The Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis, a 378-foot High Endurance Cutter homeported in Honolulu, recently set out to sea and headed for Asia. I am an Ensign in the deck division, recently graduated from Officer Candidate School, and on my second patrol aboard the Jarvis.

The Jarvis’s mission remains the same, law enforcement and search and rescue. This trip however, involves a mission of diplomatic importance. The Jarvis is heading to Asia to work with Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian and Canadian counterparts to set the framework for future cooperative efforts in protecting the seas from high seas drift netting and other illegal fishing activities. I feel like this will be the opportunity of a lifetime and am lucky to be a part of this trip

The first few days underway are probably one of the most intense experiences I have ever had. There is a strange mix of feelings running through the crew: distinct sadness at leaving families and home, excitement at the prospect of seeing new places, and the pure rush that comes along with not knowing what the high seas have in store for you. 

Within the first 24 hours underway crewmember we’ve conducted six hours of helicopter training and four emergency drills. We also had a scare when white smoke clouding a compartment within the first few hours of getting underway. Talk about a wake up call! There are always little bumps and glitches, some of them more amusing than others.

We painted the deck of the bridge wing and it promptly rained on the fresh paint, leaving it looking as though we had given our ship a beatifying mud mask. So, out went the deck department to strip the paint off and try again. As with any ship things break or malfunction so the crew is pressed to come up with on the spot solutions. Communication is imperative and I think for the first week we have been underway the crew is learning each other’s languages all over again!

Each day I am taught something new. I learned how to calculate the position of the ship using lines of position shot from the sun, how to give commands to the helmsman to keep the cutter on course and that there really are good reasons to keep your belongings secured.  There really is nothing like a flying shampoo bottle during heavy rolls.  I have also learned that you can indeed get so seasick that you pass a mushroom from breakfast through your nose! How’s that for a party trick? Seriously though, a lot is expected of a Coast Guardsman. It’s totally exhilarating, if not occasionally overwhelming learning each aspect of driving a ship that is just short of a football field. I laugh out load now remembering when my parents worried about me driving my Dad’s truck because it was “so big.”

While the days aboard the Jarvis are amazing there is only one thing I love more than getting underway, and that’s the night time. Not just because its when the ship is actually quiet but also because I spend my night duty learning how to navigate by the stars, as well as all the skills I will need to be qualified as an underway officer of the deck. These are things that keep my mind buzzing and active, and I love learning how to do my job. I have never been so challenged in all my life as I am aboard the Jarvis.

It’s not just the lessons that I am learning at night that make me love this time, but it is also the mysterious beauty of night. The sound of the engines “all ahead standard” purring like a big jungle cat in harmony with the soft sliding of the ocean is calming after a long day of busy work. There is finally a little peace that comes with having the night air rush past my face, tasting slightly of salt as I notice stars that I would have never noticed while in the city.

It’s in those moments that I reflect on how lucky I really am to be where I am. Not only am I doing something for my country, I am part of an amazing team and I get to see beauty that few people will witness in their entire life.

Excitement builds within the crew, as we get closer to Japan. We are making final arrangements for receptions, training exercises, demonstrations, and morale trips. The crew wants to make sure they visit Mount Fuji and Tokyo while they are here as well as take time for a softball game with members of the Japanese Coast Guard. Morale underway has been kept up with a swim call in the warm pacific waters and we played a scary movie on the flight deck to celebrate Friday the 13^th.

It’s an exciting time to be aboard the cutter Jarvis, and I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks bring.