How Twitter Rocked My World. By John Mason-Smith Part 5

This is part 5. To read Part 4 click here.
Stateroom
The day had been amazing and it was time to see our staterooms and get a little rest before dinner. The hallway is a designated DV area and through passage was not permitted. My room was called “The President's Room” and by ship standards, it was very nice. We had two bunks and Brian my roomie chose the top. Both bunks had curtains. The Officer heads (bathrooms) were around the corner and through a door and needed an electronic key to open – the same key that opened our stateroom. In the room was a very nice gift bag with some of the swag and a selection of snacks – along with a bottle of water. The location of the room was stenciled on a glow in the dark board. The location code for my room is deck 03 ( third floor above the hangar bay) Frame 92 (the frames can be about 4' sections like the ribs of an old sailing ship. 92 from the bow) center 4 port to starboard position. The "L" means living area.

The room had two desks and a small library area. I spied Tom Clancy’s book “Carrier” on the shelf. It also has a sink and two chairs. At the time we were resting, the flight deck was performing catapult launches and the steam ran through the area which pretty much made it sound like the ram for the catapult was against our bunk. But please, I am not complaining. This day had impressed me so much. My respect for these very young sailors who run this floating airport/city is immense. They sleep in much worse accommodations than my stateroom for months on end during deployments. Many work 12 hours shifts and some go days without seeing the sun.

Soon the PAO’s came and got us for dinner. Tonight’s dinner will be at the Officer’s Dining Room. We gather first in the Executive Lounge where we enjoyed some cool drinks (no alcohol). With us is the Commanding Officer Captain Gregory C. Huffman, the chaplain Lt. Cmdr. David D. Dinkins, the Executive Officer of VFA-97 Cmd Jeffrey Bauer, Officer Nate Grove on the legal team for the Navy aboard the ship (JAG) and the Landing Signal Officer (LSO). This was a great time for bigger discussions on the politics, funding, and philosophy of Naval Aviation. It was a great discussion about how they all work within a system that is a little convoluted but it is a hard-working team. They explained how they have to operate on the expectation that 33% of their workforce will transition out each year. Every job has on-the-job training. Even one of our tour guides had only been on the ship for less than a month! That amazing process of ballet on the flight deck is being performed by young people 18 -22 years old. After about 30 minutes the Chef called us to let us know dinner was served. We had a place setting list and I was seated next to Captain Huffman and across from the chaplain Lt. Cmdr. David D. Dinkins.

I noticed in the corner was a table place set out for the missing person – the MIA or POW.

After dinner, we made our way back up the tower toward the flight bridge. Night-Ops were on launch mode. The DV’s were up on the flight bridge and our PAO’s suggested we walk down one level to the Vulture’s nest to view nighttime flight ops. From there, we watched a few take-offs at night. The jets have these green LED lights which glow at the point of launch which is super cool. They also were moving jets around in the dark on the deck. I was amazed as I watched 18-22-year-old sailors moving multi-million dollar planes around. At night, no outside light is showing on the flight deck. The hallways leading up the deck are in total darkness to prevent any light from accidentally confusing the aviators taking off or landing. Of course, no flash photography is allowed at all.

In Part 6, I'll show how they land a jet in total darkness. Click here to see Part 6.