The End of Deployment, Finally!

Where to start.....  Ok, I am finally done with deployment.  Well, we actually pulled back in on on November 25th, but I've been busy to say the least... 

 I believe I last wrote from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September.  Wow, that really was a long time ago, it seems like it just happened!   The USS Ronald Reagan and the rest of the strike group proceeded into the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.  Our Detachment  set up shop in Bahrain and we spent the next 6 weeks in the desert!  I say desert, but I  guess a better way to describe it is as a really, really, really hot place.  But not only is it hot, it is like 90% humidity seeing as it is located directly on the Arabian Gulf.  The first day we were there it was 115 degrees.  In that kind of heat you would start sweating the instant you get out of the car.  It really was unbelievable.  

Bahrain was an interesting place to say the least.  It is a very westernized Middle Eastern country.  Almost everybody speaks English and all the signs are in both Arabic and English.  You can get around as an outsider with little or no trouble (they drive on the "right" side of the road!), but you do feel out of place seeing as though it is still a Muslim country in the Middle East.  Men all dress in the traditional head dress and white robe and the women are in head-to-toe black (seems kind of hot to me).  Bahrain life can be very similar to American life with the exception that in America there are trees and grass and everything isn't covered in sand...  There are all types of cuisine to eat as well.  You could spend a whole month in Bahrain and never eat all the restaurants.  They've got traditional Middle Eastern food, French, Italian, Japanese, and American (Fuddruckers, McDonalds, Chili's, Starbucks, KFC, Krispy Kreme etc).  They've also got great shopping!  You can go to the mall, where they've got all the big name designer stores, or you can go to the souq (like an outside mall/swap meet), where you can buy knock off (you name it) or even get a custom tailored suit made for EXTREMELY cheap!  I might have bought 3 suits and 6 shirts....  I've heard it said before that Bahrain is like the Reno of the Middle East (Dubai being the Las Vegas).  Saudi Arabians come over the bridge every weekend to party.  Evidentially Allah cannot see over the bridge...  The party in Bahrain, however, stops during the month of September when Ramadan starts.  Ramadan is a Muslim holiday observed for a whole month celebrating when the Qur'an was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.  During this time Muslims fast all day (from dawn till dusk) and then celebrate at night with parties.  It is illegal for anybody to eat or drink in public during the day, ANYBODY! (not that you can get food anywhere because restraunts are all closed till nightfall)  Even if you are not a Muslim the police will fine you (up to $2500) for offending this observance.  As an American one might say, "What? That's not fair.  I am not a Muslim, why do I have to do this?".  The answer to this is simple:  because that is life in the Middle East, and "you have to!".  Just think about that the next time you feel like you are being "oppressed"  here in America...  We have it good!  Something I wished they took as seriously as Ramadan (or just more seriously than they currently do) is driving.  Driving rules in Bahrain are sort of like the Wild West.  The bigger guy will usually win!  Even though there are quite a few nice cars on the road, it seems as though driving is a new concept.  You can go as fast as you want (even though there are posted speed limits), turn signals are not existent and stop lights are optional (not really, but people just don't feel like stopping sometimes).  I didn't actually witness many accidents, but there were times when I would be like, "was that light pole on it's side yesterday?" or, "who knocked down that solid concrete barricade?"  It was sporty to say the least, but sort of fun to get to drive like NASCAR! 

I really haven't said much about the work we did from Bahrain, but it was "standard" (take off, land on boat, stuff our faces in the wardrom, get shot of boat, land on runway).  We did get to see all the "sandy" countries though.  In the Middle East, besides Bahrain, I have been to The United Arab Emarites, Oman and Qatar.  I didn't do anything there but get gas, but I can say I have been there.  One thing I can say about the work we did is that it was tiring.  We usually took off at 7am and got home at 7pm.  After that we would be spent.  A typical night consisted of us calling for takeout.  You can get anything delivered in Bahrain, absolutely anything! (maybe even toilet paper in a pinch...)

Bahrain was a good time, but I was glad to say good bye.  Leaving Bahrain meant that I was that much closer to seeing my wife and family!  I was sort of hoping for a nice down period on the way out of 5th Fleet, but we actually did a lot of flying.  We did an overnight in Goa, India, hits into Malaysia and Singapore followed by another port call there.  Next we did an overnight in Brunei and then another overnight in Guam before finally arriving in Hawaii, USA!  Good lord it was nice to be back!  I must admit the best part was getting to see my wife and family.  My parents, Shannon and her parents all came out to welcome me home in Hawaii.  We had a marvelous 2 days to catch up and enjoy the island of Oahu.  After our quick vacation it was time for me to get back on board for my last 5 nights of deployment, but not by myself....  My dad and father-in-law came aboard with me.  The Navy puts on this thing called Tiger Cruise.  It is a chance for us Navy people to show our families what we really do at sea.  It was really great getting to show my two dads what I really do for a living.  The USS Ronald Reagan really did put on a great show for the Tigers.  There were tours everyday which went to just about every part of the ship and the Airwing even put on a flight demonstration.  I think that my dads can call themelves salty now!

The 6 month journey finally came to an end on November 25th, 2008, two days before Thanksgiving.  My two seasoned tigers and I were greeted by our wives and many hugs and kisses.  We pulled in at 9:30am and we were home by 10:00am.  What more could I ask for?  Give me a beer and the couch, thats it.  Do it!  All I can say is that it is good to be home.  There is no place like home (just like Dorothy used to say) and no place like the USA.  I am proud to say that I got to help protect our freedom and our way of life, because America is the best country in the world, hands down!

Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore

Hey there!  It has been a little while and I figured it was time for a new blog.  Lets see, where to begin.....

I believe I left off at Guam.  From Guam we transited over to Japan.  Okinawa to be exact.  Okinawa is an island, one of the southern most in Japan's chain of islands.  It is very hot and humid there and is a very tropical place.  The waters surrounding the island are beautiful and there is alot of sea life to be seen.  We got a chance to go snorkeling one day and the water was awesome.  We saw plenty of fish, jelly fish and snails.  Evidentally most of what we saw can be potentially dangerous to humans, so we kept our hands off!  

Japan is a very interesting place.  There aren't really any convenience stores, but there are vending machines everywhere you go.  You can buy sodas, juice, and coffee in just about every one of the million machines around town.  The coffee comes in cans and can be purchased hot or cold.  There are so many different variations of coffee that I don't think I tried them all.  You can get regular black, cafe latte, espresso, etc.  Needless to say, I drank my fair share of coffee!  The juices were also pretty tasty.  One of the juices shown in my pictures tastes just like skittles (just like you were drinking the whole bag!).  

Okinawa had great Japanese food too, although they probably just refer to it as food....  We got sushi on a number of occasions.  We went to one sushi place that had a big conveyor belt in the middle of the room.  You just park yourself on a bench around the moving food and pick what you want!  What more could a guy ask for.  It really is a great system though.  The plates are all color coded according to price and you simply stack them up as you finish.  At the end of the meal a waiter comes and scans all the plates and gives you a ticket.  I stuffed my face with like 8 plates of sushi and paid only like $20 US.  What a steal!  I will say that Olena (a female pilot on our det) housed like 12 plates....  Just saying...  Okinawa also had an "American town" where we went a couple of times.  They had some americanized places that you see in the US like Starbucks and Baskin Robbins.  It seems that places like these are popular all over the world as I have seen them in a number of the countries we have been to.  It is always nice to be able to grab a meal that reminds you of home.  On Kadena Air Base, the Air Force base we worked out of, there was a Chilis, Burger King, Popeyes, Subway and a Taco Bell.  That is pretty common in terms of American Bases around the world as well.  Another thing about Okinawa / Japan.  Evidentally there are these really poisonous snakes called Habu Vipers.  I never saw any, which I am glad to say, but the Japanese will brew sake and then bottle it with a Habu snake inside and they call it Habu Sake.  Sounds good right?  I took a picture of Ben with it, so check it out.  FYI, I didn't try any because it just looks nasty!

Some things in Japan are different, a big thing for me especially, was the driving.  It is on the opposite side of the road as we Americans are used to.  I constantly had to stop and think about what I was doing.  Somebody told me, "big right, little left".  That was probably the hardest thing to remember, well, that and not turning on your windshield wipers when you want to use your blinkers, haha.  Did that a few times.  But it really was a hard adaptation.  Now that I am back in a place where we drive on the "right" (pun intended) side of the road, I had to adapt back.  It was sort of weird, but it is nice and familiar!  Talking about driving though, Japanese cars are all very small.  They have these little Vans all over the place.  They are so tiny that they don't look like you could fit much in them, but everybody drives them.  There are also parking garages where your car is put on an elevator, taken up, and put into a little spot.  It is like a little locker for your car.  That is definitely something we don't have in the US.  Another thing about the cars is that most of them are Toyotas, similar to the ones we have in the US, but not quite.  Many of the Japanese toyotas resemble what would be Lexus in the US, but are called "Aristo".  Some of the Toyotas they have, which have the Toyota emblem on them, are nicer than Lexus.  Anyways, that is just something I thought was peculiar.  I am thinking about calling Toyota so I can get to the bottom of this debacle.... I simply need to know, haha!  

The Japanese people are very nice and accommodating and if they don't know what you are saying they just politely grin and nod.  Most of the signs around town are translated into english, and many people speak english, but the barrier is still there.  It really is quite hard to be somewhere where the letters look nothing like you are accustomed to.  I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, much of that is lost, but I can at least get by with the basics.  When I look at Japanese writing I really couldn't be more lost.  That might be something worth looking into...  But I managed to get by with no big problems.  Konichiwa!

That is about it for Japan.  I really enjoyed it and it would be nice to go back sometime.  I think I want to go to Tokyo though and see the big lights!

Now for the rest of the places listed in the title!

We got the pleasure of flying into several of southeastern Asia's countries:  Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Singapore.  Although we didn't spend anymore time there than taking off and landing (except Kuala Lumpur where we had a port visit), I did get to see some sights from the air.  Jakarta looked the most "third world" although I am not sure that it is.  It was very hazy there and I think it was due to pollution.  The houses were all dilapidated and piled right on top of one another.  That was near the airport, pretty much all that I saw, so maybe I missed some other nicer places.  Singapore was pretty neat.  It is a pristine country.  You can get arrested if you spit on the street and chewing gum is pretty much illegal.  They are very punctual people and were spot on (and sometimes sticklers) when we dealt with their air traffic controllers.  In Singapore there are high rises as far as the eye can see and they all look new and organized.  It was very impressive and hopefully I will get a chance to see more of it before I come home (but I am ready to come home!).  Finally, we got a port visit into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I really didn't know what to expect from this place.  Just the name itself seems like some far off distant land, something you only hear about, but it was really quite nice.  The city is very modernized and hosts the largest twin towers in the world, the Petronas Towers.  They are spectacular to see in person and a great sight to see at night.  I didn't get a chance to go to the top, but there was a great shopping mall at the bottom with all sorts of familiar stores and restaurants.    Honestly I didn't get to do a whole lot in Malaysia, which sort of stinks, because I had to go back and forth to the ship each day were were there to try and get my passport stamped (because I had to go in advance to our next det site).  It really was a hassle because the ship was parked in port which was about an hours bus ride from the city itself.  Needless to say, it hampered my visit, but I am glad to have gotten to see Malaysia.  On a funny note though, Olena, the same girl who housed all that sushi back in Japan, was on a sight seeing trip out in a jungle and was bitten by a monkey....  I guess that really isn't funny, but she had these two mokey fang marks in her elbow.  When she got back aboard the ship she had to start a series of Rabies shots just incase...  She has gotten some nicknames around the ship like "monkey lunch" and "monkey bite".  I think I am going to call her "frothie" just incase she caught rabies and starts foaming a the mouth.  

Ok, I think that sums up the last 2 months of my life.  Alot has transpired and I regret that I have not updated my blog sooner because I am sure that I have left something out.  But I think you guys have the idea.  So, until the next time, please enjoy the pictures that I have put on!  Adios!

I'm in Guam - Hafa Adai!

Well, it has been two weeks since Hong Kong and the USS Ronald Reagan has pulled in again in Guam (we flew in though)!  Although two weeks really isn’t that long between port visits, the stop in Guam is a much needed one for the ship after all the hard work in the Philippines.  Our Det flew into Guam though because we provided some hits to the boat right before they tied up.  The intention was also to get some much needed training events for myself and another junior pilot in the Det, but that plan came to an abrupt halt when we found warped turbine blades in the engine of one of our planes.  So, most of the time here in Guam has been spent changing out the engine on that plane (not an easy task, especially away from our home squadron). 

Now back to Guam!  Guam is a tiny little island in the Micronesian island chain which is east of the Philippines (barely visible at first glance on a map).  It is a long haul here from pretty much everywhere.  The island it self is like 232 square miles (don’t quote me on that), but needless to say, it is small.  Most of the other islands in the Pacific that I have seen so far seem like little mountain peaks sticking out of the ocean, but Guam isn’t.  For the most part is a little plateau that barely breaks the surface.  Before I actually got here I pictured Guam to be like a little third world Hawaii.  I was totally wrong (except about it being little…).  Guam, if you didn’t know, is a U.S. territory that is highly commercialized.  Besides the U.S. Air Force Base that is here, there is a Naval Base, a decent sized international airport and a bunch of resort style hotels lining the coast of Tumon Bay.  Tumon Bay is on the northern coast of the island approximately in the center.  About a dozen hotels look out over the pristine beaches on the bay.  While I have gotten to look out over the beaches from my room in the Westin, I haven’t actually been able to get into the water since we have been working so much.  I am told that the water is the perfect temperature though.  Going on, there is a main drag down Tumon bay that follows the hotels.  Along this stretch of road are a multitude of restaurants, bars and clubs.  There is a major Japanese influence here so of there are a few sushi and ramen bars.  I actually had my first fresh ramen (as opposed to the $.20 bags) and was very impressed, it is really good!  There are a few Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese places as well.  For our American tastes there is a TGI Fridays and a Hard Rock Café and I heard that there is a Planet Hollywood too (I didn’t expect that here in Guam…)!  If you want to shop while you are in Guam don’t fear.  It looks like Rodeo Drive in one part with designer stores on either side of the street.  If you were to need any random thing while you were visiting you could stop at a Wal-Mart, or perhaps the worlds largest K-Mart for one stop shopping.  Also, it appears to me that Guam natives love Guam as much as Texans love Texas.  You can’t go anywhere around here without seeing “I Heart (the shape, not the word) Guam” printed on a tee shirt.  I guess that is their thing here…  Anyways, here are some random facts about Guam:  the capital is Hagatna, the flower is the Bouganvilla (I don’t know what that is), the bird is the Ko’Ko, the native language is Chamorro, and the most commonly displayed phrase in Guam is “Hafa Adai!” (always with the exclamation point by the way) which means “Hello! How are you?”. 

One interesting thing about Guam is that it is a major Japanese tourist destination.  You couldn’t swing a dead cat (as my father in-law Bobby would say) without hitting a Japanese tourist.  I have heard Guam called “a poor mans Hawaii”.  Evidently it is a cheaper vacation from Japan to Guam than to Hawaii, which I can believe.  Anyways, since a large majority of the tourists here are Japanese, Guam really caters to them.  There are billboards written in Japanese all over the place and at the bottom of our hotel the cab stand is written completely in Japanese.  Also there are a ton of gun ranges….  I guess Japanese people love to shoot guns, but not just pistols and rifles, they like to break out the sub machine guns (just like in the movies).  You can shoot an Uzi, a Mack-10 or a Dirty Harry style 45-Magnum revolver on about every street corner in Guam.  Every taxi has an ad for a gun range in it….Strange…  I just thought it was sort of funny.  I haven’t gotten to spend much time in Japan so far, but I am interested to see if Japan is anything like this!  Haha. 

Well, that is pretty much it for Guam.  We have been here once before and now we are about to depart it for the second time.  It has been and experience for sure!  Please be sure to check out the pictures listed above!  There will be more blogs to come!

Finally, a new post!

It has been a while since my last blog, and for good reason...  We have been working our butts off!  Shortly after leaving port in Hong Kong we were assigned, by the President himself, to render humanitarian aid to the Republic of the Philippines.  We actually left Hong Kong a day early so that we might circumvent the storm.  I am sure you all probably heard about Typhoon Frank (I can’t remember the Philippine translation) and the devastation it brought there.  The storm caused a ferryboat with 600 passengers and 200 crew members to capsize leaving only a few survivors.  It also created some high winds and flooding, washing away many homes and buildings adding at least 600 more people to the death toll.  This was evident as we flew over the coastline, as many homes were in shambles and there was debris covering the coastline.  We worked hand in hand with the Philippine government to provide food, water and engineering expertise to their citizens.  It was a very rewarding experience for me personally, but I think everybody else involved probably has a sense of pride for having helped out.  Our squadron was largely responsible for carrying bottled water, rice and medical supplies.  Once on the ground we (pilots too!) would help unload the goods and reload (onto helos) whatever might need to go to another location.  It was really neat seeing pilots and aircrew from not only our squadron, but the helo squadrons as well, working hand in hand with Philippine Air Force and Army troops.  The whole process was very complicated and sometimes confusing and stressful, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything!  There is a lot of satisfaction to be had in lending a hand to people in need. 

Let me get back to Hong Kong now! 

This visit, along with every other place I have been to so far (we, COD guys, have been to some other places, but they will remain nameless for now), has been completely new to me.  This was the Reagan’s first port call of deployment.  We parked the ship out in the bay and local water taxis worked day and night trucking people to and from the boat.  I must say that our parking spot could have been closer (in my opinion) seeing as though it was a 40-minute commute through the always choppy water to the pier, but the view from the ship was worth a million bucks.  I will be sure to include the new pics with the link!  You could see the entire HK skyline from the deck of the carrier and it sure was a sight to see.  There were skyscrapers as far as the eye could see and they were all sandwiched between mountains and the harbor.  Pretty cool!  Anyways, we rode the liberty boats ashore and proceeded to set up shop at the JW Marriott (highly recommended by the way!).  The view from our room was awesome as well.  The first night there we ate dinner at a Chicago bar and grill downstairs in the mall below the hotel.  Now, I know what you are thinking…  We went all the way to Hong Kong and then ate at an American restaurant?  Yup, we did.  Haha.  Hong Kong is actually very “Americanized”.  The way I understand is that the British were in control of it until 1998 when China took over.  Almost everything is printed in both Chinese and English.  Besides the currency difference (they use Hong Kong dollars there) I didn’t really feel too out of place.  The only language barrier came when we had to deal with the taxi cab drivers, who don’t speak very good English.  We managed to get by though.  Getting back to our night, we then proceeded to the nightlife district and met up with the rest of Carrier Airwing Fourteen!  It was as if the whole ships crew was invading the city!  Although nobody was in uniform, it was not hard to pick out the Navy personnel clogging the streets.  I, and presumably the rest of the boat, enjoyed myself the first night in HK!  The next morning we treated ourselves to room service for breakfast.  The JW Marriott is top notch.  I ate quite possibly one of the tastiest meals ever while sitting in my boxers!  After finishing up breakfast we decided to trek over to Stanley Market.  It was a large indoor/outdoor swap meet over the mountains from Hong Kong.  It was only a 20 minute cab ride away (only like $15 American, cabs are cheap there!) from the waterfront.  There was a lot of cool stuff for sale there.  A lot of nick knacks and trinkets and Chinese memorabilia, but I really didn’t buy much there.  In hind sight I probably should have found something for my wife…..  Sorry Shannon!  We rapped up the afternoon and headed back to the hotel.  That night we ate dinner in the restaurant at the bottom of the hotel.  I don’t remember the name, but it was a formal Chinese place.  We had some interesting food there.  Suckling pig, shark fin soup (which cost Ben like $70), jellyfish, etc.  That was my first taste of true Chinese cuisine and I must say that I like the American version of Chinese food better.  Maybe if I had more time to try out some of the authentic foods I would have enjoyed them more….  Later that night was more of the same, back out to see the nightlife.  The next day (my last day in port it turned out) we headed up to see Victoria’s peak.  It was awesome!  After a little sightseeing trip in the cab (not intentional) we were dropped off at the base of the peak where we boarded a train car, which took us to the top.  The track at one point was 45 degrees up.  I was rather concerned that we would lose our momentum and fall back down to the bottom, but we didn’t!  The top of the peak had big observatory buildings that looked out over all of Hong Kong and also back over the other side of the mountain.  It was very scenic and I got plenty of pics, so please check them out!  We then proceeded back to the hotel for another American dinner at the Chicago joint!  That night I was very privileged to be able to serve as a “Boat-O” (otherwise know as “boat officer”).  All the pilots in the airwing stand a watch on the liberty boats while the boat is in port.  We get to make sure all the drunken sailors get back to the ship in one piece.  I was lucky that my watch was on the third night and that most of our patrons were already “partied out”.  I only had one girl puke while I was on the boat and she made it to the side under her own power, so there was no cleanup on my part! All in all, Hong Kong was a great experience for me.  I am very fortunate to have such a great job!  I am finally getting to experience the Navy and the world!

-See my pictures by clicking on the link at the top right of this page!

New Pictures!

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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!

Aloha

Well we just got done working out of Hawaii. It was my first time there so everything was new to me. I didn’t really know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised! We stayed on the island of Ohau where Honolulu is located and worked out of Hickam Air Force Base, which is connected to Honolulu international airport. Hickam is directly attached to Naval Station Pearl Harbor and that is where our hotel was. Incidentally we were on Pearl for Memorial Day, which really hit home for me seeing as though so many Americans died there when were attacked by the Japanese. There were a few older buildings on Hickam that still had bullet holes on the outside from the attacking planes, amazing! Needless to say, there is a lot of history on those bases and many people to remember who lost their lives way back when.

We delivered two hits a day to the ship carrying parts for the ship(s) and airplanes, mail, and passengers.  All of our passengers are usually pretty excited to take an arrested landing and a catapult shot but some people get forced into the action.  For anybody that needs to get on or off of the ship our plane is usually the only way.  Some people don't care for airplanes, especially ones landing on and taking off from the ship.  We once had a passenger who started to freak out.  We had to calm him down by putting an oxygen mask on him.  He truly thought that he was going to die..... Honestly I felt bad for him, but I guess it is just one of those things that you are obligated to do when you join the Navy.  I however love the action on the boat.  Traps and catapult shots are awesome!  We took a pretty hefty catapult the other day that was so strong I started to black out a little… It was NIIIICE!

In order to maintain our operational readiness our airplane maintainers worked around the clock ensuring that our planes were ready to fly. That task was/is not easy though seeing as the C-2A was developed in the 1960’s. The planes are always breaking and we are always fixing them. This aspect makes our job pretty challenging because the boat always expects two hits a day no matter what the status of our planes is. So that means if one plane is broken, the other one will pick up the slack. This process is day to day and we are always having to flex. But overall, I can’t complain because even though I might have a rough day, I am still living on the beach, unlike the guys living on the ship. Each day when returning to land we were greeted with a great view of the amazing Honolulu coast line.

When were not flying or dealing with bureaucracy that Air Force liked to throw our way, we got to go explore Honolulu and Waikiki. Pearl Harbor is about a 12-minute drive from the downtown areas. There are a multitude of beaches, hotels and restaurants to explore. We went body boarding one day on the beach in Waikiki. The surf there wasn’t too bad. I hear though that on the north shore the surf can be pretty brutal. I am still waiting to learn how to surf. I guess that if I don’t learn while on deployment I can always do it back home on North Island. Hawaiian food is pretty good too! I love pork, which seems to be the specialty in Hawaii.

While in Hawaii we also me up with VRC-30 Det-3 which is just finishing up it’s deployment with the USS Nimitz. The Nimitz pulled into Pearl Harbor on its final port call. It was nice to see our squadron mates whom we hadn’t seen in a couple (5) months. We all met up and went downtown to a bar and grille called Duke’s (named after the famous surfer dude). It is located at the bottom of the Outrigger hotel. Duke’s is an open-air place right on the beach with a great view of the ocean. Mai Tai’s are the local drink specialty there (and all over Hawaii for that matter) and are very tasty if I do say so for myself!

Overall, Hawaii was a great experience. My first det site on my first Navy deployment. Good sights to see and lots of mission experience. My morale is still high on the chart! One week down, 23 to go! What’s coming next?