A Veteran's Journey

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)

1. Who said, “Never be bored, and you will never be boring.”?
2. In what movie (and who said it) did we hear, “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.”?
3. In what song (and who sang it) did we hear the following:
   Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
   Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
   Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
   I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
   Because I’m easy come, easy go
   Little high, little low
   Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me, to me

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Above Photo: An F-14 Tomcat aircraft waits behind the blast deflector panels as another F-14 from Fighter Squadron 84 (VF-84) prepares for launching during flight operations aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS CARL VINSON (CVN-70). An A-7E Corsair II aircraft from Light Attack Squadron 82 (VA-82) is ready for launch on the port catapult.

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Before I get started on this post, I wanted to share that I just published a new book: A Veteran’s Journey: Short Stories and Navy Friday Funnies, Volume #4. It’s nothing new. In fact, it’s a collection of my latest 50ish blog posts, put into book format. Like most of my books, this book is free to download (PDF and eBook format) from my website. But if you really want a hard copy (paper back), you can order one from Amazon.

Or just go to my “blog list” and start reading. That’s the easiest and cheapest.

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In my last post (#211—“Down Time,” Part 1: NAS Agana, Guam (On-duty)), I shared what I did during down time while on duty when I was stationed at NAS Agana, Guam.

Being an aircraft Crash firefighter, you sit around for 24 hours a shift, waiting for something you hope will never happen.

Fortunately for me, the only real aircraft “emergencies” we had were fuel spills, flat tires, and aircraft landing with an engine out.

That was duty at a Naval Air Station.

Being aboard an active aircraft carrier was a different story.

When I left Guam and after a few weeks at home on leave, I transferred to USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), arriving in March 1975. Unfortunately for me, Kitty Hawk was out on a month-long RIMPAC exercise, and the Navy would not fly me out to her. For three boring weeks, I remained in a temporary holding company. I’ll spare you the details, but you can only visit SeaWorld and the downtown YMCA so much.

Flight Ops

I’ve written many times about flight operations aboard Kitty Hawk. Basically, on a “normal” day, we typically began flight ops “cycles” around 1000 and continued until midnight.

A cycle (back in the mid-70s) began with launching “pre-spotted” aircraft off the flight deck. Even though Kitty Hawk had four steam catapults, we’d usually simultaneously launch aircraft off two cats. Periodically, we’d launch off all four cats, but that took a lot of careful planning & maneuvering of aircraft on the flight deck and the hangar deck.

We launched the first 10-15 aircraft, starting with the helo “plane guard,” followed by the E-2 “Hawkeye.” Next up were the fighters (F-4 Phantoms) and the attack aircraft (A-7 Corsairs, A-6 Intruders). Following them would be a mix of the EA-6B Prowlers, an A-6 Intruder/Refueling Tanker, an A-3 Whale, and the S-2 ASW Trackers.

The total time to launch these aircraft—assuming things ran “smoothly”—was usually 15 to 20 minutes.

After the first launch, we “re-spotted” for the second launch. That basically meant we moved aircraft around the flight deck, lining them up, ready for the next launch.

Depending on the type, the aircraft would be airborne for about an hour before needing either to refuel in mid-air or return to the carrier.

So, we’d launch the second cycle (again, 10-15 aircraft) similar to the first cycle. After they launched, we respoted the flight deck to recover the aircraft from the first launch. That meant moving all the aircraft out of the recovery area, usually to the bow, with a few on the starboard side of the flight deck, aft of the island.

Recovering 10-15 aircraft—assuming no problems—took about 15-20 minutes. It was longer at night for obvious reasons, but think of an aircraft landing about every 45-60 seconds.

We’d do this all day long and into the night. Launch, respot, recover, respot, launch and so on.

Meals During Flight Ops

On top of all that, we needed to get our crews down to the galley for chow. Back in my day, we’d usually send about 3-5 guys down at a time. That is, 3-5 guys from each Fly (1, 2, & 3), and Crash. Sometimes the lines were long, and it wasn’t unusual to wait in line for an hour or so. Then, you’d quickly scarf it down in minutes so you could get back on the flight deck to let the next crew eat.

After all, there were about 5,500 guys on the ship when at sea. That included about 3,500 sailors from “ship’s company” with another 2,500 from the Airwing (squadron personnel & pilots). That’s a lot of food to prepare and a lot of sailors to feed. The cooks (mess specialists) did an awesome job not only preparing the food & cooking it, but serving it to keep the lines going.

I’ve written about meals aboard the carrier before.

Down Time

There wasn’t really that much downtime during flight ops, but we managed a few minutes here and there.

Aside from meals, we’d find time to keep a game of cards going in the Crash compartment in between flight ops, or there were several guys who smoked. If memory serves, you could smoke inside the Crash compartment. We’d keep the hatch open, just to keep the air flowing.

Fortunately, I never took up the habit, which I’m grateful for. I buried both my parents, way too young, because of smoking-related cancers.

When I was on the ship, there was so much action during flight ops—no complaints. But during downtime at sea, a lot of guys played poker. I learned early on during my time in Guam that I was NOT a poker player. Hearts & Spades, yes, but I’m not a good gambler.

Chet Adkins Record …

Kitty Hawk had a single TV station (closed circuit) and ran movies all day and all night. Mostly were “B” movies.

During flight operations, the TV would broadcast the aircraft launch and recovery. Cameras were on the island superstructure, able to capture launches from both the bow cats and the waist cats. There was also a PLAT (Pilot’s Landing Aid Television) camera built into the flight deck to show aircraft landing. It was actually mesmerizing.

We had our three radio stations (Rock, Soul, & Country) and I had my morning radio spot—Country Chet Adkins.

Gary Borne (R.I.P.) loved the night shift, but it was not for me. That worked out well for me, since I loved the action on the flight deck.

There were a few night shifts I took, most times I was bored out of my gourd. But since I played guitar and sang country music, I started writing down lyrics in my “official record log”—here it is, 50+ years later. I still got ‘em and I still sing ‘em.

Winding Down

Working on the flight deck is one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs. It is fraught with peril, though, if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. We had a few incidents; we lost a shipmate, but despite those sad days, I am proud to be a Navy veteran.

Until we meet again,
Andy

Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and the author of several books (www.azadkinsiii.com), many of which are free downloads (PDF, eBook format). He is currently retired and lives in Gainesville, Florida with his wife and life-long soulmate, Becky.

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Previous Blogs mentioned in this Post:

• #68—Flight Ops: Another Fine Day in the Navy!
• #94—Flight Deck Operations: Aircraft Launch
• #98—Flight Ops: Aircraft Recovery
• #40—Midrats… and Other Navy Chow
• #39—Good Morning to Ya, Kitty Hawk!
• #175—Night Shift

Answers

1. Eleanor Roosevelt.
2. Forrest Gump (1994); Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks).
3. Bohemian Rhapsody (1975), Queen; written by Freddie Mercury.