How do pilots move their stuff from ships

[Dangy]

Thanks for all the awesome answers on my past thread regarding Navy shooters. Now here's another question that has been itching my mind.

From my current state of knowledge, when a ship is deployed from the port, aviators leave from an NAS and meet them at Sea. How does an aviator transport their belongings for the cruise on the ship? Do they drive to the port and drop off their things ahead of time? How do they get their things back? Do they put their squadrons belongings in a big pile, and someone hauls them back to the station?

Thanks for the answers!

 

[luckyirish2440]

Uhaul truck for personal stuff(west coast), pickup truck(east coast). There are also 18 wheelers that are loaded with all the squadron gear.

 

[squeeze]

Personal crap for your stateroom you move slowly over workups and prior to heading out. Pro-gear goes on 18-wheelers usually. Same way getting off, except you usually have to take all your personal crap off within a week rather than over the span of 3 months.

Anything you don't want x-ray'd? Make friends with helo guys, or have one as a roommate. I brought the X-Box and TV, he brought refreshments.

 

[Pags]

And during your first onload you'll learn that just because you can fill a cruise box up with 200lbs of crap doesn't mean you should. And that sea bags are far superior to wheeled luggage.

 

[MIDNJAC]

In a lot of cases, guys will end up walking on anyway. I don't know about the other communities, but in VFA, you are probably bringing like 10-11 jets, which doesn't equate to a fly on spot for every pilot/WSO/etc (normally the "who" in this is based on a combination of seniority in the squadron, if you are an LSO, and what ops requirements are for each person during the CQ period). The other guys will walk on to the ship in port and ride it out of the pier. Either way, you end up having to make a few different trips most likely, leading up to cruise given how much crap most people want to bring. You would normally be able to take it all straight to your stateroom (your bedroom), unless you put it all in the squadron pack out or something. I'm sure there are some differences for West Coast folk who live geographically far from where the ship is, but at Oceana, it is a pretty quick drive up to Norfolk to get onto the boat and set up your room. I'm not sure what the HSM folks from Jax do though.

 

[Dangy]

Sweet answers, thanks!

 

[Pags]

In a lot of cases, guys will end up walking on anyway. I don't know about the other communities, but in VFA, you are probably bringing like 10-11 jets, which doesn't equate to a fly on spot for every pilot/WSO/etc (normally the "who" in this is based on a combination of seniority in the squadron, if you are an LSO, and what ops requirements are for each person during the CQ period). The other guys will walk on to the ship in port and ride it out of the pier. Either way, you end up having to make a few different trips most likely, leading up to cruise given how much crap most people want to bring. You would normally be able to take it all straight to your stateroom (your bedroom), unless you put it all in the squadron pack out or something. I'm sure there are some differences for West Coast folk who live geographically far from where the ship is, but at Oceana, it is a pretty quick drive up to Norfolk to get onto the boat and set up your room. I'm not sure what the HSM folks from Jax do though.

Triwalls (big cardboard boxes for the OP) on a big rig and last minute runs to the NEX.

 

[mad dog]

Prior to DET, I put all my junk in my issued flyer's kit bag and walked it on the boat. After DET, reverse deal...but my issued flyer's kit bag was lighter due to float testing some of my junk during cruise...see signature below.

 

[HooverPilot]

I just put it all in the plane and flew it to/from....

Worked in the Viking and even more so in the COD!

 

[e6bflyer]

West Coast = airwing flies down and stages out of North Island and the boats all pull in there. Squadrons walk on except those flying on the afternoon of pull-out for the first round of CQ.
Don't know how the Lemoore guys get there, but the Whidbey and Oceana guys (yes, there are Oceana squadrons on west coast boats) NALO in.

 

[707guy]

When I was at Cecil everyone who wasn't flying a jet onto the boat took a C-9 up to Norfolk and bussed to the ship. We'd load up an 18 wheeler a day or so before with all the squadron gear and it would be waiting for us on the pier. Since I was an Ops guy I usually flew with the classified gear in a C-9 - 3 pallets of cargo and the rest pax seats. Same as was said earlier - you gradually move stuff up during workups so you have it on the boat for the cruise. The big pain in the ass was taking all of it back to Cecil after the cruise.

 

[cfam]

It all goes in the pack out (18 wheelers) if you're a Whidbey guy on an East Coast boat, or you convince the NALO bubbas to let you bust your personal bag weight limit. Either way, you still end up spending more $ at the Norfolk NEX then you ever wanted to.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Triwalls (big cardboard boxes for the OP) on a big rig and last minute runs to the NEX.

Triwalls rock....you'll be afforded the opportunity to put some personal gear in the triwall and they'll ship out to the ship a week or so before the ship gets underway. But be careful, sometimes stuff comes up missing. Had an OPSO that lost a brand new set of ping clubs. Thankfully USAA covered the loss.

 

[cfam]

Triwalls rock....you'll be afforded the opportunity to put some personal gear in the triwall and they'll ship out to the ship a week or so before the ship gets underway. But be careful, sometimes stuff comes up missing. Had an OPSO that lost a brand new set of ping clubs. Thankfully USAA covered the loss.

Or they get left out in the rain over the weekend when you get back to Whidbey. Wait...you wanted them in the hangar??

 

[Flying Low]

Make friends with helo guys,

Life lessons right here.