Adventures At Sea (Part 8)
December 10, 2013
Continued from December 3, 2013
After lunch we were led to the Admiral’s office. He wanted a chance to see us again before we
left. He had a flight scheduled that
afternoon, so he would not be available to see us off when our chariot arrived
to take us away. On one of the walls of
his office is this amazing picture. It
was of the Bush’s Kennebunkport home with one of the ship’s helicopters
hovering over it and the carrier in the back ground with a jet landing on
board. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The skill of the photographer impressed me as
much as the actual set up for the shot itself.
The Admiral asked each one of us what had been our favorite part up to
that point. For me it had been
everything up to that point was my favorite part! We visited with him for better part of 45
minutes or more. He told us a little of
what to expect with our upcoming launch and wished us all luck. He is most definitely a very impressive man.
When we left the Admiral we went back out on Vulture’s Row,
outside of the Flag Bridge to watch the flight ops that were just getting
underway. I’m pretty sure that we were
there for more than an hour. It still
amazed me just as much as it did the first time I saw it the day before. I don’t think I’d get anything done except
watch launches and landings if I were on that ship for any length of time. We were able to get some video of launching
and some really good pictures from where we were. The day was absolutely beautiful, the sky and
the ocean were all a brilliant blue and the smell of jet fuel tickled the
senses!!
(These pics were all from Vulture's Row, 9 August, 2013)
Our escorts pulled us away from our observation vantage
point and took us to some control rooms that were really a huge part of air
traffic control. They had the radar
screens and everything. I cannot
remember the initials or the name of the rooms that we visited only it was dark
and reminded me of the room where the Captain is smoking his cigar and
listening to the dog fight in the air on Top
Gun as Maverick and Ice are in the air with a bunch of Migs on their
tail. They also lead us through a room where they
control the defenses of the ship.
At 1500 they took us back to the room that we first went
to. We were again greeted by the Captain
and the Command Master Chief. They had
come to give us their farewells. The
Captain showed us all the goodies we would get when we left the ship and landed
back in Norfolk and then he told us his version on what to expect from the
launch, especially where to place our feet.
The flight crew came in then and got us suited up in our life vests and
cranial helmets and they escorted us to our chariot. I really did not want to leave. I cannot believe how quickly 26 hours went
by. And there was so much crammed into
that time frame.
When we were all in the COD and the door closed the flight
crew told us that they would let us know before we took off. They would shout “This is it!” and we were to
lean forward into the straps of our harness, grasp the harness cross ways over
our chest, brace our feet and then we would be airborne. Taxiing on the flight deck feels much like it
does on the ground. You can just sense a
small additional movement with the forward movement of the ship. We taxied to the cat that we’d be shot off
of. You could hear and feel bumps and
movements where they were hooking the shuttle up. Then the plane revved up, the crewman shouted
“This is it!! This is it!! This is it!!” and we were GONE!!! That was ABSOLUTELY THE MOST INCREDIBLE
sensation that I have ever had. For a
moment you feel a little bit of pressure against your chest where you are
leaning into the straps; then there is the slightest moment of shear
weightlessness where you feel like you’re floating; then there is this thump
feeling and sound and we are clear of the flight deck and the plane has caught
up to itself and we’ve just been catapulted off of the USS George H. W.
Bush!! According to my Honorary Tail
Hook Certificate, we went from 0-128 mph in less than 3 seconds! I would most definitely do this again in a
heartbeat! If they called me tomorrow
and told me “Laura, we’re going to launch you off an aircraft carrier again,
are you in?” It’d be a Heck Yeah answer
and I’d be gone to where ever I needed to be to meet my ride! The rest of the flight and the landing back
in Norfolk were totally uneventful compared to that take off.
It was right at 5:30 when we landed back in Norfolk. We were each given a hat with the ship’s
seal on it and our name embroidered on the back, a photo book that had some
photos of the ship and then photos of us individually that they had taken while
we were on board, a folder with all the ship’s info and bios of the men in
leadership, an Honorary Tailhookers Certificate to show that we had completed
an arrested landing and a catapult assisted takeoff from a carrier, a
commemorative coin of the ship, our little toiletries bag with monogrammed GHWB
on the outside, and a CD that had many, many publicity shots of the ship on
it.
I CANNOT say enough good about this trip! It was beyond amazing and beyond my wildest
dreams that I would ever get to see something like this in person and in
action. I was fortunate to see the USS
Eisenhower while it was in port in Norfolk back in the summer, but it was a
warehouse compared to the Bush being underway and alive! Everyone that we met was so wonderfully welcoming
and so professional, from the Admiral, all the way down to the lowest ranked
seaman. I have a total, new found
respect for the men and women that live for months at a time on this floating
city. I cannot imagine what that must be
like. They have my highest respect and
regards. I am forever thankful to the
men and women aboard the USS GHWB that made our stay so wonderful and provided
us with such an opportunity of a life time!
I learned so much on this trip and I hope that you all have
enjoyed the stories. My words in no way
do justice to what I saw and experienced.
I don’t think there are enough words to properly describe it all even if
I could! I do know that we are a blessed
nation and have a truly amazing group of men and women that serve our country
and protect us each and every day. I
remain truly amazed and in awe of everything that I saw and everything I did!
THANK YOU US Navy and crew of the USS George H. W.
Bush! May God Bless you all!
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