Busan, South Korea

Throughout the planning for our trip into Busan it was clear that it was going to be a challenging few days before port.  All of the previous carriers who have come into the port have called the mooring process the worst ever!  So our plan coming between Japan and Korea while trying to conduct flight ops was subject to questions...

The night before we pulled into Busan, we wanted to fly so that the pilots could stay within their 7 day currency window for night landings.  We failed to account for the fact that at night...the fishing fleets are out in force-- for squid.  With today's technology, squid fishermen have the ability to produce a light to draw the squids to the surface which is as bright as the sun!!!!  At least that's the way it seemed on the bridge picking our way through HUNDREDS of contacts at night...while we were trying to fly airplanes!  Crazy!!!!  To make matters even more difficult, we were working in an area where the Japanese Air Defense Zone, Korean Air Defense Zone, and Air Traffic Control Centers airspaces all overlap.  Very complex!

The next morning setting up for the port entry, things calmed down a lot and the sunrise produced an amazing day--albeit a little cold!  The high temps for our visit were in the mid-30deg F.  Brr...

USS CARL VINSON pulling in to Busan, South Korea at sunrise

The first day in port, there was a meeting with the ROK Navy about the exercise we were doing with them when we left.  It was a long meeting, and we didn't accomplish, too much...just the basics about what we would do during the exercise.

Our first night out was marked by a dinner I organized at a raw fish restaurant that I found on the interweb...Named Gobukesan...which is supposedly a word for Turtle Ship.

Anywho, we met at our hotel and I gave the driver the address.  Fortunately, he found it because the building didn't even look like a restaurant.
The 7 of us went in, were greeted by a lady and shown to a small room with table and chairs on the second floor, overlooking some similar rooms on the first floor.  Shoes off.  Floor is warm.  Ahh...
She brings a menu in Korean.  Some small nondescript pictures. And no words in English were being uttered from her mouth.  Pointing seemed to work.  1 Here... ok.   1 here... ok.  and a small one of these, too...no.  Well, I guess she doesn't think we're that hungry!
So the food started coming out:  So octopus, some oysters, and some orange mushy fish come out on little plates.  Mmm...  Then she came through the door with a big platter.  Set it on the table...as everyone looks at the fish head, still gasping for water...  The fish was all laid out for us on the platter with the fish from whence it came underneath the bed of radish-strips.  Wow!  Talk about fresh!!!  mmm...
But wait, that's not all!  The next few small plates were filled with eel and squid.  Just like their fishy friend: STILL MOVING!!!  The squid was especially challenging to eat since you had to pull the pieces towards the edge of the plate, then pry them off.  Once in your mouth, they continued to stick themselves to whatever they touched-- like the roof of your mouth!  Weird!

Soup with all the parts of fish in it closed out the meal.

The rest of the visit was really neat.  South Korea was very clean, the people were all courteous.  In true Asian fashion, everything was very efficient.  Even when the apparently homeless man was on the subway train and smelled awful, the other Koreans (while holding their hands over their nose and mouth) did not make any other comments to the man.  Very polite.  The largest mall in the world (or maybe just Korea) was there...lots of karaoke, Korean BBQ dinners, and warm coffee kept me going.

Next stop-- Kuala Lumpur!

The airplan cartoon...

I mentioned in my last post about the airplan cartoon...I will post some of my favorite cartoons here and give an explanation for you to enjoy.
Let's start with the basics...for those who don't know carrier ops or naval aviation, the airplan is the tool the ship uses to schedule the airplanes.  The airwing staff and I work together to produce the airplan...it takes a lot of information and people working together every day to produce, and a lot of attention to details to make it work. 

Here's how it works:
On the front of the airplan are the "lines".  Each squadron has a row for their events, and the columns generally denote periods for the flying.  Here is a sample airplan that we used for training.  As you can see...there is a lot going on...


Each line has symbols and notations on it to describe a variety of things that an aircraft can do. Circles denote that they are tankers.  Diamonds tell the flight deck when the airplanes are getting more fuel or swapping out crews, a V says that an aircraft is landing on another ship (or coming here).

Obviously, we can put a LOT of info into a small space...


On the back of the airplan is more information-- stuff like: Briefing times or area assignments, or general notes.  But the most important part of the back page is the cartoon.  The first things people look when they get the airplan every night is the cartoon...I have to come up with the cartoon every night.  Fortunately, there are lots of people around to provide suggestions...and most of the time there is plenty of material to use for comedy...but oftentimes, coming up with a cartoon is the hardest part of my job!

Here is the first cartoon from our current deployment.  I made this the day before we left-- as I was on duty...I got to see a LOT of people bringing WAY too much stuff onboard, so I used a picture of the XO, cut him out and put him with an image from the inter-web and added the caption...

Maybe not the funniest cartoon ever, but each cartoon is sometimes funny in the context of the day...
I'll post some more of our cartoons on here as we go along...some will be good, some will not make sense, some are just plain dumb.

Happy New Year 2011 from the International Dateline!

Happy New Year!!!

As one of the first people in the world to ring in 2011, I’d like to wish you all a Happy New Year.

I am currently just west of the International Date Line, so the 2011 started about 16 hours before New York City and 19 hours prior to the West Coast!  No kidding—probably one of the first 4000 humans to wish each other a Happy New Year!

At midnight here on the 31^st, I was fortunate enough to be manning a .50 cal gun mount and when we saw the starburst flare off the beam of the aircraft carrier, all the .50 cals on the starboard side of the ship opened fire!  Tracers every five rounds sailed off into the dark ocean or bounced off the flat sea into the night.  Pencil flares briefly lit the sky as another barrage of guns were shot.  Truly a unique way to start the new year!

After a hectic December, and November, and October, and…you get the idea, I am ready for some routine…fortunately, nothing we do here on the USS CARL VINSON allows us to get into a routine.  I say “fortunately” because the dynamic nature of the things we do allow me to stay focused and aware of the need for new ways to approach new problems!

The past year has been a whirlwind: moving back to California over Christmas of 2009, and then immediately going on deployment from Norfolk, VA to bring the carrier to its new homeport in San Diego.  I missed my family but was called upon to help others in the wake of the Haitian earthquake.  We were the first big ship on scene only a few dozen hours after the quake.  It was nearly two more weeks before any other major assistance with helos or ships arrived.  I was tasked with creating the plan and scheduling the disaster relief efforts for dozens of helicopters on the deck of the VINSON and from the other ships in the Haitian gulf.  After several weeks, two small deck carriers arrived with a complement of US Marines to

The rest of the trip around South America was exciting and eventful—a quick stop in Rio where I spent a full 24 period as the Command Duty Officer preparing the ship for and executing a flawless reception for hundreds of Brazilians.  We conducted endless days of distinguished visitor (DV) operations the rest of the way around the continent.  Two interesting visits were groups from Chile.  One day, nearly the entire Chilean equivalent of our Joint Chiefs of Staff visited with a former Vice President of Chile…the very next day a group of Chilean 5^th Graders flew out—talk about a difference in levels!  Peru gave me the opportunity to meet some great people and spend a day with some friends from the boat on an EPIC mountain bike ride from the desert peaks in the Andes to the shores of the Pacific…a 6 hour van ride to the start point…and nearly 11 hours of downhill riding (into the night with a full moon) before reaching the coast!  Wow…

A few weeks later, I was ecstatic to get home and be with loved ones!  The rest of the summer was spent preparing the ship for this deployment…that meant some long hours, two months at sea for training, and countless inspections and certifications from different organizations…  A little time was dedicated to helping friends launch a new business and seeing that grow was a blessing.  I am so grateful to have such an amazing group of people around me!

At work, one of the biggest hurdles was called INSURV…a complete top-to-bottom inspection of the ship.  We did very well due to the hard work of everyone on the ship…a true “all-hands” evolution.  A few more training events and a week or so spent moving to a new house in Spring Valley—just inland from downtown San Diego.  This brought me to Thanksgiving in Phoenix and a few days later sad ride to the ship to say goodbye for several months as I left on deployment.

We spent December off the coast of Southern California for our “graduation” exercise—in which the Navy shaved 5 days off the normal schedule (but made us do nearly all the same events) so that the evaluators could get off the ship and be home for Christmas.  We sent them away and headed west.  Christmas near Hawaii afforded me the time to actually spend a day without working 16 hours…and actually watch a movie!

That pretty much brings me to today!  I miss being with family and friends, but know that we are out here to support the US dedication to providing help to those who can’t help themselves.  A few months in support of our interests in the Far East and Mid-East, I’ll be home soon enough!  Until then, I plan on working hard…and keep a blog of my adventures here on the boat…check it out at:

http://adventureswithdream.blogspot.com/

One of my jobs is to create the air plan (essentially the flight schedule for the ship)…and a key element of the air plan is the cartoon.  Every night when people get the air plan for the next day, the first place most look is the back page…just for the cartoon.  Some days, it is a little tough to come up with an amusing comic…but sarcasm goes a long way!

Underway from San Diego

Well, it was a beautiful day when we pulled out.  The flight deck was manned with sailors in their blues.  I was starting to get the schedule put together for the next day.
I got a chance to get to the flight deck just as we were passing Point Loma.  HS-15 did their best impression of a Blue Angel formation as their helicopters approached the ship and did a few laps prior to landing.  Looking good!
We got off to the races right away...helos landing, started the Carrier Qualifications with the airwing, and began events for the Strike Group portion of the first few days.  Lots of balls in the air right now...

As the meetings and planning continue, I'll keep posting what I see here in my little world...

Swan 45 World Championships

Well, it has been a challenging event.  The weather gave us everything...a good medium air day of practice.  Light air sailing days...a day without sailing because of no air.  Followed by a morning without sailing becuase of no air...which turned into an afternoon cancelled sailing because of too much air!!!!  Crazy!!!

More later....

First long day of snowboarding

My buddy Jake and his son wanted to riding this weekend, so I made it up with them yesterday. We went to Keystone with the promise of great weather and decent snow. We didn't get that-- we got decent weather and good snow...so that worked out well!

I had taken my nephew up the week before but didn't get to ride much since I was sticking with him. I had a little pain in my knee, so I switched some settings around on my bindings.

Got on the slopes-- no problem, headed to the Santiago and Outback and spent the day there!

Really windy day most of the day, but it was around 30 deg so it was pretty easy to stay warm. First few runs were groomers. Then we hit a mogul run while Colin was taking a break to fix his boots. After that-- a few more non-stop long runs before lunch.

I changed my bindings to help my knees. The change seemed to help the knees but introduced some other problems. During front side ride, the back of the board wanted to push downhill (turn uphill). A little weight shift fixed this, but caused my glutes to flex way more than they should-- so the outside of my left butt is SORE! I'll take my board down to John at Blindside to help me adjust them.
Stopped and had a good lunch in a CROWDED lodge. Jake and Colin seemed to be having fun. After lunch we took Colin into the trees..."I don't do blacks" he said...well, he not only did blacks, he did black trees...well! Rock on Colin! Did a lot of trees before everyone started getting tired!

By the end of the day, the outside of my calf muscles were locked up tight...ouch...we worked our way back to the front side and did the last run to the River Run. Jake went up on the side of the run through a gully and missed a set of whoops...Yard Sale...big. Fortunately he was fine and picked up his gear, put it on and finished the run. That last run had AWESOME snow. I wish my legs weren't cramped so that I could enjoy it!

Maybe Beavercreek with Linda and Brian next week.

New Years Resolution

So, probably get a bunch of "I'm gonna do this all year" type blogs, so I'll join in.
Plans:
Fix the body-- like to play hard...getting too old for some things, I'll throttle back a little (right...)
Fix the mind-- always room for improvement, 4th step next...soon...
Fix the cash flow-- like to spend...now just do it smartly...

Maintain all the good stuff, and there is plenty of that!!!

At least for #1, I need to ramp up the exercise. Found some fun videos on youtube to get on the trainer and enjoy the ride, so I'll keep that up.
Talked to the mentor tonight for #2, redouble efforts on that front.
right now-- I need to work on #3 tonight...so off I go.