Life on the open water....

[Piposterous]

What's it like being deployed for months at a time on a Navy ship out over the great blue? Other than the everyday duties that each personel must complete, what do people do for fun? Is there wifi on the ships so that one could contact family? My dad who is a doctor in the Navy has told me that when he went out on deployments he would play endless games of poker with other officers and have numerous hours to hit the weightroom.

In your past, what types have entertainment have you enjoyed on those long deployments at sea?

 

[BigBadBoJenkins]

In your off time you work on qualifications or finish collateral work. If you have none of that to do, you can work out or play video games or read. There isn't wifi on the ship, but there are computers with internet access. The internet tends to be very slow.

 

[sevenhelmet]

That's about it, minus the hour or two every night fixing the world's problems at midrats.

 

[Hozer]

 

[Pags]

Dog!

To the OP, a lot of it depends in what capacity you're on a ship. Docs on my ship seemed to work bankers hours and have plenty of time to workout, play cards, etc. pilots spend their days briefing, flying, debriefing, doing the day-to-day work of the squadron, and playing video games, cards, studying, etc. Ships company tends to work 12hr days plus watch standing and work in sleep when they can. You don't see a lot of SWOs playing cards or video games.

 

[insanebikerboy]

Ricky Boxing

 

[robav8r]

Searching for a good pic of the cruise sock . . .

 

[Piposterous]

These are all great answers, thanks for the input! Feel free to keep adding more information as I am still curious.

 

[mad dog]

Tetris.

Tons of Tetris.

Many of us had original Nintendo Gameboys that were introduced in 1989...and we had Nintendo Gameboy link cables so that we could play [Tetris] directly against each other. Not to brag, but I would beat the freaking pants off the Blackshoes [and the Brownshoes] in Tetris...which was AWESOME.

I was so AWESOME...but only at Tetris...nothing else.

Fairly recent pic of my original Gameboy with original Tetris...

 

[mad dog]

Oh, I almost forgot...we would play "hangar ball" when everybody was sick and tired of getting their asses kicked by me in Tetris.

"Hangar ball" was played inside the helo hangar [on CG's, DD's and FFG's] where the SH-60B's were normally kept. When [if] the hangar was empty, we would make a softball size "ball" out of masking tape and use a broom stick as a bat...and play "hangar ball"...with bases and junk like that...like softball/baseball.

 

[HueyCobra8151]

Ships company tends to work 12hr days plus watch standing and work in sleep when they can. You don't see a lot of SWOs playing cards or video games.

Their passion for work and hatred for sleep really chafes with the pilots on the "eat until you're tired, sleep until you're hungry" schedule.

 

[mad dog]

Their passion for work and hatred for sleep really chafes with the pilots on the "eat until you're tired, sleep until you're hungry" schedule.

So true, so true.

Sort of along those lines...while on DET, it was 'highly encouraged' by the Captains/XO's of our ships [CG's, DD's and FFG's] that we, the air DET officers/aviators, work on SWO qualification. Say what? Have you seen how long that qualification takes? It takes a long time...and it's no walk in the park by any means. Nobody on any of our DETs worked on SWO qualification [in retrospect, I probably should have]...but I roomed with many O-1/O-2's who were ship's company who were working towards SWO qualification...and I believe that most [if not all] of them somehow survived on a maximum of 3-4 hours sleep every night. I have no idea how they did it! Shortly into my first DET, I had a new-found respect for SWO's [and those working towards SWO]...TOUGH JOB...with a TON of responsibility.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Besides the daily hum-drum of life aboard ships, planning, eating, flying, de-briefing, eating, sleeping, there are also port of calls (See favorite port of calls thread). About every month or so, you get to explore new (and sometimes old - Dubai comes to mind) places. Get a little rest and site see.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

@mad dog By qualification, do you mean that NA/NFOs can earn a SWO warfare pin? Or is that another qual like OOD?

Also @Pags you have to clarify what "bankers hours" are, where I come from the banker 9-5 means 9am-5am

 

[Brett327]

@mad dog By qualification, do you mean that NA/NFOs can earn a SWO warfare pin? Or is that another qual like OOD?

No SWO pins for aviators, but your wings are just the first of many quals you will work toward. Once you're in a squadron, you'll start working on level 2,3,4, section lead, division lead, mission commander, and any number of instructor quals. Some of this depends on platform, but my point is that the learning never stops. Academics, planning, syllabus flights, mission commander boards, check flights, etc. You get the picture.