Random musings...

So last night, we were in the middle of a very important Straits transit. I spent the first half of the transit on the Flag Bridge, which is where our staff manned up a 2^nd watch team. We normally stand watch in a part of the ship’s combat direction center that we call our “module”. However, for the transit, we manned up a second watch team up on the Flag Bridge so we could more easily identify any possible incoming threats and maintain better visual on the situation and control the helicopters that we had working for us.

It was my first time anywhere farther up than the level that our module and our office and my stateroom are on (the O-3 level). The flag bridge is up on the O-8 level, right below the ship’s navigational bridge and the “Tower”- where all of the incoming and outgoing aircraft are managed from (pretty much like the air traffic control town that you see at any airport). The Flag bridge means that it is part of the Admiral’s staff- and it is complete with some plush-looking Captain’s Chairs for the Admiral and his COS (Chief of Staff). The Admiral’s chair also has a pull out keyboard and monitor so he can access both unclassified & classified internet from his chair. The bridge even has a treadmill and stationary bike so he can work out while watching the ship navigate through the water and stay up on the bridge for better situational awareness (he had an elliptical up there too, except the ceiling was too low for an elliptical and he hit his head; now the Admiral’s elliptical is right outside of our DESRON office)

For the transit, the CS’s (culinary specialists) made a HUGE bowl of popcorn and some homemade pizza- YUM! The Flag Bridge (normally empty during non-tactical situations), is apparently the perfect place to watch flight ops from, as it overlooks the forward part of the flight deck and usually no one is there (the Admiral can watch Flight Ops from the Tower). As part of the DESRON staff, we use the bridge as our 2^nd watch station when we need eyes on the situation (vice eyes on just a radar screen of the situation). I haven’t been up there yet during the daytime yet, but next time I hear the planes crashing over my head, I will mosey up there to check it out. So get excited, Tiger Lydia & Tiger Liora- you’ll have a perfect spot to watch flight ops from during Tiger Cruise :)

So there I was; it was nighttime and we were about to do a transit so no flight ops were going on. As I looked across the sprawling flight deck at the F/A-18’s and the EA-6B’s and the helicopters and various other aircraft, my eyes fell on a jet right below where I was standing. Aircraft traditionally have the names stenciled on the side of the pilot, any back-seaters, and the aircrewmen that flight in the plane. I saw that this particular F/A-18 had the name “LTJG Matt someone-or-other” stenciled on the side. Looking down at my own LTJG insignia and my SWO pin, I thought to myself “somewhere on this boat, there is a guy with the EXACT same rank as me… probably got his commission within a week or so of me… and here he is, flying JETS off of an AIRCRAFT CARRIER and dropping BOMBS on Afghanistan. And what do I do? I move boats. Sometimes, I navigate the boat myself. Sometimes, I tell other people how to navigate it. Right now, I spend most of my time with my face 6 inches from a computer screen, reading multi-colored excel spreadsheets that track various certifications and ships’ readiness. And this guy flies JET PLANES off of a floating flight deck. Where did I go wrong in my career?!” It’s not like I’m a young 18-year old Deck Seamen who feels like all they do is chip paint and clean things. No, me and this F/A-18 pilot have similar backgrounds, both matriculating up through some sort of commissioning program with the same amount of time of active commissioned service.

Anyways. I’ve never met this guy (call sign “Gooch”, as evidenced by his call-sign also carefully stenciled below his name), and I probably never will. It’s just crazy to think that during both myself and “Gooch’s” limited time in the Navy (2.5 years and counting…) I have spent probably 3x as much time away from my family than he probably has his. This is my 3^rd deployment… Gooch is probably earning his first “sea service ribbon” for 90 day spent away from homeport. I probably have more sleepless nights standing watch on the bridge of a ship, overlooking a dark ocean going nowhere than he has hours flying his sweet air plane. And yet, he flies jet planes (insert Top Gun theme song here) off of this ship. And I, am a SWO.

Where did I go wrong? Sigh. Alright, well, I’d better go; somewhere, deep in the abyss of my email in-box, there is probably a color-coded long range training plan that needs careful critiquing. Or perhaps it’s a certification extension message that needs editing. Just another day as a SWO. My friend Gooch, he just caught the #3 wire right above my office.