Flight Deck Sports

Good afternoon. Well today is Sunday and I thought that I'd take a moment to write a little about what we've been doing today. Well first thing this morning we had a live fire shoot with the GPMG's (General Purpose Machine Gun's) and the Mini-Guns, they fire about 3000 rounds per minute and are absolutely awesome to shoot. We had made a target so we actually had something to aim at and then drove the ship around the target keeping it about 500yds from us. The Captain wanted the emphasis of the shoot on accuracy. And we duly proceeded to nearly obliterate the target. Unfortunately the Mini-Gun had a stoppage and was very difficult to clear so we didn't have many rounds to put through it, we were limited on time so we started robbing rounds from it to put through the GPMG's.
This afternoon, well, now really the ships company are partaking in a great Naval tradition of FD Sports. We are, today, playing bucket-ball. This is a game that is a cross between netball and basketball. You have two teams of five, with one sub'. when the game starts it's like basketball with the tip off. and then it's like netball where, when you get the ball, which is homemade with rags and every sailors favorite, HBM (Harry Black Maskers-black masking tape, to you lot...) you stand still and have to either throw it to a team-mate or shoot for goal. The goalie is stood on a sports mat and has a bucket in his/her hands and has to catch the ball. The goalie cannot jump, step off the mat and must have both feet firmly planted on the mat for the shot to be a legitimate goal. The winner is obviously the team that scores the most goals, the match lasts for approximately three - five minutes. There should be photo's, i asked one of the girls to take a load for me. All the photo's should, hopefully, be uploaded when we reach Bahrain. When that is is another question all together.
On a sadder note, my thoughts and prayers are with my wife, daughter and in laws as they are mourning the loss of a great man, Fred. Who died this morning at 0800hrs. I am trying to return to the U.K to be with my family. This is one of the worst things about being in the armed forces. You're away from home serving your country and things like this happen and it's bloody hard to get back to your loved ones and support them. I'll let you know what happens and if i get back or not. Speak again soon. Take care.