Dependent Cruise

Last week I finally took Brandon up on the chance to see what his navy life is like. We (dependents) met the boat in the morning and headed out to sea. After a quick debriefing our sponsor (spouse/son/friend/who ever it was) was then to give us a tour of the boat. Brandon was on watch (working) so Keith took Angie and I around and had people explain what everything was so we could better understand. After awhile Brandon was finally relieved and was able to join us. We basically hung out in Keith's office area. Being on the boat is actually kinda boring I feel for Brandon and trying to entertain himself has a new meaning. No wonder he wants all the PS3 games he can get his hands on and now I appreciate his ipod more. There is only so much space on a sub and only so much one can actually do. Keith did find some neat things for us to check out; like in the control where we got to actually watch the dive down into the ocean and in the sonar room where we listened to whales and dolphins. After lunch we headed over to Brandon's department and Keith climbed into the torpedo tube to show us how long it really is.

Here is him doing so...


made it to the end


"Hi y'all"


This is Keith trying to turn around to get out and y'all should know Keith is no bigger than my kid brother and we all know that if you blow too hard Levi would fly away, well Keith is about the same size and he couldn't turn around it was great to watch ;-)


After being entertained by Keith they did some "angels and dangles" this is where they make the sub go up and down at 20 degrees and it allows you to stand while you look like your about to fall over, like in the fun house.

The highlight of the day was watching John (Milie's hubby) work. John is a small fella too 5'6" or so average in weight but this man had to fit into a hole no wider than the length of my shoe! I had to bust out the camera.

Here he is hard at work


Here is how he got down


Sucking in and a little wiggle was the magic touch


This is the picture you have in your mind when you think of a career in the Navy right?


After all that excitement (hehe) Brandon had to go back on watch and he wanted me to sit and watch him, but first I was able to climb to the took of the sub where they opened the hatch for us to look out

This is the view of us headed back to shore

Pretty huh?

Here is proof that I actually climbed up there


After the climb up I sat by Brandon and watched how the "Duty Chief" does his job. I did this till we pulled back into port. We ran a bit behind schedule and thankfully I had a plan set up with Milie that if she hadn't heard from me by 4:45 to head over and pick up the kids for me. Without that plan I would have been late cause I didn't get off the boat and onto the pier till almost 5:30 and there would have been no way I would had made it in traffic, so thanks Milie.

All in all is was a long day, but I now KNOW what Brandon is talking about when he says there is nothing to do underway. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed myself and had good company so it made the time go by faster. Could you imagine if your over all the people you've been stuck with in a tube for gosh knows how many days/weeks/months...drag!