Vulture's Row

Still somewhere in the Pacific. I didn't get to go on the Helo like I thought I would but that's okay because today, especially the last few hours, was amazing.

We actually met with clients today and that was pretty routine, but then we went to XOI, Executive Officer Investigation. This is when the XO reviews a case to decide if it should go to non-judicial punishment (NJP) in the form of Captain's Mast. The Captain can then give a punishment for whatever the person did and hopefully they learn. The XO also looks at the case to see if more info is needed before mast. We saw three people brought before the XO, two for sleeping through clean-up and one for indecent assault (I guess he hugged a girl and tried to kiss her...not a good thing on a carrier). It was pretty intense and I'm glad it wasn't me there.

After chow and another round of clients, our Judge took us up to PriFly so we could see it at night. It is amazing to see everyone just operating so fast and doing so many things at once. We couldn't see a lot but we could see the planes taking off and that is pretty incredible. They move so fast right away and yet it looks very controlled.

As we were leaving there was a group of distinguished visitors exiting an area called Vulture's Row. The public affairs officer saw us and lent us some ear protectors and then we went out to Vulture's Row ourselves. From there we could see the planes coming in and a few taking off at night, Helo's landing and taking off, about a billion stars, the moon coming up (it was actually red at first), and the water leading you right out to it. The ship turned around a lot and considering the size of this thing, it can actually turn pretty fast. Keep in mind we are on deck 9 watching all of this...I get paid to do this!

Watching the water and the moon was quite a sight. It is very peaceful even though you hear the jets roaring in the background. As the planes land, they touch down going full throttle so if they miss the cables or they snap, they can take off right away. Of course if they catch the cable, they go from 200+ to 0 in about 20 feet.

Off to bed. Tomorrow is another day of "work."