Aw, C'mon, Whidbey isnt that bad. Dont come here looking for a big singles scene but the low levels, the summertime golf, and the skiing is enough to convert a Florida pan-handle native into a Northwesterner.
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Why it's good to be in Naval Aviation
- Thread starter Gatordev
- Start date
To keep in line with joe:
Naval Station Portsmouth, NH. Great place to grow up. No aviation presence, but it was because of Naval Aviation I got to go there.
NAS Roosevelt Roads. Awesom place... especially if you live right under the pattern... which most of housing was.
...
I remember the last time on of my high school friends asked my what my "office" was like after complaining about how much his cubicle sucked. It took him a while to wrap his mind around the concept of flying an airplane a couple hundred feet off the deck. After which he replied "They pay you do do that sh*t?!?" And with the biggest grin I could muster, I replied "Hell yeah... ain't no level like the low level"
My favorite part of Naval Aviation so far: The people.
Naval Station Portsmouth, NH. Great place to grow up. No aviation presence, but it was because of Naval Aviation I got to go there.
NAS Roosevelt Roads. Awesom place... especially if you live right under the pattern... which most of housing was.
...
I remember the last time on of my high school friends asked my what my "office" was like after complaining about how much his cubicle sucked. It took him a while to wrap his mind around the concept of flying an airplane a couple hundred feet off the deck. After which he replied "They pay you do do that sh*t?!?" And with the biggest grin I could muster, I replied "Hell yeah... ain't no level like the low level"
My favorite part of Naval Aviation so far: The people.
airfrogusmc
Member
Lil sump'm for hover lovers
airfrogusmc
Member
One more
Why it's good to be in Naval Aviation?
The Camaraderie:
Our first stop on WESTPAC was Pearl. Two of our det's pilots went out to rent a car and came back with a Lincoln Town car, being the only ride the rental agency had left. We hit Waikiki that night making all the mandatory stops; the barefoot bar at the Hale Koa, Moose McGillicuddy's, and ending up at the Rose and Crown pub where we closed the place down. We then piled back into the Town Car for the ride back to Pearl. We had 9 people in that car. Four in the front, 5 in the back. I had never laughed so much as whenever we would pile into the car to go to the next destination.
The best part was that when we got back to the ship, the det OINC didn't want us all stumbling up the brow at the same time. So we put our heads together and hatched a cunning plan to ascend the brow at even increments (so as not to overload the guys standing watch on the quarterdeck). What we failed to recognize was that we were the only people on the pier at that hour of the morning and we were in full view of those same guys standing watch on the quarterdeck. Anyway, the OINC turns to me and says that I'll be the first up the brow and to make sure I don't embarrass the rest of the det by doing something stupid. So with an alcohol-induced hearty "aye-aye" I make my way up the brow in an even steady pace. I get to the top and I'm just about to ask permission to come aboard, when I sense a presence behind me. I turn around and all of the other 8 guys are standing there waiting their turn. So much for the cunning plan.
The epilogue to this story was that the next day was pictures for the cruisebook. We had to be on the flightdeck in whites at 7:30am. If you look at that picture today, it would be very easy to guess the players in this story. We are all squinting. Some even have their eyes closed. Lack of sleep, hangovers, and whites can combine into a very bright environment indeed.
The Camaraderie:
Our first stop on WESTPAC was Pearl. Two of our det's pilots went out to rent a car and came back with a Lincoln Town car, being the only ride the rental agency had left. We hit Waikiki that night making all the mandatory stops; the barefoot bar at the Hale Koa, Moose McGillicuddy's, and ending up at the Rose and Crown pub where we closed the place down. We then piled back into the Town Car for the ride back to Pearl. We had 9 people in that car. Four in the front, 5 in the back. I had never laughed so much as whenever we would pile into the car to go to the next destination.
The best part was that when we got back to the ship, the det OINC didn't want us all stumbling up the brow at the same time. So we put our heads together and hatched a cunning plan to ascend the brow at even increments (so as not to overload the guys standing watch on the quarterdeck). What we failed to recognize was that we were the only people on the pier at that hour of the morning and we were in full view of those same guys standing watch on the quarterdeck. Anyway, the OINC turns to me and says that I'll be the first up the brow and to make sure I don't embarrass the rest of the det by doing something stupid. So with an alcohol-induced hearty "aye-aye" I make my way up the brow in an even steady pace. I get to the top and I'm just about to ask permission to come aboard, when I sense a presence behind me. I turn around and all of the other 8 guys are standing there waiting their turn. So much for the cunning plan.
The epilogue to this story was that the next day was pictures for the cruisebook. We had to be on the flightdeck in whites at 7:30am. If you look at that picture today, it would be very easy to guess the players in this story. We are all squinting. Some even have their eyes closed. Lack of sleep, hangovers, and whites can combine into a very bright environment indeed.
Apologies for being late to this thread. I could write pages on places I've been, great flights, and fond memories and good friends.
But the older I get, there's one thing that stands out in my mind.
I have always been in awe of the fact that Naval Aviation is about teamwork and trusting that every member of the team does his or her part. Aircrew must rely on the 18 year old on the flight deck to perform his or her job flawlessly. And the cool thing is that we trust them to do just that. Like on a black ass night after trapping and getting taxiied up the street to the bow to get spun and parked on Cat One. The yellow shirt keeps taxiing you forward until it seems like you're going to roll right off the bow, but he keeps waving you forward, and your pilot keeps coming forward because he trusts the yellow shirt to know what he's doing. Even the Carrier Strike Group Commander, if he is an aviator, has to have that absolute trust. Not a lot of CEOs of 7,500 member companies can say they routinely entrust their life to the youngest, most junior person in the organization. Pretty Cool.
- - --
Meeting my future wife on Day 1 of Aviation Indoc when fate places us both in the same class.
- -- -
Getting winged 23 years ago by my Dad a month prior to him retiring after 32 years of flying Spads and A-4s, and then just last month awarding my own son a Navy ROTC scholarship to hopefully begin the 3rd generation in the family business.
- -- -
The 4am raid on the wardroom soda machine to replenish mixer for the all-night JO Poker game.
-- -
Fourteen plane fly-in and getting the first kiss in 6 months...
All good stuff.
But the older I get, there's one thing that stands out in my mind.
I have always been in awe of the fact that Naval Aviation is about teamwork and trusting that every member of the team does his or her part. Aircrew must rely on the 18 year old on the flight deck to perform his or her job flawlessly. And the cool thing is that we trust them to do just that. Like on a black ass night after trapping and getting taxiied up the street to the bow to get spun and parked on Cat One. The yellow shirt keeps taxiing you forward until it seems like you're going to roll right off the bow, but he keeps waving you forward, and your pilot keeps coming forward because he trusts the yellow shirt to know what he's doing. Even the Carrier Strike Group Commander, if he is an aviator, has to have that absolute trust. Not a lot of CEOs of 7,500 member companies can say they routinely entrust their life to the youngest, most junior person in the organization. Pretty Cool.
- - --
Meeting my future wife on Day 1 of Aviation Indoc when fate places us both in the same class.
- -- -
Getting winged 23 years ago by my Dad a month prior to him retiring after 32 years of flying Spads and A-4s, and then just last month awarding my own son a Navy ROTC scholarship to hopefully begin the 3rd generation in the family business.
- -- -
The 4am raid on the wardroom soda machine to replenish mixer for the all-night JO Poker game.
-- -
Fourteen plane fly-in and getting the first kiss in 6 months...
All good stuff.
Those wings are oh so shiny and look great on the uniform. Even in the TRACOM you do some pretty amazing things. Barrell Rolls in the mountains outside of Las Cruces on a cloudless morning, seeing how close you can get to the next guy on a formation flight and rolling up to a civilian airport on a cross country in your flight suit knowing the Navy just paid to send you somewhere for a weekend.
PCS-ing to VQ-2 in Rota, Spain, in the middle of August...and spending my first night as a fleet LTJG drinking Cruz Campo cervezas and watching the horse races along the beach in San Lucar de Barrameda while the Spanish girls in their short cocktail dresses took long drags on their cigs...and then repeating this pattern for the next month.
12 full detachments to Souda Bay, Crete...including 3 summer dets.
Or...a 10 week detachment to Bahrain flying in support of Operation Southern Watch...sharing a 3000 sq ft apartment equipped with a full waterpark with a grand total of 2 other officers...and getting paid $96.50 a day to do so...while my VP buddies were stuck in Sigonella making "brilliant" per diem:icon_tong.
Spending 6 weeks as the squadron rep on the IKE...made my truly appreciate what a good deal (life style-wise) VQ was.
Finally, taking the first EP-3 into Operation Northern Watch for 30 days of operations immediately post-Desert Fox..as an O-3 mission commander/Officer-in-charge...without an O-4 or above in sight. Hands down, the best flying of my career and the reason I shredded my resignation letter upon my return.
Good stuff in a Tracom: after less than 15 hours, I took a 6 million dollar airplane out, with 6 of my buddies, and flew it by myself (ourselves) in the pattern at the same time. I couldn't drive a car by myself until I had 40 hours behind the wheel with my parents riding shotgun. One checkride and a few weeks later, the powers that be gave me the keys to the airplane again (twice) to go out, do some aerobatics, and not over-g an airplane that can pull 7 G's. I made a couple max blast dives to see what kind of mach number I could get.
.65M in a prop plane is kind of cool (helps when they clear you the block from 7k to 22k
) After about an hour of as many loops, immelmans, split S's, cuban 8's as I could cram into my own personal airshow for the North Oklahomans, I came back and beat up the pattern some more in my 6 million dollar machine.
How many 22 year olds do you know who can say they've been trusted to take a high performance machine out, wrap it up and fly their own personal airshow?
Most can't rent a damn toyota yaris without paying 50 bucks a day extra for it.
.65M in a prop plane is kind of cool (helps when they clear you the block from 7k to 22k
) After about an hour of as many loops, immelmans, split S's, cuban 8's as I could cram into my own personal airshow for the North Oklahomans, I came back and beat up the pattern some more in my 6 million dollar machine.How many 22 year olds do you know who can say they've been trusted to take a high performance machine out, wrap it up and fly their own personal airshow?
Most can't rent a damn toyota yaris without paying 50 bucks a day extra for it.
yea i was thinking of mentioning the airnav, but i'm not there yet. definitely looking forward to it though, just gotta get through some RI sims, and some flights, and a few checkrides, and review stage...
yea.
wings are eventually yours right, it's not just some pipe dream, groundhog day type deal, correct?
yea.
wings are eventually yours right, it's not just some pipe dream, groundhog day type deal, correct?
Why it's good to be in Naval Aviation???
Greasy cheeseburgers, chili, nuclear nachos w/ all the trimmings @ the base OPS cafeteria ... now, that's why it's good to be in NavAir !!!
Greasy cheeseburgers, chili, nuclear nachos w/ all the trimmings @ the base OPS cafeteria ... now, that's why it's good to be in NavAir !!!