One of Swords Joins the Navy: Part 3

Combine Modern Warfare 2 with an aircraft carrier, mix them together for 48 hours, press the record button – and this is what happens. Join me on a charitable trip to the USS John C. Stennis on behalf of the Call of Duty Endowment.

This is part three; it will make more sense if you start with part one and part two.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
0730 hours
The XO hits the intercom with a pep talk for the crew and a public thank-you to Activision specifically. He’s super energetic and keeps talking about “lighting it up.” After last night, I’m more about lying down.

0830 hours
Blessedly, LCDR Boldin brings me the Dramamine that he offered last night; I foolishly waved it off then, but not now. We’re a little late for breakfast (which I was planning to skip anyway) but we are treated instead to awesome stories by an officer who spent most of his 20-year career on nuclear submarines. He acknowledges movies like The Hunt for Red October and Crimson Tide as “great entertainment, but lousy portrayals of what it’s really like.”

0845 hours
We’re invited to attend a rare service – a burial at sea, being held off one of ship’s aft elevators. Before it gets underway, we snap a few photos of the setup, then cool it.

(Photo by Robert Bowling)

About two dozen soldiers from the Navy, Navy Reserves, Army, and Marines are seen off on their final voyage. It’s a short, respectful service featuring sailors in full dress uniform and a full 21-gun salute. The final sailor to present the ashes of a fallen comrade is comforted by those he passes, and I notice tears streaming down his face. I learn later that he was burying his brother, who was serving on a submarine and died just a few weeks earlier. I don’t even reach for my camera.

0935 hours
We head to the Air Logistics Office – our travel agent for the “cat shot” that will take us back to San Diego. Once our travel is arranged, we head up to Vulture’s Row for what amounts to business as usual on the Stennis – planes coming in for landings at breakneck speeds, then taking off again. Right now, the ship shuffles between ports as a practice landing strip for pilots in training, so this is the bulk of what the crew does – and practice makes perfect.

There’s a sea of colored vests, each for a different division (fuel, aviation, safety, etc.), scurrying around as the planes land and leave. It blows my mind to see an F/A-18 land, have its wings folded up, and be pushed into position on an elevator for delivery to the hangar bay…all in a matter of minutes.

The crew pushes an F/A-18 into position on the hangar elevator

The next two hours are spent with our mouths hanging open as C-2As, F/A-18s, and EA-6B Prowlers come in for safe landings in high winds, only to be catapulted off the other runway minutes later.

LCDR Boldin says they can land planes as quickly as every 45 seconds during the day, and I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it.  Several of us drain our camera batteries.

C-2A Greyhound -- a.k.a. our ride out

F/A-18 coming in for a landing

EA-6B Prowler

1145 hours

What a horrible corpse to leave.

The time has come; we’re shown a outfitted in life vests and “cranials” (flexible helmets with built-in ear protection and tinted goggles) and asked to watch a short safety video about the C-2A Greyhound and our impending flight. “The cat shot is intense,” intones the narrator. “But do not worry. This is normal.” I’m also informed that “if you don’t get a window seat, don’t worry, you’re not missing anything; all you would see is water” and that airsickness bags are available. I wonder if I can just swim to shore, right now. I’m a strong swimmer.

1220 hours
After seeing what really happens on the flight deck, I’m apprehensive to be on it again. But this time I’m all packed and ready to go; we’re filing onto the C-2. “Don’t pick seats,” warns the crew ahead of time. “Just move to the back of the plane and sit where the crew tells you to sit.” No problem. The guy next to me is clearly a Navy vet from his uniform; he helps me figure out how to fasten the four-point harness and knows where everything is located on the plane. The seats are like commercial airliner seats, only…beat up and mounted backwards (which makes the carrier landings a little easier for the passengers). The smell of fuel is overpowering. I sneak in one photo, which came out blurry because even idling with the rear ramp open, the thing constantly vibrates.

Inside the C-2

I’m advised to put my feet on the seat in front of me, tuck my chin into my chest, cross my arms, and prepare for takeoff. Kissing my ass goodbye is apparently optional.

1230 hours
CAT SHOT. After all the hype, it’s not as bad as I made it out to be, and the rollercoaster analogy was apt. It reminds me of those linear accelerator coasters, where you don’t climb a hill, but simply get pushed forward to full speed in a matter of seconds. Once we’re in the air, though, the vibrations are even more pronounced and I start to panic a little. I flag down a crewmember for the airsick bag.

1300 hours

It’s turbulent coming in for the landing in San Diego – airsick bag deployed! I haven’t had anything to eat since the DV dinner, and that’s all gone, so really all I do during Puke #6 is wrench a lot of muscles. But I’m really, really happy to be on the ground.

Now it’s just a drive back to Los Angeles and back to work, which now seems surreal and mundane. I’m grateful for all of it – we got a chance to meet some great gamers and give something back to the military, and they let us live on an aircraft carrier without enlisting. I can’t imagine a bigger honor than this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But if it ever turns into a twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I’m packing my own Dramamine.

From left: C-2A Greyhound, liquid vomit, Dan

For more photos, check out fourzerotwo’s blog and my Flickr gallery.

A sincere thanks to the crew of the USS John C. Stennis for the hospitality and education.

Remember, this was all in support of the Call of Duty Endowment, which helps place veterans into civilian jobs after their military service is done. If you want more information on how you can support that cause too, all the info is at http://www.callofdutyendowment.org.