I had watch starting at 1000 PM that night. All day was pretty quiet, I
went to go get changed at 9:30 into the uniform for the watch I was
about to go stand. I was just about to leave to head downstairs when
over the 1MC (that is the ships announcement system) I hear DING DING
DING DING DING DING DING medical emergency. We rush the unconscious
patient up to medical. We ask a witness what happened, "she got hot in
the head by the crane hook" we're told. Luckily she was wearing a hard
hat, otherwise she might not have been alive, those hooks weigh a couple
hundred pounds. We have her in a cervical collar and we need to take
X-rays to rule out any injuries to her neck and spine. Now I am not an
X-ray tech, nor did we have one on duty that night. I have done some
X-rays before, but it's been a loooong time. "I'll do it" I told the
doctor, not a lot of confidence in my voice. Turns out the pictures came
out okay. Good enough to see that she had, in fact, fractured one of her
vertebrae. Well we can't really take care of her anymore at this point
so we have to MEDVAC her right away to a hospital.
Now I have to go downstairs for my watch that I'm late for at the entry
control point. Basically I am down there to watch people coming back
aboard the ship that is either injured or to drunk to take care of them
selves and make sure I get them to medical. After everything that has
already happened I am hoping for a quiet rest of the night. Wrong again.
At about midnight I get a pretty bad one. I have sent quite a few to
medical at this point, put quick bandages on a couple people who have
been fighting, that sort of thing. We get a call about a guy who can't
even walk. They unload him from a cab and he reeks of booze. He is so
drunk I am concerned he won't be able to maintain a good airway, so I
throw a nasal airway in. He briefly regains consciousness during this
little procedure. We transport him back up to medical with no more
problems. All is fairly calm for the next couple hours.
Now it is about 1:30 AM I have 30 more minutes of watch then I am home
free to go try get some sleep. The bus for my tour leaves at 6 in the
morning. If I get off watch on time I'll get about 3 hours of sleep.
Wrong again. We get a phone call about someone in the water in an inland
water way a couple miles away. I am drug into a vehicle with the Senior
chief that is in charge of all of us on watch. He is not a Corpsman but
he is worried about the person drowning, as am I. We make it to the
location, luckily I brought my flashlight, but I am the only one who
thought to do this. We see someone in the water about 30 feet from shore
and start calling to him. Telling him to come to shore, asking him of he
is alright. Telling him we are from the ship and we want to help him. He
immediately starts swimming AWAY from shore. This kid is actually trying
To run from us and all we want to do is see if he is okay. I keep my
light on him until he is so far away that even the in the light we can't
make him out anymore. We see that there it a small harbor with some
sailboats on the other side of the of the waterway in the direction he
is swimming. But it is about 3/4ths of a mile away from us. I tell
senior he needs to make some phone calls to get a boat in the water
before this turns into a body recovery mission. We get into the car and
drive around to the other harbor and begin searching again. We see him.
He is climbing into a little rubber boat, the small kind that aren't
made for going very fast. We call out to him and he pushes the boat away
from the dock. He is about 10 feet out. I now where you think this story
is going. Did I jump in after him. Did I pull my self up into the little
boat and get it back to the dock and everything turned out okay. No.
After a couple minutes of him struggling to start the motor, the whole
time we are calling to him, telling him to come back to the dock, he
gets it started. Cranks it up and opens the throttle all the way and
points the bow to open water. Where he is going to I don't even know.
Like I said earlier, we already called for a boat to help us out. Guess
who arrives just in time? Harbor Patrol. They of course have a nice big
boat. That doesn't stop this kid from trying to outrun them. So after
witnessing Grand Theft Boat (or maybe it is just considered pirating
when you are on the water) I am now witness to a high(ish) speed boat
chase. This is quickly turning into a watch to remember. So obviously
the guy gets caught. Wait for it...here is the shocker...he is a Marine.
Ok probably not that big if a shock. So after spending the next hour at
the Police Station he is released. They can't find the owner of the boat
he stole, so no one is pressing charges yet. He may get to make a trip
back out here though in the near future. I get back to the ship at about
3:30 in the morning. Make it to "bed" by 4 and am awake by 5 to get
ready for the tour. I didn't really enjoy the Mall of Asia that much. I
was too tired, all of the stores are about the same as the ones in the
states so it didn't seem like anything that special.
After I got this email about 30 minutes ago, I got a call from Russell. While I was on the phone with him, he told me to hold on for a minute. I waited for him to come back to the phone and heard a little bit of talking in the background, but I couldn't make out what was being said. When Russell came back over the phone he told me that the Senior Chief he was with over the night came into the office and gave him a military coin. These really mean a lot to get and even more so when you get one for doing an act of duty like the one he did the night before. GOOD JOB Russell!!! We are so proud of you!!!!!!
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