Melanie Meier Adventures At Sea
The world seemed to come to a stop as I was compressed into the back of
my seat, not able to move and my lungs unable to expand. Then suddenly
the world went back into action as I slid back down on my seat and the
plane began to taxi, sighs and giggles of relief coming from my fellow
passengers around me.
I had just become an official Navy "Tail Hooker!" I had flown from
the Naval Air Station in San Diego in a C-2A Greyhound, otherwise known
as the "COD" or Carrier On-Board Delivery aircraft, and landed on
the deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. When landing on the deck
of an aircraft carrier, the aircraft drops a hook from its tail onto the
deck to catch a huge cable, bringing the plane to a very sudden stop. I
was sitting backward, facing the rear of the COD, so that meant my back
and my seat tried to merge together with the sudden halt.
I was invited aboard the USS Nimitz during naval exercises off the coast
of Mexico to see what our young men and women from Kansas do for our
country in the U.S. Navy. I have also learned since joining the Kansas
National Guard this summer, that the Army sends liaison officers to live
on aircraft carriers to coordinate with ground forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan. One of these officers recently came from our own 35th
Infantry Division.
The aircraft carrier is a huge and dangerous place to work and live.
The noise is deafening during flight operations and the crew relies on
colors and hand signals to communicate. The sailors wear different
colored uniforms depending on their specific jobs plus helmets and life
vests whenever out on deck. They only walk in specific areas because in
such close quarters the flare of a jet engine could burn you or throw
you over board, or a set of propellers could catch you off guard. You
certainly cannot hear them, so stay in your lane!
I stayed overnight in a two man bunk right under the flight deck. I
certainly knew when night flight operations started back up after
midnight! Everything is made of metal and fastened down. Hot showers
and flushing toilets were just down the hall. I ate in several dining
rooms. The first meal was with the XO (Executive Officer and second in
command) in the Officers Mess with real china, glasses, silverware and
cloth napkins! There were servers to refill my drink and remove my
dirty dishes. Not quite what I remembered about Army dining facilities
in Iraq, going through a buffet line with paper plates, plastic ware and
clearing my own tray into big garbage cans.
I toured most of the ship, climbing up and down ladders and stepping
through port holes and hatches. I met the sailors that assemble bombs
and missiles, the sailors that fix the jet engines, and the sailors that
maintain the huge cables that catch the planes and work on the hydraulic
system that reels the cables back in after a plane hooks onto them. I
poked around the hangar deck at the helicopters with their rotors and
tails folded and the planes with their wings folded up so they can all
fit under the flight deck.
I visited the flight operations deck in the tower overlooking the flight
deck. There the sailors watched radar screens, monitored radios and
even steered the ship while planes were landing and taking off. On
another deck I met the sailor that tracks where every aircraft is
located on the carrier with little flat metal planes adorned with
colored washers to indicate if the plane is operational or loaded with
live ammunition and exactly where the plane currently sits on a
miniature model of the ship.
I visited the flight deck during flight operations and was allowed to
stand right next to the cables where the planes touch down and hook on.
There are four cables on the deck in case a pilot misses the perfect
spot on the deck. I watched as aircraft were catapulted off the deck,
dropped below the side, and accelerated up into the sky. At night I
watched again from "vultures row," a balcony from a higher deck. It
was so dark, all I could see was a blinking dot circling around the ship
and then suddenly the aircraft was there, hooked onto the deck in a rush
of deceleration.
After my tour, I climbed back into the COD with my helmet and life
jacket on and butterflies in my stomach to be catapulted back to San
Diego! This adventure was fast and furious and I was very impressed
with the young sailors who live in such a dangerous place with such
discipline and pride.
But, I still have to root for Army over Navy......
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