Orders

Spoke to the Detailer today and he relayed the news that I'll be here until May 2011. Seven more months...

The next duty station will be USS Anchorage, out of San Diego. It's in phase three of the build in New Orleans. From here I'll go to Pensacola for school, then off to San Diego for some more schooling. From what I hear, there'll be myself, a chief, a couple second classes, and a couple seamen.

I am ready to leave Bahrain and go to a ship finally. I wouldn't say that I love ship life..but it's change, and I get to move again. I do like moving around, but I don't like moving my household goods. But, being stationed in San Diego, perhaps I will be able to put some roots down there. PLUS, I'll be in the continental US so friends and fam can come visit!

Things are cooling down here, about 93-93 degrees during the day. Still a bit humid, but not miserable.

May 2010!! One year down. One to go.

It's finally May!! Yesterday was May Day, and I regret to say I did not leave a bag of goodies on anyone's doorstep.. there's always next year = )

Finally May, means that June is just around the corner. I guess Christmas is too, "Christmas is just around the corner"... Anywho. JUNE, I will be in the MOTHERLAND. June 15-July 14th prospectively. I have been graciously awarded 30 days of free leave, doesn't count against my 30 alloted days of leave per year. Hence, FREE leave. I was going to take leave this summer either way, but since I extended till May 2011, I get the free leave. Just have to provide my way home. Good thing I have the ol internet and airline tickets at my fingers. Putting in my paperwork this week and then I shall purchase my tix!

Plans while I'm home: riding my motorcycle.. (might need a slight tune-up..she's been in a coma for over a year), CHIPOTLE..my love. Seeing Sugarland with Kendra in June. Also, going to Vegas with my sis and a couple friends. Our first visit, please pray for our well-being = ). Going to enjoy some laid back times with G Corky, Mum & Dick, Sis and her kids, Yoyo and Gus Gus (who I hear has a variety of names..) Looking forward to walking the pups on the Parkway. If we can find it that is = ) Haha.

I bet it's beautiful back home around this time.

Since getting to Bahrain, I have had some amazing experiences. FAR from what I thought was going to happen out here. When they assigned me Bahrain, I was thinking ..."What's a Bahrain??" ..believing it would be much like the Sahara. However, it's got city and desert just the same. The entire top of the island is city, houses, high-rises, an airport, and base. The bottom half is all desert with an air field, Formula 1 race track, Lost Paradise Waterpark, and the U of Bahrain. I've been able to see the Tree of Life, meet some aeronauts, swim with dolphins, try all kinds of food (yes! I even tried DUCK!), see Iraq, ride in a helicopter, live in a 5 star hotel for 45 days, been the recipient of 2 marriage proposals (Bahraini's that already had at least 3 wives!), meet some movie stars, see a Formula One Race, among other things. I've met some awesome people, heard some crazy stories, and learned way more than I thought i would about the Navy and my job. I am blessed to have been put on this land of dirt. I look forward to finishing another year here, and getting assigned to a ship.

I hope everyone is doing swell, and I"ll see you soon!!!!!

Love, Hannah

Dhow Tour

Went on a tour of a dhow today. It was pretty interesting.

Dhows are what they call boats here. Usually used for fishing. There's 4 types, from largest to smallest: boum, sambuq, jelibut, and shu'ai. The one we toured is a shu'ai. It's pretty small, consists of an upper deck, engine room, and a couple compartments below the top deck. There's a wheel house used for navigation/sleeping. The one we toured is generally used for shrimpin. These small dhows aren't allowed to travel outside territorial waters- 12 nautical miles from the shore. They have a GPS unit for navigation. There were about a hundred dhows tied up to the pier here. I guess they go out in the morning as a group to go fishing. With the fuel onboard, they can stay out for up to 45 days! Looks like pretty rough livin, though, think I'll stick to my desk job = )

The HMS Pelican Brief has officially arrived!

Another view of ABOT above,

Also, a pic of the HMS (Her Majesty's Ship) Cardigan Bay

SO, the word about the Brits arriving has come to prove correct. The HMS Cardigan Bay has officially arrived on station. They will be taking over the platform soon. They are in command here, however we were solely operating this place. Slowly, their personnel will trickle in and we'll hand this place over.

Had a good PT day today. An hour and 45 mins and I feel great! Except for that cookie I ate for lunch...= ) Trigger (the linguist here) and Littlefoot (on the police squad) and myself went to the "prison gym" as we fondly call it. All of the machines are rickety and rusty, however in full operation mode. Works for us! We were the only people in the gym, making up 1/2 of the female population. We did some leg workouts and some arm stuff... My legs are in pain, especially after the 5 flights of stairs to get up to work this afternoon! Anyhow, so we're PTing and we're talking about the Brits pulling in and I was like, "Yeah, I heard the 'Pelican Brief ' pulled in today..." They both look at me like......?? What? "You know, the British ship....?" "I'm sure you mean the 'Cardigan Bay'..." Haha, close enough.. We were having a good time at the gym, and they were pushing me to lift more than normal, which is good. Littlefoot weighs maybe 100 lbs soakin wet, maybe! And she was lifting just as much as us 2!

I learned how to play Euchre the other night. Was pretty interesting, a bit like Spades, really, but the trump card changes every time. The guy who taught us swears this game is indigenous to Ohio, and was amazed I had even heard of it! Hah, well my team ended up losing, but I'm thinking I'll take another stab at it.

We had some delectable watermelon for lunch today! And Faisal set aside some of my favorite cereal for me!! (by way of afternoon snack!) Every time I come to eat I'm walking in just as he's closing up and he's like "Where were you LYDERRR?? I was worried lyderrrr" Hah, PT went a little long today, almost didn't get any lunch! Would have been a long watch.

I'm going to watch "Paranormal Activity" tonight with Trigger. I hear it's pretty scary. Little Foot watched it last night and was telling us it's basically about this girl who has a demon and the whole movie is filmed by a handheld video camera. Supposedly it only took $11,000 to film the whole movie and it's already made millions. Sounds like it could be interesting..

Hope everyone is getting ready for XMAS back home! Day after T-Giving and time for the Christmas tree!! I'm excited to get back to Bahrain and start some X-mas shopping. I'm hoping most of it can be done online, however I will check out the local malls for trinkets, baubles, and things of that sort.

Hope everyone is doing well!

So tell me....what exactly is an ABOT

I'm sure you are wondering, hmf.  What exactly is an ABOT?  Well, ABOT (I had to inquire) is an acronym which stands for Al Basrah Oil Terminal. I don't have the tools to upload my own pics, but I've posted a couple I found.  

This morning I awoke to the wonderful smell of tanker fumes.  Smells a bit like rotten eggs and diesel fuel.  Goody.  

However, to lighten my day, was a call for all hands on Papa 4.  So, out of the bed I roll to see what the commotion is.  Strap on my  boots, undershirt, wrap up the hair, and off I go.  I stumble down the rusted rickety stairs to find all of the Navy personnel waiting.... So, I turn to my roommate, and inquire about what's going on at 6am on a wednesday that's so important. Well, stores of course!  Basically, the unloading of pallets of food and goodness.  A replenishment ship from Kuwait called Inchape pulls up next to one of the tankers that's tied to Papa 4 and the pallets are taken from the Inchape onto the tanker, and then from the tanker's crane it gets let down to the platform.  Interesting to watch, really.  So the pallets come down and they're wheeled over to the freezer/fridge/storage container and we rip them open like christmas pulling back wrapping.  Hah, never thought I'd be so excited to see fresh fruit and vegetables, juiceboxes, real milk... -A sidenote here..the lettuce here is very strange.  It's like when they grow it they put a large weight on top so it grows out only.  So basically a large flat head of lettuce.  More like a discus of lettuce.- Then we all line up and pass the goods along from hand to hand and into storage it goes.  There were only about 12 pallets today, which went by very quickly since everyone was out helping.  There's something refreshing about seeing everyone work together smoothly without any complaining.  Like a well-oiled machine. It's nice to see comradery.  

The other oil terminal is called KAAOT: Khor Al Amaya Oil Terminal

This is the terminal the Iraqis solely run, we have poured countless hours of manpower, training, and money into it and turned it back over to the Iraqis.  They have let it run down and it's basically falling apart,  I may be traveling over there to check it out so I'll have to take pics.  Basically all the tankers pull into ABOT because KAAOT is run down and can't pump at nearly the speed/efficiency as we can.

The pictures up top: 

1.  This is the Tactical Operations Center, where I work.  There are basically 4 boxes stacked on top of each other and inside is our comms equipment.  This is platform 5.  This is also where boats tie up to take our garbage, and where we get dropped off and picked up.  When I arrived, the helo dropped me at USS Hopper and we took a RHIB over to this platform and you climb up a ladder on the side there.  I look at it like a clubhouse up there, really.  A bit more tactical though = )

2. This is what it looks like if you're standing at the top of platform 5 down on the other platforms.  You can see all those con-x boxes stacked on one another, that's platform 4.   On the right is the galley and the MWR/rec center, internet cafe, etc.   On the left are living boxes.  I live in the top right one, but there's camouflage all over it now a days.  

3.  This is an older view of ABOT, before US got knee deep.  It's improved a lot since then.  But this is a good look from above.  You can see the tankers on the left haven't filled up yet since they're so high in the water.  Only 2 can fill at a time, so usually 2 are filling and there are tankers pulling out/in to the other 2 berths.   It's crazy how low in the water they get.

4.  Another view from platform 5, those are the MA's that walk around and protect the ABOT.

Deployment 2.0

Iraq doesn't seem that bad when you're looking at it from afar that is...
I find myself on deployment...on deployment. Bahrain to the Oil Platforms.
I am now calling Abot my humble abode. One of the two largest oil platforms in the world.
Offshore Iraq. There are 5 platforms and about 100 American military up here.
We're working on turning it back over to the Iraqis so we are working hand in hand with them.
I never thought I would be standing on the pinnacle of the world's oil reserve.... but here I am.
Watching larger than life oil tankers pull up to the side and fill up, which takes a couple days usually. There are 4 ports where they hook up at, however only 2 can fill up at a time because the equipment is so out of repair. We're running at about 25%.... Word is the Iraqis make about $250 million a day from this joint.
Everything is super rusty out here because of the ocean and humidity. We do have some luxuries, though you think we'd have marble floors and glass houses out here because of the money it produces... we have what we call a "prison gym" which is basically free weights and workout equipment outside, we have an inside "gerbil cage" consisting of cardio equipment and some other workout devices inside a box type room with 2 fans. We have a dining facility that's tiiiiny. You walk in and there's about a 10 foot area where they have the food set up. There's a pantry with cereal/muffins/salad toppings that you wedge your way through. For seating there's a kitchen table and 2 lines of stools in an attached room which can hold up to 14 people at a time. As many people are here there is usually a place to sit. And there's always the picnic table outside. Our living spaces are "containerized living units", or CLUs, which are basically metal boxes stacked on top of each other like legos. They are about 6' by 15' and hold 2 bunkbeds and 4 standup lockers. We have 3 females in ours and it's cramped, but not nearly as bad as a berthing on a ship.
It seems to be more humid up here compared to Bahrain...which seems strange since we're farther away from the equator. I'm taking some pictures to share later.
I've met some interesting folks. There's Fasil, the head cook who is Indian and makes AMAZING food. Last night he made chinese noodles with chicken and delicious BBQ ribs. Each night there is a theme. Thursdays, mexican. Fridays, asian. I'm interested to see what comes next. Fasil is always very happy and in a good mood and excited you are there to see him. If you don't show for lunch, he'll save you a hot plate! I don't know how, but he knows every single person here. (or maybe just the ladies!- ha) Our interpreter for the Iraqi militants is actually the City Planner for Bahrain. This is sort of like his side job. He comes up for about a half a month to help out. He has lots of interesting views on Americans and is very intelligent. He's invited us all out on his boat with jet skis and cigars when we get back to Bah. Our other linguist is Kas (pronounced Khaz) , but all the locals here call him Gas, hah. He does a killer British accent and has lots of stories. There are assorted Navy folks out here, about 100 if I had to guess. There are reservists also. Mostly Seabees (construction) and MAs (cops) to do roving watches and whatnot, make sure we're safe. There's only about ten intel people up here actually.
Abot consists of 5 platforms. They are all connected by rusty metal walkways with decrepid railings. So you pray you don't fall through basically.... I work at platform 5, which has 3 or 4 CLUs stacked on top one another and a lookout point where the Iraqis have set up shop with their form of military cops. And also a bathroom. Platform 4 is where I live, also the galley, bathrooms, showers, laundry, gym, and where 2 tankers can hook up. Platform 3 is where the SOF (southern oil factory) workers are, who fix everything on the platforms. Platform 2 is more living quarters for Navy peeps and 2 more berths for the tankers to come in, and Platform 1 is where the Iraqi military reside.
The ride out here was amazing. We got on a helocopter in Bahrain and took about a 2 hour ride up here. They landed on the USS Hopper, a DDG. Once we disembarked the helo and got our bags, we were loaded into a rhib (rigid hull inflatable boat) basically like a tiny blow up speedboat. We climbed a ladder down into it and got ready to leave. The seas were a tad rough, but off we went! About ten mins later and 3 gallons of water in my face....we arrived at the Abot. Up our bags went by way of rope, and we hopped on the ladder and officially arrived at our new home. (myself and a Navy Captain who was here to take over command)
I got a tour from the Chaplain and was dropped off at Platform 5 where I would be working for the next 30 days. .... and here I am....
OH, last night we got a new toy up at the shop. Infrared Imagery binoculars. Basically 20,000 dollar eyeballs. You can look into them and see anything on the water in the dead of night. We were watching the USS Hopper, at about 3000 meters away and could see it perfectly clear, to include the waves and other boats out there...pretty cool..not really sure why we need them but....
Hope all is well back home, I'm thinking about everyone..lots of time to stare out into the ocean and make some dreams = )

Rest and Recreation Sept-Oct 2009

Whoa. It's been a while eh? 

I'm in WI for R&R. About to go back to the desert on Friday. Can I get a woot wizzoootttt!! Alright. Maybe not that excited about my travels back to the middle east. Can you blame me?

Whilst I was home I got to party with Cas, Mon, Jawls, Jen, and my Sis and visit family n friends.  Went to Denver for a wedding which was amazing.  Pam got married can you believe it?  I'm still taken back that we are all of the age to get married and start lives.  It's crazy.  They grow up so fast. (tear) = )

Time to go back to the grind or whatever they say... I had a relaxing time on leave and I look forward to coming home again, of course.

Oh, I got a new tattoo.  Note above.  The coordinates are Maryville.  The coords were a previous tat I was just adding the compass yesterday.  It  represents the traveling I've been able to do through the Navy and otherwise.  Also, the Maryville coords mean "You can take home with you wherever you go" which is true for me anyway.

I had lots of yummy food while I was home, Mom n Dick were gracious enough to cook me up all my faves. Meat loaf, Mac n Cheese, Hot Wings, Won Tons, annnnd the lissssst goes on....

Now, preparation for my days to get home! 

Until next time!! Love you guys!