A great respect for the military has always run in my family. But that respect and admiration was reborn when I was chosen to partake in the Navy's Distinguished Visitor Embark Program in January of 2010.
Take a moment to revist this special trip that continues to inspire me based off those who serve this country. We are all so very lucky.
The DV program is basically the Navy's effort to raise awareness to civilians of the day to day work that goes into keeping this country safe. The program has existed for a while but only recently has the focused switched from inviting military retirees to inviting civilians with little to no military background (particularly women) and opening their eyes to day to day life as a sailor.
It consists of a group of about a dozen people from all walks of life, who fly onto an aircraft carrier that is out to sea, stay the night on board the ship and take off from the carrier the next day.
In a nutshell, its a trip of a lifetime that a lucky few will never forget.
Hit the title/read more to see the photos, videos and the rest of the events on board the USS Harry S. Truman.
Upon arriving at NAS Jax (Jacksonville, FL) I was nervously anxious. I kept remembering the part in the document I signed that says "The Navy is not liable in case of death....".
A group of 11 of us were lead into a room where the CO of NAS JAX greeted us and gave us a brief on the events that were about to take place. At the closing of brief, we were all given the first souvenir of our trip, a coin that symbolizes great tradition in the Navy.
The coin is given through a handshake, but be careful not to drop it as its very bad luck. It is also custom that anytime you are out at a restaurant/bar, look for the CO or Admiral that gave you the coin, should you spot him and produce your coin and he cannot produce his, the Admiral/CO must buy you a round of your favorite drink. If he does produce his coin, the tables are turned and you must buy the round.
"You can bet I will always be able to produce a coin" said Admiral Alexander. That's a challenge I don't think I want to test.
After waiting in the holding area, we were provided with helmets and life vests as a couple of the sailors started briefing us as to how the walk out to the plane, taking off and landing will work.
Since the planes are so loud, most of this information was given in the lobby before the helmets are placed on. The plane we were about to take off on first flew in 1964 but from first glance, looked like the 'bad ass' out of the bunch with black flames painted on the nose of the aircraft.
The C2 plane (aka COD- Carrier on Delivery) has only 2 windows, the seats face backwards (which takes some getting to use on the equilibrium portion), has one ramp in the back and is about the biggest ship that lands on an aircraft carrier.
Sorry, no bathrooms, peanuts or pillows provided. There is however overhead storage for the oxygen masks and life raft. :)
The plane was a little leaky with oil falling on a couple of us. This might have scared some people off, but for some reason sitting on metal chairs with a helmet made me feel safe.
The 80 mile some-what bumpy flight to the USS Truman took about 30 minutes; but due to a delay in landing, we had to circle the carrier for about 15 minutes. This perhaps was the most nervous I was on the entire trip. Circling the plane created more turbulence and the anticipation of landing was almost too much to bear. That is until we heard the famous words:
"HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO".
"Oh crap oh crap" is all that was going through my head. I like a little action here and there, but were we really about to land in the middle of an ocean on an aircraft carrier?! I found myself picturing the video game Modern Warfare 2 and tried to "toughen up" to put my game face on like I had been there before. Because I had been there before, in the gaming world that is. (see video games can be of use!)
The landing seemed to be on target when I felt and heard a loud SNAP from underneath the plane.
That's it, were all dead or landing on the island of LOST.
But to my happiness, I felt the ground of "something" and knew we had landed safely on the carrier.
The back door of the plane, which we had been facing the whole time, opened up to a bright white light and once our eyes adjusted, the vision of sailers, machinery and the ocean all came into view.
We were taken from the plane, instructed not to take any pictures just yet (due to the immense danger) and to follow in a single file line up to a viewing tower where we were to meet the CO of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).
The Commanding Officer Captain Joe Clarkson and Executive Officer Captain John Meier were waiting to greet us with big smiles on their faces. Both welcomed us to the Truman and prepared to brief us on what to expect during our visit and what he hoped we would take from this. He presented us with custom name tags, embroidered hats and refreshments; all items that were very scrapbook worthy.
In the hustle from going from the landing to the view point, it was tough to focus on what anyone was saying because from the view point we could see numerous jets taking off and it finally hit me; "We just did that!"
Upon wrapping up the initial meet and greets is when the real tour started. We were given a trip itinerary in which it listed all the stops on the tour we would be making.
Our first stop was a top tower view point that included the Captain's Chair that each of us were invited to sit in to take pictures.
That's Captain Blythe to you......
The Navy was thoughtful enough to have a photographer that would follow us through out the day to take pictures so we would not need to worry about taking them ourselves.
It was in this room that it was explained how the cable landing system worked which explained the "SNAP" feeling at the bottom of the plane that I felt. There is a 4 cable system on the ship that ideally, every plane should hook onto the third cable in the line creating a perfect grade of A for landing. Should you miss the 4th cable, the pilot must immediately plan for take off to try again, or start swimming.
But how do the pilots know where to land on the carrier while you are up in the sky? The radar system on board the ship has a series of color coded lights that the pilot follows.
"The pilot will see different lights depending on the plane's angle of approach. If the plane is right on target, the pilot will see an amber light, dubbed the "meatball," in line with a row of green lights. If the amber light appears above the green lights, the plane is coming in too high; if the amber light appears below the green lights, the plane is coming in too low. If the plane is coming in way too low, the pilot will see red lights."
(howstuffworks.com)
Our next stop was the flight deck and I can bet you that even with a photographer around, it didn't stop many of us from snapping as many pictures as we could.
[SPOILER ALERT] The flight deck was the most impressive part of the entire trip.
Jets taking off and landing, guys in different colored shirts running around, equipment being shuttled from one part of the ship to the other; it all seemed chaotic to a civilian but remained a very controlled atmosphere.
Quick Facts:
The flight deck can be cleared in 7 minutes tops in case a plane needs to make an emergency landing or take off.
Planes take off from the carrier using a steam powered catapult system.
The planes can either take off or land in 45 second intervals
All sailors are aware of FOD (foreign object detector) Something as small as a nail can damage a plane's engine.
Planes coming in land on the carrier at about 140mph and have to stop at under 4 seconds.
The Arresting Gear Room (where the cable machine is located) can catch 3 birds a minute and 6 different types of planes. The cables are 1150 feet long and can hold up to 210,000 pounds of pressure. Only twice in 10 years has the cable ever snapped.
After the flight deck we were taken around to the different areas around the ship.
In the Primary Flight Control Room, the "ouija board" is used to show the exact placement on the ship of all the planes and their status by using push pins, nuts and jacks (yes the same Jacks you played as a kid).
In the Hanger of the aircraft is where we got get up close and personal with the planes. It even included a gym and basketball hoop. In the event of a fire or attack, the hanger can be separated into 3 different areas.
The Ship Store was a favorite among all of us as we quickly grabbed more souvenirs but this time it was for family and friends. The ship store manager claimed the ship can do $30k-$45k a day in the store.
Though the store accepts cash, the sailors use a debit card on the ship to transfer money from their personal bank account into their "ship account". This card is used all over, on and off the ship.
Of course any carrier is going to have weapons. While the weapons department could neither "confirm nor deny" the existence of a nuclear weapon on board they did however show us the extensive supply of bombs and missiles on board.
The big grey looking boxes are actually live missiles. We were pretty tired by this point in the day and turned to see what we were all sitting on, and it was actually a box of missiles. Fabulous!
Live bombs on board are kept 3 decks below water. Many of these bombs are interchangeable and depending on the configuration, can make an entirely new weapon.
All of the weapons on board the ship are tracked electronically as well as on paper. The Navy strongly believes in this system because if electronics fail, they must have something to fall back on. These weapons are monitored 24/7 whether out to sea or at port.
Naturally a ship that holds 5,500 people is going to need a lot of food. The lead Chef on the ship says the ship goes through 2,000 cookies a day, 13 cases of bread with 24 loafs in each case a week and about 8,000 pounds of chicken per week.
The chef's work off of a 14 day recipe series cycle and try to keep food costs around $10 per person, per day. The same recipes are used on all carriers so that the food stays consistent throughout the Navy. The food cost budget is increased around the holidays, along with most of the waistlines of American civilians.
The kitchen is constantly cooking for 23 hours of the day. The other hour is spent cleaning during "Happy Hour".
No, not that kind of Happy Hour, its a special "Clean Everything" Happy Hour.
The most comforting part of the ship happened to be the most welcoming. The Place of Worship.
In this church, all religions were welcome from Catholics, Jewish, Mormons, Muslims, Protestants. You name it, they allow you to worship it.
The Navy Chaplians in particular were the warmest and most welcoming people on the ship. They firmly believe in not being stuck in the place of worship, but being in the community of sailors and families. Last year alone, they did over 6500 hours of community service.
The Chaplains on the ship are a major positive force for the sailors as they remind the sailors that there is a greater morality to life.
Perhaps one of the most interesting visits was the room dedicated to former president Harry S. Truman.
Famous for the saying "Give Him Hell" which is plastered all over the ship, Truman's response to his catch phrase was:
"I have never deliberately given anybody hell. I just tell the truth on the opposition and they think its hell".
Unlike present day Congress (who receive the exact same pay and benefits even when they retire) Truman believed in old school politics. Once his term was over, he never made a dime off public speeches or appearances. He merely wanted to live out his life happy with his family.
Truman also helped to established the United Nations, the State of Israel, desegregated the military and made the call to drop the A-bomb twice in Japan.
The following is a picture of the original note he wrote giving the order to drop the bomb.
The Truman also features a metal & wood shop, movie theaters, a full production studio, design & media for print and electronic marketing, radio production and many more items sustain a city on the water.
By the end of the first day, we were all pretty tired and anxious to go to bed. Lucky for us, we were staying in the "suites" on the ship which consisted of a bunk bed, one locker, one sink and 2 desks.
I had the honor of the top bunk and trying to figure out how to jump up and down brought me back to my youth of when my brother had a bunk bed. Except the Navy bed did not have a ladder.
The beds were quite comfortable (or I was just that tired) but as tired as I was, sleep was hard to come across as we were staying on the deck directly below jets that were practicing taking off and landing.
I will never complain about my neighbor starting his lawn mower at 9am on a Saturday ever again.
The ultimate highlight of this trip was the simple interaction with the dedicated sailors.
Between the wonderful food at dinner, the chats with Chaplain Hinson and the inspirational words from Master Chief Allen Walker, the breakfast with the sailors was the highlight of the trip.
They explained about their work days (some being as long as 18 hours a day but always at least 12 hours), everyone works 7 days a week.
Our 2 rack bunk bed seemed like tight quarters, but when I heard of the 6 rack bunk system, I quickly stopped complaining.
They do have ways of winding down when they are not working. Sailors can work out at the seaside gym, watch tv, play video games and during important sporting events like the AFC & NFC Championship games most of the TVs on the ship are all tuned in.
What struck me most during the breakfast chat with 3 female sailors is the positive light that seemed to beam from them. They were so happy and really made you realize how lucky the American civilians really have it. I was in awe of them.
If there was one thing I wish I could have done more on this trip is to interact more with the sailors.
At around 1pm, it was time for trip to come to a close. We participated in a final briefing by the CO where we were given another customary coin as well as a folder that included documents on the history of the Truman, high level Captain bios, a Truman bio, a cd of all the pictures that were taken and even a printed picture of an aerial shot of the Truman and my personal favorite, a picture of our group with a jet landing in the background.
So after almost 5 miles walked during our tour and DOZENS of flights of stairs, it was time for the final briefing where we were handed our helmets and life vests.
The directions for taking off of the carrier came quick and we were told to "put our feet on the chair in front of us, cross our arms to hold onto the harness and duck our head down" during takeoff.
I was lucky enough to get a seat by the window this time but was too scared to look out of the window since we were faced backwards and the plane (faced opposite) was about to go 4G's in 3 seconds.
While waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I was able to snap this picture a few minutes before we took off.
Once I heard the all famous words of "HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO", the only way I can describe the takeoff is the best roller coaster you will ever ride.
After making it the airport, calling my family and telling the stories I have shared with you, the once in a lifetime trip really came into focus while I was driving home and saw the helicopters practicing by my house near Mayport Naval Base.
This is when I realized is that like most Americans who take their freedoms for granted, we should honor the sailors of this country even more for everything they provide.
Nothing has given me a greater respect for our military than this trip. Saying this a thousand times is never enough but THANK YOU for all that you do!
"Most of us, most of the time live in blissful ignorance of what a small, elite, heroic group of Americans are doing something very dangerous...Right now, somewhere around the world, young men are landing high-performance jet aircraft on the pitching decks of aircraft carriers---AT NIGHT!
You can't pay people to do that; they do it out of love of country, of adventure, of the challenge. We all benefit from it; and the very fact that we don't think about it tells you how superbly they're doing their job, living on the edge of danger so the rest of us need not think about, let alone experience, danger."
-George Will
Navy DV Embark Group- January 25th-26th 2010
Special THANK YOU to Suzanne Speight for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. I will forever be grateful.
In honor all POW's and MIA's, you are never far from our thoughts and prayers.
