Girls Tattoo: 2012

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Sexy Model Tattoos And Dragon

Combination Tattoos For Girls

Combination Tattoos For Girls

Cellebrity Back Tattoo Best Picture

Cellebrity Back Tattoo Best

Black Rose Body Tattoo Design

Body Tattoo Design

Butterfly Body Tattoo

Amazing Art Of Tattoos

Tribal Temporary Tattoos

Spider Web Tattoo Designs

Spider Tattoo Designs

So, it's all over.

In a few weeks, I will be reporting in to my new assignment aboard HMCS VILLE DE QUEBEC (actually "aboard" the shore office, as the ship is still in drydock). It's a whole new challenge and I'm definitely looking forward to it, despite the 130-odd reqs I'll need to start working on. In addition to being posted to a fine ship, I was also promoted to Sub-Lieutenant.

It's been a long and sometimes treacherous road to get here, and I still have a long way ahead, but it feels good to have gotten this far. I've learned a lot about myself through both the good and the bad, and hopefully that will enable me to be a better leader in the future.

It feels weird thinking that for the first time in over five years, I will be out of a training establishment and into an operational unit. It also feels pretty damn good.

For now, that's all I have. See you around the fleet!

Getting there

So here I am at "home" again--and by home I mean my mom's house. I spent a few days in sucky Toronto hanging out with the most awesome girlfriend ever (seriously, she bought me a remote controlled helicopter for my birthday, AND didn't get mad at me for wanting to fly it right away... or all the time.) and now I'm getting to spend a day at home enjoying home cooked food.

And in a few hours, I get to start driving again to make my way to Halifax, where I need to find an apartment within a few days. It should be all right. I found apartments in Victoria, twice, within a day or two of starting to look, so I'm not too worried. I actually have a few places I want to look at already.

In any case, I'm glad to be "off" and moving around, but at the same time I'm looking forward to sitting down in my new place, start work, and go back to a regular workout schedule and such.

And now I go on the road again, yeehaw!

Female Genital Mutilation

Kuwait's Al-Rai TV presents, as Charles Johnson says, "an Egyptian Islamic expert discussing the finer points of female genital mutilation."
From MEMRI TV

Dark Ages Via Satellite
Thanks to LGF, April 01, 2006

[...]
Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: Ibn Al-Qayyem recounts that when Hagar married Abraham and got pregnant, Sarah was very jealous of her. Because of her jealousy, she swore by Allah that she would cut off three of Hagar's body parts. Abraham was afraid that she would cut off Hagar's nose or ears,so he instructed her to pierce Hagar's ears and to circumcise her. This was the beginning of female circumcision in history.

Dr Zarrar: I am not talking about the intellectuals or the elite. I am talking to you about reality as it is, about the people who live in cemeteries, about the reality in which I grew up and lived. I am talking about what happens in South Egypt, about the Nuba, about the peasants and so on. I speak about a reality I am experiencing, along with every woman who has been subjected to the painful and public violation of her honour. I consider this to be a crime, in terms of both religious and civil laws. I condemn whoever tries to defend this.

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: Dr Zarrar rejects female circumcision altogether but I claim that it existed among the Arabs in the ancient times, and even among the righteous caliphs.
There are many references to this. So what caused the confusion? It is the result of some wrong actions...

Interviewer: What wrong actions?

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: For example, taking my daughter to the local practitioner, who is not a professional, yet she cuts off the girls thing. I am saying to all the people who are watching that I am against the pharaonic circumcision, which is still practiced in Egypt. I'm totally against it. It's forbidden. I am against the complete removal of the clitoris. I am totally against this, because it is forbidden and does not please Allah. The caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab said to the circumciser: When you perform khifadh circumcision - leave a part of it. This proves it was prevalent among the Arabs in the days of Omar. Khfadh circumcision is not meant for all girls, only for some.

Interviewer: Which girls?

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: I will tell you which girls. A girl phoned me once... A woman called me once - there is no shame in asking questions about religion... A girl called me and said: When I take the Metro, wearing tight jeans... The Metro in Egypt jolts about like this. She said I get aroused. What should I do?

Dr Zarrar: I asked a doctor. I'm telling you what happened...

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: I asked a doctor, who told me this girl's clitoris was very high, and that a small part of it must be cut off. We must take all girls to a Muslim doctor who specializes in this, who will determine whether she needs a khifadh circumcision or not. If a girl needs a khifadh circumcision, we should perform it, and if a girl does not need it, we should not.

Am I supposed to deny one of the rites of Islam and the laws of Allah?

Dr Zarrar: The Prophet Muhammad had four daughters. Did you ever hear any claim that he circumcised any of them?

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: The Islamic Research Center at Al-Azhar University held a meeting on November 14, 1994. I have the decision with me if you want to copy it...
It says: Regarding female circumcision - after CNN aired a report about an Egyptian girl, who was brutally circumcised... This is the report that brought the issue to public attention because the West wants to impose its culture and philosophy on us...

Interviewer: Circumcision is always brutal.

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: The research Center, the highest religious authority in the Islamic world, concluded "female circumcision, khifah circumcision, is legal in Islam and must not be forbidden or regarded as a crime."

Interviewer: How come there are religious sheik who do not circumcise their daughters? Who told you this? Do you have any daughters?

Dr Zarrar: I don't have any daughters. I wish I did.

Dr Zarrar: It's a good thing you don't!

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: If I had a daughter, I would circumcise her.

Dr Zarrar: Do you have any sisters?

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: Yes, I do.

Dr Zarrar: Have they been circumcised?

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: Let me tell you what we did. we took my young sisters to a specialist doctor who said that one needed a circumcision and the other didn't. We performed the khifadh circumcision on the one who needed it and we did not perform it on the one who didn't need it.

Dr Zarrar: We must declare war on Saudi Arabia. We must pick up a sword and fight them because this is not practiced in Saudi Arabia or in the gulf countries. It has been scientifically proven that all whores have been circumcised.

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: In 2001, the center for Population research at Al-Azhar University conducted research about the chastity of Egyptian girl and the unity of the Egyptian family. They took a representative sample of the Egyptian society. They determined several factors for the chastity of Egyptian girls:
The first is the khifadh circumcision of the girls.
The second factor is modesty.
The third is the mother's monitoring of the daughter's behavior and finally, the observance of prayer.

Interviewer: Is the girl asked whether she wants to be circumcised or not?

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: No. we ask the doctor, who makes the decision. God help us.

Interviewer: What if she says: I don't want to be circumcised. What happens then?

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: If a girl says she doesn't want it, she's free. No problem.

Interviewer: Is this what happens in reality?

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: I have no relation to reality. I am talking about how things should be.

Interviewer: You are a religious sheik, from Al-Azahar University. You cannot say you have no relation to reality.

Dr. Muhammad Wahdan: Reality is a mistake, we must rectify it.
In Egypt we have four and a half million spinsters. The definition of a spinster is a woman who has reached 30, without ever receiving a marriage proposal. We have a spinster problem in the Arab world, and the last thing we want is for them to be sexually aroused. Circumcision of the girls who need it makes them chaste, dignified, and pure.

Pictures Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

"...in Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania etc.
FGM is carried out with knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass or razor
blades. Anaesthetic and antiseptics are not generally used ."
From Middle-East-Info.org

There are a few types of this procedure: clitoridotomy, clitoridectomy, infibulation asnd a few others types of Female genital cutting Wikipedia

WHAT IS FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION?

"We are circumcised and insist on circumcising our daughters so that there is no mixing between male and female... An uncircumcised woman is put to shame by her husband, who calls her 'you with the clitoris'. People say she is like a man. Her organ would prick the man..."
An Egyptian woman [1]

Testimony
"I was genitally mutilated at the age of ten. I was told by my late grandmother that they were taking me down to the river to perform a certain ceremony, and afterwards I would be given a lot of food to eat. As an innocent child, I was led like a sheep to be slaughtered.

Once I entered the secret bush, I was taken to a very dark room and undressed. I was blindfolded and stripped naked. I was then carried by two strong women to the site for the operation. I was forced to lie flat on my back by four strong women, two holding tight to each leg. Another woman sat on my chest to prevent my upper body from moving. A piece of cloth was forced in my mouth to stop me screaming. I was then shaved.

When the operation began, I put up a big fight. The pain was terrible and unbearable. During this fight, I was badly cut and lost blood. All those who took part in the operation were half-drunk with alcohol. Others were dancing and singing, and worst of all, had stripped naked.

I was genitally mutilated with a blunt penknife.

After the operation, no one was allowed to aid me to walk. The stuff they put on my wound stank and was painful. These were terrible times for me. Each time I wanted to urinate, I was forced to stand upright. The urine would spread over the wound and would cause fresh pain all over again. Sometimes I had to force myself not to urinate for fear of the terrible pain. I was not given any anaesthetic in the operation to reduce my pain, nor any antibiotics to fight against infection. Afterwards, I haemorrhaged and became anaemic. This was attributed to witchcraft. I suffered for a long time from acute vaginal infections."

Hannah Koroma, Sierra Leone

Amnesty.org / WHAT IS FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION?

"Circumcision makes women clean, promotes virginity and chastity and guards young girls from sexual frustration by deadening their sexual appetite." Mrs Njeri, a defender of female genital mutilation in Kenya [2]

More information:

Meet TOSTAN
"Tostan is an international, non-governmental organization based in Senegal, West Africa. Tostan empowers African communities to take charge of their own development." Check Tostan's links

Female Genitale Mutilation (and Gender-based violence)
SDC - Health / Social Development Division, Medicus Mundi Switzerland.

For the international community involved in development cooperation, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one of many forms of violence against women, also referred to as gender-based violence.

The WHO estimates that 130 million of girls and women world-wide are concerned by FGM, with another two million girls at risk of undergoing some form of the procedure every year. Several types of “operations” are performed to modify the normal anatomy of a woman’s external genitalia.

All types of FGM can lead to immediate and long-term medical, sexual and psychological complications. The list of medical complications is long. In addition, many women suffer from immediate or lifelong psychological traumata and disturbed sexual functions.... Read the rest here

Towards Redirecting the Female Circumcision Debate: Legal, Ethical and Cultural Considerations
From McGill Journal of Medicine Home Page (http://www.mjm.mcgill.ca)

International Journal of Dermatology 2002, 41, 253-263 Abstact and photos.

All photos : Middle-East-Info.org

Uh, wha'?

One of my hobbies, as some of you might have noticed, is looking through the hits I get for interesting hits--countries you don't often hear about, interesting paths, etc.

I found this really interesting one: someone from Iran, Islamic Republic of, read my post comparing he "34 day war" (the campaign against Lebanon) to the Tet Offensive.

I've gotten a few hits from Iran, Islamic Republic of, over the years, for reasons unknown. (I'd like to think President Ahmadinejad likes my sense of humour.) Usually, though, the hits are fairly random, and not particularly amusing.

Now, let's try and get on the President's blogroll...

Early Warning: Major Suckage Ahead

I haven't heard anything official yet, but apparently my summer will NOT consist of struggling through MARS III over in awesome, über-beautiful Victoria, BC. Serious scuttlebutt has it that someone who makes a lot more money than I do has decided to put MARS III and IV back-to-back. It makes perfect sense, as MARS III serves as somewhat of a base for MARS IV, but the problem is more with the fact that not doign MARS III this summer means I will quite possibly be stuck in Kingston.

Not only would I not be getting the "extra" money being attach posted somewhere else brings (which is nice; it doubles my salary) but I would be stuck at RMC with a bunch of other bored RMC cadets, doing whatever, with most if not all of the people I usually hang out with being gone off to their training.

Of course, there's the chance I could be sent on OJT, but there's almost nothing I can actually go and do. I'm only NETPO-qualified, so being sent to a ship is unlikely, and making coffee for Lt's and LCdr's doesn't sound like that much fun.

Ah well, it's just the greatest tradition in the military: getting sent off to various assignments you really would rather avoid, for reasons that are way above your paygrade.

Gary Gygax fails saving throw

Gary Gygax (creator of D&D) is dead. As I, in the words of Wil Wheaton, "failed my save vs. stunning blow," I'll just point you to his post about it.

Mini-update

Wow, busy times ahead!

I had everything planned out to do a moderate amount of work on a constant basis, but nature had other plans. I came down with a nasty viral throat infection--and since it's viral, the docs can't do anything about it other than give me some anti-coughing stuff and painkillers. Thing is, although it's getting better, I've been lacking in sleep for over a week, so I'm insanely tired and work isn't progressing very well. I've been catching up on reading, but research (for papers and presentations) is slow... At least I got a few extensions for papers and presentations from understanding teachers.

It's getting slightly better, as I don't wake up coughing (or go to bed coughing) but if I push myself in training I do start coughing pretty bad, and my throat still feels swollen and itchy.

Ah well, I'll get better eventually!

MARS III: AAAAAAARGH!

Well, this summer is going to be something else.

I got a little heads-up today of what to expect from MARS III (which has a 30% failure rate)... and it's going to be brutal. Academic phase should be fairly decent--7 weeks of classes and self-study, with some free time--but the sea phase will be insane... do three shifts a day (FixO, NavO, OOW), plus chart work, plus other random stuff, then pull into port (or just anchor somewhere) and do chartwork until the week hours. Fun. And then there'll be the simulator phase which culminate with assessed runs. Kinda like sea phase, but not as bad.

There's a lot of stuff I'll have to learn, and a lot of things to just get used to (not the least being the uber-stress of bridgework, or so I'm told). I did love that little bit of 2/3OOW work we did on NETPO, but I have no illusions as to how much it's like the real thing.

Long-term, I'm WAY more scared of the basic submarine officer course, because even us MARS types have to know all the engineering stuff, on top of being top-notch at EVERYTHING. Still, I keep being told that if MARS is what you actually want to do, it's a breeze (relatively speaking) to pass MARS III/IV and that the submarine stuff isn't all that hard after you've passed the Lt(N) boards.

I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time... starting with the rest of this semester.

J'suis pas morte....

juste un peu (beaucoup) dans l'jus ! Tellement, que je n'ai plus le temps de faire de la Radio Anonyme* ;-(

Mais bon, puisqu'il n'y a que 24 heures dans une journée, je fais s'que j'peux !

Je mène deux contrats et un troisième qui s'en vient....L'hiver qui n'en finit plus n'aide en rien. Je carbure au soleil....j'ai un sapré manque d'énergie ces temps-ci.

Les idées de projets se bousculent dans ma tête....Je place mes pions stratégiquement, mais je devrai, de toute évidence, prendre quelques jours de vacances dans un avenir rapproché, car je ne pourrais pas mener tout ces projets à terme.

Mon homme va bien....les enfants aussi. Tout est paisible chez Les Lubriques.

Vous autres.....ça va ?

* : expression employée par Patrick Lagacé lors du reportage sur le Maire Gendron !

Anti-sealing vessel seized by Coast Guard

Source: CBC

Fisheries officers seized a ship used in a protest against the seal hunt off the west coast of Newfoundland on Saturday to have its captain and first officer arrested

Watson said he was on the phone to one of the crew members of the Farley Mowat as officers took command of the vessel. He said they were "screaming at people to lie down on the deck.

"They stormed the vessel. They forced everyone down on to the deck at gunpoint. I could hear the yelling in the background, and then the phone went dead. It's obvious that they seized the vessel, and they did so illegally.

"The Dutch-registered Farley Mowat never entered Canadian waters," Watson maintained. "It was always in international waters, and it’s technically an act of war to board a vessel outside the 12-mile [19 kilometres] limit without the permission of the captain."

However, Hearn said the Farley Mowat was within Canadian territorial waters.

"Canada was well within its rights to board the ship and prevent future harm to sealers, fisheries officer and permanent observers," he said. "We did the right thing."

BZ to the Coast Guard and the ERT guys for doing their job right and reaffirming that our waters are ours and that anyone not following our laws will have to pay the price.

On a "legal" note: in one of my courses (that dealt with international law) I studied the case of the ACHILLE LAURO, which, though the situation was different, highlighted the possibility of a ship that had conducted illegal activities in one country's jurisdiction being pursued outside that jurisdiction (and into international waters) for prosecution. Even if FARLEY MOWAT was outside the 12NM zone, it had been violating Canadian law and, quite possibly (from reading other, non-CBC articles) generally endangering other vessels in contradiction to the International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea (COLREGS). Either way, it was performing illegal activities and, as such, police action was required and justified.

As far as the comments of it being an act of war... wouldn't endangering vessels in another country's territorial waters be an act of war, too? Hmmmm, I bet someone didn't think of that one!

Elle se remet.....

à écrire !

Bon retour Mi !

xxx

A leadership "tip" reinforcement, from The General

Here's something I (re)learned from watching The General (BGen Lawson) interacting with people at the Navy mess dinner, a few weeks back.

Know your people. It's a fairly universal tip, but when you see The General, who we don't see quite that often, going around and knowing a little bit about pretty much everyone, it's pretty impressive. It also gives off the impression (which I'm sure is well-founded) that he cares. Sure, we don't interact in day-to-day life--we're lowly Naval Cadets (or Officer Cadets...)--but he's in charge of us, he keeps track of us, and he looks over us.

This really helps, I think, to make people look up to the chain of command and feel proud to be serving under those people.

Relationships and the Navy

Okay, so I'm well in advance, but it's a topic that's been coming up a lot--and has been coming up for a while--usually from my civilian friends but also from some people who have had experience with military relationships.

I'm being posted to the West Coast after graduation (I graduate in May, but the actual posting might only be in June) but my girlfriend has to stay in Kingston to finish university. I think it's quite possible to keep things going, although it might be hard, especially considering how much leave I can expect to get, and how often she will have time off. Of course, it's all based on what I've heard in previous years, and what we've been told while we were in Vic, but it looks promising. The only issue will be that I will be on course for most of the year, and from what I understand that course keeps us quite busy, and then I will go to sea where communication opportunities (and time!) will be at a premium.

Does anyone have tips/stories/other tidbits to share regarding this kind of situation?

Coming soon: On Leadership..

I was bored a few days ago and random scribbling turned into some kind of an essay on leadership at RMC. I've had to put it aside for the time being as I have an actual paper to write on leadership, but I expect to post it midweek. I still have to write a conclusion...

Edit: Some changes came down the pipeline after I got done writing, so I need to revise some things. Might take a few extra days.

HHT Redux

So, I'm flying out to Victoria to find an apartment. Again.

Last time didn't turn out so well, as some of you might remember. This time, however, short of the outbreak of WW3 there should be no major issue.

Flying out at 6am did mean I had to be up at around 4, which is a hassle, but what can you do? Hopefully the flying will go smoothly--I'm not a huge fan of it, and I think I caught whatever's going around, so I'm not feeling terribly awesome right now.

Ah well, I'm still looking forward to being in Victoria; the hotel I booked even has free valet parking!

The only bad thing is that I thought I was going to trade in cold Kingston weather for rainy but warm-ish Victoria weather... but it turns out Kingston weather will get progressively warmer until it almost hits 20C at the end of the week. With my luck, however, by the time I get back there will be a snow storm.

So, if any of you readers are in Victoria and want to go for lunch/supper this week, let me know on my RMC address at: s 24318 at rmc dot ca. (I'll edit this post to remove my e-mail address mid-week.)

See you on BC time!

Fort Hood Shooting

My thoughts go out to the victims of the Fort Hood shooting.

From the pieces of the puzzle that are slowly coming together, it appears not the act of a soldier who, after too many deployments, blew a gasket, but rather a calculated act of terrorism by a fanatic. Thir is a frightening idea.

I suggest heading over to Bubbleheads', CDR Salamander's, or Neptunus Lex's blogs for more discussion.

MARS IV

So, I'm starting MARS IV on Monday. The last stop before The Fleet. In May, once I'm done, I'll have gone through two weeks of DC school learning to be an attack team leader and some other things, several weeks of simulator time, and six weeks of round-the-clock sailing. The academic phase is much shorter than it was on MARS III, and it's mostly a more advanced version of it.

I'm not quite sure I'm ready for it--I haven't done anything Navy-related in about a year and a half, and for the most part MARS IV doesn't re-teach you the skills you need. That said, I've spent the week reading the good ol' MARS III handbook over again and for the most part I remember what I learned back then.. my speed might be a little down, but that's normal, right?

The only part I'm actually scared for, is having to learn the electronic navigation system on the go. In the old days, we learned paper chart navigation, and we had a day on the SDM (electronic charts) to familiarize ourselves with it. Now, it's apparently 80% electronic and 20% paper. This is quite problematic, but I've had several people offer to help me out with it and give me tips, and my CTO (Course Training Officer, or something such) said she'll arrange for a "refresher" during pause week. I'd rather use pause week for R&R (maybe a trip to Tofino?) but, like Capt. Aubrey said, "we do not have time for your damned hobbies, sir!"

I'm a little scared, but considering how confident I felt over MARS III, I shouldn't run into too much trouble on MARS IV.

I'm still without the internet, but I'll endeavour to keep at least a weekly log of what happens on MARS IV.

Also, an "admin" note: if you came here looking for Christmas Ball information... seriously?! What were you hoping to find?!

Les gens heureux n'ont pas d'histoire !

ou presque !

Il s'est passé tellement de choses dans les derniers mois...j'en ai le vertige quand j'y penses parfois.

La seule raison pourquoi j'ai du temps pour écrire ce matin, est que Sailor dort tard (il s'est couché à 4h30 ce matin car il jouait avec le nouveau Assassin's Creed....soit dit en passant, c'est vraiment cool ce jeu. Tellement bien fait qu'on croirait regarder un film tout en étant l'acteur principal. Ubisoft l'a vraiment l'affaire).

Mon dernier billet remonte au mois de mai dernier. Figurez-vous donc qu'on va avoir la Sainte-paix-de-l'ex pour les 7 prochaines années. Je ne l'aurais pas écris en juin, car j'y croyais pas beaucoup, mais "so far, so good'' la madame a prit son trou et elle ne gosse plus pantoute ! Elle ne passe plus à la maison pour des niaiseries, ne téléphone plus pour demander l'heure (j'exagère à peine;-) et le plus important de tout, elle n'aura pas un triste cenne ! Mon homme a été tellement clair là-dessus (plus clair que ça, tu meurs ;-). On va prendre en charge certaines dépenses, mais au moins, l'argent ira directement pour les enfants, pas pour elle et nous aurons le loirirs de décider (pas se faire mettre devant un fait accomplit) et comment ces dépenses seront faites.

***

Nous avons passé l'été à refaire le toit du chalet.....j'dis l'été, parce que je vous jures qu'il a plu tous les mozusses de week-end. Nous avons fait d'autres petites rénos, le tout a débuté en Avril et nous avons fini par finir en Octobre ! Y'était temps que §a finisse. Malgré tout, nous somme très fiers de nous. Nous allons célébrer Noël au chalet....y'a pas eu de sapin dans cette maison depuis 30 ans !

De plus, pendant ces rénos, je me suis découvert une nouvelle passion : décaper du vieux stock !Tout se qui est en bois et qui est peinturé va y passer ;-). J'ai déjà : une poubelle, une armoire et 2 portes à mon actif. C'est incroyable toutes les belles choses qui se cachent sous 5-6 couches de peinture !

***

Nous nous sommes fait cambriolé en Juillet. Pas seulement cambriolé, les trous d'cul ont passés 24 heures dans la maison ( Les voisins ont vu de l'activité dans la maison, mais ils croyaient que c'était nous ;-S . Ils ont foutu le bordel : des trucs du sous-sol à l'étage, mes papiers all over the place, ils ont même pris le temps de lire mes cartes d'anniversaire assit tranquillement dans une chaise à boire mon vin. Mais c'est pas ça le pire, elle (car il y avait une fille, c'est certain) est partie avec mes bobettes câl****. Non mais, faut l'faire. Chose étrange, ils (elle) n'ont pas touché aux chambres des enfants. Petit Guerrier avait même de l'argent liquide, ils ont déplacé son portefeuille, mais n'ont pas pris 1 sou. Des voleurs avec un peu de conscience 'faut croire.

***

Suite à ce cambriolage, notre vieux minou est tombé malade (le stress je présumes) nous avons dû le faire euthanasier. Il avait 20 ans, je sais, mais n'empêche que ça m'a rentré d'dans comme un 10 roues.

Suite au décès du vieux minou, mon Edgar est tombé malade aussi. Je croyais que c'était l'ennui, mais suite à de nombreux tests, nous avons découvert que ses reins étaient malade. Il a passé une semaine à l'hôpital, et $1000.00 plus tard, nous avons réussit à le sauver. Il aura des médicaments à prendre pour le reste de ses jours, mais au moins il est toujours là. (Quoi qu'il semble avoir mal à une patte, je vais chez le Vet demain avec lui)

Je n'aurais pas pu le perdre lui aussi. Mon Edgar est mon fidèle ami depuis si longtemps....Je sais qu'il vit sur du temps emprunté, mais j'peux pas me résigner. Je ne m'acharne pas, comprenez-moi bien, mais tant qu'il ne souffre pas, je vais en prendre soin !

***

Mon chum est allé en Hongrie avec son père, j'espère qu'il aura le temps d'écrire la suite de ces billets....ce voyage a, comment dire, expliqué certaines choses.

***

Alors voilà le résumé des derniers mois....et vous autres ? Quoi de neuf ?

Let mortal kombat begin!

So, MARS IV started today. Whew, what a day!

Actually it wasn't too eventful--mostly briefs about what we'll learn, how they expect us to perform, what to look for during sea phase (small ships, no cool ports, possibly nasty seas... fun!), etc.

We did have a "retention test", which is supposed to assess what we learned/remembered from MARS III. For most of the class, that should've been a piece of cake; they finished MARS III a week ago! Somehow, a lot of them had trouble, some with concepts I hadn't reviewed and just remembered from MARS III. Fortunately for me, I had reviewed most of the material, though not in great detail. There were some things I didn't remember or even know, but I managed to put something down for every question, and I felt pretty confident about most of my answers.

I need to review some things, and relearn the COLREGS as much as possible (I remember what they say, but not what they say verbatim), as well as review the flags... but this can probably wait until Xmas break. For now, I need to learn engineering, meteorology, and some other stuff.

I have a pretty good group from what I've seen, and everyone's pretty nice.

Tomorrow we start learning stuff. I can't wait.

I love my life.

Rescuing the Barracuda

So, RENARD 58 was just driving along, doing some navigation training in Sansum Narrows (between Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island), enjoying the (almost) total lack of contacts. It wasn't a particularly nice day, but it wasn't too bad. Then, all of a sudden,

"PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN, this is Barracuda..."

Not a big deal, panpans go out all the time, and most of the time they're hours away at best speed. So we just keep on going though I (as OOW), the OIC, and some others on the bridge keep on listening. Victoria Coast Guard got on 16 and asked them what the issue was, and if they had a GPS onboard, which they did, and what their boat looked like. Red sloop, coordinates whatever, stalled engine refusing to start again, in calm winds, 2 souls on board. Now that sounded kind of familiar.

Oh, right, that's because we'd just passed a red sloop with two people on board, the winds were light, and the coordinates were for about 500 yards behind us.

Now, the rules are pretty straightforward, at least as far as what the OOW needs to do. Which is nothing. Or as close to it as possible. Only the Captain can decide whether or not to respond to an emergency, and until he does, the OOW is not to do a single thing. Even turning back towards the stricken vessel (where relevant--like in open ocean or when it's 500 yards away) can be considered as responding, and the ship then is obligated to keep responding until relieved by another more capable asset. The OIC listened in on the conversation between Barracuda and the Coast Guard, and when the CCG said they would put out a broadcast for assistance, he called them up and said we had them visual and would respond. At this point, the sailboat was close to the rocks and, if we left them to their fate, they would surely run aground. Besides, one of the recent Canadian Forces recruiting campaigns calls for us to...

Actual image from a CF recruiting video

...so we did.

We launched the zodiac with a small
prize crew
team, which included our only engineer, to assess what the problem was with the engine, and hopefully get it started. They tied up to the Barracuda to stop its slow drift aground, and then fiddled for a few minutes. The engineer reported that it was unlikely he could fix the engine at sea, and they would need to put in somewhere. The Barracuda was adamant about waiting for a friend to come give them a tow but, of course, we couldn't very well just leave them in the middle of the narrows so they could run aground, so we offered to tow them to safety.

RENARD's zodiac towing the BARRACUDA alongside

All's well that ends well, we got them onto a public wharf at a small marina, made sure they were ok and would be getting a tow from their friend, did a bit of necessary admin, and went back to our navigation training.

But not before our downright heroic prize crew had gotten their recognition.

LS Pope (Engineer), Lt(N) Laplante (XO), and A/SLt McGowan (JOUT)

with their latest medal and a well-deserved cup of tea

Rememberance Day

So this year I'm in Newfoundland for Rememberance Day. Hopefully the weather will hold for the ceremony. VDQ has a marching contingent but a lot of us are only going to be watching with the rest of the crowd.

Unfortunately, with each passing Rememberance Day more of our WW2 veterans disappear and, with them, all their memories and lessons. We need to make sure those guys get the attention they deserve while it's still relevant. If it wasn't for them, we'd all be speaking German right now. Of course, between WW2 vets and the newer Afghanistan vets, we mustn't forget about the other wars, like Korea.

Words fail me, as they often do, in events like this. So please, go out to a ceremony today and thank a vet. Those old gentlemen wearing berets and blazers with patches and medals? Walk up to them, talk to them, thank them.

Remember

Fair winds and following seas, Captain

I've been trying to write something for the past two weeks, but inevitably words fail me.

As those of you in the blogsphere know, Capt(ret) Carroll Lefon, USN (aka Neptunus Lex) died a few weeks ago in a plane crash.

I was at sea at the time, doing the last phase of workups, and only saw the notice in passing while checking my e-mails--connectivity was bad and I couldn't open the message, and it was only later that I learned the circumstances.

Let's just say I wasn't in a great mood to "fight the war" in those last few hours of the "war" we were fighting.

I never had the pleasure of having a Guiness with the Captain, but I'm sure the experience would have been both uplifting and humbling. As a junior officer with barely a year and a half of actual fleet time, reading Lex' writings about leadership sometimes made me happy that I was following what seemed like a good track, and sometimes made me feel like I was drifting away and needed a swift kick in the pants to get back into it. Always, though, I could count on his posts to entertain and educate.

He'll be missed.

First Deployment

Well, after 6 1/2 years in the military, months at sea, and repeatedly volunteering for pretty much every opportunity, I finally have been picked to go overseas for actual operational duty. As it stands, I will be joining the crew of HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN sometime in May for the remainder of their mission in the Mediterranean.

It's great to know that I'll be putting all that training to some use for a worthwhile mission. Not that training and fisheries patrol aren't worthwhile missions... they're just not what I had in mind when I joined the military. In a way, though, it's good that VILLE DE QUEBEC recently completed workups; I've honed my skills quite a bit during that time, and hopefully the skills won't have much time to fade before I sail again.

So, hopefully, between OPSEC and how much internet access I can get, I'll be blogging about an actual deployment. With some luck, I'll have things to say other than "today I saw the sea." As far as possible, though, I'll update once a week during the deployment. I'll also try to post at least weekly pre-deployment, but without a whole lot to say I expect I'll mostly be checking in.

Ah well, we'll see how it goes.

Until then, I can't wait to go.