Fire Department?

While out to sea one of my jobs is to respond on the ship's fire department. While this is more work for me and it does take me away from my normal duties a few times a week, I enjoy it. I get to meet people from other work areas of the command that I would now know other wise and some times get to do things that no one else gets to.

My job there is medical of course, yet I always find other things to get my hands into. I frequently end up carrying supplies for the guys that are actually going into the space to fight the fire or stop the flooding. Sometimes I just block the passage ways and tell people that they have to go around. One cool thing about this is I get to be a bitch about it and somehow I gained the nick name 'Bull Dog'. (This is quite different from 'Monkey', but oh well. Besides, no one calls me that anymore.)

One day we were in the middle of training and my name was called. Due to my primary job I don't get called out much so it was strange. One of the guys standing next to me looked at me and said "Let's go" (his name was called out too). We walked to the other side of where our gear was set up and hung out with the other 6 people who's names were called. After about 5 minutes of waiting around we were told to walk up to the flight deck behind the DCA (don't worry about what it stands for, you won't get it). So we walk up there, (4 flights of stairs in a hurry) and walk to a weapons elevator and get our gear. I had 3 20 pound bags to my self! We carried it to a helo and threw it in. Unfortunately the fun stopped there.

What was planned? A trip to another ship that was out to sea with us. It was set up for us to fly by helo with out gear, go onto the other ship, take a tour, then return to work. How cool would that have been? I have been pretty lucky during my time in the Navy. I was in New Orleans for two years. Only 3 hours from home while I was adjusting to a new life style and celebrating Mardi Gras. Then I went to Okinawa, Japan and met wonderful people (Ed and Steph....I miss you), learned how to SCUBA dive in one of the worlds top 10, and experienced a great culture. Then Washington. Being at sea is hard, but for the first time I felt like I was actually doing what I joined the Navy for when we went to Indonesia. I was making a difference! But this adventure would have been right up there as one of my favorites. As medical you are selected to be on the 'Flying Squad' (fire department), so to be selected as one of six out of 50 in that group it was cool.