How can I work AA if I can't make it to meetings?
 

So here is the predicament I am in. I am in the navy, I live on the boat, and we are gone most of the month anyways...

As most of you know I have been working the program for a couple years now, fell off a couple times, and keep trying to get back in to it..

This time around I have no car since I left it home the last time I went on leave.. The base meetings shut down due to low attendance, and there isn't anyone else on the boat that is in recovery,(that I know of atleast).

The nearest gate is about 4 miles away and it is getting annoying walking 8 miles to get to the gate just to meet someone to pick me up..

Now also we are gone every couple weeks for 2 weeks to a month, plus we have deployment coming up... I am surrounding by "friends/coworkers" that do nothing but drink when we pull in to places other then our home port.

So basically all I have is my BB and my journal. I try to stay close to God, and I try to atleast work the steps that I can alone, remembering what my old sponsor has told me, but everything else just doesnt work, I need to be in contact with another alcoholic.... Plus when I feel like crap and need to get stuff off my chest all I can do is pray and write about it in my journal, I don't have another alcoholic that I can unload some of this crap off on to and visa versa(or however you spell that lol)

Anyways i am just really struggling... I have 9 more months of this until I am home free and can do all the AA stuff I want but until then I dont know what else to do.. I need some SR advice and support..

As always thanks!

Using email and the web, you may try to have a meeting where ever you go, associated somehow with your ship, on-board or on base.

I've been the only person at some meetings. I go through the motions sometimes since someone may walk in. I'll sit and read the BB alone. I have heard of a number of meetings which often were that one person alone, waiting to be there for someone in need of a meeting. You can imagine how grateful the person who comes is to see that other alcoholic waiting for them!

You can start a meeting where ever you are. Read the preamble, say the serenity at the end or something, and that's a meeting. If folks show up, pick a topic perhaps ("psychic change", "sarcasm", "surrender", a step), or a reading. Advertise it a little on a bulletin board (with thumb tacks if need be), ask the CO, chaplain, or someone who has authority to reserve a room on the ship to hold your meeting. You will probably be surprised that you are often not alone. It's something that could also appear as an accomplishment on your dossier.

Other than that, there are options. If you have a sponsor, ask for additional 'homework' or find worksheets to ponder before you set sail. Read the BB, or other recovery material.

GA, if you have internet access on your ship there are skype based meetings. PM me if you like and I'll give you the web address with a list of the different meetings. I don't wanna give it out publicly since I'm not so sure I have permission to do so.

The meetings are based in Asia, but most of the members are expats like me, some are stateside but still attend. There's some active duty Marines as well as US army vets who attend. One amigo in my home "cyber" group is a Vietnam vet now living in Philippines. All you need is skype and a headset for talking and listening.

I would like that binder.. However the internet onboard is horrible I doubt it will work, But i could use it to go down the street to the onbase internet cafe. Please private message me the info if you could.

Other than that I have decided to search for some printable versions of "how it works" "preamble" "promises" the blue card and so on and put a binder together, we use to have meetings onboard but the other guy left some time ago but if I can talk to the chaplain to use the chapel a couple nights a week I may find a couple people to come...

Does anyone know a good website that I can find some of that stuff.. I've been searching and searching bleh..

Anyways thanks

Another thought along the lines of a meeting you chair yourself; set a side an hour a day (or whatever) and find a room to sit in for that hour and call it a meeting or simply do something recovery related.

"Ritualizing" an hour a day in a specific place (meeting room, chapel) that isn't your bunk or the crapper :e058:, where you study, read, meditate whatever can do a lot to keep the mind in the right place.

Also, if you do have your own meeting, you can code-name it something only other AAs would know. Like "Friends of Bill W." or something.

Green Acres,

Do you have a big book? How it works and the promises are both in there. I don't know what the blue card is. How big of a ship is it? I know they actually have meetings on some of the big ships.

Hey GA , you can also get more books about the 12 Steps , I got the Steps We took and its a good read IMHO.

I can only speak from observing naval folks where I grew up , though we have a "wet" navy up north of 49 ( alcohol on board), that its pretty likely someone is working on their own stuff but its not always to be open about that kind of thing in a work place. A lot of alcoholics among my friends dad's as they went ot sea and drank heavy nearly every off shift. I feel for you as it can't be easy but some of those dad foudn recovery even while going to sea so somehow they found a way. Wish I had better suggestions.

dgillz, yes I have a big book, I am looking for a non PDF printable version of how it works and so on for a meeting binder. We have a blue card around here that on each side shows whether or not the meeting is opened or closed and states what each type of meeting is.

I am on a fairly small ship, I know bigger ships have meetings, we in fact use to have a meeting here a couple years ago that I went to but it was just between me and another guy, he has left about a year ago.. but I am trying to get a meeting binder organized so I can hopefully start it back up.

Looking at your Avatar...are you a Boatswains Mate? Just curious.

Im in The Navy as well (recently joined), and am still struggling hard with the drink plus the 20+ hour days, with little sleep, to work 7days a week on deployment/underway (we are deploying in about a month) so that causes another sort of mental anguish as well.

GreenAces,

I gotta believe those are online somewhere. Why does it have to be non-pdf?

Thx to both GreenAces and Polaris for your service.

Aviation Boatswainmate

Yeah the hours are long and tough, but deployment flies by when you're always working.

Unfortunately pdf files crash explorer on this computer, so I need something in word or notepad i would assume.. Oh well I will find something out here.

You may try downloading the file and opening the PDF in the free Acrobat Reader and print from the Reader? HTH

Maybe we should get in touch sometime. Would you mind to say where you are stationed? I understand an interest in anonymity (especially as a military person on an alcoholic forum), but I dont know. Im in San Diego. I understand your dilemma though, when underway or on deployment...anything you do cuts into your incredibly limited sleep time even the simple things- exercise, laundry, showering, etc. Its crazy. They all fall by the wayside.

I know, underneath it all, that I need to quit. I still want to think I can somehow outsmart it or something. Im wrong.

I can relate to the isolation that you must feel being on board. There are many recovery websites with a hoard of information. Just keep it in the day as much as possible I will pm you some links that I use. I'm not at sea but pretty isolated where I am and use the net plenty. It's working for me for today

Green Aces,

If you PM me your email I can send you a copy of the preamble, how it works and the promises in MS Word.

I woke up in the desert looking for some water as well...turns out the message in the Big Book is not very popular where I live...so...you and I share a common problem right? No one to take us through the Big Book.

Guess what page 17 says we have a common problem and a common solution...and buddy, there is a solution for you...if you are willing and can follow precise, clear cut directions...then here is the solution I found to our dilemma...

...I'll spare you of the details but long story short, Mark Houston and Joe Hawk took me through the Work via compact disc. You can find these Agents on XA Speakers.

I was driven into being willing...God took care of everything else. PM me if you would like more details.

Any length right? Don't worry about what it looks like.

Peace,

Omega

Not sure how it would work out, but is it possible that there are a couple others in the same situation on the boat? I'm thinking that if there are, you could have your own meetings. All you need is a Big Book and the will.

If you feel comfortable talking to your captain(? I'm Canadian, so unsure of your command structure) you could ask for somewhere to meet and put up a post-it note on the bulliten board (? Something like 'Friends of Bill W. meeting in room 2 forward (?no idea of the boat layout either, can you guess?)). I'm assuming that your boat has a hundred or so other navy.

I'm gonna second Omega's suggestion of downloading some open talks.

My path was very similar to his..... lots of meetings where I was.......very little real recovery. Lots of ppl with sober time......but tough to find a message other than, "go to meetings, don't drink, and keep coming back."

I felt like I was flat-out missing out.......and I was. No driver's license so no way to go exploring...no way to get out and find better meetings......so I was led to them online. --Not the online-chat meetings.....but online open talks by ppl with wisdom and experience in long-term recovery.

I used iTunes (free to download from Apple) to download the podcast at: AA Speaker Tapes : Listen To Alcoholics Anonymous Speakers That'll give you about 320 open talks. From there, you'll find some speaker who's messages you dig..... to hear more of them, hit up XA-speakers.org, search for that speaker, and download all their other stuff.

Taken as a whole.....I've spend 5-10x more time "in meetings" with my ipod than at actual meetings with ppl...... It's not ideal......and eventually I needed to take what I'd learned and start practicing it (knowledge only goes so far.....the recovery is in our actions....not just in our thinking) and start carrying that message to other PEOPLE... but, in a predicament like yours....... I can't recommend anything more than downloading a bunch of talks. I could have read the BB a hundred times before I started to really understand it....and that came from being taught what it meant by ppl who understood it already.

If you're interested.....there's a thread around here titled "best open talk speaker" or something like that.....there a dozens of recommendations of great speakers - many of them have direct links to their talks. I'd estimate if you just downloaded those talks, you'd probably have several hundred hours of talks to listen to - many of which are BB studies (no just your boring "life's story" kind of talk) and most of them were.....literally......life changing for me.

silkworth.net

xa-speakers.org

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