Cadets were busy throughout the ship this morning - many were in the classroom, on deck, or in the engine room. They all have a week left to finish what they need to learn. The weather has been smooth and we shouldn’t be expecting any rain for the next few days.

In the classroom some cadets are learning more about extracting a downed person from a compartment that is filled with smoke. To simulate the feeling of lack of depth perception paper was taped into the masks to obscure the view. It is important to be able to remove the person from the smoke filled room to save their life. When entering a room filled with fire or smoke it is important to stay as low as possible, since it will be cooler the lower you go. Then finding the bulkhead and following that as you move along until you find the person. Once found you need to extract them quickly.

On deck there were some cadets practicing line heaving. They are getting ready for our arrival back in Vallejo. Some of the lines they were throwing were small, with a weighted end, while others were large mooring lines. The time they put into this will surely help them when we get to campus. Other cadets were on deck conducting MEOD fuel oil soundings which is a daily process for when we transfer fuel between tanks. These tanks are spread throughout the ship.

After lunch there were some cadets from both of the Damage Control Teams who had on their SCBAs and were learning how to enter a confined space if needed. This is important since it is possible for a person to get injured in one of these spaces and need to be removed from the space. Since these spaces are usually tight it will make the process even more time consuming.

We are a week away from being back home and have all learned a lot about ourselves these past weeks. I know I will have come out as a different person when cruise is over.