Life Aboard A Destroyer - A Navy Family - At The Helm

many people just described destroyers kind of they call them greyhounds but they also refer to them as the workhorses of the name pretty much because they're almost like this Swiss Army knife any right [Music] obviously in a name we destroy stuff the mission of the destroyer is basically we're a warship basically just to bring the heat the mission of the destroyer well you go on deployment is to protect the character we have underwater detection in tracking and also engagement capabilities we have surface warfare capabilities we have a lot of capabilities so far as surface and air interception so life Ananda on a destroyer it's it's not a normal working environment it can be really hectic it can things change at a drop of a hat we could be called upon to go anywhere at any time and there's very few of us on these ships it's exciting it can be boring but always dynamic it's small small of it definitely smaller than aircraft carriers and all that but it being so small you learn a little bit about everything like you know everybody you get to see what everybody else does we're all cross trained individuals and I certainly found that down to the most junior sailor we've got they are kind of rough and ready to get into whatever needs to be done day to day there's no one just doing their core role on a destroyer if that destroyer is actually succeeding meditation with 270 or 340 people no one can stand on the sidelines you learn a lot of your rate on a destroyer it depends on the day but most days it's you know you wake up get out of your rack get ready go get dressed shower whatever you do got to do and you go to work no matter what you do you always have a watch the stand so for me for example I stand watching the morning and at night and all the time in between is work time or personal time everyone stands watch because the ship has to be man 24/7 right we're on the water so we have to basically be eyes and ears at all times we also have drills during the day it could be damage control drills we also have training our normal mess decks and galley hours recreational time so different people there they could be on a like a nocturnal schedule they could be absolutely sleeping during the day and working or standing watch their tonight it just depends so if we don't keep track of the day so if we don't like try to go out it'll be wednesday for like a week straight won't even realize it so like the first time I went into way it was Wednesday for like three days because if you think about it our days are in two part so if you like one day part one into you that's how we keep track of it so just trying to keep track of those types of things going into the Thunderdome my name is Mark Coleman ages first class surface warfare Amanda Michelle Kellis I'm from vast North Carolina I'm a spy technician on board so my radar is the primary air and surface search radar high-power 360-degree multifunctional face array we're able to pick up targets from a really far distance away and be able to track them even further and help our ship be able to have early warning for any inbound air or surface combatants we're gonna make sure we know you know who are you what are your intention u.s. Navy warship we are not to be messed with I mean this is sometimes a swirl but sometimes they absolutely the opposite and then like almost immediately it could just mellow out again exercise that yellow state weapons bunker 1 1 7 2 [Music] [Music] okay my name is Ashley says Sepulveda my job title is electronic technician I am from Miami Florida but my entire family is from Puerto Rico I actually did not want to go to ship I didn't know any surface ships at all I only seen carriers and that's because of movies my job on a destroyer I'm an electronics technician another word that they call us as ETS is that everything tech so it's pretty funny because we do essentially fix everything on the ship from phones to simple speakers to more complex systems like weapons systems communication systems so yeah we we get hands-on with pretty much anything electronic I just always loved engineering since a little kid I always say that I just thought everything that I'm doing is really really cool I get a little bit like nerdy when it comes to what I do I definitely love DDG I really glad that I came to a small boy versus a basic because I get to touch all of the equipment as a electronics technician and that's why I joined because I love being anything I did marrying a lot in high school went to college before this here I'm getting the experience as I wanted as without the equipment because we're in such close premises with all the equipment one person essentially would be able to do all verses on carrier or a bigger thing they have separate several departments that can handle let's just say one specific equipment so they'll be working on that one for our hopes of their time rather than a tea on the table or usually work out everything okay so my first name is Victor last name Rocha I'm a GSC I'm currently the LPO for [ __ ] for which is the gas turbine electrical my main role here is to make sure that whatever the bridge calls that were able to provide propulsion for Enders no matter what so I was originally born in granada nicaragua and then I came to the United States in 99 and I lived in Pennsylvania so it's actually I was an undergrad at Penn State and then when that showed up here it was it's nothing what you expect so I'm a gas turbine technician electrical what that means is I work with jet engines that produce power and propulsion I oversee a work center of eight people and what we were in charge of is making sure that you produce propulsion and electricity for the ship the first time you go into an engineering space that you're kind of in awe because you just don't realize how big an engineering spaces you also don't realize how big this ship is like it kind of looks bit to me the outside but if you realize how really big it is once you're inside and you're like resilient significant about walking through the space it's loud very loud you know you have propulsion machinery going on in there you have all type of stuff going on there everything keeps the ship afloat and running is in there so it's loud it's hot part of everything everything starts down here so we're getting ready to get out the way here that the busy time everybody [Music] without 40,000 [ __ ] and and kick the three generators that we own that literally powers everything on the ship if that was everything from our water pumps that give us drinking water to the radar you know everything is powered by us we're pretty much the ones that supply power to everybody and then we turn that over to the Christians mates who actually wrap the power where it needs to go so we meet halfway with them no [ __ ] all the way back to the back end of the sim and you can tell like it you know even if you're not topside if you can somehow transfer go and beat the hub that the shaft is rotating it's like one of the great things about doing what I do you are never a dull day it was you it definitely going off [Music] my full name is Joshua Sanders and I am gm2 Sanders and I'm a Gunner's Mate I'm from Raleigh North Carolina before I joined the Navy I didn't know there was different types of ships you know just based off what you see on TV big ships small ships we're a smaller ship but no I didn't know anything at all so as if Gunner's Mate we were responsible for all small arms regarding pistols shotguns rifles and torpedo tubes and various amounts of other equipment on the ship also 50 calibers and 240s so all types of all types of small arms of cruiser weapons were responsible for maintaining them issuing to the to anything in our job that we shoot we always have to do pre fires so that's making sure that the weapons are good to go make sure that they function properly so it's like okay cool we had a fun day of shooting now we got to clean up [Music] [Music] [Music] okay I think that we might have to just order the I live in a space that has 24 rats or females and we have three sinks one shower and two toilets it's weird because I've never worked anywhere we're like you kind of are you know like you go from being in the professional sitting to like in your pajamas just hanging out like within 200 feet you get accustomed to it yeah it's small it's it's not a lot of wiggle room but it's it's like yours you know and you just get comfortable in it it's got a make it yours you know here it is I like to uh I can sit up in it which is pretty nice because otherwise you're kind of constricted to this little like tinderbox of love we're we're allowed to have like an 8 by 11 sized area for four family photos or the kittycat good doggy goldfish whatever you want we each have our DVDs or emergency escape breathing devices just in case you know bad business happens lights go down there's a fire and smoke we can clock that guy on and we've got good breathing air for about 15 minutes to be lat egress out of this space and topside these are our hurricane straps that keep us inside the beds I'm sure the more tinier folks there's a little bit more margin for error it's all right you know he's got to remember where you are because if not you know you'll wake up and be good it's not too bad it's just hop in there you know like [Music] right on in you know it's comfortable oh yeah honestly somebody told me this when I first entered the Navy literally the best sleep you'll ever get because the ship's rocking so even if it's like three or four hours response to the bits of the overhead the XO is very keen on if the light touches could be dust so he creeps around really really thoroughly so in anticipation of him coming here I'm just gonna you're adrift crash on the dead to sleeping bag and angle irons so we just did birthing threes a birthing inspection it's something that we do daily the premise behind it is that we this is our largest birthing on board roughly a hundred people living here and so if we can't keep it clean the just the the sure nature of that many people living in this space it just adds to the ability of the body to fight off the infections the germs etc the crud the coffee so I'm keeping it clean every day it is a requirement and it's it's about keeping the crew so the gyms are very small they get very crowded and they get very hot and sweaty that's the best thing about ship wipe you get creative with finding spaces you figure out how to make it work you don't know what's gonna happen in the middle of the ocean you don't know if you are out there fighting a fire or damage or hit by something you could be you would have to swim you would have to pull yourself up you don't know what dangers you will face and if your body is not physically prep for the stamina endurance that you're about to face then you aren't in danger of yourself and maybe putting other people's in danger because they might have to go back to help you because you can't physically help yourself Prison workouts in a way I suppose I mean I got a run on fed mill as well you're kind of just like you're running and then we start taking a turn you're like oh and then it's like a hill as we go so it's a little bit a little bit more interesting and then just running on flatland treadmill the things get heavier then things get lighter and the four of us went together world GSEs will work in the same division so we've probably spent like 40 80 hours a week together so we do everything together we like we all sleep in the same birthing we go to lunch together go to breakfast together we work out together it's good you know we have this good camaraderie we all were always like you know of course we get mad at each other just like you would with anybody but it doesn't last very long you know you're gonna be quick this guy it's all under way that's all month like you know we get along great you know he's like a brother to me and vice versa you know we all know each other's families and stuff like you know like you you end up being real close like you've been outside of work we hang out together that chicken way we've got mozzie sticks we ain't got no mozzie stick some of that RCS is do do the best that they can honestly with having to feed so many people three times a day especially when they're given the opportunity to get a little frisky with it and throw a little of their own Flair that's always when people go crazy over it every day we sell about almost 300 people wake up around 4:30 in the morning cook breakfast lunch and dinner we usually get about get around get out of here around like maybe 8 o'clock after cleaning all of us on smaller ships we make more things from scratch oh it's boosting morale and I've had one of the biggest thing is and the food tastes good and everyone was fed well Tina morale the coolest she's always hot [Music] he's thirsty he's been working all day john-boy the best thing about being under way everybody makes fun of each other especially triangle like we all literally depends on that if like Ian want us to do his job then like we don't have any lighting anywhere no matter how much power will be producing up and so on and so forth so like we gave it to the lot of crap but you know like we all work literally shoulder on shoulder so it's kind of like a you know you it's like your brother hate them but you love them in the middle of the ocean we make our own water we make our own power and we make our own support system your loved ones there elsewhere and you really just have email or snail mail or care packages so you got these people that you work with that all of a sudden are your support system that are they're helping you whenever things may not be going right at home and you're missing something like holidays or birthdays or births of children it feels like a family it's a good feeling it's a good feeling to know you have so many people have your back and vice versa it's it's kinda almost like you're you're given family you can't exactly choose who you're on the ship with after a time people just grow on you you know you have to engage with these people on the daily especially on a destroyer the Brotherhood you know I never really had people to you know say you know what hey I got your back you know the way I look at it they are pretty much my brothers you know and I hope that I that I've been a good brother to them as they have been to me since I've been in I've never met anyone who fails to give like more or less than hundred percent you know like everybody's always willing to be up for the task we all know how important it is to rely on one another like if I fail that person fails and so it's a domino effect no matter what rank you are no matter what rate you are you're here for a reason and everybody has a job it has a purpose and we all take care of each other the crew is gonna become a second part of family and they're gonna be the ones having your back when things go wrong I couldn't not recommend going on a destroyer it's it's definitely an interesting lifestyle definitely not the easiest so if you're up for a challenge it's definitely a place to consider you get the real feeling of being a sailor and being in the Navy which is being part of a crew you get the sense of pride of like you know I'm just serving your country but like you know like being part of like a commander can do all these missions and you know you see the fruits of your labor every day like what you work and what you do literally comes to fruition all the time you walk around it sometimes it's card games and joking around and and goofing but you can't really when you're standing on like this steel ground you can't really forget what you're here for [Music] you

Channel: U.S. Navy

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Length: 21min 2sec (1262 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 20 2019