Today’s talk is aimed at you folks aspiring for the Navy or Marines. I’m here to tell you, there really is nothing like the Navy Carrier to get a pilot excited and nervous at the same time. As much as I make fun of the Navy, the stuff that happens on the carrier deck is truly amazing. I have to be honest… growing up as a young Marine officer; I did not have a lot of respect for the Navy. I kind of felt like Kiefer Sutherland in the movie A Few Good Men when he said, “I like all you Navy boys…every time we go to fight…you boys always give us a ride!” Well, let me publicly admit that I was wrong! The Navy is amazing at what they do…and it took a couple of trips to the flight deck to prove that to me. In fact, on this month’s member call, you’ll hear about my experiences on the USS Kennedy and USS Stennis. (And as a side note for you future Marine Corps pilots, DO NOT look to Kiefer Sutherland in A Few Good Men as an example of what a Marine officer should be; or any Hollywood Marines for that matter.)
The choreography on board the Navy carrier is truly amazing. You’ve basically got hundreds of people and up to 40 airplanes all jammed into the space the size of just 4 football fields. Not to mention that the football fields can end in a very long fall to a very open ocean! On top of that, you have spinning propellers, rotors, and high performance jet engines that are capable of blowing someone clean across the deck! Now THAT is a dangerous environment. In fact, the safest place on the carrier deck is inside the cockpit of an airplane!
The personnel on the flight deck have the challenge of working in this extremely demanding environment without the use of typical communication means. In other words…instead of yelling at each other, they must use hand and arm signals to get their message across. That’s hard enough during the day…but almost impossible at night. That’s one of the main reasons that SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is so very important. Everyone on the deck needs to know exactly what everyone else is doing and why.
Want to find out more about carrier operations? Then NOW is good time to sign on with the Afterburner Club!
If you are thinking about getting ready to join the service of your choice, right now is the very best time to learn as much about it as you can! If you’ve been keeping up with the news, then you know that there is bound to be an expansion of pilot slots in the near future, but they won’t be there for long! That is precisely why you must act now! The Air Force, Navy, and Marines are all have a good number of slots that they have to fill for their quotas, but they aren’t given a lot of time to fill those quotas. They NEED to fill those quotas and, by God, they ARE going to fill them one way or another. This makes it the PERFECT time for you to take the initiative and join the Afterburner Club today to get the inside edge that will need to get past your competition and make it into your dream jet! I’ve been getting a lot of great success stories lately and YOU could be next within the next six months; so seize the day and make it happen right now!
Semper Fi!