My stay aboard the USS ESSEX is finally done.  It was a valuable experience for me, but I am very happy to be off the ship.  I’m back in Okinawa, in my comfortable spacious room.  It’s funny how comfort is so relative.  Being back in my old barracks with my old stuff feels a little bit like home.  Not home home, but still familiar and nice.

So now that I have real internet access and time to write, I can share some of my experiences on the boat.  I just uploaded a ton of pictures from the float and our stops along the way.  You can see them in the gallery.

I drew the short straw and wound up walking on the ship when we pulled out of port.  As a pilot, it’s always nice to fly onto the ship, but the advantage of walking on is you don’t have to worry about jamming your gear under your ejection seat to get it on the ship.  We started off the float sailing around Okinawa working on initial qualifications.  Every pilot (jet and helicopter) has to qualify on the ship and the MEU as a whole has to prove that we can conduct amphibious operations.  An amphibious ship doesn’t bring nearly as much air power as a big-deck aircraft carrier, but it is an impressive weapon considering you can launch an entire amphibious assault (including air support) from one ship.  For those interested in how landing craft launch and recover from a giant ship, see these pictures.

Flight time was actually few and far between while we were underway.  Harriers are the minority when it comes to aviation on the ship.  There are far more helicopters aboard and we have to compete for flight time with all of them as well.  Flight deck operations are planned to the minute and there are no gaps in use.  When you have a planned land time of 1430, you need to be landing exactly at 1430, not 1431 or 1429, because there is probably another flight preparing to arrive or leave.  It’s a very different environment than flying at an airfield and an impressive feat for the people who plan it all out.  We need to hire these guys to work at civilian airports!

Everyday life on the ship was OK.  The accommodations weren’t wonderful, but they are far better for officers than enlisted.  Here are pictures of what the rooms look like.

There are 4 officers to a room and it doubles as our office as we need it.  The food was a bit better than I expected, but it all starts to taste the same after a while.  Every once and a while we would get a nice treat though, like some fresh kiwi fruit or some fresh baked pie.  It’s easy to get fat on the boat, since you can have as much as you want at any one sitting.  Fresh fruit and vegetables were always more plentiful right after a replenishment.  I’d like to take a second to explain a replenishment at sea, as it’s an interesting thing to watch.  A supply ship pulls up right next to ours and they shoot these lines from one ship to the other (using shotguns).  Then they run giant fuel hoses across the water and fill our tanks.  All the while we are steaming at a pretty decent clip.  Then helicopters go back and forth ferrying crates filled with supplies and parts.  There are plenty of pictures from one of these evolutions here.

After our initial qualifications for the MEU, we headed to the Philippines to participate in an exercise known as Talon Vision and/or PHIBLEX.  You can read my previous post about what went on there.  It was a nice break from the ship life and I did a lot of flying there.  The pilots flew onto the ship from where we were working and spent a couple days at sea until we pulled into port in Subic Bay to meet the rest of our guys and load all of our equipment back on board.  We then cut loose for a few days of liberty in Subic.

Subic Bay used to be a giant U.S. Naval Base, but we pulled out of all of our bases in the Philippines over a decade ago.  Now it’s kind of a tourist destination.  Subic is what you would picture an Asian port visit to be like in a movie.  Vendors of everything from cigarettes and t-shirts to fake Rolexes and Viagra line the port and nearly attack you to get you to buy something.  When you walk a little further into town, you realize that there are about 4 prostitutes for every person, and they are equally as aggressive in their sales technique.  With a little effort, several of us managed to have a good time while keeping our wallets and marriages intact.  There was plenty of good food and drink and we found a great little “local” bar with live music, including an incredible Bob Marley cover band.  Perhaps the most memorable sight in the Philippines (and especially Subic Bay) was the transportation.  The ride of choice is called a Jeepney.

They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, but they are mostly heavily modified jeeps that serve as buses.  Some owners get pretty creative with their designs and paint jobs.  In Subic, the next most popular form of transport were these motorbikes with covered sidecars.  Like I said, it’s something right out of a movie.

You can see all of my photos from Subic Bay here.

We left hot and humid Subic Bay and steamed north to waters off the coast of Korea for a short exercise up there.  It was a great feeling to go to sleep in 90-degree weather and wake up to cool breezes and weather in the 60s and 70s.  We had been sweating everyday since the deployment began, while we all received emails from home about leaves changing and sweater weather, so my first taste of cool weather was a real treat.  We never set foot in Korea, but the squadron did some flying in the exercise.

From Korea, the ship headed back to Okinawa to offload our squadron and give those staying on the ship a chance to see their loved ones.  I again drew the short straw and missed the fly-off, so I joined a couple other pilots in riding the ship into port and walking off with everyone else.  Again, not a big deal, but I’ll always take a few extra days ashore than on the ship.  The MEU is continuing to operate at sea, but the Harriers have other obligations that we can better support in Okinawa.  The MEU CO was wise (and kind) enough to let us stay off the ship and support them from land for the remainder of the float.  We will miss out on some good port visits, but a comfortable bed and long showers are worth the trade.

I enjoyed my time on the ship, but I’m glad it’s over.  There is still plenty of work to be done on the deployment, but the end is in sight and I continue to count down the days until I can come home to the people I love the most.

My time in the land of lumpia is drawing to a close.  Time has just flown by since I’ve been here.  Surprisingly I have flown quite a bit.  The schedule started out slow, but once things got started I have flown almost every day.  99% of that time has been at night, so I can’t quite appreciate the beautiful scenery, but the weather has made for some interesting visuals.  The other night we were refueling behind a C-130 with thunderstorms all around us.  The lightning was lighting up the whole sky and with the night vision goggles, you could see every shooting star in the sky.  It was an amazing sight.

There hasn’t been any real liberty while we have been participating in the exercise, but we will get some time off before we get back on the boat for good.  Hopefully I’ll be able to take lots of pictures of the “real” Philippines outside of our “Marine City”.

Speaking of “Marine City”, here are a few shots of where I work.  While we are working out of an old Air Force Base, you have to realize that the location is just a giant open space.  We came in and completely set up a city of tents, shipping containers, generators, and barbed wire.  It’s pretty impressive that we can create a city with electricity, phones, internet connectivity, and even AC (in some places) in the middle of a foreign country.  There are more pictures in the gallery, just click on any of the pictures below.

I have to mention that while my “office” might look field-expedient, the living quarters are above and beyond my expectations.  All of us rear echelon pogues are living in hotels across the local area.  I happen to have the good fortune of living in a villa with 3 other guys.  It’s basically a fully furnished house, and a nice one at that.  As taxpayers you should be mildly offended (although the exchange rate might not be so bad).

It definitely beats living on the ship!  However, I’m anxious to get back on, as it will mean the deployment is coming to a close.  We have a pit stop or two planned on the way home, but barring any international crises it should be a short trip.  I still have some more time to spend in Japan, but the roughest part should be over soon and before I know it I will be heading back to my loved ones.  Words cannot describe how much I miss my girls.

Communication will be limited again for a while, but I’ll fill in all the detais when I can.  An extra thanks for all of you who have been sending me mail and care packages.  It is a giant morale boost and I am extremely grateful.

Just a quick update for now.  I have arrived safely in the Philippines and am extremely happy to be off the ship.  We are not going to be here for too long, but it is nice to see someplace new and have a change of scenery.  I’ll try and write more soon and hopefully include some photos.