Landing and living on a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier - A Sailor's Life, TV6 News, April 2019

this is a TV 6and Fox you peek special report a sailor's life welcome aboard the USS Harry s Truman I'm Andrew Lacombe we are sailing in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the United States the US Navy invited our tv6 crew onboard the Truman so we could find out what the life of a Navy sailor is like our journey started back in Norfolk Virginia at a Naval Station come on we got it we got to get in regulations here with my sleeves buttoned a belt around my waist and a named patch on I'm set to get a week-long taste of a sailor's life welcome aboard so this is our cover our frv flame resistant or flame-retardant cover off and we use this aboard the ship and while underway so if we're out to sea we're out working we're using this uniform Stacey Atkins Rick's a navy mass communications specialist second class from Detroit gave me a rundown of the Navy's different uniforms our bootcamp instructors make sure that we know how to wear the uniform well right away that's one of the first things we learn in the Navy we loaded up a sea bag full of other uniform essentials I need on a ship Norfolk Naval Base is actually the largest Navy base in the world is about 6300 acres there's roughly a hundred thousand men and women who work on this base every single day Norfolk Virginia is where this experience began we got to see the pier with a carrier in port and some smaller ships the Navy bought this property immediately after the u.s. entered World War one it really is kind of the mecca for maritime operations coming off the East Coast and deploying into the Atlantic and around the world so this is really the starting point for all carrier operations on the East Coast the Navy has a total of 11 aircraft carriers with home ports in Virginia Washington state California and Japan this is the USS Abraham Lincoln the Navy has a maritime mission you know we we support the the shipping lanes that are vital you know to commerce to communications to to everything that goes on around the world world travel is a highlight for aircraft technician second class Richard Lindsey from the Battle Creek area I've been to by rain like I think like 11 times I've been to massara I've been to Dubai all that and like those are countries I think growing up in Michigan we're out like nobody ever in the world would ever thought you would go there like me personally I never even heard of these countries before so when I talk to my friends back home they're like where's that even located I was like I didn't even know till I joined myself so it's pretty neat to uh you know tell them that and they think like because I guess come on and from a small town like that you don't really think of things outside the world and then it's crazy that one day I just decided to sign a piece of paper and go to boot camp and now seven years later I've gone to all these countries to get to those places takes months on a ship with about 5,500 others but when you're on the ship I would say life is actually really simple because there's a routine 12 on 12 off you wake up you get breakfast to go to work you go to lunch and then you go to dinner and all you do is flight schedule maintain aircraft and that's just the gist of it a routine that sounds simple and starts with wearing your name and the navy uniform proudly I eventually got to see a lot more of the routine when I traveled to the USS Truman but before we got in the sky we had to pass tests at the Navy's aviation survival training center we were required to prove if a helicopter goes down we are comfortable in and underwater to stay safe until help arrived you know real aviation emergencies getting posted out of the water is the easy part to get to this point takes training and thinking we see those who are more uncomfortable in the water they get in they start freaking out and that's where the issues come in that's where that lack of professional happens uncomfortability is everything our training started with a swim across the pool wearing a flight suit life preserver boots and a helmet somewhat what you wear if you're a passenger in an aircraft just make sure that you're proficient and comfortable swimming in all that gear and then we have you inflate a life preservers just to show that you can do that in case you do go into the water you will be able to float and hopefully make it so that way rescue crews can come and get you this training which we just started is required of all aviators in the Navy and Marine Corps is something they must go through every four years underwater we learned how to get out of a helicopter that crashed grabbing the correct handles in the correct sequence to open the window and get to the surface then we were buckled into a seat and spun underwater our trainers told us to keep one hand hanging on to the helicopter window so we would have a reference point to crawl out but on my first try getting unbuckled with one hand didn't seem possible so I let go and finding the window again was impossible because I didn't keep my reference point that is absolutely important especially if you're in an aircraft that is either crashing very hard in the water something along those lines if you release before you have a reference point you're gonna be lost you're not gonna have any idea of where you're going as long as you maintain control it's something to say hey I need to go this way to save myself as long as you have that you can pull yourself to safety that way and they'll be good to go our reward for passing the training flying around the Norfolk area in an mh-60 Sierra this helicopter performs search and rescue and tactical missions saving people from sinking boats to delivering cargo to different ships as well as employing missiles Hellfires unguided rockets and inserting SEAL Teams into combat dangerous missions that require comfortability in water so you're always prepared for the worst-case scenarios coming up we are back in the sky this time to an aircraft carrier we spent two days on the USS area Truman in the Atlantic Ocean I'll show you the journey there and later look at a glimpse of life on a ship with 5,500 feet you you're watching a TV 6and you being special report a sailor's life once again tears enter look oh this c2 Greyhound is standing by in Norfolk Virginia to take us to the Truman there are pretty much no window seats and you face the back of the plane our flight took about an hour and a half I shut my eyes for a bit but woke up as we started to descent to land on an aircraft carrier the plane tail hook has to catch one of four steel cables it usually hooks but on our first try it didn't so he kept right on going back up in the air we eventually landed coming to a stop in just more than 300 feet landing on a navy aircraft carrier feels just like the end of a rollercoaster ride one second you're flying at more than 100 miles an hour and then you come to a complete stop there's very little time to get out the back and opt a flight deck so the next plane can land we were escorted off the plane and down below the flight deck to meet the ship's commanding officer but aircraft carrier is many things it's a large city at sea it's a manifestation of American combat power but ultimately it's a symbol of the American ideal named after the 33rd President of the United States the Truman is the Navy's ninth nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and it's full of people just about 5,500 men and women from Truman from Carrier Strike Group eight from carrier Air Wing one and from cruiser destroyer squadron two eights are at sea work in 24 hours a day the flight deck is 1100 feet long and up to 250 feet wide from waterline to mast the Truman is 20 stories tall it can travel at speeds greater than 39 and the Air Wing can take down enemy aircraft ships submarines and land targets so the crew itself is 3,000 people there's 5,500 on board right now and about 40% of them are in their late teens or early twenties I come from all walks of life all 50 states when I was on board the ships command master chief was from the Ann Arbor area we can sustain for a long period of time and still lean on each other their nose their nose long periods so in order in order for five thousand fifty five hundred sailors to come together as a family maybe similar to where would your experience in Marquette we come together like a family to create that sense of sailors working on the flight deck wear colored shirts and helmets based on their responsibilities green shirts are hook runners they reset the steel cables after each landed on the opposite side of the flight deck are the catapults for steam-powered catapults and take aircraft from 0 to 165 miles per hour in just two seconds the flight deck is used for different amounts of time every day there are some quieter moments like right now when there's maintenance underway everything is watched closely by the island that's where we find Brian Williamson of st. Louis Michigan on watch take pictures of foreign vessels of interest Williamson described what it was like to see a working aircraft carrier for the first time how vast it was like how large and how many people were on board how they could do like they could feed so many people or how they can have so many racks for all the people on board and the f-18s landing on board that's pretty interesting and amazing for first timer when we were on the Truman the crew was getting recertifications to reown our combat skills and ensure we're ready to deploy wherever and whenever required the training doesn't stop when the sun goes down planes continue to land and take off after dark and around-the-clock operation this symbol of American freedom still to come we'll take a closer look at a sailor's life on the ship the jobs they have how they stay in shape and how they start each day then later what the future holds for the US Navy you're watching a TV 6and you being special report a sailor's life once again here's Andrew Cole a regular day on a u.s. Navy aircraft carrier starts before sunrise after breakfast there's still some time to clean up and get to a meeting before the workday begins as you can probably imagine when you're out to sea each day is pretty routine the USS Harry s truman 5,500 crewmembers are assigned to different jobs take pictures of foreign vessels of interest above the flight deck Brian Williams sin of st. Louis Michigan is on watch as I provide indication of warnings for warfare commander Suh of the strike group of any threats down below tyler modfet and Lorenzo Bonner work as personnel specialists processing paperwork for their fellow sailors it hits home for a lot of people because they'd be talking about someone's pay or the entitlements for their wife and their kids and you know all that and thanks to sailor on a day-to-day basis after breakfast every day follows a routine getting ready morning hygiene come into work and then we did quarters sailors Creed to go through a plan of the day sailors get some downtime each day on the ship they are required to work out three times a week so you'll find exercise equipment pretty much anywhere there's extra room on board my typical workday is a 12-hour watch I typically get 12 hours off and I usually sleep around 8 hours and I work out on a daily basis the seaside gym is a relaxing place for Bonner who is from the Detroit area yes most of the waters what I'm looking at I kind of put myself into uh you know comm plays given that we are gone I like to kind of channel my energy to be stressed detox the father of three joined the Navy three years ago I got to a point where it was like I wanted to make a dressing change it's all commercial and I said what's more drastic to joining the service so here I am maaan Fett who is from lower Michigan's thumb region says he enlisted to get away from home and I had been there you know my whole life so I want to see a little bit more of the world and I've absolutely done that and I've enjoyed every minute of it last appointment we stopped in Greece France England and Portugal on the ship there are limited chances to connect with people back home I think people would be surprised to know that that we're just normal people like them but you know we're just cut off a little bit more you know but we're doing the same things as them you know talking and socializing eating working out but we miss a lot you know we think a lot about home and the best part of our time here is when we get to go home on leave and see everybody so when I was younger first out of the house it was a I want to say it was a culture shock it was like I've gone home a lot more than I do now and I missed home a lot more but as soon as like as a time s time as more time elapsed it was like it was this become easier now it's just like my parents understand my friends understand I show go home they come see me like it's just been pretty easy to just simple questions that I get is basically like just what do you do the most people like they think it's like what you see on the movies which it is you know but not all the way so I think people are dressed more so they already have a kind of a picture in their mind what are they when they do eggs is just simple questions what do you guys go time or do no matter the job they have on board these sailors are making sacrifices protecting this seas around the world as we navigated the narrow hallways and staircases on board the Truman we saw sailors in essential roles from top to bottom but the most action for sure is on the flight deck we've gone up there just to see the stars or we've seen the aurora borealis on deployment which was amazing so we go up there to see taking new sights you know locking stories to tell for people when we get back home when we come back a look to the future of the US Navy you you're watching a TV 6and you be special report a sailor's life once again here's Andrew the coal the traditions and power of the United States Navy are visible around the world every day while I was on board the USS Harry s Truman I could feel a huge sense of pride for the 244 years of Navy history but as the world evolves Navy leaders say this branch of the military is too here's how a sailor's life is changing on the USS Truman I was surprised to see that the crew steering this ship is using pretty basic technology you go back a few decades and this scene would probably be quite similar the ship's commanding officer faces the tall order of living up to the highest standards the Navy is very traditional and it's a wonderful thing and our traditions go back hundreds of years the world is evolving the Navy is evolving with it that means making sure Industrial Age practices don't hold the Navy back the speed of information is vital in combat operations you can imagine the challenges at sea in order to integrate all those capabilities and our primary focus right now in the Navy at the high end of tactical capability is to ensure that our informational capabilities are up to the task the Navy is also moving into the next generation of combat aircraft with the Lockheed Martin f-35 systems within the aircraft that you're gonna make it much safer for pilots at night and bad weather to come aboard the ship and that's when you're really earning your flight pay at the Norfolk Naval Base I had the chance to fly in an f-35 simulator Lockheed Martin takes this to Navy and Air Force bases to let pilots try the Joint Strike Fighter out and we try to show them the difference in fourth-generation aircraft the f16 at fifteen f-18 and what the new 15 aircraft will do compared to a hornet or f-16 there's not a lot of buttons and stuff everything you'll see is going to be on the touchscreen the laser touchscreen America's most expensive weapons system has been one of the most challenged programs in the history of the Department of Defense there's been a number of issues the tailhook originally wasn't working that's been fixed and no major issues right now in the meantime the Navy sailors are changing the commanding officer of the USS Truman says over his thirty years of service he started to see the Navy give women more significant roles when I graduated from the Naval Academy women were restricted in certain combat roles and today we have men and women serving side-by-side in the Navy completely unrestricted while a new Pentagon policy effectively bans transgender people from joining the US military and serving in their preferred gender the commanding officer says everyone is working toward a common goal I can't think of a better line of work to be in when we can dispense with all the superficials and focus on the substance and it's one of the things that's kept me in the Navy for as long as I've been in steering the way through sometimes rough waters the US Navy says it's 320,000 active members are ready for whatever challenges are ahead well first like I would say Nessun Italy when I joined I didn't really think much of it because I was you know a kid at the time but when I hear like people say thank you know for your service now I kind of like when I think about like other people in the service I think about like the time that they take away from like their family and all the sacrifices that if they do it's like that's why I like I think of it as now it's like hey thank you you know you suck we do sacrifice quality but I have two kids myself and when you leave for nine months and you come home there's a lot that changes like I never I never thought of it in that perspective until it actually happens and a lot of people don't do that even like especially where I come from nobody ever I'll hardly anybody leaves their hometown so for somebody like that I like to just pick up and leave I think that's the hardest part just leave everybody behind and then go start your own career that wraps up our special look at the life of a u.s. Navy sailor I want to thank you for joining us I hope you learned something new about the life of the men and women serving our country at C's I also want to thank the US Navy for hosting us for truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience

Channel: TV6 & FOX UP

Views: 720,242

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Id: 6-WP9bx-0_E

Length: 21min 45sec (1305 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 29 2020