Hey Everyone!
Just a quick update to what we've been doing out here! By the way, "out here" is off the Hebrides Islands (western coast of Scotland)...normally I wouldn't be able to tell you that, but the Captain has sent out several emails to families with that sort of information, so I think it's safe to let you know as well! The area is very mountainous and quite barren, but seems to be picturesque, from what I see out the bridge windows while standing watch. As I mentioned before, NORMANDY is participating in a sort of war-game with other NATO countries, mostly from the UK. The exercise is called Neptune Warrior, and it's a pretty intense two-week "course" that provides challenges for all warfare areas: surface, subsurface, air, and even strike warfare (my specialty, as the Strike Officer...or the person in charge of the Tomahawk missiles, for those who aren't familiar with the terminology). I sent out a short news article about what we're up to out here, in case you want to read that. Because of the level of "warfighting" going on out here, we have lots of extra watches manned up, which means we're in a rotation called "five and dimes" or five hours on watch, ten hours off. In the ten hours we have off, we have to find time to eat, sleep, work-out, do our daily work within our divisions and work centers, and find some "free time" to just relax!
When I am standing watch on the bridge, I am either the Tactical Communicator (TACCOM) or the Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD). As the TACCOM, I am responsible for manning the radios (either Fleet Tactical, which is a channel where we have to pass messages in code, or Bridge to Bridge) and passing messages to other ships in company. As the JOOD, I assist the Officer of the Deck (OOD) in running the bridge: conning the ship, using radar and radio to determine ship's position and safe maneuvering, communicating with other ships, coordination of activities in Combat, Engineering, or other areas of the ship, and keeping the upper Chain of Command informed. When I am running a Strike Exercise, I coordinate the entire strike with my team to launch missiles according to tasking. The Captain is in Combat with me at this time giving me the authority to shoot. Once we are done with the warfighting, I will get to stand watch as Officer of the Deck, but right now I can't since I could be called at any time to lead a "SLAMEX" or Strike exercise, so I need to be free to leave the bridge in case we get tasking.
It's been a long first week of Neptune Warrior, and we are all very ready for the exercise to be over. Almost as soon as we're done we'll be pulling in to our first port for some much needed rest and relaxation. We're all looking forward to a good meal, sleeping in a little bit, and doing some sight-seeing! It's really neat, because we'll be in Normandy on VE Day, and since our ship is named after the battle, it's pretty special for us to be there on such a historic day! I'll be sure to pass on some pictures once I'm there!
Until next week....keep those emails coming!
Kate
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