It's easy to forget about being out to sea while onboard this fairly large vessel, the Indy that is. It's easy until you find yourself rolling across the decks as the bow plows through high seas with forty to fifty knot winds screaming across the flight deck. The Captain just made a 1-MC announcement cautioning us to "tie down" loose objects and stay clear of the flight deck. It's nasty out.

And looking to become Chief Petty Officers are these guys. More than 220 First Class Petty Officers aboard Indy gathered in the aft messdecks this morning to take the Chief's Exam. According to the Education Service Officer, CW02 Tye Casablanca from Philadelphia, PA, these men are competing for the chief selection board, the test they took today will only be a small part of the whole sum.

Heading back to the shop from the messdecks, I stopped in one of Indy's two gyms to get a feel for the healthier side of life. Just as probably everyone else in the world, I made a New Year's resolution to start working out more, or I mean, start working out. AO3 Jason Dale from Newberg, OR (lower right) works out everyday but Sunday. "It's good to get into a workout routine once we are underway, it helps you relax," Dale said as he pedaled the fifth leg of the Tour De' France while listing to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." After being on Indy for three years, he said the hardest part is being forward deployed, not deployed.

The last stop I made was at the number three arresting-wire room. Here, ABE3 Mark Lundell Above from Grass Valley, Calif. was draining the air from the machines that store the fluid that cause the wire to stop the planes when they land, at least that's what he said pretty fast as he dodged my camera lens shyly. "We can land an aircraft every thirty seconds," Lundell said, "but mostly we land 'em about every minute when we're flying." The room was quiet today, but I've heard the screeching sound more times than necessary to know this is a loud room. "I actually clocked a little more than five hours in the rack last night," he said. "When we're flying, we usually clock around four." Lundell said he's been aboard Indy for two and half years and the hardest part of getting underway is; "... missing my girl."

This weather of course pays no favors for the watches. This is Seaman Geoffrey Wolkis from Phoenix, AZ (above) standing the Starboard Watch. Like the mailman, neither rain, snow, shine, nor wild animals will detour him from his duty. Besides looking to stay dry, he keeps a lookout for other boats or vessels, planes, subs, mines and even people. He's stood all the other watches since being underway, Port and Aft, but said since this is his first time at sea, everything is still exciting. An ex-computer guru for a computer company in Phoenix, he's looking to become a Radioman for Uncle Sam.