Duty

So with my ship winding down to go on deployment the crew has split into two leave periods; half of them taking off the first two weeks and the second half taking the last two weeks off before we leave. Because of this, the crew that remains has duty every third day. Since I am new and haven't built up any leave I get to be around for all of the POM period. That means for a month, every third day is spent on the ship. Duty day means that turnover starts at 0645 on one day and you do not leave the ship until the next day at 0645. If that day happens to roll into another work day during the week then you stay on the ship and continue to work until you are done for the day.

During the week duty can turn one long day into three long days. Especially for me. I do not have a division yet, so most of my day is spent with online training and shadowing people to learn their jobs. On duty days, it turns into very long days. And the way schedule works it ends up taking away one of your weekend days as well. Even if you have duty on Sunday, it takes away your Saturday night, and the best of the week to relax and enjoy some time off. There is some good things about duty though. I get to stand watch with my shipmates and its a good chance to get to know them better. Its also a chance for me to start getting qualified, start becoming useful. Slowly but surely I am starting to get the hang of things. I am starting to find my place, which in turn allows a little bit of my personality to come out. I am starting to feel like myself and then I can enjoy what I am doing.

I'll keep you posted.