Kodiak.. Home of the real Bears

Well we sailed up to Kodiak finally. We were stuck in fog for 4 days! I never have seen that much fog in my life! It has been pretty nice up here so far, compared to the times I have been here in the winter. Tomorrow I have the day off so I plan on goin out around town and getting some video. I hope everyone is doing good back home. Say a prayer for my little bro who is in the hospital right now and just had his appendix out. And I could use a little one to so I can hopefully pass my flight physical to go aviation! Well on watchright now, not technically supposed to be on here!! Everyone take care!

Tom

Short one

Well the boat is comming along, still workin some long days trying to get her looking good again. Went to the Doc today and all my tests came back clear, so they don't think its a gallbladder issue, maybe just an infection in my stomach or something. At least that can be treated with medicine and not surgery. Next up getting a camea down into my stomach, that should be interesting, but hopefull. Hope everyone has a great 4th of July! I will try to get some more pictures on soon! Oh and for the family, there is a new movie in the works, filming has began.. This one should be good, expect another month or so and it will be done! Take care!!

Tom-

Ok, so its been a month!

Yeah it isprobably way over due for an update to this thing. So lets see, what is new, we are back into the swing of things in-port. We are working long and hard to get our ship fixed up and looking good for when the new Captain arrives in July. As for me, I am doing alright. Found out that I may have to get my gallbladder out, we can thank genetics for that one, and one bad reaction to vicoden probably didnt help either. So I have been on a Zero fat diet for the past few weeks, AKA im a forced Vegetarian... I love to eat meat, so for anyone who knows me, this isnt easy. On the upside, I am losing weight like it is my job, probably a good thing considering all that stinking boat food was putting on the pounds. Other than that, life is good, the weather has been pretty nice, and my time here in Alaska is slowly comming to a halt. Hopefully in a couple months I will be at Air Station Sitka, and 4 months after that driving across country to my AET A school. I hope everyone back home is good, and happy fathers day! I found some random pictures on my lap top that I dont think I have posted before. The first is of my favorite food in the entire world, SUSHI! Second is a picture of probably my best two friends up here, Eric on the left and Ryan on the right. And lastly of our c130's at Kodiak, the future plans I might be workin on. Enjoy!

Tom

Spring Patrol

Well I know it has been a long time since the last post, things have been very busy the past few months. We are currently finishing up spring patrol and are in Seattle for the time being doing T.A.C.T (Tailored Annual Cutter Training) which is where a bunch of Navy and coast guard guys come and grade us on how well we do our jobs. Also on top of that I have been mess cooking, so 15 hour work days have been my norm for the past month. Being in Seattle is nice though, I have missed seeing lots of people, buildings, and cars. Well here are some photos from the boat on our spring patrol. Talk to yall later!

Tom

Comming up

Well its been a while since the last post so I figured I would update. Finally feeling just about 100 percent now after the surgery and being sick off the meds, so thats good. This past week we have had this thing called CART going on the whole time. It is where we have Navy chiefs and officers come on board our boat and inspect Everything and also judge us on how well we do our drills. Needless to say we have been working 10 and 11 hour days all week trying to fix every little thing they point out. Today is the last day though and now we get time off untill we get underway for our spring patrol next wed. Hopefully this one wont be as bad, its going to be a little warmer now and much more sunlight! The plan is that we get underway next wed and we will be out on the Bering untill the first week of May, then it is straight down to Seattle for a week of Fire fighting school, and then sail to the Navy base in Everett, WA for two weeks of drills and inspections. Estimated day back to Ketchikan is June 1st. It is going to be a long and busy couple of months, but hopefully some of it will be fun. I am sure I will get plenty of new pictures! Stand-by for the next post sometime!

Tom

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