Grin and bear

 We're in the print shop, where Chief is giving us our monthly required training.  Today it's money management, a topic all of us can use this time of year.

These GMTs, or general military training, will start in boot camp, and continue into the fleet.

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Ghosts

This is the view from a parking garage on base. You can see the Nimitz to the left and the ghost fleet, partially covered in fog, to the right. The ghost fleet consists of decommissioned ships that have yet to be sent to the scrap yard, or sunk.

It's not a prize-winning photo, but this is still a pretty interesting sight to see on your way to work.

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The Voice

Creating the voiceover in the barracks with the Sony A1U.

He's already calling himself an up-and-coming Morgan Freeman. I just met ABH3 Shane Tidrick three days ago. I overheard him talking to my roommate and immediately knew that he had to be the voice of our Army Navy commercial. Keep an eye out for that production and his career.

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Defeating the machine

MC3 Berumen, who runs the Nimitz blog, photographs EM3 Villalobos for his website debut.

Last week something happened that really reminded me of the power that we have as Mass Communication Specialists. I recently took a scuba course, where I met Electrician's Mate 3rd Class Johnathan Villalobos. He's one of those guys you can tell right off the bat is smart and motivated.

Some time after we finished the course I ran into Johnathan in the hanger bay of the ship. He proceeded to tell me something that was pretty amazing.

This was a story that needed a bigger audience than myself.

Nimitz media recently added a blog to the ship's website. The goal is to highlight a different Sailor every week. Within days of the hangar bay conversation, I was able to get EM3 featured on the new blog.

Read his incredible tale on the Nimitz website.  (If we've moved on to a new Sailor, navigate to the blog from the website and find older posts.)

It was awesome to watch the limbs of our multi-media Voltron Media Department come together to produce this news story.

Word-of-mouth (me) ---> interview & photo shoot (Berumen) ---> web layout & upload (Jandik)

We are the Lions of Navy Media.

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Behind the curve

My mother has passed me in technological expertise. This is my first skype call. She's been trying to get me on here for a year.

It's amazing how interconnected social media has us. I am creating this blog post through voice to text technology on my cell phone while mom watches me on skype.

I can't wait to see where this technology takes us, and how it affects my job as an MC.

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A Sailor underneath

Challenges are around every corner for IA Sailors.

MC2 Casey Amdahl used to be stationed on the Nimitz.  He left a few months ago to begin a tour in Afghanistan as an individual augmentee.   Unlike the previous two IAs I blogged about (Timberlake and Nguyen), Amdahl is currently in theater, so he couldn't give many details.  I know many of you are interested in this aspect of Navy life, so here's a quick glimpse into his world.   He's using all his MC skills, and working with people from several different branches and countries.  As you read, keep in mind he volunteered for this assignment.

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Hey guys,

Going IA is extremely different than going underway, or deploying with a ship, which is what most Sailors are used to. Instead of deploying with a unit, IAs deploy by themselves.

The first step is Navy Mobile Processing Station either in Norfolk or in my case, San Diego. NMPS is a week-long death by powerpoint/medical screening/briefs/admin processing stop prior to reporting to NIACT (Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training).

NIACT is either at Fort Dix, NJ or Fort Jackson, SC which is where I went. NIACT is a three-week course that teaches Sailors how to be Soldiers.

There's tons of shooting, humvee rollover 

training, gear issue, and briefs...

What's the news on the ship?  Oh wait.  That's right, I know.  I read the Nimitz News on
the site.  Because you guys are big news over here by the way.  All the Navy guys I'm working with can't believe you're doing a 12-page paper weekly. 

Afghanistan is pretty cool for being a third world, war-torn country.  I'm working with a good group of folks out here, telling the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan story.

Scorpions and beetles own Kuwait. 

That's all there is to it. I opened my sleeping bag getting ready to go to bed and a scorpion climbed out. At this point I did three things; 1) Scream "Holy sh*t!" like a little girl, 2) spazzed out, and 3) spent the rest of the night in a tent four down from mine awake.

I am actually enjoying being out here, beleive it or not.  The work kinda means more to me. I feel more purpose in what we do over here.  Let me know if you need anything else. Internet is actually pretty decent right now, but I don't know how long that's going to last.

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Thanks for taking the time to write us, keep up the good work MC!

 

Moving Day

Photo by MCSN Andy Jandik.

 So I got word today that I have to be out of my barracks by noon tomorrow.  I'm actually moving to an older barracks in preparation for the final move back onto the ship.  Its alright though, because I'm flexible. I'm ready to adapt to any new situation. I'm cool with it. I don't need that stupid room anyway.


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