Kyle’s Blog

Joe and I got outta class tonight and had dinner at Red Robin with two big ol’ beers. Driving on the way to the restaurant we passed by a bowling alley and I suggested we get a game in after dinner. After dinner and a beer we hit the bowling alley with a vengenace and began a heated competition. I took the first round, the second round was a win by Joe, and he sealed the deal in the third with a 10 point win. Sadly despite fierce competion we never broke 150… but a battle none the less. The amazing part… a girl that couldn’t have been over 18 in a shirt that had General Lee held in hands (like you’d cup a handful of water) with a confederate flag in the backdrop. The text above and below the shirt read “He’s a General in God’s army now”. Aaaaaaaamazing!!! Now I gotta say I’ve been to the south a few times to visit my friend John and to go to many Coast Guard schools and seen some of the “not so PC things”, girls with sideburns, and people who define the word term white trash down here, but this, by far… best thing ever.

Today/Friday:

Woke up an hour later to go to the Navy pool for our survival swim. We put on about 50lbs of gear and jump in the water with a big weighted M4 rifle and sidearm, swim a bit, tread water and take off the gear. It was pretty easy for me some of the other guys had a lot of trouble. On a side note I think I fell in love with the short haired blonde lifeguard… good god.

Tonight I’m headed out with my friend Ryan to have drinks at the glorious Bier Garden that serves tons of European beers. Mmmmm.

Doing mandated training not applicable to what we’re going to be doing overseas always gets me spun up. I let the instructors know with my big mouth all day how irrelevant and useless the training was too… which of course they didn’t appreciate. I understand that you have to go by the book when it comes to instructing people, but there’s a point where you need to teach people how to fight to survive and go outside the textbook. I’m speaking very general, but anybody who I’ve worked with before (esp at the MSST) can attest to this.

After a long day at work, two workouts, and being on our feet all day Joe and I went out to dinner with two of our officers. Specifically our executive and operations officer who are junior officers. Being on a 110 foot cutter you’re pretty tight with your crew of 20 or so, so it’s “ops normal” for them to hang out with the enlisted folk. Anyway, we went to some seafood place that was pretty awesome. The place had tons of beers in bottles, cans, and on tap which we all enjoyed. Just for a little taste of what I call home these days (the Pacific NW) I had myself two Rogue Dead Guy Ales… mmmmm. Dinner and conversation was enjoyable, but every time I end up having a good time with the “new crew” I can’t help but resent them thinking of my boys back at the MSST. I know, I’m a broken record.

Substantial muscle strength, endurance, and growth from me running my body into the ground everyday.

I’m awfully tired of my roomie who manages to snore not only on his back, but on his side as well… amazing. Basically the couch has been my good friend for a few days here and there due to him snoring so loud you’d swear he was inhaling himself.

My jacket smells like stale cigarettes because people can smoke in bars here. Double that with all the oysters that were eaten by everyone but me at the table tonight and you have yourself a metaphorical cornacopia of putrid smells. Yuck.

It’s only 9pm and I’m supposed to stay up for a phone call from Ashley, but I’m thinking I might not make it.

- Music that gives me goosebumps (until the Ashley folk/country mix)

- California sunshine

- Early morning Seattle drives with breathtaking mountain views

- Washington state hikes in the middle of summer

- My friends/teammates back at the MSST

- The idea of no more law enforcement, just diving for the rest of my career

- My current Toyota truck “Justine”

- Jake the dog

- Desert campouts 

- How close I used to be to my friends back home

- Loving my job

- Shooting/hunting with my pop

- My ma’s guitar playing and singing when I was a kid

- My 1988 Toyota pickup

- Waterpolo

- Good beer back on the best coast… the west coast

- Drinking with good friends, with great music, lots of laughs, good stories until the sun comes up

- Cowboy the Aussie cattle dog who totally made me a sucker for that kind of dog

- Home cooking

- Motorcycle rides where I could go fast enough to outrun every thought but feeling free

That last blog was poorly written, I had quite the hangover from the night before.

The hockey game was awesome. We got to the box office around noon after hearing that it was military appreciation night all around the NHL. It turns out that the game was nearly sold out so we had to pay… well… a bit more than we initially thought. After cringing a bit at the 150 dollar damage we just brought upon ourselves for suite level tickets Jimmy and I headed back to the hotel to lounge around before the game. The tickets ended up being totally worth the price. We ended up sitting one tier above ground level, leather seats, four free drinks and an awesome sandwich. Watching the Hurricanes vs Capitals was a whole lot better than a Norfolk Admirals game… I won’t admit to it being better than a Seattle T-Birds game though. Yeah, I love hockey.

After the game Jimmy and I hit the bars, but there wasn’t much of a downtown that we found. We tried out an Irish pub and a sports bar which were okay, if the hockey game hadn’t been so good I might have been a little upset.

The drive home this morning/afternoon wasn’t fun by any means. It was about a 2.5 to 3 hour drive back home in our Volvo S40 we rented. We managed not getting pulled over despite speeds up to 100.

I haven’t felt up to writing these last few days, I’m kinda in a “funk” I’m not really sure how to explain. Hopefully this week goes well, I’m getting tired of the east coast.

Drove close enough to 3 hours yesterday after we were let outta class to the lovely state of NC. Unfortunately the bad weather followed us here, but at least the locals (from what we’ve seen) have been a bit more pleasing to the eye. Jimmy and I closed out the bars last night, played a cool bar trivia game, got all the cool places names, and passed out after a loooooong walk back from the bar. So far I’ve made a complete asshole of myself in one phone call already… with the hockey game tonight, who knows how bad that’s gonna be.

Tonight NC Hurricanes vs the WA Capitals! I’m not sure who I’m going for, I don’t care for the eastern confrence. All I know is that the St Louis Blues lost in overtime last night against the damn Anaheim Ducks, booooooooooo!

Ok it’s time to nurse this hangover with a good breakfast and more booze probably around noon.

My face looks like a tomato due to beyond cold temperature and bad wind while underway on the CGC Block Island today. We got underway to do a .50 cal gun exercise which was just a little beyond miserable. I don’t care what anybody says 4 to 5 foot seas on a 110 foot boat when it’s cold as hell and wind tearing your face off is horrible. I feel like I’ve got the shit beat out of me. Thank goodness we get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow, do some work, then Jimmy and I are headed to Raleigh, NC for the weekend.

Showing the Atlantic Ocean who’s boss

Jimmy, Me, Marcos, Joe, and our XO and CO

Piss off it’s cold

Ashley sent my a bitchin’ care package the other day and I got it today. Delicious cookies, a nice card, a country/folk mix, and a porno riddled with short black haired hotties! Wooo!!! Now I hate radio country music with a passion and I would personally love to put a few .45 hollow points into the son of a bitch Toby Keith… we’ll throw in that poser Kid Rock and Big and Rich while we’re at it. Play me some Hank Sr., his grandson Hank III, George Jones, and Gary Stewart. Ashley sent me that folk/country cd and it’s totally awesome and with song titles on it like “She’s actin’ single I’m drinking doubles” how could you not love it?

Nothing new happened at work today that was very exciting. I got my teeth drilled on at the dentist, played ulitimante frisbee with the crew, did some shopping, and lifted after all that. Tomorrow we’re getting underway to do a .50 Cal machine gun exercise on a 110 patrol boat. The sea state should be calm, which is good because I’m sure I’ve lost my sea legs.

Time to hop in the shower and watch ‘Army of Darkness’ before I head off to sleepyland.

Today was a blood filled extravaganza! We did a total of 3 drills where we recieved a scenario and had to go in and patch people up. We had amputees, gunshot wounds, spinal injuries, compound fractures etc. and had to deal with each accordingly. Add a ton of fake blood, screaming victims, and smoke filled rooms and you get just a little taste of how bad things could go if you didn’t have a solid team with you. The training was great, the instructors were very knowledgeable, and we got to do the thing at Blackwater.

Getting a little bloody during the tactical medicine course

Desptie all the tactical training I’ve recieved I’d never been to the Blackwater facility in NC. When we first drove on I was blown away at how much land, resources, staff, and “stuff” they had. I got to thinking a bit more about how much money they make what with govt contracts and all and I suppose it all adds up.

Jimmy got back from the hospital this afternoon and Joe and I went along to dinner with him. Had some Olive Garden which was subpar at best and split a bottle of wine with Joe. So as you can imagine after an adrenaline filled day patching up bloody people, two workouts, and two glasses of wine… I’m about ready for bed.

Today was pretty unbelievable. We went to Blackwater to learn about battle first aid taught by Coast Guard corpsmen. We had to go over many slides of gruesome injuries from compound fractures to someone’s guts hanging out. I’m not so fond of blood and guts, I have no problem admitting that, and these slides were very graphic. As the slide show ended my friend Jimmy who was sitting directly to my right tapped my arm said, “Kyle” groaned, doubled over, and his head hit the table in front of us. For a split second I thought this was a drill, a little reality check as part of the training, but it wasn’t. I looked at him, grabbed his shoulder and asked if he was okay, but no response… he was really stiff. I yelled out loud in the class of about 30 to 50 people, “Something is wrong!” Everyone looked at me kinda stupefied and I said something to the effect of “I’m not fucking around.” Next thing I know tables are getting moved out of the way to make room and I nearly got ran over by people rushing in. As I stood away from the scene I felt really upset that I wasn’t able to get in there to assist my friend, and I felt like I really needed a job after being successfully freaked out by the whole situation. Long story short the medics came and took Jimmy to the hospital, and he’s fine now. The staff of the training say people pass out all the time due to the graphic slideshow, but I had my money on a seizure of some sort. So with waking up at 5ish to workout with the crew, the incident in training, getting out of work at 4 ish, and hanging out with Jimmy at the hospital tonight, I’m completely burned out. It’s been a long day.

I spent the majority of the day in cultural awareness training applicable to Bahrain, Kuwait, and Islam. Most of the training was very fascinating, but I had a hard time from the get go. The speaker wasn’t exactly dynamic, but I suppose that’s to be expected from a woman originally from Bahrain. I learned quite a bit, but it wasn’t nearly as informative as I’d initially expected.

I feel very bored with the last day I had off, and I don’t for-see being super excited about the remainder of the weekend. I’m headed to the Bier Garden which is a German ale house with my buddy Jimmy for beer by the liter! Yeah… it’s Sunday… so what… all I have to do is learn battle first aid tomorrow… pfff… like that’s important.

Here’s another picture of me at the range in pretty cold weather all bundled up in my desert cammo gortex. I’m so glad we found Kona coffee to replace the crap we were drinking since the beginning of training. You’ll notice in most of the pictures where I’m at work that my stainless steel REI coffee cup is never that far away from my reach.

Mornin’