Signed up, just waiting to be placed on Oil Spill Cleanup Boat now...
 

Not an easy task, nor easy work, but Ive signed up - just waiting to be placed on Oil Spill Cleanup Boat now. I will most likely be doing 14 days out at a time, living on boat, and helping clean up oil spill - deploying booms, helping take water samples etc... its really getting bad here and I simply cant sit back and watch and not do anything.

Always wanted to do extended sea-life so looks like the adventure will start soon. Exciting to say the least.
:thumbsup

From what i read people arent getting placed in these jobs, simply waiting?

I know it's a disaster and all, but some of the work involved is definitely something of interest...to me at least. And especially if it pays well.

I know plenty people out on the water doing this. They are only hiring local people. Have dozens of cousins out doing it, many in my family have boats and are captains. My family is heavily involved in Boat Charters and Shrimping here so we've turned the boats into Oil COntainment Vessels and have been hired by various companies to assist in boom deployment and cleanup etc... tagging animals, all kinds of work.

Many people are trying to get on doing this, yes, but they are focusing on local people. So not sure of the situation with those you know, but I have plenty of family out on water as I type this.

After seeing so many in my family go, I have decided that this is something I shoulnt pass up. Spending weeks out on water sounds so refreshing right now!

Well done Fletch, more people should have that attitude.
I live and breathe nature myself, im a boat owner and love to fish.

I would be out there in a heartbeat if i lived in that area

Paid or not, it's nice to see people such as yourself who are willing to get up and do something to help the situation directly rather than just sit around bitching about it. I have no doubt this will be an incredible experience for you Fletch.

Enjoy.

:thumbsup RESPECT!!!

my cousins post vids on facebook and it makes me want to get involved, every single day - so it was easy choice. Hardest thing will be being away from my wife and daughter, but working from home for 10 years has left me very, very, bored lately and I need something like this.

After seeing the white pelicans turned black (my cousins iphone vids) from the bay near us, I decided it was now or never, and went down to sign up. Its not easy to get on, you gotta take a BP HAZMAT (hazardous material) class (40hours) and take drug test, physical exam etc,... but in the end I keep thinking of my grandfather taking me fishing in these waters as a kid and there will be no fishing from them for a very long time - I MUST help.

My uncles/cousins have had to shut down their shrimping businesses, lay off all their workers in teir Fishing Charter businesses and there will be no work for a long time. Its a sad state down here and I have to help, I simply must. My family has provided the coast guard with camps to sleep and are even shuttling them (on airboats and flatboats) back and forth to drop off points and are heavily involved in the cleanup, so I really want to be a part of this.

Should be a good experience for you.

Keep us posted :)

Good luck man, but I wouldn't go out there. Very Very Very bad for your health!

best of luck in your efforts :)

Fletch, nothing but love for what you're doing, but be careful, all that oil can't be good for your health, I would not handle the oil with bare skin at all and would worry about the fumes, so be careful

nuke the fukin leaks already... jesus

Although I commend you and send some respect... Ill bet after the first couple day you will realize that its not exactly refreshing out there...

Ive done the week and more sea life trips... You will PRAY for those mountains back in your site. Also, boat life isnt shits n giggles...

Either way, Good luck out there dude@!

This is precisely why we are being trained to work with hazardous materials. The classes are $600 - no one is messing with oil on bare skin man, you wear protective suits. Which resemble Space Suits.

http://www.csregs.com/Gulf_Spill_Training.html

Were you there fishing before or after the same exact(just in shallower waters) oil leak, 30 years ago?

Be safe and keep us posted about what is going on :thumbsup

Im impressed, someone thought about health issues before they acted
Good Luck Dude

YOu cant even clean a bird without taking hazmat course. As I said, its not just 1-2-3, you put on your shorts and jump on a boat. This is emergency response to disaster type of stuff. In the end I will be certified for Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) which is kind of cool LOL But yes, you cant go anywhere near the oil itself unless trained. As far as bare skin, even the guys cleaning beaches etc have space suits on. You work 20 mins and break for 40 because the suits are so hot, so they rotate people and need as many as they can.

We are trying to keep the oil OUT of where we are so this is why Im getting involved. The booms are being deployed and they need as many people as they can train right now, so I signed up.

whatever keeps you from posting I'll support %100

I have some hazardous waste inside my penis, can you please help clean it

Cool, hope you have an excellent experience!

in the end that is what I am after. The Experience.

I wont be able up update from out on the water, from what I hear not much reception/signal but between tours I shall.

Anyway, was just sitting here at my desk writing down my supply list and thinking about everything I need to take and figured id make a thread since Im ready for deployment and so I did.

thanks for all the kind words everyone, as well as the encouragement. I appreciate it. Going to do this Herman Melville style and hit the water for a bit this desk is too boring LOL

cya

I hear this one, loud and clear. Definitely in the same boat these days.

Enjoy it.

It's cool to get involved with stuff, kinda why I joined the Navy, thought I was doing some good while I was in. My daughter did a lot more, she was on the Ronald Reagan when it did this

The Reagan Carrier Strike Group performed humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in the Philippines on 24 June 2008 after that country was devastated by Typhoon Fengshen, killing hundreds from the central island regions and the main island of Luzon. The typhoon also capsized the passenger ferry MV Princess of the Stars.[17] Working in support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Reagan and her escorts of Carrier Strike Group 7 focused their efforts on the island of Panay in the Central Visayas. For eight days, SH-60 Seahawk helicopters and C-2A Greyhound aircraft of the Ronald Reagan Strike Group helped deliver more than 519,000 lbs. of rice, fresh water and other supplies to areas of Panay, which were not reachable via truck due to flooded roads. The mission in Panay would earn the entire strike group the Navy's Humanitarian Service Medal.

She's pretty proud of that

Being on a submarine, We wearn't even to be seen

congrats fletch, keep us posted on your progress and stay safe! i have many friends in the gulf that this effects.

this just crossed my mind? will you have adobe photoshop and a lab top while cleaning up this mess?

can you still do some banners I guess is my question?

Congrats and good luck. I have a feeling "refreshing" will not be in your return post.

what's the job pay?

~Ray

Right on bud!

Awesome man. Good luck! Dont get too sea sick

Great attitude. Now if you can find a way to stream it so we can watch what you are doing, we are in Business.

I wasnt trolling...

Sounds like difficult but potentially fulfilling work.

Is the shrimping industry now completely shut down now?

Sounds cool..good luck to you.:thumbsup

I don't want to seem mean, but if you really care about your wife and kids, you'll get out of there not go into it! That shit is amazingly toxic. (I know you care about them, but I think mother nature will clean it just fine)



Just someone from St. Bernard who is concerned.

Nice going and best of luck when you are out there. I dread to think what its actually like to be on the recieving end of such a disaster

hah! best thing about life on boat is lots of downtime after work is done. I plan on bringing laptop, mobile phone etc.. so emails will be coming through etc... from what I hear, after hours people are mostly bored on the boats overnight sitting in the cabin of the boats, Ive been told of cabin bunks with flatscreens on each bunk like in airplane etc... not sure how my accomodations will be but I plan on being as connected to outside world as possible. Although I plan on bringing a grip of books to read, and a Kindle full of pdfs for at night.

Just email my gmail though not my @ domain mails.

fletchxxx @ gmail.com

My neighbor is a Licensed Master Captain who was recruited and paid well into 6 figures. Says it's a nightmare out there.


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a. i think if this was affecting anyone as close to our home as it is, you guys would sign up too... the difficulty is outweighed by desire to help and protect our local waters/bayous. the sense of duty to get involved when it is such a local problem is loud and clear.

b. yes, they just caught a shrimp boat with 16,000 lbs of shrimp and fined them and dumped the shrimp in the water. no idea how bad this is going to affect us locally yet, all the boats we are using were shrimp boats, theyve been turned into oil containment vessells and no one is shrimping.