Reflection Paper 1

This first paper will cover the first 50 hours of my time, while interning at the Newport News Shipyard, as a part of the PPPY squad. I arrived at the Net Center for orientation, very unsure of what I was going to be doing or how much I was going to enjoy what I do. I was a little nervous, and sat down with about 30 other interns, as we learned the ropes of the Shipyard. By the end of the week, I was more sure than ever that I had picked the right career. When I came in that Monday, I was overwhelmed that I would have to work every day for a whole ten weeks, potentially doing something I am not interested in. Now, my only regret is that it is only ten weeks, because I have fallen in love with the work and the people I work with. Let me tell you why.

After hours of orientation, two young people arrived at the Net Center, and escorted me to building 903. Once I was shown around the office some and got to meet all my coworkers, I was immediately plunged headfirst into the world of PPPY (Propulsion Plant Planning Yard). My objective that day was to learn as much about PPPY and its processes as possible. This included learning what seemed like a thousand acronyms and learning all about the systems within PPPY. I received a complementary notebook and pens, and I have used it ever since to take notes. That first week, I wrote down and learned a lot. I was glad that I had learned about SCADA systems during my time at ODU, because that is a large part of what we do as the PPPY squad.

The first thing I immediately observed was the uniquely fun atmosphere there is and how smart the people I work with are. They are all brilliant but also hilarious. They do not strive to be professional, though their work is as professional as it comes. I also quickly realized how unique our work is. My team of 11 people are the only 11 people in the world who do what we do. Our tasks are very specific, our work is very unique, and this allows us to do our own thing and choose the best method for getting stuff done. I learned about STIGs, SCAPs, SRGs, RMFs, PIT systems, PPMC, 2 TV, FMOS, PPDE/DT, and many more acronyms, that would take a page alone just to explain what they are. During that first week, I also learned more about my first task and learning objective.

I was tasked to write a procedure, for how to scan a system and make a STIG checklist out of the results. This might not make a lot of sense to you, nor did it make any sense to me at first. However, after the process was explained to me many times via whiteboard, PowerPoint, and examples, I finally learned one of the most important processes we do, towards the end of the week. I then began the planning to write the procedure, of the complicated process I had just learned about.

By the end of the week, I had learned about our different systems, roles, technology, papers, processes, and was on my way to work on my first procedure. It was very challenging to learn all the acronyms and to grasp the highly specific work we do I still have trouble now to understand all of what’s being said in every conversation, but I have continued to write, study, and learn. My First week ended with a staff meeting.

After a fun, interesting, challenging first week, we all got together and talked about what we did, what we learned, and what our goals are. I did not expect to be called on, but sure enough I was asked to give the same report as everyone else. I thanked them for the opportunity, I explained what I had learned since I had arrived, the challenged I had run into, and the plans I had for writing the STIG procedure. With that, my first week closed, and I was the Lord I had been placed in the PPPY squad.