Sorry for those who were expecting more from me this summer. After all, one of the main aims of starting this blog was to talk about summer training. Sadly, MARS III is exceedingly time-intensive and I try to get away from sitting at a desk when I have free time.
I'll endeavour to post something this weekend with a little more about what has happened in the past few weeks, but I can't promise anything. It's been one massive blur.
Anyways, here's to MARS III being over!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Let Mortal Kombat Begin!
So, after a rather... eventful day on Saturday, I arrived in Victoria, BC (Home of Canada's Pacific Fleet, the sign proclaimed) and settled into my new suite. Yes, suite. I'm in the new building, that's actually made for officers, and that means I share a small suite with another officer, who's also on my course. We each have a private room with a bed, desk, dresser, sink, and walk-in closet. (Yes, you read that right. A walk-in closet.) There's a private bathroom (well, private compared to what I'm used to) with a shower, and a common room with two sofas and a TV... and CABLE! Sadly I won't get to enjoy it too much, but it's still nice to watch CSI: Boise while doing relvel homework.
The course started off with a bang. We started learning stuff on Monday morning. And we haven't stopped. Every day I come home exhausted from learning everything, and I have to get my uniform ready for the next day, on top of doing homework to really let whatever I've learned sink in. I'm doing fairly well, though, and homework is more something to do than something I struggle with--I just do it slowly to give myself something to do, really.
So far, we've focused mostly on relvel (relative velocity) problems with the maneuvering board (basically a paper representation of a radar screen). Those of you in the Navy (Canada's or otherwise) know what I'm talking about, and those who aren't in the Navy probably haven't got a clue, and it's rather complicated to explain. Let's just say some people struggle with it--not me--and it's tedious work, especially when you're on your 15th "opening on a steady bearing" problem. We've done some more complicated stuff in relvel like wind over deck (just longer, not really harder) and multiple course changes in a row, but it's all basically the same. I'm doing pretty well in mental math, too, surprisingly. I've found things that work for me, and generally it doesn't take me very long to figure out answers. We've mostly only done things like regaining from being off-track and such, though, so it might get harder.
It's a breakneck pace and, as I mentioned, I come home exhausted after a full day of class. Some people are already complaining that it's going too fast. It's true--we usually learn something new, do a few examples as a group, do one or two examples on our own (with the instructors to help us along) and move on to new things. And then the main instructor gives us homework for the night.
I've learned something cool, this week, as well: our sea phase (two weeks on PCTs) will be with the NETP-O people, which means we won't have to be cooks, lookouts, helmsmen, DC roundsmen, and other odd jobs while also being FixO, NavO and OOW, and planning our passages. There's 18 of us on course and they'll likely spread us over 3 of the 4 PCTs--the rest being NETPO-only--which means about 6 MARS III students (2 bridge teams, I guess) and probably 12-14 NETPO students. It should be good. I can't wait to conn a PCT again--that was one of the most exhilarating experiences ever. Of course, it won't be all fun like NETPO was, but considering I'm enjoying the fairly boring and tedious stuff we're working on right now, the sea phase should be enjoyable as well. Now the NABS (simulators) assessed phase might be a little harder, and we'll be working with an MCDV model instead of a PCT, and the MCDV not only has different characteristics but also different conning orders (it's a different propulsion and direction system), which might cause a little bit of trouble.
All in all, I'm really enjoying MARS III, even though it's hard and there really isn't that much to do at night when I'm done homework. Sure, we have some internet capability as we have DWAN in our rooms and issued laptops, but most of the websites I use are blocked (they're not authorized by DND) so I can surf CNN and BBC and such, but that's about it. At least I have e-mail (not through hotmail or RMC mail, though--I have an @forces.gc.ca address now, because I'm a big boy) so I can e-mail my mom to tell her I'm fine. Busy, but fine.
I love my life.
(Of course, in a few weeks I'll have bags under my eyes, will have taken up smoking and will be drinking 1984 cups of coffee a day, and I won't love it anymore.)
Edit: I'll be fiddling with the blogger function that lets me e-mail posts directly to the blog without having to get on the main website. Expect (possibly) short updates between major posts.
The course started off with a bang. We started learning stuff on Monday morning. And we haven't stopped. Every day I come home exhausted from learning everything, and I have to get my uniform ready for the next day, on top of doing homework to really let whatever I've learned sink in. I'm doing fairly well, though, and homework is more something to do than something I struggle with--I just do it slowly to give myself something to do, really.
So far, we've focused mostly on relvel (relative velocity) problems with the maneuvering board (basically a paper representation of a radar screen). Those of you in the Navy (Canada's or otherwise) know what I'm talking about, and those who aren't in the Navy probably haven't got a clue, and it's rather complicated to explain. Let's just say some people struggle with it--not me--and it's tedious work, especially when you're on your 15th "opening on a steady bearing" problem. We've done some more complicated stuff in relvel like wind over deck (just longer, not really harder) and multiple course changes in a row, but it's all basically the same. I'm doing pretty well in mental math, too, surprisingly. I've found things that work for me, and generally it doesn't take me very long to figure out answers. We've mostly only done things like regaining from being off-track and such, though, so it might get harder.
It's a breakneck pace and, as I mentioned, I come home exhausted after a full day of class. Some people are already complaining that it's going too fast. It's true--we usually learn something new, do a few examples as a group, do one or two examples on our own (with the instructors to help us along) and move on to new things. And then the main instructor gives us homework for the night.
I've learned something cool, this week, as well: our sea phase (two weeks on PCTs) will be with the NETP-O people, which means we won't have to be cooks, lookouts, helmsmen, DC roundsmen, and other odd jobs while also being FixO, NavO and OOW, and planning our passages. There's 18 of us on course and they'll likely spread us over 3 of the 4 PCTs--the rest being NETPO-only--which means about 6 MARS III students (2 bridge teams, I guess) and probably 12-14 NETPO students. It should be good. I can't wait to conn a PCT again--that was one of the most exhilarating experiences ever. Of course, it won't be all fun like NETPO was, but considering I'm enjoying the fairly boring and tedious stuff we're working on right now, the sea phase should be enjoyable as well. Now the NABS (simulators) assessed phase might be a little harder, and we'll be working with an MCDV model instead of a PCT, and the MCDV not only has different characteristics but also different conning orders (it's a different propulsion and direction system), which might cause a little bit of trouble.
All in all, I'm really enjoying MARS III, even though it's hard and there really isn't that much to do at night when I'm done homework. Sure, we have some internet capability as we have DWAN in our rooms and issued laptops, but most of the websites I use are blocked (they're not authorized by DND) so I can surf CNN and BBC and such, but that's about it. At least I have e-mail (not through hotmail or RMC mail, though--I have an @forces.gc.ca address now, because I'm a big boy) so I can e-mail my mom to tell her I'm fine. Busy, but fine.
I love my life.
(Of course, in a few weeks I'll have bags under my eyes, will have taken up smoking and will be drinking 1984 cups of coffee a day, and I won't love it anymore.)
Edit: I'll be fiddling with the blogger function that lets me e-mail posts directly to the blog without having to get on the main website. Expect (possibly) short updates between major posts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)