Below the Hard Deck: 48 hours aboard the USS Carl Vinson

Paul roadie got the chance of a lifetime recently he certainly did we've been calling him an adventure man this week because wow he really took a chance there well you know it's a chance of a lifetime just to work with two greats okay last month the invitation was extended to Kos itv2 was spend a night aboard an active aircraft carrier the plan you see was to watch the brand-new f-35 sea jet fighter in action but ironically those Jets never showed up so along with photographer Jose Martinez we adjusted on the fly here is part 1 of our series below the hard deck 48 hours aboard the USS it was an opportunity that likely will never come again an invitation to spend 48 hours aboard the Navy's USS Carl Vincent the Nimitz class super carrier was tuning up for its deployment in early 2018 a small cadre of journalists including daily mail photographer John Chappell and retired Army Ranger Jose Martinez joining a wide-eyed sportscaster on what would be an experience of a lifetime before we could rethink our decision our traveling contingent strapped into the c2 Greyhound that would ferry us to and from the aircraft carrier known as the gold eagle once that Cod door lowers the first thing that comes to mind how defeating we're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy we know exactly how you feel no matter how much instruction you get nothing fully prepares you for the sheer volume heat and proximity to danger of the flight deck of an active aircraft carrier just about everything up here without planes the Karl Vincent's flight deck seems like a wide-open four and a half acre parking lot but add a couple dozen f-18 Super Hornets along with other assorted Hornets and helos and suddenly you have a valets worst nightmare at night or during the day when I can actually see it I will taxi myself over the end of the flight deck because the aircraft is still on it comfortably on the flight deck but my rear and basically I sense that my body is over the water and then I'll do a very sharp turn to avoid continuing off the flight deck space is even more confined below deck another 20 or so planes are being maintained repaired and moved up and down elevators constantly there's lots of moving parts requiring a strong emphasis on crew safety your job to move the plates rum [Music] they call them crunches you know when Wings hit hit each other or the nose or anything they can always be in the minor but even one little scratch I'm like just the tail of it one little scratch or something is like 50 grand something like that like so no room for crash is there anything like that do they ever pump we ever have like a little fender-bender we try to minimize that as much as possible but when in any area where you have things moving it tends to happen but we keep it to a bare minimum you call an insurance agent or what what happens when you have to yeah that's not my department now the pilots normally get all the attention in stories like these but just like a football team the quarterback is only as good as the teammates around him we are in the catapult system and we also operate the landing area of which we catch all the Jets so just making sure everything goes well once the aircraft land we just make sure that aircraft comes there pretty smooth and if it doesn't then we go in for rescue ours is some helicopters our job we got to chain them down when they get here we have to fold them and move them to get them off spot so the fixed wing can come in the color of your shirt dictates your job on the flight deck each sailor playing a critical role in a sophisticated ballet and boots that routinely sees the launch and recovery of more than 30 aircraft inside 30 minutes once the aircraft gets into pattern to land we could actually launch an aircraft but if we bring in an aircraft in and locking them then they can meet up and that's where you get the wingman situations nothing like that the sports analogy is real just ask former Montgomery Aztec star Paris Kensi there's a lot of different jobs like where I work at my work center a lot of different jobs so we have to come together and work together it's the same on track especially like when you're doing a relay because it one person messes up everything goes downhill from there it takes all the concentration one can muster to avoid getting sucked into a jet engine or cooked by its exhaust there's hustle the real possibility of being blown off the side of the ship or other arresting cable snapping and still despite the peril we had to be dragged back below deck and that's what it really gets confusing I think a lot of the time they were leading us round in circles just to mess with us you know there's a lot of steps going up one and then down the other and around the corner Hansel keeps dropping stones on the ground thinking we can follow these stones home Hansel and Gretel would have preferred grandmother's woods the layout of an aircraft carrier for starters there's no ladders to climb the woods no steel hatches to crack your head on and a simple trip to the bathroom doesn't require a search and rescue mission there was one pot where there's a very long corridor and it looked like I was walking into a mirror and there was somebody walking towards me and as he got closer I'm like that's that's not my reflection that's a sailor wearing a uniform it's crazy big on this assuming you could find the mess hall you'll be pleasantly surprised at your menu options but cuisine is better than you'd expect especially on Sundays sometimes I feel like the ship's schedule revolves around Sunday brunch they want to make sure we hit it in to give the crew a great meal Sunday's a day they get a chance to relax a little bit so they really look forward to a special roast and some Belgian waffles that's everything to them I see why the captain makes us do this every Sunday it's really important not only to the ship staff but for the morality ship because they really look forward to having a little downtime from finding the aircrafts all day what's the one thing that you make that's better than anybody else so far I'd have to say it's mashed potatoes right now when the days are good here in today's event we also here but mostly days are good and they usually the customers do come back to tell the sales that that was a meal how would you rate the food as far as the overall experience is concerned besides Sunday we're gonna solid eight calories in require calories out if going up and down ladders all day isn't enough of a fuel burn there's always an aerobics class with the fit boss that is if you don't mind working out alongside the Admiral himself it's absolutely fantastic I love when the upper commander comes out to all the classes these younger sailors see them working out they and motivated to work out and I don't care how fancy your local neighborhood gym is it can't match the view of the Carl Vinson seaside workout center I absolutely agree when you really think about it when can you ever do this kind of workout staring down to the ocean if aerobics is not your thing there's always a hanger Bay Zumba class to check out night lights mandatory it's a pretty popular class we have on board it's one of the more relaxed vibes that we get and we've been doing it for about three years on the ship pretty nice little thing we got going on with the Fitbit approaching 90 flights of stairs climbed we finally were sent to our staterooms but not everybody was sleeping it's approaching 2300 hours inside the Fulton stateroom here boy the USS Carl Vinson what's a distinguished guests supposed to do well you can listen to your roommate snore or you can watch night ops on closed-circuit TV every naval aviator will tell you that night landings on an aircraft carrier separates the great from the good in part two of our series we go inside the cockpit of an f-18 Super Hornet would Lieutenant Commander Brian's sunshine sand Claire sunshine has over 600 carrier landings on his resume many of them coming after the Sun Goes Down the things you normally rely upon in the day which would be horizons we don't see clouds and whatnot up and down it's black I want you to picture of yourself stepping into a closet and then shutting the door behind you from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean aboard the USS Carl Vinson along with photographer Jose Martinez I'm Paul Rudi Kusi news Wow sound of freedom oh man is they seem like a family big family you almost have to be when you're squeezed in those tight quarters you know kudos for Soto Jose Martinez who shot the Soviet many but I'm here he did great on this and I he got me all those pictures possible but the the thing that uh we were thinking yeah we can hit for two days it was alright but these guys and gals go out for six months plus and I'm telling you what it's not a short it's not you know we complain if it the day gets past eight hours these guys work in Galax work 12 14 16 hour days and that's just their routine and and big deal they get some we have a waffle well you got to have something to look forward to and throw my time I mean that's exactly what that's about but uh I have such respect oh yeah all the people involved I went in with respect I left with even more which is hard to do can't wait to see you tomorrow yeah thanks Paul

Channel: Prep Pigskin Report

Views: 745,700

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Id: z21PDTjrStY

Length: 9min 47sec (587 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 16 2017