Grandpa Nelson

Well, no matter where in the world Jeff Nelson is, he became a Grandpa today at 2:45pm Mountain Standard Time.

Announcing Chase Nelson Wyatt!

At 7lbs 4 oz and 20 1.2 inches long, he's long and skinny like his Mom and has dark hair like his Dad. Congratulations Ross and Rachel!

Vietnam!

I'm sending you a photo of my new workstation. You can see in the background that we're in a ward that is being used at the moment for storage.

The Miss Universe 2008 pageant is going to be held in Nha Trang (pronounced Nya Jung) Vietnam in July. Several of the contestants visited the Mercy today, including Miss Canada, Miss USA, Miss Philippines, Miss Guam, and Miss India, and had lunch with USNS Mercy leadership.

Shell decided to visit Nga Trang (pronounced Nya Jung) Vietnam today. He had an unsweetened smoothie at The Sailing Club and took a look at the beautiful beach and the parasailing.

Here's a photo of Shell at a table at the Sailing Club in Nha Trang, checking out a postcard of the beach at Nha Trang and a map of Vietnam, and thinking about some good places to visit.

Here's a photo of a dive shop along Tran Phu street, the major street that parallels the beach in Nga Trang.

Bye Bye Philippines!

Shell takes a look at a Philippines Coast Guard vessel and part of the business district of Manila where we put into port on 15 June 2008. (GPS) N 14 34.9732 E 120 58.0221

Here's a photo of a poster that give a quick wrap up of our activities in the Philippines.

Here's a photo of me, with my hair blowing in the wind, standing beside Sideflare 64.

Here's another sunset photo; I think I'll call this one "The Chicken Sunset".

Flight ops at sunset, USNS Mercy, 12 June 2008.

Two days after one of USNS Mercy's helicopters is damaged by ground fire, Mercy's other helicopter resumes flying medical supplies to the people of Mindanao, Republic of the Philippines.

Here's a photo from yesterday of a briefing slide showing some of the medical people on the ground in Mindanao.

Here's a photo of the Glenn Hurricane, one of the boats that takes people from the Mercy to the pier.

Heavenly Sunset

Keeping the O.R. up and running

It was rainy outside today, so I didn't get any new photos (except for the one of Josh wearing a bunny suit while checking the network closet inside the O.R.). So here's one of me from Tuesday on the pier, wearing the bug-resistant coverall, and carrying the bag where Shell lives.


This is the reception center at the pier for people who will be coming to the Mercy. From left to right, they are SK2 Gang, IT1 Mamer, IT3 Tabboga, IT1 Welling, and LT Bradford.

A photo of Josh, one of the civilians on board, who works with the network hardware, in the bunny suit he needed to wear to check on the networking closet in the Operating Room.

Here's a photo of the chow line, stretching down the passageway. That's ET2 Jim Healis, one of the Petty Officers who works with Network Administration, on the right.

Hello, Department of Defense

Shell takes a look at USNS Mercy, anchored near Cotabato, just off the southwest coast of Mindanao, Philippines.


Here's a photo of Shell checking out the town next to the pier where the boats from USNS Mercy dock when they carry people back and forth to the ship.


As requested, here is a photo of me from today showing my first Navy haircut. It's a little shorter than the haircut I usually get from the Vietnamese barber shop in San Diego, but it's also a little hotter here by Mindanao, so that's okay. The photo also shows me modeling the vest and helmet that I had to get fitted for in order for me to go ashore today for an hour or two. I'm also wearing the Navy issued jumpsuit, which has been dipped in something similar to heavy duty bug repellent. Sorry bugs, no "Jeff" for dinner!