Just graduated GM "A" school and Im heading to a frigate out of san diego. I have a mk32 C school and then onto a ship, finally. After being at Great Lakes for the past 7 months, I cant wait to get out and see the real navy. Anyone got any advice on what to expect on a frigate as a gunners mate? Anything I should or shouldnt bring with me? Any advice would be awesome.

Great homeport and excellent choice of ship. Good Luck Shipmate.

Congrats and G'luck!

Mk 32 what? SVTTs?

Now, for what to bring with you. Unless they have fixed the problem, FFG really suck at making fresh water. Bring AT LEAST two to three weeks worth of clean clothes. If you can find room (what gunners mate can't?) stow away a few gallons of fresh water. Of course, you may want to check with your shipmates first to see if making water is a problem.

Don't sit back and become a lounge rat, get out and get your quals done. When you've done what's required, find watch stations that sound interesting (CIC and Bridge were my favorites) and work on any and all quals there too, in your spare time.

And remember, the test casting goes in the cla-valve BEFORE you go to open. Never forget this. You may not understand it now, but NEVER forget this. I had two GMGs flood my Torpedo magazine while I was on leave because they forgot that one little detail.

Have fun!

good luck in the fleet

GM??? bring ear plugs

quote:

Originally posted by TMC_SW_Ret:
And remember, the test casting goes in the cla-valve BEFORE you go to open. Never forget this. You may not understand it now, but NEVER forget this. I had two GMGs flood my Torpedo magazine while I was on leave because they forgot that one little detail.

Have fun!

the GMM's on my ship flooded the whole msl mag...MK-10-0
wasn't their fault...a booster suppressor vibrated a part loose and went to 'open'.

almost 2 ft deep almost across the whole width of the ship...about 40 some ft long.
had to hand bail from mag section to the secondary bulkheads which had eductors.
no drains were designed into the mag area.

took a dozen of us from 1900-0200 to clean it up.

quote:

Originally posted by sweetjumps:
Just graduated GM "A" school and Im heading to a frigate out of san diego. I have a mk32 C school and then onto a ship, finally. After being at Great Lakes for the past 7 months, I cant wait to get out and see the real navy. Anyone got any advice on what to expect on a frigate as a gunners mate? Anything I should or shouldnt bring with me? Any advice would be awesome.

While I should concur with TMC's advice, I don't entirely do. Having served on a fig for 3 years, we never once had a water problem. Not to say other ship's don't, but I don't believe it is as bad as TMC says. I will however agree with the details thing, pay attention to it.

I can't think of anything that you would need to bring with you. A frigate is pretty small, but GM's are a small division too, so you have your work cut out for you. You will work alongside FC's etc. You will learn both sides of GM, missles and guns, so that could be a plus.

My advice, like TMC, would be to get qualified. Get to know your requirements as fast as you can, get your DC out of the way and then work towards other higher quals. A frigate is small, so you will get to know most of your shipmates and the ship can be like a small family. You will learn other people's jobs, so embrace that fact. Good luck and enjoy the ride.

yup, thats right SVTTs, thats what Im goin to school for. And trust me, I know all about test castings, they beat that into our heads at A school. TMC said something about 2 to 3 weeks of clean clothes? Does that mean working uniforms and civies and do we really have that much room for stuff? Everyone has always told me they never had room for anything.

2-3 weeks of uniforms, skivvies and socks when you are underway. In port...not so much. You can take your clothes to the laundromat and wash them your self.

Let me give you a recommendation on the SVTTs. If you are assigned them as your primary maintenance, don't be afraid to take the PMS deck down to the tube deck and start working from the W-1R all the way through.

Oh yea, make sure you don't forget to take the muzzle covers off BEFORE firing air slugs.

TMC, TM1 used to tell us he used to find all kinds of junk people would throw in his SVTT's, whats the craziest thing you have found in yours?