My first Boarding

So here are a couple photos the small boat took of us while we were doing our boarding. The one picture of the back of the crab boat has me in it, im the one standing at the bottom of the ladder watchin my buddy go up top. Thought these were pretty cool!! More to come!

Tom

Good ol Dutch

Well the first day in Dutch went pretty well, after we got rid of trash and onloaded a bunch of food I took off to this place called Alaska Shipping and Supply store. This place has got all sorts of stuff, its like a cross between Sams, hhgreg, dicks sporting goods, and auto zone all in one huge barn looking building. After a couple hours there, me and all of deck force took out the four new guys to eat and piged out on burgers and milk shakes. By the end of that time I was about ready to pass out, so I watched the Godfater part 2 and passed out.. I'll write more tomorrow about my sightseeing!! later!

Tom

Finally, we made it to Dutch Harbor

Well finally after the longest I have ever been off land we have arrived in Dutch Harbor for a MUCH needed rest and relaxation port call. These past couple weeks have been full of fish boat boardings, storms, and lack of sleep. Most of the time I can only get about 5 hours before my watch and then another couple hours of sleep after it, unless we are doing boardings throughout the night then I get maybe a couple hours of sleep at best. When you do get to sleep I have learned to prop yourself in your bed beause when we hit these Bering sea storms people tend to fall out of their racks. We had two pretty nasty storms, most of the time they would be called hurricanes down south, but since they happen so often up here they are just called storms. The first one had 105 mph winds and about 45 foot seas, the one a couple days ago had about 80 mph winds and 30 foot seas. Its been a trip for sure, I like it a lot, but hate it all at the same time, its weird, but Im pretty sure im liking it more then not. Its good to be here in Dutch though, the town isnt much though, sort of resembles what a mondern day frontier town would look like with just a few supply stores, couple restraunts and hotels, and lots of fishing boats. Well I am about to go get 4 new guys squared away, so Untill next time.. Hope all is well back in Indiana!! Love yall!! PS.. no cell service in Dutch Harbor, I will be looking for a phone card though! Talk to yall later!

Tom

Turning point...

Well being up here in Kodiak I have had time to visit the Air station and talk to a lot of airmen about what they do and actually play in some of the airplanes and helicopters, and well I like it a lot! I know that I am close to being a boatswains mate come this January, but the rate of Aviation electronics tech is critical, so I wouldnt be here a whole lot longer than that. I was just thinking that I have gotten the experience of ships and I have gotten a lot of quals that will continue to stay with me, maybe its time I go a whole different route and learn something totaly different. Being a boatswains mate most likely wont get me a lot of jobs besides driving boats out of the coast guard, but having a degree, helicopter experience, the law enforcement training im getting now, and then on top of that learn how to work on aviation electronics I should be able to get a job no problem if I decide to get out. So that is just my thinking, I really like the aviation side of things, and I do believe I am going to switch my name and put it on the AET A school list this week. Time for another change! Thats all for now, and here is a picture of my running my crew and the crane for our small boat lowering, I am the one with the yellow hard hat on and my arm out directing the crane. Pretty sweet huh!?

-Tom

Beautiful

Here are some awesome pictures of our time from Juneau to Kodiak and in between compliments of some of my friends on the boat. The picture of the ice bergs in the water is around Valdeez Alaska where that huge oil spil was. The one of the huge glacier is the Mendenhal glacier in Juneau and there is a picture of my buddy standing underneath the glacier in a tunnel. Lastly the real foggy picture is when we were pulling into Juneau, it was realllly foggy..Enjoy!