Hard though it may be to believe, your correspondent, with seven sea service deployment medals and countless days at sea regretting his ignoble fate, has taken a day of paid-time-off.
Not to spank the golf ball through the Elysian fields of Torrey Pines, nor yet to polish a paragraph or two on the Endless Manuscript, but rather to fly aboard the USS Nimitz in a C-2 Greyhound. Facing backwards.
In the company of strangers.
Who I met last night, having previously had the opportunity to rendezvous with Maj. Dave at Shakespeare’s. Hizzoner, you will be pleased to learn, is back on his pegs again and driving around town just like any other man.
In consideration of his long-suffering lady, he now does so on four wheels rather than two.
But back to the matter at hand. Well-fortified by two pints of Fuller’s ESB, I met Guy Kawasaki and his Silicon Valley entourage at the Marriott Island Resort in Coronado. I work around engineers and technophiles on a daily basis, and let us just say that this particular assemblage displayed an abundance of personality and exuberance compared to the median example. By at least a couple of sigma. They were voluble, enthusiastic and actually quite a lot of fun. There was a bit of trash talk going around the table, people whose names I either do not know or scarcely have heard of that sent the ladies a’tittering and pretending to Twittering, with make-believe BlackBerries and IPhones held in the air, thumbs flying.
Much talk about books in work, social media – its consequence, weight and endurance – and some concern about our trip to Nimitz. Not that they will fly in a creaking aircraft that has seen better days, nor yet that the air is so thin, and the ocean so hard. Nor even that they will be passengers of people they do not know, pilots that fully intend to fling their craft at the back end of 90,000 tons of cold, pitching steel.
No, the concern is that they will be, for the better part of 24 hours, off the grid. Disconnected. Alone.
Well, as alone as you can be on a ship 1000 feet long carrying 5000 people.
This should be a hoot.
Enjoy! Anxious to read the AAR.
WITHDRAWAL!
I want to see pictures of their faces at regular timed intervals…time lapse of the condition, as it were…:)
On second thought, I suspect the smiles on their faces at the wonder of life at sea will override their scowls of disconnection.
I’d go with you in a New York second. I’d even face backwards. And wouldn’t have a problem in the world leaving on the wires and electronics home, not one little bit. I still have fond memories of my four days aboard Saratoga, even though I was working most of them.
Tech detox, cold turkey no less. You’re right, it will be fun. Whatever will they do? Should be fun to watch. I’m betting at least one will end up sedated in sick bay after suffering a full blown mental come-apart.
Backwards in the belly of an old C-2 would be tough but worth it. Have a great one!
Have a fun and safe trip Captain. Can’t wait for the trip report!
Oh, and glad to see Maj. Dave ambulating on his own. I do notice you took the picture as he entered and not as he left.
On the contrary, Lex actually had me pose “under the lights” after having downed my fair share of both Guinness and Harp.
This WAS the “after” photo.
Braggart!
(or good old Marine MK1 Mod 0)
Good to see you’ve made excellent progress Dave. Before you know it you’ll be hoisting weights as well as Guinness (for strength of course)
Tell your new “friends”, especially the tall ones, to what their heads! Seems like someone always gets a lump on the grape going through a knee-knocker!
Enjoy!
On my trip it was on the stairs, believe it or not–tall guy lost his footing and reflexively threw his head back to regain his balance… *konk!*
Yeah, the tall ones might want to keep their hard hats on..
Major Dave, it’s good to see my favorite SkyPilot up and ambulating! I hope to meet up some time and share a few pints.
Respects,
Facing backwards…The indignity!
Better facing backwards on the COD than scaling a pilot’s ladder…
Send them after ’100ft of waterline’..!;-})
Don’t forget the keys to the chain locker, or a bottle of ID10T from the nukes
Heh, we used to send them out on field days to get a 5-gallon can of prop wash..
No cans of Relative Bearing Grease?
Or sending the 3P or Nav to the AW shop for a can of doppler bearings or some gram ink?
I do miss sitting backwards (and sideways), and the aroma of JP-5…
Send the newbies down for a padeye wrench.
My favorite was always the BA-1100-N on an ST ring. Of course, the PRC-E7 is always good too, esp. when the Chief and/or Gunny hears about it.
And my oldest brother (a former submariner) always wins with his (true!) story of the day their sub was in drydock and an unwitting seaman was sent off to find some fallopian tubes. I kid you not.
Heh,
Sitting sideways and yawing and rolling. The smell of burning paper wafting up and the whine and hum from all the elctronics.
Any AW who hasn’t been sick at least once is lying through his teeth
Or send the Air Wing nuggets to the “Weapons Systems Trainer” down below on the 7th deck. In all their flight gear, of course!
And the new intell wienies were always the first to stand the ever-perennial “Mail Buoy Watch!”
Ah… in the radar world it was a can of video paint…
And don’t forget the five gallon can of propwash.
And don’t forget for the older tread-heads/DATs around here … there’s the eternal quest for the key to the hydrostatic lock. Best
I don’t think folks realize how cleansing it can be when one is out of touch with all their electronic toys. Two weeks ago, I spent a few days underway on the mighty USS WINSTON S CHURCHILL (DDG81), and I very much enjoyed the time to focus on the job at hand without the distraction of a Blackberry, cell phone, computer, or TV…
Enjoy. The COD or helo are the only ways I have ever gotten aboard a CVN.
XF hit the nail square – and that gnarly nail is WITHDRAWAL! Who cares about the social unwashed being disconnected, what about US!!??? We’re gonna go without a daily dose of Lex for 4 days. I’m sure we will wither on the vine. But we do have other quality reading like SJS, and Tailspin and CDR S, and heck even Skippy.
Just know that this does not count as numba 571 on the trap counter. And maybe they’ll let you con alongside if you got that OOD check in the box.
Fair winds.
Unfair says I!
Have a great time (I know you will) but just remember eventually you do have to return to the land of the … well, just to land, I suppose. And us landlubbers shall be anxiously awaiting your return.
If one of them chickens out, I can be on a plane west bound in minutes! Have a safe trip
This should be a hoot.
I’m sure it will be. I can’t wait to hear the reports!
And what is this 4 days stuff? Four Days??? Thanks to the fog, we only got about 21 hours. I am positively ill with jealousy.
Is it really 4 days? I think the post says 24 hours off the grid.
Sorry, I was going by a comment someone else made. Thanks for setting me straight.
Have a great backwards arrest y’all (come back now ya hear). And good to see MajH is still kickin’ the doors in (‘Sky Pilot’ by THE ANIMALS comes to mind).
4 years after retiring; I still miss the cat shots, smells and organized chaos on that postage stamp we called the flight deck…Following Seas to ya, and we’ll be here when you get back.
R/
Robert C., SK1 [SCW/SW/AW] USN Ret.
Mini-ATO, JCS-74 [1999-2003]
PS: Tell my brother, GMC CHATMAN I said “What’s Up Knee-Gro!”
Getting….cold…..sweats……already……no..Lex…….must …..endure…..
Just think of it as research time for him to write some great material. The great writers have to go off in their native habitat to allow the muse to inspire anew.
With the cast tagging along I’m betting we get some “Aunt Bea goes to New York” moments recorded as only Lex can so faithfully do.
Funny VX, though all too true!
Good thing that Lex (apparently) has some pre-scheduled posts coming in.
Cold sweats indeed.
Three fingers of Rum or single Malt should cure the problem.
Virgil….lots of chocolate helps…some.
It could be worse-Nose could be flying you aboard in the COD.
Let us know how the land-lubbers handle the Break, will you?
Tell ‘em it’s your birthday. Maybe they’ll let you sit in the right seat for a picture.