Where to begin?
On Friday, October 13, 1775, meeting in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress voted to fit out two sailing vessels, armed with ten carriage guns…
No. That’s probably too far back.
On Friday, May 29, 2009 I mustered with 14 other bloggers – there, I said it! – at Naval Air Station North Island for a distinguished visitor (DV) tour aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), that ship commanded by an old comrade, CAPT Mike “Nasty” Manazir, and embarking the Commander, Carrier Strike Group Eleven, RADM John “Fozzie” Miller, my former CO aboard USS Constellation back in the not-so-very-far back. Both of them had grown up flying F-14 Tomcats, although you would never believe it, as they are wonderfully intelligent, charming men of great character and insight.
The Naval Air Force public affairs officer, LCDR Charlie Brown (another Connie shipmate – are you beginning to see why I got to accompany Guy Fricken’ Kawasaki, Dennis Hall, Charlene Li, Beth Blecherman, Jennifer Leo, Jenny Lawson, Pamela Slim, Andrew Nystrom, Jennifer Van Grove, Jennifer Jones, Bill Reichert, Jefferson Wagner, Robert Scoble and Andy Sernovitz on a blogger embark?) gave the brief that I used to give to DVs going aboard Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, and in doing so demonstrated that continuous process improvement is alive and well in naval aviation.
The bloggers – the real bloggers, I mean, not your host – were a diverse crowd. If by diverse you mean “people who have abjured the lives of tapping away at keyboards in some technology company cubicle farm somewhere in favor of tapping away about technology (and marketing) on keyboards at home.” They are smart, confident people with decided points of view, most of them with books to flog and a knack for self-promotion. Not in the way of someone with something to prove, but rather in the way of people who make a living off their brand and know that it’s important to market it, since we all need a little something to keep the wind and water out. Each of them has a slightly different focus, but the channel of social media as a new word of mouth buzz-generating scheme was a common thread throughout. They document everything via digital still and video cameras. Guy was carrying around his own private, palm-sized WiFi router. Which yeah, I didn’t know they existed until Friday, and now I want one. To share.
I don’t want to go all Diane Fossey and “Bloggers in the Mist,” on the folks, who were an awfully fun and impressive group, but I got the sense that immediacy is very important to many of them. When we hit the passenger terminal and the C-2 Greyhound came up, the IPhones and Blackberries (I’m estimating a 12-3 advantage for Apple over Rim) were buzzing, and the tweets were flying. When they were told that the flight deck would fry their smart phones unless turned off, and that they’d be disconnected from the web until we returned to North Island, I sensed a certain fatalistic acceptance, limned with dread.
I like to use the word “limn” sometimes. Michiko Kakutani’s got nothing on me.
Robert Scoble, who flies all over the place getting the next-up on technology issues mentioned that he was the first US citizen to notice the earthquake happening in China last year because he noticed four different “tweets” on the issue while at home watching his five-screen work station. He also carried with him aboard ship the Largest. Zoom lens. Evar. You can see the product of his work aboard Nimitz here. The status of “my” camera and the digital pieces d’art therein is very much in question, the assemblage having gone afield with the Kat hier soir on some 15-year old Cali Girl, boys-in-the-band field trip, and failed to return. Still, we hope.
About many things.
Kawasaki has been around the tech scene since the Apple first fell from the tree, and – as a tech guy – suffers from an uncharacteristic excess of personality, literally filling up the room. Beth is a “tech mama” with a sharp eye for detail, Jen Leo is a charmer with a continuous smile, and Pamela Slim’s “Escape from Cubicle Nation” is relevant to my interests – she was kind enough to provide me a copy. Andrew Nystrom is a nice young man who blogs about travel for the LA Times – I asked him how the paper deals with Patterico’s implacable campaign against the paper’s editorial excesses, and for his own part he said he found it healthy to read the critics. Especially since he’s a blogger rather than an Op-Ed writer masquerading as a news journalist (sorry, couldn’t resist). Jennifer Jones – we were fairly awash in Jennifers – is a marketing expert with a knack for asking The Real Question, and some interesting ideas on leadership in an age of horizontal connectivity via social media. Charlene Li I had not read before, but she was clearly an intelligent and engaging person, and I was intrigued by her comment at dinner on Thursday that she would be “putting her feelings about the military aside” for the embark (she did, and came away, I think, very impressed by what she saw). Jenny Lawson was lovely and very clever, but rather unlike the persona projected on her page – or maybe you’ve just got to know her better. Jennifer Van Grove was cuteness personified, and shoots handguns to boot. All the ladies were fascinating. Oh, to be young, handsome and single.
Not that, you know: I’d change anything.
Andy is another marketeer, and a ball of restless, contained energy who has published a book, and now travels the country speechifying. Bill does tech venture capital with Guy, brilliant and engaging – he had the willingness to ask hard questions on naval strategy, and keen eye for sensing vulnerabilities. I guess that’s important for a VC guy. My roommate was Jefferson Wagner, a drop dead double for Clint Eastwood. He sells surfboards, trains deploying Marine infantry in cultural immersion and is the mayor of Malibu, fergoshsakes. In case maybe you thought you were busy.
Rounding it out was this old, has-been, ustabee guy. But you know all about him.
(More later)
Nice…and you got to enjoy the aroma of jet fuel again, the aviators cologne
I did notice that hizzoner did not fail to sport the leather flight jacket.
or so it looked on the Flickr set.
Looks like you enjoyed it!
In the scene with the Admiral Lex looks a bit bored or sleepy.
No, QM, I would suggest the look is best described as “pensive.”
I was wonderin’ what was in the cup in front of him!
Yup, noticed that myself. Very low key he was.
Scoble has some great photos – thanks for the link!
If having a book to flog is something you want, you have the skills and the background to write one. You could join their company and I would stand in line to buy a copy.
So. Is this ‘backwards cat’ like an Heimlich Manoeuvre? Just curious.
Any chance there might be a West Coast version of the milblogger embarks East Coast has been doing…?
ustabee “OK-3″ after Boss called CHARLIE.
[...] is about the sea, but in a different way. Neptunus Lex went to sea with a “Band of Bloggers.” He flew in the back of a C-2 Greyhound ‘COD’, as their guide around a very foreign [...]
I’m curious, did the Woz not make it? There was no mention of him, and a man of his intelligence and humor would normally be noted.
One other question: I get the OK 3-wire. You hit wire 2 you were too low by a hair, at risk for a ramp strike. But 3 doesn’t leave much room, and 4 isn’t much left to pick up the slack on a moving runway. So what’s the point of the 1-wire if you’re aiming for 3 and 2 is too early already? Wire 4 I assume is as far as you can catch without playing out the arresting gear and finding yourself over the edge, so better to bolter than add a 5-wire.
So, the 1-wire. That serves to let people know they hit the safety net and need to improve, or what?
– Max
The Woz did not make it, summat else came up.
They tweak the lens to target a touchdown point between the two and three wires (so long as all four wires are rigged, as they usually are). Landing on the “ace” means that the pilot allowed himself to get pretty low – there’s only about 15 feet of hook-to-ramp clearance on optimal, 3 degree glideslope.
I guess if they stripped the one one wire (Reagan only as three), then the old 2-wire becomes the new 1-wire, and they still wouldn’t want you hitting it.
FWIW: HMAS Melbourne had 6 arrestor wires in the Sea Venom / Gannet era, anyone catching that 6th wire usually exclaimed “the usual” so it had that name. Apparently (as suggested) the aircraft would be in danger of going off the angle. The 6th wire was removed for the A4G/S2E era. The target wire was No.4. Because it got a workout (hahaha) often it was not in service then No.3 became target wire. This meant that many more bolters were on offer because hook would T/D for No.4 (hit the edge of the lift in landing area) and hook would skip over No.5! That was my story anyway (Bolter Boy).
As someone has taken “Taxi1″ they could explain how BAD that is to have that recorded by LSO (aircraft taxiis to the No.1 wire before engaging hook). Probably more than two ‘taxi 1s’ would get you sent home to ruminate.
The next USN carrier abuildin’ will have only 3 wires.
Great to read a first impression of some big name bloggers from a different point of view. Enjoy your writing voice, will definitely be reading more of your posts Lex.
(Gratuitous Self Promo) Just started blogging myself back in Feb this year, and cobbled together my first short ebook out of the posts (focused on finding work you love to be most productive/happy with a chaser of social media trends).
Thanks Much
You were amazingly awesome and I’m so glad I got to spend time with you. Thank you…both for being so nice and also for what you did yourself during your service.
Thank you, it was great meeting you. And I’m loving the “voice” of your blog.
Also thank you for your service. You had such great stories to tell – and was so kind to explain the Navy details to a geek that was trying her best to understand the new lingo.
Lex, great to meet you too.
Not sure why everyone keeps linking to the LAT Travel blog as my URL (maybe since I started it and produced it for 2+ years) but that’s now Jen Leo’s domain, while I’ve moved over to focus on all things social and emerging media for the LAT.
BTW, who’s this Patterico guy you keep referencing? I’ll have to check him out ;-]
My Embark pics are on Flickr. Enjoy
[...] Sernovitz, Jennifer Leo, Jefferson Wagner a.k.a. Zuma Jay, Jennifer Van Grove, Jennifer Jones, and Carroll LeFon a.k.a. Lex. Chris Pirillo followed us out during June 1-2, 2009, again to the USS [...]
[...] “Lex” LeFon: The Embark, The Ship, The Wing, and The Bloggers. Perspective from Lex is especially helpful given that he used to be a Navy pilot who not only flew [...]
[...] Carroll “Lex” LeFon, former F-18 pilot who hung out with us during the tour (he is retired and got a flight back to see his old buddies). He’s a great writer and gave his impressions of hanging out with a bunch of clueless bloggers. [...]
[...] Carroll “Lex” LeFon, former F-18 pilot who hung out with us during the tour (he is retired and got a flight back to see his old buddies). He’s a great writer and gave his impressions of hanging out with a bunch of clueless bloggers. [...]
[...] is a post rich with links to photographs of the experience that he chose to share with us. It is rich with links to other stories written by bloggers who joined him on this visit. Through all their eyes we [...]