Reply #4: Memories... [View All]

I deployed with the USS America (CV-66, she now sleeps with the fishes) twice from Pier 12 on Med/IO cruises. It's the worst feeling in the world, watching the pier recede as the tugs tow your boat away. What made it even harder was that my squadron was stationed in Jacksonville, FL. That meant there was no one in VA to wave to me when we set sail.

Conversely, "Channel Fever" was probably the BEST feeling I've ever known. After 6+ months - 48 hours out, launching all the planes back to the beach and KNOWING it was over and that we'd soon be kissing the ground in the good old US of A. "Manning the Rail" in our "Cracker Jacks" when we sailed into Hampton Roads... it was windy and about 40 degrees and didn't seem like a chore at all.

Our AME workcenter was right next to the brow and the last time we returned about 10 of us hid in there until liberty was called for O-3's and above. We ran out of the workspace and were the first sailors off the boat. One of my all-time favorite memories...