Everything has been crazy busy lately, but wanted to get this picture out. These are probably the roughest seas I've experienced on a carrier. The LSD I was on rocked and rolled a little more because it wasn't as deep of a draft as a carrier. This has been much choppier with waves crashing over the flight deck and cat walks. Yikes! A buddy of mine watched his TV sail across his stateroom on one of the big heaves. We all thought we hit another ship at one point a few mornings ago. It actually felt like the carrier went through an earthquake. We had 40-knot winds and 20-foot seas.
One of our sister squadrons was having officers’ call on one of the smoke decks for cigars yesterday when a rogue wave came up and smacked the starboard side of the ship. There wasn't a dry sailor among them! Needless to say all the decks were secured after that. Even the gyms have been closed for a couple of days. About all you can do is ride the stationary bikes right now. Anything else would be a mishap waiting to happen!
The cruise has been going well otherwise. We have supported both Afghanistan and Iraq so far. The horizon still has a lot of "what ifs" so we're not sure what will be next. Looks like we should be hitting a port soon. It'll be my first since I was in Qatar.