Its been cold

So, sorry there haven't been to many pictures lately, after the surgery and getting sick off the meds I just reallly haven't taken that many. But here are a couple from a quick hike I took out at settlers cove, if ya look back in earlier posts you can see what the stream looks like in spring compared to winter. Starting to feel a lot better now so I will try to get out and take my camera along with me. Few more weeks and we will be setting out on the next patrol for 26 days, then down to Seattle for 3 weeks! Thats it for now, take care!

Tom

the JEEP

She has a few flaws and quirks here and there, but she is mine and she runs like a champ!

My Barracks room..

So here is where I live, I currently do not have a roommate, and I hope it stays that way! Nice little setup I have going on in here.

Achieving new heights in snowboarding

So this past port call in Juneau we went snowboarding. After two ski lifts and a two hour hike to the summit of the mountain I looked out and saw nothing but the ocean and surrounding mountains. Went up to the edge where there was a 20 foot drop into a huge treeless mountain face and jumped.. good times.. Here are the pictures

hey!

Just so ya know, I will be calling tomorrow afternoon! So look for some weird number to come up on your cell phone! ps Im getting some good footage for yall using my camcorder! talk to ya tomorrow!

Dutch part 2

Well we are back in Dutch for a few days, we pulled in around noon and I have duty today. Tomorrow I shall head to the Grand Aleutian Hotel for a little R&R. Here are some pictures from the patrol so far! Enjoy!

The PaPa Flag

So there is this flag that is raised to the top of the boat when I ships personel is being recalled to go back out to sea. Well this flag is called the PaPa flag and it is flying over my ship right now. I have 3o mins to get ready. Sorry if I was going to call today, but duty calls. Hopefully I will be able to call back home here in a week when we pull back in to Dutch Harbor again. Miss yall!

Tom

Back in the Bering!

Well I know it has been quite a while since I have updated this blog, after last patrol I decided to take three weeks of leave for some rest and relaxation and well I sort of forgot about this thing. But I soon arrived back in Alaska and headed back out for our winter patrol. We left Ketchikan on Feb 6th and now it is the 19th. It has been quite the busy first couple of weeks. With a two day stop in Kodiak for fish school, standing watch twice a day, and having a week straight of back to back field days (Insane cleaning) for the past week for the 3 Admirals that are comming aboard in two days, well lets just say about everyone is at their wits end. And Yes, 3 admirals are joining us on our boat for two days to get a "Taste" of the oldest commision ship on the Bering Sea. The one admiral is said to most likely be the next comindant of the Coast guard. So for anyone who knows anything about the military and high ranking officials will understand how tense things are around here. We are all hopeing to sea one of the Admirals blow chunks over the side actually, hows that for a taste of the Bering Sea :)!! ha.. Well I am going to close for now, I have limited off time here in Dutch harbor for this port call, with a color guard ceremony tomorrow, and the admirals comming the next day I will be quite busy. I will try to post a couple pictures tomorrow! Hope everyone is well back home. Miss yall!

Tom

A 35 foot wave.. give or take a few

Back from Patrol!

Well I am finally back from being underway for 61 days. It feels good to know im going to be on dry land for a couple months now! Here are some pictures from the patrol that I havent posted yet of my famous boarding of the Deadliest catch boat, our 50 cal gun shoot, or towing evolution with the Cutter Alex Haley and Dutch Harbor, hope yall enjoy! Cant wait to come home!!! More to come!

Tom

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!