"Hello from the Arabian Gulf," Capt. Milliken says in the most recent Careline. "We are here on station and preparing to fill our role as a part of Operation Southern Watch." (Below) In the AUXCON Capt. Milliken overseas today's fuel replenishment.

(Below) QMSN Ranger Payne from Mclean, Texas stands watch as Lee Helmsman.

And acting as Helmsman (below) was QM3 Chris Swann from Raceland, KT.

These next photos are from out on the flight deck as the Weapons Department off loaded excess gear to make room for new stuff. I know when you're going for action shots you don't want to stop the props, but I don't have any shutter control on our digital camera, so trust me, those props were spinning.

Another load gets flown off (above) as lines are gathered up to also be flown off (below).

Observing from the Safety Department (below) was AO1 (AW/SW/NAC) Stacey W. Russell from Lubbock, Texas.

Well, more before 6 AM than most people do all day... yeah, that's pretty much a common occurrence around here every day. Even now as more than half the crew turns in for the night, the rest have been up for hours beginning their workday.

We began today with the USNS Walter S. Diehl off our starboard side, and the USNS Kilauea off our port side as Indy took on fuel, food, and mail from Diehl, and gave our excess baggage to Kilauea. After we finished loading and unloading, we started flying... I know because I could hear them taking off and landing.

QM3 Ray Saavedra (below) from Sacramento, CA is part of the Navigation team that keeps Indy on track. They recently shut down their GPS and broke out tools of the trait that have been in use since WWII.

Seaman (AW) Kelvin Goins (below) from Detroit, Mich. keeps a close eye on the action as he receives progress reports from the watches. In 20 minutes he'll log more than 30 reports, he said while writing in the green logbook. "It's a long watch, but the good part is getting to see the whole evolution from the bridge," he said.

It was too loud to even conduct an informal interview while the helos buzzed back and forth from Indy to Kilauea and back. Observing the movement (below) was the LCPO from Flight Deck Control, ABHCS (AW/SW) Robert W. Stewart from Seattle, WA.

Well, like I said, I only got out twice today to grab photos. This is the sun setting as Indy begins to get ready for night flight ops. As I watched the sun fade more and more, the deck lights (left) came on and lit the reflection tape on the Sailors working on the flight deck. It gave everyone that eerie ET glow as they moved about like fireflies getting the birds ready for takeoff.

So, thanks for tuning in today. Email is back up and let me say, I got your note, thanks for keeping Indy and her crew in your thoughts. There is no one I've ever spoken to here that didn't say they missed you.