[LukePierce]

Hello Sweatyland!

Now I'm coming to the end of what was called the "Auriga 10" deployment (and included Ark25), I thought I'd jot down some things that I learnt about myself during the exercises and what I've learnt about our colonial cousins. If this gives you any ideas for comics orstories then glad to have helped!

1. I learnt the folly of bringing a sketchbook (ZOMG!!!1!) - Invariably Jolly Jack Tar and Jolly Jenny Wren are nosey bastards and always want to read through whatever you happen to be reading or doing. So they'll look over your shoulder and find that you can draw (I use the term loosely regarding myself) and so far, two people seeing the sketchbook has meant:

• Two messdecks with huge boards with artwork on it
• Using a speech bubble on these same artworks actually means any messages actually get read
• Three departments want departmental pictures (I am NOT doing 100+ people for one picture!)
• I always get asked to draw pron
• Someone always has to "prove" they're better... (Hint: Do I care? No...)

Plus a few more...

2. Sleeptalking is not the best habit to have. Ex:

Why hello Mr. Balloon

Shit! We should have won... OF COURSE! The tits...

God, I'm as bad as sleep talking man...

3. Americans have a flavour (sorry, flavor) called Yellow. To give you an example of how stupid this is, we were doing a store ship and we had cake mix come on. This is genuinely how the flavours came on: Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, Yellow... I mean, wtf?!

4. Florida Manatees are really friendly, but they're much bigger than you realise.

5. Swimming with Dolphins is awesome. Especially wild ones.

6. Most of the American Atlantic Coastline is unbearably hot.

7. Jacksonville, Florida doesn't have much going for it, unfortunately. The biggest event to happen in years is the installation of a museum ship and the attempt at re-inventing itself as an alternative art city isn't quite working.

8. The girls can be a little too friendly towards British sailors (even when their boyfriends are watching...

9. Finding sunglasses that fit my face was a task worthy of Hercules (nearly impossible)

10. Women try to marry their daughters off when they:
a. Discover you're a British Sailor
b. Realise how much you earn even as a junior rate
c. Like the idea of seeing you and their daughter in Merry Ol' England.

11. Americans cannot drink and even get outdrunk by Canadians. Case in point, The American crews were bladdered on Alexander Keith ale, whilst the Canucks kept on going (must have been that malty flavour)

12. Halifax, Nova Scotia is a nicer place to visit than previously realised (and everything is nearer too)

13. The Queen is surprisingly short

14. Call-me-Dave has a common accent when "talking to the troops"

15. The PM still isn't as Super-Saiyan as Boris Johnson

16. The Fleet Flagship gets stitched for absolutely everything

17. SOTV (Ship Open To Visitors) is actually really rather fun to do. Somewhere there are people who have pictures of me holding their baby (I just had my niece born at the time) that was the first time I'd ever held a baby... I'm doing a couple of "Yatta!" poses for some the lovely Japanese tours that came on board, I think they might have enjoyed that I was up for doing stupid stuff and a couple of kids discovered that I do, indeed, have a very big head.

18. The final thing? Trips like this can be hard work, but usually masochistically fun!


Roll on Leeds in November... (Freedom of the City and Rememberance Sunday) Do we ever rest? Ummm... No. Ohhh.... yeah, and we're already gearing up for a new Captain with the best name for a Naval Captain, ever!

Behold.... Captain Kyd! (We're Pirates! Yayyyyyy!)

[Mimi]

Does anyone else find it exceptionally awesome that a guy doing all these awesome things chooses the Sweatdrop forum as his weapon of choice to report his travels to the internets??
Makes you proud to think that manga has a place in Her Majesty's Forces
All this stuff sounds very awe inspiring, if a little bit like a holiday, you sure it was a work trip

[Strange_One]

Indeed a pretty awesome bloke!

but the thing I'm just dying to know is: "WHAT DOES YELLOW TASTE LIKE?!!?"

[Squiddley]

Does No. 13 mean you met the Queen?

Also, I agree, confirm to us the nature of 'yellow', it is relevant to my interests

Also relevant, moar regarding the regional wildlife Seen any Chelonians knocking about? There's quite a few nesting sites round there.

[Monkipi]

Originally Posted by LukePierce

3. Americans have a flavour (sorry, flavor) called Yellow. To give you an example of how stupid this is, we were doing a store ship and we had cake mix come on. This is genuinely how the flavours came on: Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, Yellow... I mean, wtf?!

As an American, let me say, only cake comes in yellow. I assume that it's because of the color of the cake, since I've also seen "white". They are the plainer cakes, so I guess they distinguish them by virtue of their color. This is not to say that color flavors aren't stupid, 'cause they are. But this is America, what'd you expect XD?

[LukePierce]

Originally Posted by Mimi

Does anyone else find it exceptionally awesome that a guy doing all these awesome things chooses the Sweatdrop forum as his weapon of choice to report his travels to the internets??
Makes you proud to think that manga has a place in Her Majesty's Forces
All this stuff sounds very awe inspiring, if a little bit like a holiday, you sure it was a work trip

It's not awesome really, I joined the forums before I joined the Navy. Besides it's like one big family, albeit a Sweaty one... keheheh... sorry...

Definitely a work trip though, some of the stuff we got up to was to demonstrate that a British ship was able to carry out the duties of leading a taskgroup. We did that, no question, and we also managed to land an Osprey, which is the American Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft. Jane's will have a pretty good picture, but it does look really similar to the aircraft in the opening credits of Appleseed. I'll see if I can dig out a pic.

Originally Posted by Strange_One

"WHAT DOES YELLOW TASTE LIKE?!!?"

Seeing as it was baked (cooked?) by Navy chefs, it tasted of nothing! Mind you, they're able to burn water so that doesn't surprise me. It had a very nice banana yellow look to it though.
I'll guess that yellow is supposed to taste slightly banana-like?

Originally Posted by Squiddley

Does No. 13 mean you met the Queen?

Yes it does. :3 I formed part of the royal guard of honour on the flagship when we did the International Fleet Review in Halifax Harbour. (Awesome place, and it's worth checking out if you're a history buff)
Ark Royal does have a special significance for the Queen as it was her own mother that was the ship's patron, so it holds a pretty significant personal link for her. It'd certainly explain why she had such a smile when she came to take the salute.
It's really weird though, you could be a die-hard Republican or not a fan of Royalty in general, but the Queen does genuinely have something about her which you'd immediately notice. We got to meet a few other leaders as well (as well as having some drive past us) and none of them had this aura about them. It was really strange. (I don't know if aura is right, but it's as close as I can describe)

Originally Posted by squiddley

moar regarding the regional wildlife

I saw a few Alligators and Crocodiles if that counts? Some of the life that existed in Wal-Mart was indescribable at times as well

Originally Posted by monkipi

But this is America, what'd you expect XD?

Yeah, true. I think what threw us about the cake was that it came from the same company and was labelled up as: "Chocolate flavor" etc. I think we wouldn't have had such a surprise if it'd been labelled as color. I mean, that'd make too much sense, right?

It was a work trip though. Honest! Now if anyone really believes that....

[Strange_One]

Originally Posted by LukePierce

It's not awesome really, I joined the forums before I joined the Navy. Besides it's like one big family, albeit a Sweaty one... keheheh... sorry...

Definitely a work trip though, some of the stuff we got up to was to demonstrate that a British ship was able to carry out the duties of leading a taskgroup. We did that, no question, and we also managed to land an Osprey, which is the American Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft. Jane's will have a pretty good picture, but it does look really similar to the aircraft in the opening credits of Appleseed. I'll see if I can dig out a pic.

*geekgasm* Awsum beans

You got a visit from the US Marines?

[LukePierce]

Originally Posted by Strange_One

*geekgasm* Awsum beans

You got a visit from the US Marines?

Three visits. Twice with the Osprey and also when we had their AV8B's on board. (Harriers under a different name)

aaaand, some attached pics

[Quarklette]

Amazing stuff! I'm so impressed.. especially the manatee bit.. I was seeking them when I was in Florida but to no avail. Also pleased that someone has CONFIRMED that Yellow is technically a flavour out there. I thought I was going mental.

Hahaha, sleep talking WIN... does this mean you're back for a bit?

[Hunter]

You swam with dolphins?! Man, I am so jealous!

Sounds like signing on with the Navy was definitely the right choice for you, Luke! You're living an adventure!

[LukePierce]

Originally Posted by Quarklette

Amazing stuff! I'm so impressed.. especially the manatee bit.. I was seeking them when I was in Florida but to no avail. Also pleased that someone has CONFIRMED that Yellow is technically a flavour out there. I thought I was going mental.

Hahaha, sleep talking WIN... does this mean you're back for a bit?

If you're looking for Manatees, you have to go to somewhat quiet areas. The Weapon Testing area is just such a place. They seemed really interested in the ship and did a thorough investigation which was really interesting to watch. What was surprising was the lack of care taken by pleasure craft in the waters that they live in. I mean, for such a rare creature that Florida loves to advertise, you'd think more care would be taken...

I'll be back for a bit of a while, we'll be floating around somewhere near the UK providing air cover when the RAF are too scared to fly... or it's after 1600 or it's the weekend. :P

Sleep talking is most definitely not win though. Those sentences were the ones the guys could actually understand; most of the time I speak in another language when I'm sleeping! They've managed to identify Dutch/German and Spanish so far... now if only I can apply that to when I'm actually awake and I'll be laughing!

Originally Posted by hunter

You swam with dolphins?! Man, I am so jealous!

Sounds like signing on with the Navy was definitely the right choice for you, Luke! You're living an adventure!

I'm glad there were Dolphins around when we did Hands to Bathing... no sharks

We get to do all that awesome stuff and get paid for it, what's to not like?

[Hunter]

...the fact that they have "yellow" as a flavour over there? That one somehow passed me by when I read your original post. I'm curious, have you actually had any yet? What did it taste like? Any interesting side-effects/mutations?