I got the opportunity to hitch a ride from Hawaii to San Diego on the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS Carl Vincent, the ship has a lot of history, I am pictured above with my buddy Rear Admiral Perez, he is in charge of this Strike Group. This experience was very interesting, exciting and boring, all at the same time, Sailors are some of the nicest, hardest working folks in the world and it makes me so proud that my BEST Friend is one of them; Lt. Erik D. Schneider, he works in the “Mass Media Department” and helps command all the public relations from the ship, this includes the daily paper, press releases, the on board TV and Radio for the sailors, he has a print shop, and photographers, this crew together keeps everyone up to date and informed, while they are away from home.......
I got to eat with the Officers and the Sailors, which eat in two different areas. Officers get dishes, Sailors get trays, quite a different experience with the same menu.. I saw Fighter Jets take off with me being less than 100 feet away, we had a jet do a high speed pass, breaking the sound barrier right in front of us, the weird thing is the Fighter went by, then the sound after a huge BOOM!!!! You really get to know these sailors and what a close relationship they have with one another, this is not easy being away from loved ones, I was only away a week and I am going crazy....... The days are long, real long, the Captain does his best to keep these guys and gals motivated, I am sure it is a tuff task. a huge city in a tiny tin can, everything is done for a reason and on schedule, there is a wake up call and a time to hit the rack call, the rack is the tiny bed you get to sleep in, if you get to sleep, because your so busy doing your job, 12 to 15 hour days are the norm. the captain preaches, “Situational Awareness” a great message. Basically be aware of whats around you, this message was real important after the greatly dangerous job of doing what they did, because it now makes all of them a target....
