FLEET WEEK!

Hello there sailor...

If you didn't know it's Fleet Week here in NYC, then you probably haven't been watching the news. The sailors are EVERYWHERE! I work with the Army, but have been helping out the Navy a little bit this past week. they did a few castings for TV shows, and one for GQ magazine... hey it's a hard job someone has to do it! ha! I got to smooze with the local media, and help arrange for ship tours and interviews with local sailors from NYC. On top of the garage next to the ship was a great view of the Iwo and the Canadian ship coming in. Man the rails!

The Canadian ship:


I also got to tour the USS Iwo Jima myself, which was awesome. The most stressful part about the tour was boarding the damn ship. You have to ask for permission to board and show your ID, then you have to salute the ensign, which is not a person, but the flag on the front of the ship. This was confusing for me. How can you see the flag? Do you just pretend? Why do they call the flag and the lowest ranking officer the same thing? Hmm. Next we will be saluting butterbars. Once we got inside, and swam through a crowd of Marines on the bottom deck, we got to see the amphibious vehicles in its port, a Holitzer, SAW and various other vehicles and weapons. I wanted to put on all the flak gear, but I was the only female in sight, was wearing a skirt, and didn't want to draw attention to myself when I toppled over in Marine gear.. hmmm.

After visiting the Marines, we went upstairs, which weren't stairs but a huge ramp, and saw the chow hall (or whatever they call it) and a few offices where some of the sailors work. Then my favorite... THE FLIGHT DECK! You know I spied that Herrier and Ospry right away. I waited all day to climb aboard and scope out the goods (the aircraft of course!) Yes, as we approached the Ospry, the Navy PAO (O-3) saluted the Marine Sgt. Ha! He was wearing a flight suit, so the Navy guy just assumed he was an officer. Hilarious. Anyway, the guys were so nice, and very insightful about the aircraft. So as if I didn't already have ill feelings about the Navy PAO who saluted the Sgt, he insulted me. Sheesh. I was standing there on the flight deck, and a Marine Capt came up and I was asking him about the Ospry (my favorite) and the Navy PAO said, "I don't know if she likes the plane or the pilots around it." If I had laser beams coming out of my eyes, I would have seered him right in half! Can't you have a conversation with someone without it being like that!?! Geez. At least I can read rank!

However, that guy is not from my office. I love the Navy peeps in my office, in fact they invited me to FREE Mojito Tuesday. I don't know what that is, but it sure sounds fun!

Fleet Week is almost over! Maybe now we can get some things done!!!