P.J. O'Rourke Goes to Sea
Via a “COD.”
Can’t really follow all Lex
has to say about Naval Aviation?
Go and read this at The Weekly Standard.
Dr. Dolittle 2 film A well spoken reporter manages to take you there mentally, without using the usually irritating “navyese.”
Teaser quotes:
[…]
You sit reversed in cold, dark cacophony while the airplane maneuvers for what euphemistically is called a “landing.” The nearest land is 150 miles away. And the plane doesn’t land; its tailhook snags a cable on the carrier deck. The effect is of being strapped to an armchair and dropped backwards off a balcony onto a patio. There is a fleeting moment of unconsciousness. This is a good thing, as is being far from the window, because what happens next is that the COD reels the hooked cable out the entire length of the carrier deck until a big, fat nothing is between you and a plunge in the ocean, should the hook, cable, or pilot’s judgment snap. Then, miraculously, you’re still alive.
[…]
The Theodore Roosevelt and its accompanying cruisers, destroyers, and submarines can blow up most of the military of most of the countries on earth. God has given America a special mission. Russia can barely blow up Chechnya. China can blow up Tibet, maybe, and possibly Taiwan. And the EU can’t blow up Liechtenstein. But the USA can blow up .  .  . gosh, where to start?
[…]
Onboard we met people more distinguished yet, including Captain C.L. Wheeler, commanding officer of the Theodore Roosevelt, Rear Admiral Frank C. Pandolfe, commander of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, and Command Master Chief Petty Officer Chris Engles, who–as anyone with experience in or of the Navy knows (my dad was a chief petty officer)–actually runs everything.
[…]
Fun read…PJ paints some hilariously true word pictures for the uninitiated.
Categories: Supporting the Troops