Carrier (2008–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - Rites of Passage - full transcript

This program was made possible
by the corporation for

public broadcasting and by
contributions to your PBS

station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

♪ It's a long road to paradise
and, oh, I feel the pain ohh

they tell me things are different
now but I still hurt the same

haze gray and underway
a world away from you

and miles and miles of blue ♪

♪ well, we know where we're going
but we don't know where we've been

and we know what we're knowing
but we can't say what we've seen

and we're not little children
and we know what we want



and the future is certain
give us time to work it out ♪

This is a hard job on many
different levels, and the

rewards are, you know,
sometimes these transparent

things to a lot of people.

♪ We're on a road to nowhere
come on inside... ♪

It's probably the hardest
thing I've ever done I think.

♪ Taking that ride to nowhere
we'll take that ride... ♪

We have to be able to
protect ourselves and our

brother and sister countries. I
mean, that's the whole purpose

of the Navy. That's the whole
purpose of the military is to

provide protection for our freedoms.
If we're not around

and something happens, what are we
good for, what are we here for?

I guess I basically do this
to put it on my resume, you

know. And now that it's on my
resume, I'm ready to move on.



Join the Navy see the world,
give me a break. You play the

game, you do your time, you get
what you can out of the Navy.

I've changed a lot since I've
been in, a lot. Like, I've

just grown more independent, more...
I don't want to say

aggressive, but more defensive,
always, kind of like why are

they asking, what do they want,
what are they going to do?

I definitely ain't moving back
in with my mother. Mom, I

love you, but it
ain't happening.

The Navy's been a roller coaster ride.
Uh, it's had its

ups and downs and
more downs than not.

I should have tried a little bit
harder in High School, but I

didn't, decided to come to the
Navy, but it's all working out

good. Get a nice paycheck every first
and fifteenth. Can't complain.

I was up here for last cruise
where it was a big deal.

Now I think we're kind of out
here just showing support, but

we're really not
doing that much now.

I guess I'm grateful that we
don't have such a big part in

the war. It might sound
cowardly, but it works for me.

I'll never regret doing this.
This is my third

deployment, and I love it.
I love what I do.

♪ We're on a road
to nowhere aah!

We're on a road to
nowhere aah, aah!

We're on a road to nowhere ♪

OK, this is our last fly day in the Gulf.
By this time

tomorrow night, we'll be in the
straits of Hormuz and headed

out into the Gulf of Oman and
into north Arabian Sea. It's

important to know that we have
a lot of cruise left in front

of us. This is the close of one
chapter, I'll admit, the close

of a hard one, but we... We're
not done until we're done.

Wrap the waist, wrap the waist.
Make a ready deck. Light

is on. I feel like it's time to
go the other direction. We've

been here for 70 days.

It's hot.

Yes. This is my last flight over Iraq.
Where am I going

today? I'm going up to Mosul
again, the same as yesterday.

That's where we're scheduled to go.
Could change.

Last day.

If we need to drop ourselves
into Assad, into Baghdad, into

Bhallad, we'll go ahead and
make those intentions known and

then... And we'll see
how it plays out.

But again, fuel monitoring.

There's a lot of supposition
that, all right, the Navy's

leaving, let's give them a bomb
to drop so there's a lot of

sort of inside bets kind of,
kind of jokingly about OK, here

it comes, somebody's gonna go
out and drop a bomb in a field

or something.

Ultimately, we are
here to be, obviously,

proponents of war, but with
war, there's peace. If we are

deterrents, then that's just
as good if not better than

dropping a bomb. Now, they've
spent a lot of money on me to

train me to do that. At the
time in the middle of the heat

of the battle, we were all
thinking, "this is bull... I

can see that guy right there. I
can deal with the problem right

now, and, I mean, clearly that
guy's a bad actor, and I will

fix this, and there's one less
bad guy to deal with," but, you

know, we don't always
have the bigger picture.

Looking good.

163, plus or minus 3.
We're ready to spin.

113 lined up all 4. 6. Auto.

1 Charlie 7 November delta.

You know, ordnance dropped...
Zero... but that wasn't the

mission when we came here. Have
there been bombs dropped while

we were here? Yes. Are we
frustrated that it was not off

of one of our airplanes? That's
very frustrating to me, and part

of me thinks it's wrong.

I think there's a lot of bugs

that need to be worked through in
the chain to get... to get the

ability to clear people for
weapons release at a level

where it's usable and not
to where it hinders the

operations. There are
some serious issues.

What's frustrating to me is
that the army doesn't really,

in my opinion, understand how to use us.
I don't know. Do you

think that's fair to say?

I think it's... I don't know.
No, I wouldn't agree,

but... because I think it's
hard to use us right now. If we

start using some of our
weapons, it's not the level of

where they're operating. The
targets that they're chasing

are people that quickly
disappear into a crowd of

friendly people and kids. We're
still evolving to today's

kind of warfare.

My XO and I actually see
fairly eye to eye. I mean,

my biggest feeling is that the
carrier is not an asset that is

needed or necessary, I believe, in
the situation we are currently in.

For this specific time and
place, no, but the concern is

that you don't just put a carrier in the...
In the closet

with moth balls and expect to come...
Bring all of those

people, all of those skill
sets, and all of the abilities

and lessons learned from
previous things, you can't just

start that off from scratch.

Hey, guy. Pull your pants up
and get your shirt tucked in.

Tighten your belt up.
Ok? How we doing?

Doing pretty good, master chief.

All right, we don't roll like that.
Go ahead and handle

that, all right? That's not the
way we swab decks in the Navy,

all right? The only thing we're
doing is putting stuff down on

the deck right here and swabbing it up.
That's not cleaning. Hey,

guy, hey put your uniform on there.
Let's get busy, let's get

busy. Bubba, you got your head
back in the game there, shipmate?

Yes I do, master chief.

You sure?

I'm positive, master chief.

All right. Good morning.
How you doing?

All right, now how are we doing?
My name is command

master chief Christopher Lawrence Penton.
There's 2,900

enlisted sailors on board, and
I'm the senior enlisted of the

2,900. Hey, watch that language.

What's that all about? We got
highs and lows throughout the

deployment, and right now we're
sky high because we start our

transit home today. All right,
we got a lot of guys standing

around. What's going on there, shipmate?
What's going on?

Who's supervising?

I'm supervising.

So what are you guys doing?

Cleaning.

Come on now. I... come on.

Don't even try it, you know.

The excitement is starting to build up.
At the same time,

we've got to make sure that all
of the sailors on board get the

job done.

Hey, guy, we'll be out here. So
even though we've started our

transit home, we've got to keep
good order and discipline.

Basic math. When does
1 plus 1 equal 45/45?

When? Anybody want to take
a guess at it? Here it

is. When one knucklehead go
out with another knucklehead

and get themselves in trouble, OK?
1 knucklehead plus 1

knucklehead equals 45/45.

Anybody know what 45/45 is?

Restriction/extra duty.

That's restriction/extra duty.
So 1 plus 1 equals 45/45.

You got two knuckleheads hanging
out together, all right?

I learned a long time ago, if
you're too serious, people

really don't listen to you,
or if you're a clown, people

really don't listen to you,
but if you find that medium,

then your point gets over a lot
quicker, I think. So I just

found that balance a long time
ago, not to be too far to the

left or to the right. Matter of fact,
I found that balance about life.

Did anybody drop?

You?

No.

You didn't?

Dude. Nay. We did nothing.

Did you drop?

Yeah, right.

Come on.

Doing circles in the sky.

I thought for sure
somebody would drop. No?

I don't think dropping a bomb
in anger would any more or

any less validate my career.
All right, so there's

the target. I mean, you know,
life is timing, and my timing

has been such that when I show
up, peace breaks out, which, you

know, in some respects
is a good thing.

Right before we were
leaving, a little bit of a

firefight going on, and then
they called and said, "hey,

oh, yeah. You're to continue
with your frag tasking."

I'm like, "that's all you called
to tell me? Ok, I'll continue

doing nothing." That's exactly
what I'm doing. There are guys

who, every cruise I go on they
end up going to the show, as

we refer to it. I think that
guys like me who have gone on

4 cruises and haven't gone
to the show, um, you know,

probably are, I would like to
think, are at least as valuable

as those guys that have.

Cruise almost over. It's not over yet.
It ain't over

till we get home, but I want
to say I appreciate the great

hard work you did on deployment.
No, we didn't drop

any bombs, we didn't frickin'

kill any people, didn't shoot
anyone, didn't blow anything

up, didn't break any... , but
you now, you guys are ready.

You were called upon to do a
job, do a mission, and you did

it with pride, and you did
it with professionalism.

Our aircraft weren't... We
weren't the weapon of choice

for that mission.

We fail only when we can't
launch that aircraft off the

end of the flight deck. That's
when we fail. Otherwise, our

mission is successful.

I feel it's doing good. I
mean, I already know we've

helped at least 8
Iraqis personally.

I think it's stupid. Uh, nobody asked
us to come over here and help.

I don't agree with a lot of...
we do, either, but it's

not my job to agree or disagree.
It's my job to follow

the orders and ensure that my
marines are taken care of.

If you don't remember anything
else about the brief,

cruise is not over. Cruise is not over.
I kind of use the

football analogy. You know, this
is the fourth quarter of the

super bowl. We're gonna go at
it with the same enthusiasm in

the last quarter of deployment
that we went at it in the first

quarter of deployment. So we just
need to be ready all the time.

Every day, the routine is the
same, but what we need to avoid

is the complacency of "I just
did this yesterday, I'm doing

it again today" because when
we start getting complacent,

that's when we leave ourselves
open to mishap. So it's kind of

keeping guys interested in what
they're doing so they don't get

to that point. You know, one
slip-up can be catastrophe.

1 Charlie 7 November, go.

Units set 4-4 rhino.

Units set 4-4 rhino
cleared deck.

That's good.

Easy with the power, easy with
it, easy with it, easy with it.

Look at this guy. Look at this guy.
Right across the deck.

Reset it.

Not gonna make it.

No chance, paddles, no chance.

Let's bring that guy up here, please.
Let's get the red

shirt somehow and
get him up here.

There you go. To to your box.

Reset it.

Unbelievable.

This transit home is
actually, like, the hardest

part. It's this time of the
deployment that if the hair on

the back of your neck's not
standing up and if you're not

constantly watching out for
complacency, it's this part of

deployment that
something's gonna happen.

Basically, he crossed the
L.A., and the jet was about 4

seconds to touchdown, so you
see the video, you see him run

from the left side of the
screen, you see the jet coming

down in the background with the
tail hook on final approach.

I wasn't even thinking about stopping.
I was just... want to

keep going, you know. I knew if I
stopped, I would have been gone.

We pulled out of the Gulf, and
then everybody drops their

guard. They're like "... We're
on the way home now," and

then it takes two incidents
where someone almost

gets killed, and everyone
opens their eyes again. Still

got... we're on the way home, but
we still got a month to go. You

don't want to lose anyone in
the last month. That would...

That would suck.

I'm very happy that... That
I'm done flying over Iraq.

They started giving us the
platoon at the end to follow

them. You know, right when they
were trying to talk us onto

them it's like, "dude, we need
to go, or we're not gonna get

back," because the
sun's going down.

Going back to teaching the
junior officers, bringing them

up to speed and helping them
get their quals so that when

the old guys leave, uh, the
new guys have to step up.

A little bit scary at night with
a big fat arrow in your head.

Hey, you're level, turn it off.

They're the future, I'm the past.
They look at me as the

past. I realize I'm the past,
but I think I still have a lot

to teach them.

I am gonna retire. It's just kind of scary.
It was a tough

decision, but I'm
comfortable with it.

What's up, David?
Coming to practice?

Being on the ship, you need to relax.
Everybody has their

own stress release, and me, I
like Salsa dancing. My mom

always told me if you ever want
to meet a woman, learn how to

dance. So I learned how to
country dance with my best

friend in High School in his bedroom.
He was the girl, I was

the guy. We went to Billy Bob's
that night, and out of the

3 steps that I knew, I tried
to dance, and it just sort of

carried on from there, but
I met my wife at, uh, cafe

Sevilla, and I saw her and her
best friend, Gabrielle, Salsa

dancing, and I'm like, "wow,
yeah, I need to learn." And I

joined a dance group, Salsa Suave.
That was the dance group

my wife was involved with.
Not that I planned that, but

it worked out well.

I remember the first time I
seen him, I mean, I didn't know

it was him. I didn't know a
little chubby white boy could

some of those moves
that he was doing.

I like to call him twinkle
toes because he just spins

around almost like a Tasmanian
devil, just going all about it.

It's always a nice sight to see
because he's a good dancer.

You're just not used to seeing
people with his build twirling

around like that.

There are moves that I do
with my wife that I only do

with my wife just because
they're that intimate. Dancing

with Campos, we get tons of
comments about, "are you guys

dating? Are you guys together?"

I'm like, "she's married, I'm married.
" I'm like, "that is

the last thing that I
even want to think."

When we dance, we dance
in hangar Bay 3. Where

hanger Bay 3 is a chiefs'

smoking pit. So every chief
that goes and smokes and stuff

like that walks by there.
The little whispers and the

murmurs, you know, and they're...
Chiefs are a tight group. They

all talk. And guess what? Word gets around.
I still enjoy

dancing with her, and she still
enjoys dancing with me, but

it's not as much fun anymore.

Randy just enjoys dancing, but
the perception out here on

the ship is very bad. I mean,
you can have a... just be

friends with someone forever.

As soon as they see you talking
or dancing or something, uh-oh,

here goes the rumor mill.

Stand by for a word from
the commanding officer.

Good evening, Nimitz and airwing eleven.
Ok, in about an

hour and 20 minutes or so,
we're gonna turn the corner at

the northern part at the strait of Hormuz.
So let's keep

everybody's head on a swivel
and take care of business

tonight, and we'll get alongside tomorrow.
That is all.

Tomorrow is our crossing the
line ceremony, where we

navigate below the equator.

Personnel aboard ships that
have done that before are

considered shellbacks.

Personnel that haven't... Like,
uh, some of these young marines

over here... Are
considered pollywogs.

The infamous wog day, or
crossing the line, it's

basically... it's a ceremony that
they've been doing for a long

time. All of the people who've
done it before will get

together and, you know, kind of
pick on the people who haven't

and call them the...
Call them wogs, wog day.

The, uh, the fact of the
matter is, several years ago

the crossing the line ceremony
was a pretty physical thing. It

was... it was an initiation. It was, uh...
heck, it was an

8-hour whacking if you... If
you got right down to it, and

that's not the case anymore.

We cannot have anything that
could be construed as hazing.

It's not gonna happen. We can't
have it happen. You guys

understand that? It's
just too sensitive.

It's like boot camp. Back in
the forties, fifties, and

sixties they beat the... out of them.
They don't have to

touch them nowadays, and you
can still break an individual.

There are 3 officially sanctioned
activities the talent show,

the breakfast, and the ceremony in
hanger bay 2 and 3, and that's it.

It is a rite of passage, so
let's keep in mind what the

rules are and keep in mind
the spirit of the event.

Ok, all right. How many
pollywogs do we have out here?

Ok. How many shellbacks
do we have out here?

This contest is gonna
work just like "the gong

show," and we will encourage
your vote and participation as

we make a decision on whether
the gong should ring.

Arr! Everybody ready?

XO and your department
heads, man this stage.

♪ Just sit right back
and you'll hear a tale

a tale of a fateful trip ♪

go, go, go, go, go, go,
go, go, go, go, go.

Hey, shipmate! Shipmate!

Shipmate! Down here, shipmate!

Shipmate, what is this? Do I,
do I look like a clown with a

big red nose, some floppy shoes?

♪ Where you can
learn to fly planes

study oceanography sign up for the
big band or sit in the grandstand

when your team they others beat? ♪

♪ In the Navy ♪

♪ you can sail the 7 seas ♪

♪ in the Navy ♪

♪ you can put your
mind at ease ♪

♪ in the Navy ♪

♪ now, people, make a stand ♪

♪ in the Navy in the
Navy in the Navy ♪

♪ come on, protect
the motherland ♪

♪ in the Navy ♪

♪ come on and join
your fellow man ♪

♪ in the Navy ♪

♪ people, make a stand ♪

♪ in the Navy ♪

♪ in the Navy ♪

♪ in the Navy ♪

♪ ohh ♪

end our misery.

Thank you.

That's it. That's it for the show tonight.
Looking forward

to a great day tomorrow, a
great day tomorrow, and, uh,

we'll see you out there, and
taps means taps, OK? No

shenanigans between taps and reveille.
That's it. Have a good night.

The crossing the line ceremony,
it's not as fun as it

used to be. There's a lot
of new rules that apply now

that we didn't have before when
I went through. I feel like

they used to be better than
what they are right now.

I've heard of people getting
whipped by fire hoses, like,

cut-off pieces, and they'd
dip them in the saltwater or

something in the ocean and
let them dry, and then

people get hit with that. Of
course they can't do that

anymore because we got a bunch
of crybabies and they had to

ruin it for everybody.

Lucky wog.

You! Die, bitches!

And the Navy says we can't do this.
Do you see anything wrong with it?

No. There's nothing
wrong with this!

Let's go.

This is the only time on this
entire cruse when we can

dress up like complete idiots and
the ship's total chaos. You,

like, try and have as much fun
as possible with all the rules

set in place, you
know what I mean?

There you go, salsa wog at
your service, and remember,

your mom's a shellback.

Get dressed, get dressed. In
fact, why don't you get on your

face right now and give me 20!
Why are you moving so slow?

1, 2, 3.

Do you need help?

Why are you yelling at me?

Why are you looking at me?

Shipmate!

Over here, wog!

You gonna knock who out?

Hit it! Push-ups!

Dude, did you see Stockard just now?
They said a bunch of

chiefs just came through while
they had them all there in the

berthing and told them that
they were only allowed to make

them stand there. They couldn't
even talk... They couldn't even

yell at them!

That's stupid.

It gets worse every year,
dude, and that's why I really

didn't want to get up for this one.
Because they take away all

the fun, dude. You can't even
yell at people now. You know

who to do it to, and you know
who not to do it to, you now

what I mean?

You are nothing but a lowly pollywog.
You will not be

physically abused or
inappropriately touched during

the ceremony. Does
everybody understand?

You will not be physically abused...
Or inappropriately touched.

From the front, from the swabbed ones.
Go, go, go.

You will not be
inappropriately touched.

Get up, get up. Get up.

It's the infamous
crack right there.

This is it, this is it.

How about you quit talking
and get down on the ground.

Roger that!

♪ Who let the wogs out? ♪

♪ Who, who? ♪

♪ Who let the wogs out? ♪

♪ Who, who? ♪

What's two plus two?

4.

Wog, go away! How old are you?

22.

Wrong answer! Get over there! Are
you ready to become a shellback?

Yes.

You're not ready.
Get out of here.

Why do you want to
be a shellback?

Because I'm worthy of it.

No, you're not. Go
get cleansed, wog!

I'm a shellback! I'm a shellback!
Whoo-hoo!

First things first. What I
don't want to have happen now

I don't want to have a crew that
is either brand-new into day

ops and a crew that's brand-new
into night ops. Right now, I am

leaning more toward staying the way it is.
Of course if you...

Everything up, I'll switch that.

I'm about to move up from a
staff sergeant to a gunny.

The majority of it lies on
me and my performance and my

actions, but the other part comes
from the guys that... they

make me look good, and they do.

I will tell you right now, when
I get promoted if they give me

an opportunity to speak, I'm gonna
thank the guys that work for me.

Staff sergeant Brock, report
to the commanding officer.

Good evening, sir. Staff sergeant
Brock reporting as ordered sir.

Randy R. Brock, I do appoint
this marine a gunnery sergeant

in the United States Marine Corps.
Signed, M.W. Hegge,

commandant of the marine corps.

Gunny freed.

Now, you remain a staff
NCO, but there becomes

a lot more responsibility by
pinning these things on. You've

been mentoring a lot of our
NCOs, sergeants, corporals, and

you've been mentoring a bunch of
our staff NCOs, too, and you've

been doing an outstanding job.

I couldn't ask for any better.

There's nobody more truly
deserving of this. Carry on

that tradition, continue to
mentor, not only our NCOs but

our staff NCOs and take care of
the rest of the marines, too.

Aye, aye, sir.

Congratulations.

Thank you, sir.

Gunnery sergeant Brock,
the floor is yours.

Thank you, sir. Um, at ease, please.
Real quick. A lot of

hard work from my guys. A lot
of mentoring and guidance from

my senior staff NCOs and officers.
I appreciate it. I

appreciate everyone being here for me.
Let's just hope I keep

doing what I'm doing and keep
training the guys that I'm

training. Thanks a lot.
I appreciate it.

You know what was going on?

Yeah, where it is
and everything.

All right. Here's my pig sty.

Holy... That's all your crap?

No, it's right here.

The damn Navy and their
freaking thing on the ship is,

you separate e7 and e6s because
that's their rule. Well,

it's not ours, and I don't play
by everybody else's rules.

I play by the Marine Corps'.

Which is, if I go on deployment
somewhere, I can rack with an

e7, because we're all staff NCOs.
When we come out to the

ship, we are no longer staff NCOs.
We are staff sergeants. I

don't think it should
make a difference.

Now I've got to

separate myself and segregate
myself from the guys that I

work with on a day-to-day basis.
You know what, and

that's the Navy's policy, and
that's the Navy's standard, by

keeping the chiefs separate and
stopping the fraternization,

which I think is horse.

Freaking ship. Go
get the other crap.

All right.

Get the other stuff.

♪ The sun goes down there's
a new day coming ♪

Good evening, my Nimitz family.
This is airwing chaplain

Brian Jacobson. Lord, it is
nights like tonight that we

remember our families at home
and our friends and we ask you

to watch over them and keep
them also with safety. And

remember, don't worry about
biting off more than you can

chew. Your mouth is probably a
whole lot bigger than you think.

♪ And the lights go down ♪

Taps, taps, lights out.

All hands, turn in to your own bunks.
Maintain silence

about the decks. Taps.

Secure for sea. The ship's
moving around a little bit.

It's gonna move around some more.
You know, you walk around

and you don't see people
covered with sweat today for a

change, and, uh, the boat's
moving, it's a little dryer,

it's gonna get even dryer than
that, and the boat's gonna move

some more, so let's get out,
tie things down, and make sure

we're ready for that.

Dang, man. This ship keeps
rocking crazy, man.

I know, dude.

You almost fell out of your
rack last night I saw.

I know. But you don't
need to say that.

Yeah, I was, I was grabbing
onto my sheets the other night,

dude, to keep me from
rolling out of my rack.

We're heading down to Australia.
The sea's pretty good

size, good swells. I think the deck's
all the way up to 30-plus feet.

I haven't seen pitching
decks like this since maybe

1985, 20 years ago, in the north Atlantic.
And, uh, and not

seen the deck move
quite this much.

You'd think that 5 months
into cruise we would be

pretty proficient, and I think
we are, but, you know, here

we're out doing pitching deck.

Do I agree with it or disagree?

It's not for me to say. It's
probably a little bit beyond

where we need to be.

Taking off and landing on an
aircraft carrier is, uh... from a

pilot's standpoint is a... Is a
perishable skill. We've learned

over the years that a certain
amount of practice in certain

conditions is required to
maintain the capability to do

that professionally and well.

2-0-1. Airborne. 2-0-1.

This is absolutely more
dangerous than it was actually

flying missions in the Gulf.

Go get them.

We got lucky in the Gulf.
The seas are pretty calm...

But out here, pitching decks,

this is scarier. We still got to
come back and land on the boat.

Like if this is the landing
area, normally it looks about

like that. All of a sudden,
you're kind of seeing it like

this and then seeing it like that.
So you have to do all

your normal procedures, but
now you add to it the visual

perception here that is
changing, and you can't decide

if it's your mind or the boat.

That's... That's why
it's such a challenge.

Your brain, when you come
aboard, you kind of start to

think of the runway as a fixed object.
That's what you

reference things on, where it's
not a fixed object, and it's

actually moving.

And it... it will kill you in a second.
You know, you won't

be the first one to fly into
the water behind the ship...

Or hit the back of the ship or
miss the whole landing area or

do a long bolter and end up in the water.
It's a dangerous job.

Wrap the waist, wrap the waist.
Make a ready deck.

Paddles, you have control.

31/2 to 3 glide slope.

Targeting 3 wire. Stand
by to recover aircraft.

What a paddles does is, we go
up onto the back of the ship,

and we're there in case the,
uh, the pilots need us to help

them, uh, land their aircraft.

For us on the platform, we have
simply the Platt camera. We

have set of crosshairs on
there where the plane should

be... right in the middle of
those crosshairs. We, uh, we

have the radios. We talk to the pilots.
We give them more

information than they can
receive from the ship

basically to help
them get aboard.

Yes, hello. CAT cc. Hi, paddles.

Hey, what's happening?

How are you? Happy case 3!

Oh, yeah, case 3.

Man, the Hummer is
gonna come first.

Ok. Ok.

Thank you.

1-7-4, approach final bearing.
1-7-4 over.

Fighting 2-niner-0.

A little power. Easy with it.

He's in a good spot.

Easy with it. Easy with it.

Easy with it. Easy with it.

When you're coming aboard,
you're aiming for that third

wire and the OK pass.

When you don't hit a wire at
all, if you put in a little bit

too much power there at the
end, and, uh, you touch down

past the wires and have to go back
around again, it's called a bolter.

Just watching. I got some
pilots that I worry about

because, you know, the first
thing you don't want to lose

anybody, and number two the
airplanes are pretty expensive

and it's tax dollars, you know.

If they go to the bottom of the
ocean, there's not a whole lot

you can do with them.

If he misses, we're low, OK.

You're gonna need to wag them.
Wag them now.

He's looking pretty good though.

Easy with it. Easy with it,
easy with it, easy with it.

Till he's climbing now.

Keep the Hawk on him means
we need to keep the tanker

armed and watch him because if
he misses again he's gonna have

to be tanked for sure.

2-0-3 around ball 5 point 5.

Roger ball. 28 knots.

Here we go, see if he lands.

He won't miss. Chicken bone,
chicken bone, chicken bone.

He did last time. And not by a
little either. He about hooked it.

Look at him now. Beautiful,
symmetrical, beautiful.

No, now he's chasing.

Uh, no, no, no, he's in there.
Look at that. That's pretty.

Down. Down. Down.

See you.

Out of there.

Keep the Hawk on him.

Keep the Hawk on him for sure.

Yes, sir.

He'll definitely be trick
or treat for 2 point 5.

Yes, sir. Trick or
treat 2 point 5.

2 point 5 he's going
in front of 101.

Trick or treat means that, you
know, it's like going door

to door, trick or treat, and
then he's gonna give him 2,500

pounds of gas.

We cannot afford to have an
aircraft that's starved for

fuel. The Nimitz is 700 miles
away from the nearest divert

field. No one was going
to make it 700 miles.

It's simply a different
feeling when you know there's

no divert available. There's no
safety net out and around the

aircraft carrier that you
can go to if you have some

emergency with your airplane.

You have to land
back on the ship.

Come left steer
course 1-1-2 degrees.

Come left steer course
1-1-2 degrees. Aye.

The choices are either to
land on the ship or jump out

alongside the ship. I'm
uncomfortable with the

conditions, so we decided to
scrub the remaining night

events, but we still had
aircraft that we needed to

recover in the dark.

No matter how long you do this
business, you never... you

never get used to the nighttime.

At night, your visual
is not as accurate as

it is in the daytime.

So you can get vertigo.

You know, they always tell
people to respect nature,

respect the sea. Never turn
your back on the ocean. I mean,

all the little things that you learn.
It's the same thing, you

better respect the night.

This is where it gets dangerous.
You really got to

keep your head up because
there's not a lot of lights on

up there for us, you got to
do everything in the dark.

Let's go.

We've got, uh, 12 airplanes airborne,
and we're gonna have to launch

3 tankers to put some extra
gas in the air in case guys

have trouble getting aboard.

The problem with doing that,
though, is we also have to land

those airplanes. So the more...
The more people to put in the

skies, the more planes
you have to land.

One of my jobs this evening
is to be a recovery

tanker for the jets coming
down, and I'm feeling like

basically this is crazy and what...
You know, what's the

point of doing all this? When I
think I'm gonna go, the deck is

down, so I actually sit there
and wait for another 5 or 6

seconds so they don't shoot you
in the water, more or less.

When it comes to pitching deck,
I would say that I am more

of a novice or at least my
experience has been limited.

And I know enough to know
that the conditions were

starting to get... Uh, extreme
would be a fair way to

characterize them.

Look at that. That
was a good sound.

Huh?

I didn't know a big rig like
this could move like this.

Having been around for a little
while, if I really don't

want to be out there, then I
don't want my brand-new people

out there. So Kone, lieutenant
Dietrich, is getting ready to

fly one of the tankers so we
had gas for that recovery. Um,

it's her first cruise. We had
not done a lot of pitching

deck. I told maintenance that I
was taking it, and they radioed

up to the roof and told her "hey,
just, you know, stand by."

And I said, "you know, you don't
understand it now, but in

about 20 minutes when people
start trying to land on

this, you're gonna realize why I'm
getting in this jet for you."

2-1-2 course.

4 point 4.

Power, power.

Bolter, bolter, bolter.

He's gone.

Did you guys do 1-13?

2-0-3 around ball 5 point 5.

Easy with it. Easy with it...
This is ridiculous.

After the seventh guy in a
row boltered, you know, I

wonder how many tankers I can
launch and how long this goes

before I we start getting some
people aboard and recovered.

We've got a ball 5-1.

And we've got... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,

15... 15 bolters or
wave-offs so far.

When the ship gets to the
side-to-side rolling, it makes

your instruments kind of do
funny things in the cockpit, so

you're just kind of coming down
and you're kind of blinking

your eyes, trying to make
sure you're on center line.

Look at him... move...
Oh, my God!

Low power.

Coming down. Coming down.

And then all of the sudden,
I'm like, "holy cow, I'm a

little high," and next
thing you know...

And so now you're in the
bolter wave-off pattern, and

you're looking at all these
other airplanes that are in the

bolter wave-off
pattern with you.

5-0-3, fly a low line pass right
around course. Mile and a half.

That potsy?

Stay with it.

5-0-3, you're on line pass flight
left course, 3 course mark.

Holy

Keep the power on.

Keep steady, keep steady
bingo on the ball.

Course fixed on the ball.

5-0 auto.

Seriously, that was the first
time I ever really felt

like "I am about to hit the
back of the ship. I am about to

smash into the back of the ship
and go into a million pieces."

Little power to catch it.

Little power. Power.

So, uh, you know, you're
bringing the power on,

bringing the power on, and I'm like,
"that's all I'm giving you, man!"

Come on, buddy.

Oh!

Easy with it, easy with it.

Yes!

He's in there. Yeah.

Whoo Whoo!

We got a couple more.

It was... it was just a... I've
never breathed so fast, so hard

in my life. It was just unbelievable.
I was just... I

was shaking. God. Ha ha ha!

Definitely one of the most stressful
experiences I've ever had.

Do you want to look at Isis?

Did you watch the deck?

Dude, all I know is, I was in
close, and they were like,

"little power." I look down,
and I saw the back of the

ship above me, and I
was like, "ahhhhhhhh."

There's been times it looks
like guys are probably looking

down on the deck, and
the deck comes up and

catches them, and they trap.

I could just hear paddles, like,
"give it power," so I gave

it power, and all of a sudden
it just, like, from the deck,

like, being above me,
it just goes whooom!

And I was like, "hey, everybody
down there. How ya'll

doing? I want to stay up here.

It's safe up here."

"Ahhh. I need a drink.

No, I'm just shaking still.

Easy with it. Easy with it.

We're almost done.

Jar-jar is going around. The deck's
steady, Jar-jar's going around.

Here we go. Out of there.

Wave off, wave off.

Now I'm starting to get pretty nervous.
Realizing that,

hey, this is no joke, and
the deck is everywhere.

Get in here.

He'll come up a little.

He got it, he got it.

Yes.

He's good, he's good.

Ohh!

He goes around.

Shaaaa. Hook skip.

The deck was coming up, he deck
was coming down. He hit so

hard that he bounced over all of the wires.
So he skipped the

2, 3, and 4 wires.

Next thing I knew I was
getting airborne again, and

that's when I started
becoming very anxious.

I'm thinking to myself, "well
OK," looking at my gas, "hey,

I've got about two more tries
here, and then I'm going...

They're going to start thinking
about giving me some gas, and I

don't want to be that guy.
I'd like to just get aboard

quietly and have my moment
of sheer terror and then

go find somewhere to have an
aneurysm and call it a day."

1-0-2, dirty up.

1-0-2 getting dirty.

Oh, boy.

No it's settling out, dude.

He's going to make it.

Easy with it. Easy with it.

He's in there! Whoo.

Yes.

Good job, Jar-jar.

Thanks, paddles.

You're going to send your
mojo to skipper Fravor?

Man, he don't need it.

Huh?

He don't need it.

He don't need any mojo.

1-0-2, rhino. Ball. 7-5 auto.

I always get an eerie feeling
when I'm the last guy

on board, I'll tell you that.

1-0-2 on course. 5 miles.

There's no one to save you.

There's no gas airborne. You
got to do what you need to do

to get on deck.

Look at that.

Deck pitching. He
stays right there.

It's just like... sex.
What do you guys think?

If he goes around one time,
it's going to be in his head,

and he's going to be pissed off,
and it's going to affect his

next break. It's going
to take an approach.

He's gonna get aboard.

No, mind game. He's
going around twice.

Think I'm going to be the,
uh, I'm going to be the,

uh, pessimist for the whole,
uh, for the whole radio. I

don't think he's getting aboard.

I don't think so either.

Starting a dutch roll, dude.

That's all it's doing.

Just wait. It's going to
continue to get worse and worse.

I'm telling you. He's going around.
He's going around.

He's going around.

Ohhhhh.

He's going around.

Already out of sync.

No, no. It's going
to settle out.

I'm with "d. " It's
gonna settle out.

Oh, I don't think so.

He's going around.

2-0-7 Roger ball. 5-2.

Roger ball, working 30 knots.

He's going around.

Don't know what to do.

Look at that. Steady down.

Oh, he's gonna get aboard.

Oh, rock steady!

Send him around, paddles!

Send him around!

Show him the love.
Show him the love.

Ohh!

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

Yeah!

Thanks, paddles.
Glad to be here.

Glad to be here!

I told you.

That was good. Everyone, that
was a stellar, stellar, stellar

performance.

That was not my first
pitching deck experience, uh,

but it was my last. It's
something that I really like to

do, and the thought of not
doing it anymore... I guess,

slightly relieved but
slightly depressing.

All right, man.

Thank you very much.

You guys have a good
night, all right?

You, too.

Whoo-hoo!

Subs rip, edit, and
resnyc by © VJ Me 2010