Death by Meetings

Today was an odd day.  It was a "Fun Day" for the ship.  A day when we don’t fly and the ship takes some time to blow off some steam and relax a little.  At least that’s what they tell us.  Yes, there was a basketball tournament in the hangar bay (HS-8 did OK, but didn't win) and there was a scavenger hunt for odd things all over the ship.  They had some video games set up in the hangar bay on big screen TV's and they showed a movie on a very big screen tonight with an ice cream social.  But while that was going on down below, upstairs we had Death by Meetings.  Actually it started off pretty well, when the whole squadron gathered on the flight deck to have a command picture taken in front of the aircraft.  That turned out really nice.  We also got pictures taken of each department and division, in their multi-colored jerseys.  Everyone looked great.  Unfortunately I got another hour of sun on my forehead and again, I forgot to use sunscreen.  I always seem to remember Grandma's guidance after the fact.  I think I'll keep a small bottle of sun screen in one of my flight suit pockets! 

After the photo, we had some training related to flying in the operating area where we're heading.  Then I attended a brief for the underway replenishment we have scheduled for tomorrow.  That's a ship function, but as part of my CDO qualification, I have to observe and participate in several UNREP's.   That will be an early morning for me tomorrow.  An UNREP is when we pull along side a supply ship while steaming, connect fuel lines and suspension lines with pulleys, and they send over fuel and pallets of groceries and supplies.  Why would a nuclear carrier need fuel?  For the jets, of course.  Concurrent with the cargo and fuel going through the connected lines, there will be two helicopters moving pallets from flight deck to flight deck between the two ships using their cargo hook under each helo (this is called VERTREP).  The VERTREP will be performed by another helicopter unit in our strike group (they are stationed on the supply ship).  After the UNREP brief, we held four Plane Captain qualification boards, where PC candidates sit before a board of 5 examiners (I chair the board) and get grilled for about 30 minutes (it's not too bad, actually).  Three out of four passed tonight.  Then I had some training for the FP watch.  Somewhere in there I had lunch and dinner. 

Now, I'm on the hook for ground turns late tonight, probably around 3am.  We have a helicopter that just completed a major inspection and we have to perform a maintenance check flight before it returns to full readiness.  The check flight begins with turns on the deck where we measure vibrations and ensure that all the systems check out.  Ground turns are very difficult for helicopters to get on the carrier (we often clobber a spot on the deck for several hours), so we usually do them in the middle of the night when it doesn't impact the day-time fixed wing flight schedule.  Bottom line, I need to get to bed because I'll probably be getting a wake-up call in about 5 hours.  I'll go straight from the ground turns into the UNREP to start out another long day tomorrow.  It's always a Fun Day out here.