Fucking hinges!
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Das Boat, Bird Farm, Mom, aka 90,000 tons of diplomacy: the Nimitz Class carriers
- Thread starter HeyJoe
- Start date
Fucking hinges!
And so is my wife...she flew aboard that AM before we hit the SD1 channel marker. S'all I'm gonna say...
On TR, we had the "Underway 71 Club" patch (worn only on the inside of your flight jacket) for these occassions.And so is my wife...she flew aboard that AM before we hit the SD1 channel marker. S'all I'm gonna say...
Great idea...
These pics are all pretty awesome, and I was always amazed looking down at the carrier while flying, but I think I got enough of the carrier life when I unstrapped and headed into ATO to take a piss.
And now, Karma will be sure to find me orders as a shooter on the floating prison in a few years.
And now, Karma will be sure to find me orders as a shooter on the floating prison in a few years.
...but I think I got enough of the carrier life when I unstrapped and headed into ATO to take a piss.
And now, Karma will be sure to find me orders as a shooter on the floating prison in a few years.
Maybe I'm weird, but my 2+ year 'Ships Company' tour was very interesting, varied & satisfying. Spent the first 6 months in overhaul/sea trials. Then came back to back combat deployments (USS MIDWAY/CVW-5 - '71 & '72). I took advantage of the opportunity to qual as OOD underway & entering/leaving port (an awesome, initially scary experience
).Inasmuch as the C-2s were grounded during that time, I had checked out in the ship's C-1A COD, and car-qualed en route from Cubi to Yankee Station at the start of the '71 cruise. So along with my other duties, I got to haul people, parts & mail on/off 'sheep' as a CTPC... 1-3 days/week, visiting exotic places like Atsugi, Taipei, Hong Kong, Thailand, Manila, Baguio, Danang, Saigon, etc. (+'Po City...).
*C-1A SchoolBoy 700, MIDWAY's "Easy Way Airline"!
I never considered the 'halfway boat' a "floating prison", I think that is all in one's mind = attitude. Being that busy, my 2 1/2 year tour just flew by (no pun intended)! The boat tour is pretty much what you make of it & BTW, a "Shooter" tour is a good thing, showing their confidence in your abilities & that your career is on track (many a Flag Officer/Blue Angel has CatOff on their resume'). Much like LSOs, & Air/Mini Bosses... Shooters are highly respected by both Airwing and ShipsCo personnel alike.
BzB
Maybe I'm weird, but my 2+ year 'Ships Company' tour was very interesting, varied & satisfying. Spent the first 6 months in overhaul/sea trials. Then came back to back combat deployments (USS MIDWAY/CVW-5 - '71 & '72). I took advantage of the opportunity to qual as OOD underway & entering/leaving port (an awesome, initially scary experience
Inasmuch as the C-2s were grounded during that time, I had checked out in the ship's C-1A COD, and car-qualed en route from Cubi to Yankee Station at the start of the '71 cruise. So along with my other duties, I got to haul people, parts & mail on/off 'sheep' as a CTPC... 1-3 days/week, visiting exotic places like Atsugi, Taipei, Hong Kong, Thailand, Manila, Baguio, Danang, Saigon, etc. (+'Po City...).
View attachment 11423
*C-1A SchoolBoy 700, MIDWAY's "Easy Way Airline"!
I never considered the 'halfway boat' a "floating prison", I think that is all in one's mind = attitude. Being that busy, my 2 1/2 year tour just flew by (no pun intended)! The boat tour is pretty much what you make of it & BTW, a "Shooter" tour is a good thing, showing their confidence in your abilities & that your career is on track (many a Flag Officer/Blue Angel has CatOff on their resume'). Much like LSOs, & Air/Mini Bosses... Shooters are highly respected by both Airwing and ShipsCo personnel alike.
BzB
Truth be told, if I have to do a dissociated tour, Shooter is probably what I'd choose. And my very limited experience ON that carrier was just that everyone was walking around mopey-faced.
Yes, I know what you're sayin', probably groggy from only grabbing bits and pieces of sleep during the 12-14 hour per day flight quarters... perhap cramming down a horsecock sammich/cold coffee every now & then. Oh, secure from flight quarters...let's form up the unrep working parties... now get that ammo & stores stowed, we are about to go down with the GQ drill, etc., etc. yeah that'll make anyone 'mopey-faced'. But ya know, when liberty call goes down, those mopey-faces will be lit up with great big smiles.
A generation or two down the road, when Grandpa Sailor is relating his Navy adventures to the Grandsons/Daughters at his knee, it'll be all about the smiley times in exotic ports, not the mopey-faced times on the flight deck, or the 130F watches deep in the bilges. Haze grey & underway is not easy, but really..not very much worthwhile ever is.
BzB
BzB, before they hit libo, they gotta complete TIP training, local customs sensitivity training, muster with their liberty buddy, put a promise ring on that says they'll have no more than three beers, and complete an nko course on at/fp, all while the ship is at river city. Good luck getting off that Gray prison!
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
I remember one circumstance where we had to be in groups of 4, what a pain.
I remember the old days when we would pull into a port and we were told "be back for your duty day" and that was it.
I remember my first port call, it was June 1986 and some terrorists had just blown up the USO in Naples. That was the day before we pulled in to port; we had to travel in groups of 4 and had to be back to Fleet landing by 22:00. That lasted the whole time we were in Naples, 3 weeks of the armpit of the world!
Holy crap, BzB, at least have the decency to warn me before such a post so that my hot coffee doesn't get sprayed all over my computer next time!
...when liberty call goes down, those mopey-faces will be lit up with great big smiles.
Yeah, about that...Based on anecdotal evidence (read: stories from guys like you, Cat, brownshoe, R1, etc.) and my relatively recent experience with big deck Amphibs, Liberty Call 2012 is absolutely nothing like it was during your heyday.
River City you say? No ASM? No NSIPS? Sweet. My paperwork is all routed; inbox empty; off to re-rack. See you fuckers at the end of GQ.
USS Enterprise, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Vicksburg and USS Hue City are underway in formation.
U.S. FIFTH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (Sept. 27, 2012) The Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), center right, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS Vicksburg (CG 69), far right, and USS Hue City (CG 66) are underway in formation during a passing exercise. Enterprise, Eisenhower, Vicksburg and Hue City are deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Join the conversation on social media using #warfighting. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Scott Pittman/Released) 120927-N-FI736-597