the bench press, not bad for a 170 pounder but I know that in a couple of months I will be lifting a lot more than that. I am looking forward to bettering myself, plus I do not have all of those extra calories from alcohol anymore, since there is no drinking aloud on board for the enlisted.

In a couple of days our ship will be going out to sea, we will be on a very long cruise. No one knows for sure how long the cruise will last, but it will be at least 6 months. We will be going over to the Arabian sea, right by Iraq, right where all of the action is. This will be my first big cruise, I have been out to see for a couple of weeks at a time but have never been out to sea for anywhere even close to 6 months at a time. This is another good reason why I do not have a girlfriend, for these 6 months I don’t have to worry and sweat over if she is cheating on me or not.

There is about 500 of us navy personel that are on the ship, before we set sail and leave we will be bringing on about 1000 marines. Which means that it is going to get a lot more crowded on board the ship. The lines in chow hall are going to be a lot longer, the ships gym is going to be packed all to the time. The ship store is going to sell out of all of the good products quicker than usual. The final thing is there are going to be a lot of marines that are puking and getting sea sick while we are out to sea. Most of us navy personel are used to it because it is our job. A lot of the marines that are being brought on board are not, therefore they are most likely going to get seasick, this will only last for a couple of weeks though, then they will all get used to it. I am looking forward to this long journey, I wont get to post and browse the internet as much as I would like, but there is internet access on the ship so I will be able to check in from time to time.

So I had a great weekend this week, see I happen to live with a couple of my navy buddies, and we only live about 10 minutes from base which is very cool. We are renting a small house and the location of the house is nearly perfect. We are kind of far from the beach which is a downside, but living here in Virginia it really doesn’t matter especially because of the ship that we are stationed on. The only time that you can really go to the beach here in the big VA is in the summer time, other wise it is way to cold to even bother. No tourists even visit here in the winter and fall, and our ship just loves to go underway out to sea during the warmer months, so I do not get to see much of the beach at all.

Let me get back to the great weekend, all three of us were off for the weekend which is a rarity. Me, my homies paco and Gonzo. So we decided that we would throw a little bar-b-que get together and invite some of our other shipmates over, they had to bring either some beer or food of course right. That is what makes a great barbque when you have everyone contributing some stuff. Me and paco went to a local bar earlier that game, there was a good football game on and we happened to meet a couple of college girls too. So we told them about the barbeque and they actually agreed to come, and the funny thing is that they had actually showed up. Go figure.

We had everything that we need by about 7 pm, we had cases of corona and other types of beers. We had ribs, steaks, hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, you name it, it was probably there. On top of that Gonzo had a pretty good sound system and we had hooked it up so it would play outside. So we had some loud music playing too, and the best part about the location that we live in, there are no houses or apartments that are next to us. There is just some small business that closes at about 4 oclock, so no one ever complains when we are playing our music loud, or just outside talking real loud.

The little party turned out to be quite successful. Me and Paco got to get to know a couple of girls and maybe we will see them again. There was so much food there, we didn’t even eat half of it, altogether there were about 12 people too. I am still full from the barbecue. The part that sucks now is that I have to go back to work in the morning, but that’s what life is all about right, work hard and play hard, eat good food and have good times.

So I had just got off a hard days of work, and in my off time since I am in Virginia, I like to shoot some pool every now and then. It is more often than rare that is for sure I try and go to the pool hall a couple of times a week to improve my skills. Here in Norfolk there is a place called Q-masters, and it is one of the biggest pool halls in the United States. There are nearly 100 tables that are there ranging from all sorts of sizes, from a couple of bar sized tables, to tournament tables, and the big ones like the snooker tables, which I do not get into that much.

So when I am playing there at the pool hall the game that I like to play is 9-ball, why do I like 9-ball? Because there is a simple set of rules and they do not change no matter where you are playing. There are so many different rules that are applied when playing 8 ball it is ridiculouos. Everyone has there own rules and people tend to make up rules especially if they are playing for some money and things do not go there way. I just choose to stay away from 8-ball altogether.

So me and my friend paco go there every weekend that we are not on duty, why do we go there, because we like playing pool and it keeps us out of trouble. If we are not there we are at a small gentlemans club that has a couple of pool tables, me and paco know the owners so we never have to pay an entrance fee which is cool as hell. There are a lot of good pool players that come in and out of Q-masters, they also hold a lot of professional championships there which is pretty fun to sit back and watch. It is a great learning experience to, just sitting back relaxing and watching how the professionals play the game, and they make it so easy too.

The cool thing about the place is that they have waitresses there that will come up to your table and serve you, which being where I am from they really don’t have anything as exceptional as they do there. So that is why me and Paco always go back, and the waitresses that are there are very cute also, I have tried to hook up with one, and she promised me a date once I kick her butt in a game of pool, which is set up for next week. We will see what happens and what the outcome of the game and the date will be.

This is a typical work day for me onboard a ship, I have to get up at about 630 am, hop in the shower and shave, yes I have to shave every day. It sucks because they want to make sure that you are clean cut and your appearance is always supposed to look professional. I don’t have to go that far to get ready because I live on board the ship, not everyone lives on board as a matter of fact most people don’t. I do so because it is free, I don’t have to pay any bills or anything. The bad thing is a lot of my shipmates live on board to, and I have to stay in the same barracks as a lot of them, and a lot of them are complete dirtbags that do not know how to take care of themselves.

Anyways besides that, after I am done with my shower I have to get into my uniform, which is always supposed to be clean and pressed. So they want your uniform to have the military creases in it and be ironed every day, but for the lowely E-2 we have to do it ourselves everyday, which is some bull because once you get up in the rankings you have a group of lowely e2s and e-3s that do it for them. With our salary we really don’t like spending our money on getting our uniforms pressed, we would rather be saving our money, drinking at a bar, playing video games or doing something fun with the little bit of money that we make.

So once I am all cleaned up and have my uniform on and ready, then I have to meet up with my division for a muster, which is at 715 am. Which is basically nothing but the division standing there at attention and doing absolutely nothing but listening to our bosses chew us out for something, and telling us on what a crappy job we are doing no matter how good of a job we may be doing. Then its off to cleaning all of the passage ways and spaces that are assigned to our division. So we sit there and we clean, its called cleaning stations and it lasts for about an hour. Then we will look at some service calls, I work in the hydraulic shop so I have to work on elevators an stuff, which can be fun but can also be a pain in the ass too. Then after we are done working or farting off or whatever, we usually get off at about 4 oclock, unless the higher ups are pissed that they didn’t get laid or something and then they will make us stay late, when most of the other divisions will get off at noon or close to it. On top of that once every 6 days we have to go on duty, which means that we are stuck on the ship, and we have to stand watches and stuff, there is a rotation so one rotation we might have a watch that is from midnight to 4 am, others may vary. It does give me some time to write and get some steam off my chest though, and oh ya, there is plenty of internet surfing going on while I am on duty.

Hello every body and I am here to welcome you to my blog. First off let me start of by introducing myself to you all, my name is Nathan and I am 24 years old. I am currently loving in the crappy city of Norfolk, all the way in Virginia. I started this blog basically just to let off some steam that I have on my head. See my current position right now is that I am in the active military, and I am working on a ship called the Kerasarge. My position on the ship is an engineer, which reakky sucks compared to all of the other jobs that they have to offer in the Navy.

The thing about working as an engineer is that Is the job they will more than likely give you if you have a crappy score on the asvab test, which is a test that you must take before they will let you enroll in the navy, or any other branch of the military I believe. So ya I got a crappyu score on the asvab test so here I am with a crappy job in the military, but I will get more into that later on in the posts. I am currently single and I have no kids that I know about, which is a good thing because we are always traveling anyway, and I need the freedom that I can get.

Plus I do not have to worry about my girlfriend cheating on me when I go out to see because I don’t have a full time girlfriend, unlike a lot of my other friends that do, and I know that they are more than likely cheating on their man when they are out to sea. I know because I have slept with a couple of these women that had there signifiacnat others out to sea, but the guys were on a different ship. I think that its wrong but I didn’t do anything to provoke it at all, what can I say, it is what it is, they hit on me.

I have a wonderful family that lives in Clearwater florida, where I am originally from and grew up my whole life. I cant wait to see them again, I usually visit them about once a year when I get some leave from the military, which isn’t enough but it is better than nothing I guess. I will be out and my term will expire in three years, I had only signed up for 4 years so I am finished with one and I got 3 long years to go. I know that this sucks right now, and I know that it is going to be a tough and long journey but in the long run it will make me a better an more responsible person that will be successful in life, no matter what obstacles get in my way.