Hello and welcome to my blog. This is my very first post and I am doing it from rainy Esquimalt (Victoria) British Columbia. If anybody tells you it doesn’t rain that much in BC you can call them a liar. I’ve been here since September 2005 and I think there has only been a week without rain. And that isn’t even consecutive days! Above is a picture of me in my room in Berney's Block West. One of the luxurious barracks blocks that they have for the lower deckers (Master Seaman and Below) at CFB Naden. Note the sarcasm.

I’m in British Columbia doing my TRUMP equipment training. This refers to class of ship training. In my case the class of ship is a Tribal class area air defence / command and control destroyer, HMCS Athabaskan to be specific. You can click on the link listed to get more information on the ship if you are interested.

I suppose before I go any further I should clarify some of the terminology that I will be using in this blog. You see the navy has its own language that has developed through years of tradition. Also the Canadian Forces; as with most armed forces in the world; are acronym happy. As time goes on I will be using these terms and acronyms, I will try to clarify them as I go along. However I am bound to miss some and for that I apologize. I will eventually have a naval / CF dictionary on my website once it is up and running. In the mean time here is a short list of common terms.

TRUMP....................Tribal Renewal and Upgrade Maintenance Program
HMCS......................Her (His) Majesty’s Canadian Ship
CF............................Canadian Forces
CFB.........................Canadian Forces Base
Deck........................Level in a ship and / or floor
Bulkhead.................Wall in a ship
Head........................Washroom
Rack or pit...............Bed
Bridge......................Ships control centre
Mess........................Where the crew sleeps
Galley.......................Ships kitchen
Kilik...........................Leading Seaman (my rank)

Okay stupid list. I tried and tried to get it to line up properly and it just won't so it looks like crap.

Now as for my course… I graduate on Tuesday after along arguous year and a half on my QL5 (journeyman’s) training. I fly back to Halifax on Wednesday and begin 18 days of leave (time off). During this time I will be preparing to fly out to Meet Athabaskan in a foreign port. But I’ll go into more detail on that later.

For now feel free to check out some of the links that I have added or email me. I’m always happy to chat with friends and family.