Hurricane Ivan Sept. 2004

So, there I was… 10 weeks into Officer Candidate School and in a hurricane shelter. It is 8pm and it feels like 3am. My bed (if you can call it that) is a thin wool blanket on a laminate floor. It is more like a marker used to claim the area in the room where I place my stuff. I have never been in a hurricane. This will be my first. Apparently it will be the worst one to hit this area in quite sometime. I am bored. I have a laptop with a DVD player that won’t play DVDs. I have a song collection that I built using my classmates CDs from earlier today. Two books that I have been reading. One is a collection of stories and the other is a current NY Times Best Seller, The Davinci Code. I have no access to the outside world, actually there are a few people in this shelter that have AM/FM radios and they relay information as they get it. But that is the extent of it. No phone, no internet, no TV. Am I crying about it? No. There are people scattered about. Some sleeping. Some reading. Some watching DVDs on laptops. Some gathered in rooms around laptops. Me, I am hidden away behind a row of consoles. The latest update is that the hurricane will hit land fall by 1am. I have been hearing about this terrible thing for over a week now and I want it to hurry up and come so that I don’t have to keep hearing about it. Still… two weeks left in training and everything comes to a slow crawl. The next 48 hours will probably drag by. It would have been nicer to stay on our regimented schedule and the days would continue to click away. If that was the case I would probably be bitching about that too. We have had a new class of 42 come in this past Sunday (today is Wednesday). I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. We (my class) have quite a bit of luxuries that the junior classes do not. The real junior class has it the worst. There are 8 showers available for all the males in this shelter and we must share them with another group. The showers are not located in this building.. they are located about 150 yards across a parking lot in the gym. If the hurricane is barreling down on us tomorrow, we will not get showers. No shower until Friday. Not a very comforting thought. The muscles in my legs ach. I don’t know why. It may be due to lack of exercise today. I haven’t done nearly as much walking as I have been accustomed to over the last several weeks. I am curios as to what will happen tomorrow. What time will we have to be up? What will breakfast consist of? Will tomorrow be more books, DVDs, etc? Will tomorrow go fast than today? It doesn’t matter what we are doing. I wouldn’t be truly enjoying myself either way. When Oct. 1^st comes and I am able to gain my life back, then I will start enjoying myself. I still don’t have orders which will tell me exactly what I am supposed to be doing after Oct. 1^st. I have a general idea or maybe you could just call it a theory. I just might be totally caught off guard by the orders I am actually issued.

I have been observing my classmates and as myself the question, “Have we really been transformed over the last several weeks?” Some type of change has taken place. We have all gotten to know each other. And those who have never been in the military have learned some common thread of language.

I will be glad to leave Pensacola Florida. There isn’t much that interests me here. I haven’t been able to explore much, but from what I have seen so far makes me want to move on to other places. The place has only one Starbuck’s. Can you believe that? The weather has been miserable over the past 10 weeks. If it isn’t so humid you could swim through the air… there is a hurricane coming to ruin your week. No wonder property is cheap in these parts. I was told that this is a popular retirement place? Why? Because there is nothing to do here and retired people won’t feel like they are missing out on anything?

People are eating all kinds of junk. Snacks. Chocolates and candies. Potato chips and candy bars. Why? Is it because we were without it for several weeks or is this normal? I have to confess that I have chocolate urges like I have never had before. It sounds retarded, I know, but it is the truth. Try not eating chocolate for 6 weeks. I guarantee the 1^st piece of chocolate you taste after that long without will be the best tasting piece you will ever have.

Anyways… enough for now.

Frustrated.. Listening to music right now trying to escape. Have been trying to shave and brush my teeth for about 40min now. If it isn’t on thing it is another. The junior class had to use the restroom and now everyone was instructed to fill their canteens in case we loose plumbing. 150+ people using two sinks to fill their canteens. Gotta’ wait 30min or so before trying again. I would like to shave and brush my teeth and then put myself down on the floor to sleep this evening. It is now 10:15pm or 22:15 for you military types. Listening to some tribe called quest. Some good tracks. Missing Tissha. Wish she was here. Actually, I wish I was there. Here is boring, but she would make it more bearable. 2 and ½ weeks to go. Tomorrow it will be less. The big count down. How many count downs have I done in my military career? How many times have I done this pulling into port? And here I am again. No one to blame but myself. Remember, I asked for this. I had plenty of opportunities to something else. To count down something else. Here I am. I am really excited about the 1^st of October. I have been working towards a commission as an United States Naval Officer for over a year now. Even longer if you count my school time. It took a lot to get to this floor where I am sitting this evening, bracing for the impact of the great Hurricane Ivan. I am the closest I have ever been and I am only getting closer.

I would like to get out on the open road with Tissha in a nice, fast car, just us and the road going wherever our hearts take us. I think a road trip is in order. I have been restricted, locked up, whatever for so long… my mind wanders. A road trip is appealing because of the freedom involved. Music, nice weather, nice car, and the road to ….?? Wherever. Watched Ocean’s 11 this evening (the new one w/ clooney), yes, Now I want to go to Vegas. Anywhere, but here in this brick building without windows.

I miss DJ’ing. I have had several ideas for mixing songs over the past several weeks and I have been unable to do much of anything about them. Wonder if I will be able to get back into the game back in Hawaii or wherever. Would like to sit down with the music collection and listen/mix music for a few hours. Get some quality practice in (not that I was ever that good).

Electrical Power comes in and out in this building. The surges have been becoming more frequent. Lights on, lights off, like someone is playing with the light switch. Lights off and then a number of beeps coming from the equipment in this room. Mostly the APC units. People are starting to get on my nerves. Nothing that I can’t tolerate and deal with. This is an old hat to me. Couped up with 100+ people.. just like the USS Chicago (SSN721). Slightly different. No watch here.

So I am back (giving you a play by play).. shaved and teeth brushed. Damn forgot to cut my finger nails. That can wait until tomorrow. Listening to this Tribe Called Quest song again for the umpteenth time. It is a good track (obviously). Going to listen to some music and then try to get some shut-eye.


So here it is a week and a half later… still in the same place, just got electricity back today. Sucks. To sum it up in one word. One week left to OCS. I am getting fairly tired of most of the people around here. At times here doesn’t seem like there is any way to escape all this. They tell us that this weekend we may possibly move back into the barracks. At this point it doesn’t matter…

The past 3 days have been full of hard work. I have been with a select few candidates to go on working parties to houses out in the area. The people we have been helping have been very grateful and have fed us well. I have had a beer everyday for the past three days. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if you were in OCS you might understand. The people we have helped have been related to the armed services in one form or another. We’ve helped two retired captains, a former aviator, and a intelligence director for the US Coast Guard.

I never imagined that I would be in a “hurricane shelter” this long. My parents, my wife, my cousin and my friends will not be coming to Pensacola, which is a good thing. This place is a disaster area, most people would want to leave and people I knew wanted to come here. The building I am staying in received power today, however no one wants to reset breakers and we have less light in certain areas than we did without power. The big push was going to be getting air conditioning up. It was quite humid today which is carrying over into this evening. Getting back to normalcy will be good. Goodnight.

I am now back in the battalion building. I will be sleeping on a mattress for the first time in over a week and a half. We have electricity, more than two sinks for 40+ people and I have two new roommates. One of my roommates has remained the same. I was supposed to be in a different room than the one that I am in now. My previous roommate insisted that I swap with someone so that I would be his roommate again. At this point it doesn’t matter to me. I normally would not have switched assigned rooms but he did the swap before I was in the building. Less than a week left before I move out of here, I could practically room with anyone for a week. This reminds me of being underway on a submarine, not being able to totally get away from the people you don’t want to be around.

I was able to speak with the detailer today. I attempted to get orders to Hawaii, he was quick to tell me that it was not going to happen. I was dumb-founded when I was told this and didn’t know what to say in response. I then asked for Washington D.C. and again was told the same thing. He then said, “How about Europe?” I was both excited and apprehensive about being stationed in Europe. I told him that I was up for it. So he told me that he had a position in the UK that would go with my current security clearance status. I spoke with Tissha today and she was excited to hear about it. Luckily I had mentioned the possibility of being stationed in Europe earlier this year so that her subconscious had time to “chew” on it. I need to remind myself to not try to plan out the whole move in my head. The logistics are overwhelming, so I need to focus on one step at a time and eventually everything will fall nicely in to place. I have a number of questions and I am sure Tissha does to. I haven’t spoken with my parents about it. The biggest thing about being stationed outside the United States is the fact that I will be so far away from family. I thought being in Hawaii was somewhat of a hassle. I think that my parents will be somewhat distressed over me being stationed all the way up in the UK (it rhymes). I wonder what problems I will run into being stationed in a different country. Will I be able to subscribe to American Magazines? I wanted to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal but I am not sure if that is possible. I was grateful to get the Wall Street Journal delivered on time to my doorstep in Hawaii, but in the UK? My brother, Jason, has given me the idea of subscribing to the National Geographic, which I may still try and do.

I have a lot of things to tie up in Hawaii. I have a house, a car that I don’t think that I can drive in Hawaii. I am a partner in a business with one of my best friends, Sal. I have yet to break the news to him. He will be upset and want to sell off the business, he may surprise me and choose differently. I will be supportive either way. I would like to be stationed in Hawaii and continue to support the DJ/Dance/Music scene the same way that I have been for the past 3-4 years.

I am finding myself doing limited research on my laptop, w/out Internet, on the UK, London, etc. Interesting, but I need the Internet to give me more current and pertinent information.