The Academic phase is over!!!

Today was our final exam for the academic phase of MARS III. I won't have my mark for a couple of days, but feel confident that I did well on it. It feels a little surreal that we are finished this part already, although not a day too soon at the same time. It has been full out every day since it began. The rewards to the efforts have been worth it so far as I am third highest in the class of 21 for marks so far. We leave for our sea phase next Thursday. We will spend the first weekend in Ladysmith and the second in Vancouver; returning here on Wednesday, June 9. From there, we continue doing runs in the simulator for two weeks and on the third, we are assessed on our runs in three positions (Officer of the Watch, Second Officer of the Watch and Navigation Officer). I am looking forward to the sea phase; putting together all the things that I have learnt over the past 7 weeks.

We now have a PMQ!!! Now to get the movers sorted out and we will be ready to go! I can't wait to have my family out here with me. I miss them so.

What a day to feel proud to be in the Navy

Yesterday was the 100 year birthday of the Canadian Navy. Here on the west coast, 2750 members of the Canadian Navy paraded downtown Victoria to celebrate. This was combined with the Freedom of the City Parade which the Navy marches in every year since 1985. The number of citizens who turned out to support us was amazing. They applauded us and cheered us and yelled thanks to us. It really did make me feel proud to be part of the Navy.

Studying continues to go well. Two more days before my Tides/Astro/Time Zones exam. I am feeling very confident in this exam; but have no plans to let up on the studying. There is still a couple of us that get together every night and work together. So far, no one from our study group has failed an exam and we plan to keep it that way.

I hope everyone has a great day.

Half way through the academic phase

Week 4 of MARS III is now completed. The academic portion of the course is 8 weeks long. We wrote our second exam on Thursday on the subject "Rules of the Road" or sometimes called "Collision Regs". It is the rules that you must follow while on the sea or inland waterways. There was a huge amount of verbatim that had to be memorized and the pass mark on the test was 80%. I finished with a 91%. Really, just glad that I passed and don't have to worry about a re-write. Four of our guys (there are 21 of us) did fail it and will have to re-write. If they fail the re-write, the have to go in front of a Training Review Board to see if they can get re-coursed or if they are deemed unsuitable for MARS and have to find some other military occupation. I sure hope they all pass.

Our next big test is on Tides and Astronomic Theory. So far, I am not having any issues understanding it. The math is simple, but there are a lot of steps required to get to the answer; so I will be spending lots of time practicing this one so that I have it down cold by the time we write the exam (which is this Friday). After that we have Passage Planning which is now done on a computer program. The first couple of passages (based on historical data) will take us about 7 hours to complete, and once we get used to it, some may get it down to as low as 4 hours to plan one passage. We will be doing a lot of these on our sea phase, which starts May 27 for 2 weeks.

We have a parade this Tuesday to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Canadian Navy. The entire Pacific fleet will be marching downtown Victoria. It is a huge celebration day and there are a lot of events planned both by the city and at the various messes on base. The Chief of Maritime Staff has even directed the Navy to "splice the mainbrace". This is a long standing tradition spanning since the beginning of the Navy in which an issue of rum is given to every sailor. This is something that can only be directed by a very select few (usually the Governor General) and most of the sailors now serving can not remember the last time this was actually done.

The intensity of studying has been extreme, but I am not feeling overwhelmed by it. I think that it is because I have simply set my mind to putting in 110% to it and so far the rewards have been well worth it.

Have a great and sunny day.

Shaking off the cobwebs

Sorry for being absent for so long. With MARS III starting, there has been practically no time whatsoever to update my blog. I am taking a short study break right now, so here is the update with a couple of pics.

The trip to Alaska was amazing. I can say for sure that I do not get sea sick. On the Monday that we left, we hit some rough water and a huge amount of the ships crew were sick, including the Captain. Guys who have been sailing for years and have not been sick in years were throwing up. I was simply laughing at it and loving it like some giant roller coaster ride. Alaska was simply wet and windy. The rain fell horizontally all weekend, but we still managed to get out a little bit (had to try the local beers). I was one of 8 our of 34 selected to have a special dinner with the Captain on the second Monday. It was a privilege and very enjoyable time.

Easter weekend, I flew home for a very short visit. We did not tell the kids that I was coming, so when I came in the door and they saw me, the looks on their faces was priceless; then they both started to cry. It was very touching.

MARS III is off to a good start. I have already written the first exam in Relative Velocity and scored 89.2% (yay for me). Our next exam in this Thursday on Rules of the Road (sometimes called Collision Regulations). This one will be the toughest as it involves a lot of memorization as you must be able to write many of the rules verbatim. Thank heavens there are a couple of guys who I meet with every night on the 6th floor common room to study together. It has been a huge help. Below are also some pictures of the paper carnage from studying for the Rel Vel exam. I had put in roughly 40 extra hours of study time for that exam and will easily match that for the Rules exam. Effort equals success. I simply ask myself "how badly do you want this and what are you willing to do to get it?" and the answer is easy "anything and everything necessary". I don't mind, even though my brain hurts a lot every day, the reward at the end will be more than worth the effort. How many people can say that they drive a warship for a living? Personally, I think that it sounds pretty cool.

Anyway, here are some pics of the Alaska trip and our early study sessions.

I will do my best to not let the cobwebs land on this blog again.

Away on an Adventure

Well, I leave tomorrow morning for my adventure aboard the HMCS Algonquin up to Alaska until April 1st. I will not have any internet contact until I get back. I hope that everyone stays safe and remembers to focus on the positive things in their lives. I know that I will be thinking of my family and how much I love them while I am floating up the Pacific Ocean. Be ready for some cool pictures when I get back.

Steve

Getting ready to go to sea

This past week was all classroom work and a little bit of practical dealing with ship handling. This included such things as the procedures for Refueling while at sea, the ships organization in regards to emergencies, dealing with threats, etc.

Mom and dad were here last week and a half and I was able to see them a couple of time. All visits were great. Thanks again for supper at Japanese Villiage.

The excitement begins on Monday when we go for our sea phase. We will be on HMCS Algonquin returning on Thursday April 1. We will be heading up to Ketchican, Alaska and probably staying there for the weekend. See picture below for the Algonquin. It looks like I will be out of contact completely (except in case of emergency) for the entire time. It will be a great opportunity to learn tons of new stuff (and believe me, there is a ton of stuff to learn). It should also be very exciting.

This weekend, I am going to be hooking up with Chris and Lori, so that will be great as I have not seen them for a little while.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

Standing in the middle of a blazing fire was cool

OK, so for the past week, I was still at the Damage Control School. We learned about fire fighting on board a ship. We learned to use two different types of breathing apparatus. The first is called Chemox. This is worn on the front with rubber lungs and a metal canister that uses potassium super-oxide to create oxygen to breath with. The issue with this is that if you somehow "collapse" one of the lungs, you suddenly can't breath at all. This unit has been used in the Canadian Navy for over 50 years and is extremely out of date. Fortunately, it is now slowly being replaced by a "Drager" system which is what real fire fighters use. It employs an oxygen tank carried on the back. It is much more comfortable to wear, easier to use and you don't have to be scared about collapsing a lung.

For those who asked, I got 96% on the first two exams and 100% on the fire exam.

We went through a "smoke maze" which lead us through the trainer that is set up like the inside of a ship. We were in groups of 6 or 7. Once we were inside, either the smoke was so thick that you could not see your hand until it was directly in front of your face, or in some parts it was so dark and if you closed your eyes tightly and then opened them, there was absolutely no difference. It was really cool.

Then we had to do some real exercises with fire going on. We did this twice. The first time was going into a mess (sleeping area on ship) that was on fire and put it out with the hose. While we were trying to put out this fire, flash over occurred. This is where the flames suddenly grow across the ceiling to the point where it was pretty much directly over our heads; while the rest of the room was still in flames. The second one was where we had to also descend down a ship's hatch into a compartment below which was already on fire. I basically went down the ladder and stepped right into the fire. Then we had to advance further on the fire as it was spreading. At one point, the flames were on the floor only about 2 feet from my feet.

With the temperature of the fire and the small areas that we were in, when we stepped out, the amount of sweat was amazing, but the adrenaline rush prevented me from even noticing when I was dealing with the fire. It was a blast (not that I would want to do it for a living, so don't worry Cynthia).

Below is a picture which shows exactly what we were wearing for the exercises.