Peace Through Strength, Part 2

From there, we headed further up into the island to view more take-offs and landings and the operations in the navigation bridge. The view was incredible from here, and the stop let us see a little more of the inner workings of the ship. I almost got to sit in the Captain's chair, but since it was occupied, I settled for the navigator's chair instead. Another of our group members chatted with the 20-year old seaman at the helm - or at least, he tried to talk to her until she told him "don't make me nervous, sir." I guess that was a polite way to tell him to shut up and let her drive. Later on, we would return to the flag bridge in the company of the Admiral to view night operations. As amazing as day ops were, night ops took everything to a whole new level. For one, the ship went completely dark to simulate hiding near hostile targets. Even in the best of conditions, the pilots have little to guide them into the landing strip except a few lights and the "hamburger" - the multi-colored bank of lights that tells them if they're too high or too low. Otherwise, they have to go on instinct and feel toward a landing strip that is constantly banking and moving. Despite the difficulty, we witnessed only one or two wave-offs. We stayed on the flag bridge until past midnight, when we were invited to either go back to our staterooms or head to an officer's lounge to partake in some cigars. Though I could watch the take-offs and landings, and the bright blue of the Hornets' afterburners kicking in just before they shot out into the black of night, I was nearly exhausted by this point. I could pass on the stogies.

Our staterooms had a bunk-bed arrangement, with two guests to a room and a desk for each. Our facilitators left some nice souvenirs for us, as well, including a toiletry kit embroidered with the stylized Ronald Reagan logo and a ball cap with the signature Captain's "scrambled eggs" on the brim. I was glad for these, since I hadn't packed enough cash to convert to Navy Dollars and buy more in the ship's store. Either way, we were treated exceptionally well, like the distinguished visitors we were made out to be. Even as we walked through the corridors, the crew members (roughly 1/3 of whom, our hosts were proud to add, were women) were very polite about our intrusion upon their busy schedules. As the touring wound down for the night and we returned to our rooms, my roommate and I checked out the TV briefly. I don't know why I was surprised to find out that the ship received all the standard cable channels in the age of satellites, but it seemed jarring to be in a setting like that and watching Comedy Central. As it stood, we found Channel 25, which was the closed-circuit feed straight to the flight deck, and watched it until we fell asleep. I slept well enough, waking only to hear huge clanging noises from the catapult room above, and I didn't even notice the power outage that was announced sometime during the night. It would have been hard to be nervous: aboard one of the most powerful ships on Earth, with a full carrier strike group surrounding us in the ocean, I felt the safest I had ever been.

To Be Continued...