Pics & Video from my aircraft carrier embark... **LARGE IMAGE WARNING**

[Bputacoma]

That is soo cool. I'm jelly.

btw - that looks soo much more spacious compared to the USS Alabama.

[danielhv]

So after we shed all the flotation devices and cranial's, we were taken to meet the Handler. He's responsible for any and all movement of aircraft both on the Flight Deck as well as the Hangar Deck. They use a board that they call a Ouija board lol. They have little toy shaped airplanes, and they put various "junk" on the toy planes to signify the status of that aircraft. Crazy as hell... all this bad ass technology on board and this guy uses frigging toys to keep track of things. They did say they are testing a digital version of it though!



Pics of the Handler, his Ouija board, and the "legend":









And a screen he had that showed the position of the aircraft in the pattern:



Then it was back to our rooms to drop off gear and get ready to eat!

[racrguy]

This is awesome. I'd love to get the opportunity to do something like that.

[Frank]

That low-tech tech cracks me up.

[danielhv]

That low-tech tech cracks me up.

Lol yep he was a really cool guy though. He said when they come out with some new fancy electronic way of doing this, he will sit back and when it breaks, he will pull his ouija board out and set it right on top of their expensive screen and go back to the way that works. Hehehe

[helosailor]

They've tried electronic versions of it in the past, but they just couldn't keep up. This method has always worked best.

[jakesford]

Lol yep he was a really cool guy though. He said when they come out with some new fancy electronic way of doing this, he will sit back and when it breaks, he will pull his ouija board out and set it right on top of their expensive screen and go back to the way that works. Hehehe

Leave it to our government... trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist with something way too expensive and complicated

[danielhv]

Dinner time! I will say one thing about the food on a Navy ship... The shit is good. We ate in the room where the officers eat. Big table, full service, and man they were on top of it too. Much better service than you get in a restaurant. You have several options to choose from... they usually have a couple of different meats, several sides, full salad bar, full fruit bar, and whatever you want to drink.

In this case, salmon, rice, mac & cheese, and asparagus. Oh, and a side salad of course.

We are standing waiting for the XO to come in. Apparently, it is customary to remain standing until he takes his seat. The dude in the maroon polo shirt is the ship's NCIS officer.





Took this picture because the Navy League is one of the main sponsors for the Naval Sea Cadets.

[cobrajet69]

My bucket list just filled to the brim.

Very cool stuff!


David