Boat Life

I have already bragged about the fact that I don’t have to live on the boat for much of my six month on deployment, but I really can’t complain about life on the boat. We are back on it for the transit to our next det site. We flew the whole det on yesterday except for two people who are going in advance to our next site to set up before we get there. They will take an Air Force or Navy flight on a cargo plane at a reduced rate to what the airlines would offer.

On the boat we officers live in staterooms. Our room is an eight man suite and is pretty huge seeing as though we only have 4 dudes living in it permanently… We (VRC-30) have an awesome room compared to the other pilots on board who will be living here for the whole cruise. Most rooms are 2/4/6 man and are really cramped, but I guess we are trying to preserve “the good life” and somehow we managed to get the best room on the boat. We brought on a 32-inchLCDTV, which is hooked up, to a PS3, an Xbox 360, and a Nintendo Wii. We also have about 300 DVD’s to watch! We also got a little fridge in our room so that we can always have cold drinks at a moments notice…Needless to say we will never be bored or thirsty…

Our room is very close to one of the three wardrooms onboard the ship where we eat. There are set times for breakfast, lunch and dinner but there is always food out. There is always a salad bar, sandwich bar, and a hot food bar at each meal as well as a full fountain of drinks. Around 2200 each night midrats (midnight rations) start. I guess these are for people that were flying during dinner and didn’t get to eat, but mostly it seems like an ice cream social (there is actually hard ice cream out 24/7). Everybody shows up to midrats to hang out and socialize. I think that in order to save my gut, I might try to avoid midrats even though it seems sort of antisocial. The food though is very good, and we actually have starbucks coffee too! This morning, Sunday (and every Sunday), there is a brunch. They have a waffle bar, smoothie bar, and a breakfast buffet with roast beef, ham, eggs, bacon and sausage. It is really is top notch but I must say that I do miss cooking with my wife!

Overall the experience of living on the boat is sort of like living in a college dorm. The main difference is that you can never leave. You are permanently at work, which can get pretty taxing, but I haven’t experienced that yet. The ship does have several gyms, one of which is near to our room. There are different setups at each gym, but all together we have cardio equipment like treadmills, stairmasters and elliptical machines as well as free weights and machines. The ship puts on events too to keep up morale. Tonight they are showing some movies in the hangar bay, which are still in the mainstream theaters. I think they are showing Iron Man and What Happens in Vegas. I guess they are going to set up a big screen and some chairs for whoever wants to watch.

Communication on the ship can be tough sometimes. We do have email and internet access, but only through NMCI (navy-marine corps internet) computers on the NMCI network. So I can’t just plug my computer into the network, I have to use a work computer. The internet is also pretty slow. I am not sure exactly how the ship connects to the internet, but I guess it is amazing that we have it out in the middle of the huge Pacific Ocean! We also have phone lines to contact the outside world, but in my experience the connection is usually poor and with a healthy delay. So it is easier for me to keep up with personal contacts through email or just to wait a few days until I am back on dry land. Snail mail is the last form of communication, which happens to be my job! We can send and receive mail out here on the ship, which is transported, on our airplane. I am not sure how long it takes for mail to go to/from the ship, but we can find out if you want to send me some care packages….

Carrier aviation is pretty cool. Just thinking about the fact that we takeoff and land from a boat that we live on in the middle of the ocean is pretty amazing. We COD guys only fly during the day, but the rest of the airwing flies at night. I got the experience of watching night landings from the LSO (landing signal officer) platform last night. It was awesome but sort of scary at the same time. Landing on the boat is not exactly easy and to do it at night with most of the ships lights turned off and no moonlight doesn’t help anything. The LSO platform is on the aft end of the flight deck on the port (left if you are looking forward) side of the ship. The LSO’s job is to make sure all the planes get aboard the ship safely and to talk the pilots down when they need corrections. You can only see the airplanes lights as they are coming down to land. When they get to ¾ mile from the ship they call the ball, meaning that they see the vertical landing aid. From there the LSO (or Paddles, a throwback term from when LSO’s would actually guide planes down with paddles) will give calls to the pilot to correct left/right or to add/reduce power. The LSO will tell the pilot to wave off (or go around and try again) if they get into a dangerous situation. Essentially the pilots are trying to catch one of the 3 wires spanning across the flight deck. At night when the planes touch down, sparks from the hook shoot all over the place and the deck is immediately illuminated from the glow of the jets afterburners. The jets apply full power on touchdown to ensure they will be able to take off again if they bolter (don’t catch a wire). Once safely aboard, the jets taxi clear of the landing area and the next plane comes to attempt to land. This is no easy process and I was constantly nervous for the pilots of the planes landing at night because I wouldn’t want to be in there shoes. I guess somebody has to do it!

After watching all the night traps (arrested landings) last night I was just thinking how cool it is that I am a part of this. The pure notion of what an aircraft carrier is and does is stunning. There is so much that goes into the ships movement. Just to say that I was a part of it all is a really great feeling. I cannot wait for the rest of the deployment to pan out and to see what the Navy has in store!