When
I finally made it over to Gas Turbine school, I was rather happy, finally about
time to get into some serious school. The building we occupied was a new style
the Navy was trying out. The first floor was classrooms for A-school. Floors
2,3,4 was for us to live in. The building was a square with an open courtyard.
Each
floor had 4 separate companies to keep track of the students. Each company had
its own head facility, office, and lounge. We did not have individual rooms; we
had open bays that held 4 sailors. Each of us had a rack and two lockers.
It
was a reasonably new building when I arrived in July 1990. One each side of the
first floor, there were three classrooms, one room for each week of training.
There were also lounges for the instructors, a scantron room, vending machines,
video games, and a phone bank. We took weeks one through nine in 837. Then we
had 3 weeks in a different build, then back to 837 for our final couple weeks.
At the time, our school was 14 weeks. Plus, we had another 4 weeks of hands on
in the Gas Turbine hot plant. I will talk about that another time.
I
am assigned a room and get my items put away. Next, I meet with our company
commander and figure I will be told I start my class on Monday. HA! More hold
time into my class begins on July 30,
1990. So, while on hold, we cleaned and pretty much wasted our time not really
doing much.
Building
837 was a prototype building, and the base loved it. Except it has a bizarre
quirk, the fire alarm had a bad habit of going off at night. Sometimes it would
go off 4 or 5 times at night. I have spoken to others who were in 837 4 and 5
years after I was there, and it still was doing the same thing. The building is
gone now, replaced by a new building.
Once
we finally made it to the first week, we notice something. There were a good
many guys who were cross rating, switching jobs. They were called fleet
returnees. This was happening because the Navy was decommissioning its older
steam-powered ships and commissioning more gas turbines. Our instructor comes
in the first day and sets up the class leadership. When we started class,
something strange happened, the first three weeks was a rehash of the peewees
class.
We
then had classes on gas turbine theory and the physics of how the engine works.
We also had some thermodynamics and aerodynamics. Then we also had to learn
about the main engine and the generator. These were the General Electric
LM-2500 and Allison 501 K17 (I think)
As
with all Navy, we had to stand watches while in 837. Each company rotated
daily, so we had a 4-week rotation. Once every four weeks, we had a full
weekend fo duty. This also caused a period called the 8-day skate. Meaning when
you were to have duty on Sunday only, the weekend section covered it.
I
recall there were a couple fleet guys who were on top of their classes. One
particular guy, IC1 Ball was a major brain. He was a smart guy and, at the
time, probably had the highest average going through GSE A school. The
Electrical and Mechanical guy all went through the first portion of the same
school. The electrical guys had extra training.
Yes,
I am going to brag here in a minute. I believe when I went through, we had a
comp test over three weeks. Everything we had during those three weeks, we had
a test over. The engine comp test was the hardest because different sections of
the main engine and generator were close in name. Still, different enough, they
would mess you up. Each week the instructor would “pick” from 4 possible tests
fro that week. The Engine Comp test score was a big competition.
Our
weekly test was 50 questions, 2 points each, 75% required to pass. A comp test
was 100 questions, still 75% to pass. So, we take the test after a full week of
intensive studying. After we took the test and waited for them to be graded,
our instructor comes back in to give us the scores. Petty Officer Dodrill was
his name.
He
rattles off everyone’s scores, several people failed, I scored a 91, which was
really good. He begins to berate whose who failed. After having fun with everyone,
he tells everyone to add 5 to the score he gave them. So, I get a 96! Yes, and
the most challenging test the GSM school had. (At that time anyway.) And nobody
did fail. One guy got a 75, so he passed.
News
of the scores travels pretty quick in the building. Later that day, I was in
the Company Commanders office, and so was IC1 Ball. The company commander
already knew what my score was, which at the time was the highest of the year.
So,
he asks me, “Fireman Adams, what was your comp test score today.”
Ball
askes which week, so I say week 9 (I think is right). Ball goes on to brag how
he scored a 94, and he was an electrical guy.
“96,”
I say.
“Bull
shit, you did not, no way,” Ball says.
The company commander shows him the score sheet, there I was on top, 96! Ball was
beside himself; I had beaten him.
No comments:
Post a Comment