Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Island & The Shotgun - (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord) Day 109

This morning I headed to my internship with the navy. The morning started off a little slow, I entertained myself with my iPhone for about an hour. After that we loaded up 2 PCs into the TMP and headed off. We headed first to the naval base outside of Silverdale. We were able to install, setup, configure, and test the last remaining PC we were having issues with.

We then headed up to an island I've never heard of where there is a naval base I've never heard of. As we arrived at the gate, a guard came out as usual to check our IDs. Unlike any other military base I've been to, there was another guard that came out holding a shotgun. The guard with the shotgun stood there just watching us…waiting for us to do something crazy…itching for a chance to use that shotgun of his. Luckily our credentials got us on the base with no issues…and no shotgun blasts.

We headed to a secure conference room and replaced an older PC with our new one. We setup, configured and tested the machine. After that we made our way back to our office. Once we were back, I headed to my car and had lunch. Unfortunately we only get a half hour lunch, which means I walk to my car quickly, eat lunch while listening to the radio, then head back. There is not much time for anything else.

We then headed to a pretty cool office at this navy base. In fact it may be the coolest office in the shipyard…or at least the one with the best view. We arrived in this secure office at the top of a building. It was basically an observation tower with views of the entire waterfront and all the navy ships. There were screens everywhere with various security cameras keeping an eye on everything. We replaced an older machine there with our newer machine. As usual we setup, configured, and tested the new machine. The folks working in this small observation tower have the greatest view of all. As I stood there looking out the windows, I could see all the big war ships from views that not too many people get a chance to see. It also has a nice view of the entire bay. I am guessing the people that work up here spend quite a bit of time stuck up here because there was an exercise bicycle in the middle of the room. I wish I could have taken some photos.

We headed back to the office and I finally got setup with computer access on the navy network. After chatting with the support folks, they had me insert my CAC (common access card) into the computer. After they ran a script, I was able to log in and access the network and email. To my surprise I already had about 30 emails in my navy account. Now that I have computer access, I can at least keep myself busy when there is nothing to do here.

I headed home after that and did some schoolwork.

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