Good-bye for now USS George Washington!

Glenn and I made the drive down to Yokosuka to the USS George Washington to onload his things for deployment for hopefully the LAST time last weekend!

He's only got a few more weeks on board until it is time to check out of Japan and head for shore duty! Woo woo! Three years of no deployments coming our way!

Glenn at Work

I finally got a few pictures from Glenn at work. Here he is with his LSO (Landing Signal Officer) team helping bring the planes on board. They grade each airplane as it passes/lands which is why they all look rather intense. Although, I'm sure in the sunshine with blue skies and few clouds like this day, they weren't so stressed. I'm not sure how they get a guy on board in the pitch black, with low clouds and he's already boltered (failed attempt to get on board) twice! Better you than me, Mr!

There he is! And the E2 too!

Keen Sword

Here's an update on what Glenn has been up to lately:

Japan, Us launch biggest ever joint military exercise

Happy Thanksgiving USS George Washington!

I'm thinking of the thousands of sailors today on board the USS George Washington who are training and defending so many people today. I'm thankful for everything you do even though you took my husband away today. :) Be safe out there!

Steel Beach Picnic

I stole this letter from the GW's facebook page, but I thought it was a nice glimpse into a day in Glenn's life on the boat. Today of course was not a typical day, but anyway, I thought you might enjoy it. Maybe Glenn even took some pictures?!?

Hello GW Families and Friends!
     Today the crew participated in a completely NAVY unique event commonly referred to as a STEEL BEACH PICNIC.  For the day, we turned the 4.5 acre flight deck into a picnic ground complete with BBQ grills manned by the Chief's Mess and Officer Wardroom.  You could smell chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers from bow to stern.  Our SUPPLY department did a great job themselves preparing all the side dishes and drinks.  Remember, this isn't your ordinary picnic; we're talking about 5,000 hungry guests!  And then there was our team from Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) department who planned all the fun events.  There was music, basketball games, inflatable pools and yes... sumo wrestling!
     After five long, hard months at sea, seeing everyone relaxing and enjoying a much deserved break from the day to day business of carrier life was very gratifying.  We were able to juggle the watch bills to ensure everybody had the opportunity during the day to change out of uniforms and get to the flight deck to enjoy some fun in the sun.
     The pictures we're posting today show your loved ones enjoying food, fun and friendships and just plain relaxing away from their work centers during a gorgeous, sunny Saturday at sea.  The work very hard together as a crew and today, they had the opportunity to relax as a crew.  They are a true team in every respect.  The only thing that would have made today more perfect, would have been to have you all here with us.
     Thanks for your continued support for all of your Sailors while we are underway.  Your letters, email and packages do mean the world to them... and... yes, I constantly remind them "PHONE HOME!"

Warmest regards

"TOO TALL"

CAPT D.A. LAUSMAN
COMMANDING OFFICER
USS GEORGE WASHINGTON

Pusan, Korea and the GW

Glenn was in Korea last month and I finally got the CD of pictures that he emailed me. So, some fun pictures of Glenn cause you don't get to see those very often!

A night out drinking with the squadron in Pusan.

 Toni and Glenn in Korea. I don't know.

Caribou in Korea! He's excited.

Workin' hard for the money.

Glenn working as an LSO (Landing Signals Officer) making sure the airplanes land on board safely.

Crossing the Line

A guest post by Glenn! It only took over 600 posts for him to write his second ever blog post! Yay!

We (USS George Washington and CVW-5) recently underwent one of the oldest and most revered Naval rituals: Crossing the Line.

 

Let’s begin with some definitions:

Pollywog (or Wog for short) - a nasty, smelly, slimy creature, closely resembling a sea slug.

Shellback - the transformed and more superior creature evolved from a pollywog.

Golden Shellback – A shellback who was cleansed while simultaneously crossing the equator and the International Dateline.

Neptunis Rex – King of the Deep, Ruler of the Raging Main .

It is said that Neptunis Rex does not allow a ship to cross the equator until it has been cleansed, therefore ridding it of all Pollywogs.  He sends his representative, Davey Jones, to offer said ship the opportunity to cleanse itself, less the ship and her crew be taken by the sea.  It is the responsibility of the Shellbacks to deal with the Wog infestation.  The ship hoists the Jolly Rogers and devotes the entire day to the cleansing.  This cleansing includes much humiliation, ridicule, and hilarity at the expense of the wogs, as well as a whole lot of water.  Once the ritual is complete, Neptunis Rex grants those who have been cleansed the title of Shellback, and the ship is allowed to cross the line unscathed.

Ritual and rhetoric aside, the Crossing the Line ceremony is a great time for the entire ship and a beloved tradition by our Navy.  I went through as a wog last year, so this year I was able to view the ceremony as a Shellback.  It is much more fun on this side of the fence, but impossible to appreciate without first being on the other side.

Invincible Spirit

Here's a video from Fox News of Glenn's ship!

Keep doing good work, Mr. I'm so proud of you!

Here's a link to another story and video. You even get a glimpse of the mighty E-2C!

Family Day on the USS George Washington

A few days after the ship pulled in to port, I got to go on my first Tiger cruise! Here they used to call it Friends and Family Day and it was renamed to Family and Guest Day (someone didn't pay attention to that acronym) but it was a fun day!
We woke up at 3:30 in the morning because the brow went up at 7 am and it can take 45 minutes to 2 hours to get to Yokosuka. Leaving at 4:30 am though only took 45 minutes, but then another 40 minutes to get through the gate because of all the people coming on board. We had breakfast in the officer's mess (dining room) and took a tour of the ship. Many of the things Glenn had told me about in the past were always locked up or closed because no one was working, but on Saturday, the whole ship was working so I got to see the radar room and catapults and things that I haven't before.Oh and we got to ride the elevator- much faster than I expected! This is the elevator that takes the planes from the hangar bay to the flight deck. There are 4 of them on the carrier and people usually don't get to ride them so it was a fun experience. Here's a picture on the elevator-One of the highlights for me was seeing the E-2C launch from the catapult. The video seems pretty slow, but the thrust really hits you when it gets towards the end of the runway.

After the planes launched, they did an air show. One of the jet squadrons has a former Blue Angel so he did some pretty neat stuff including a sonic boom. I thought the plane exploded for a second cause I didn't hear the announcement of what he was going to do! Here is a picture of one of the F-18s and the Prowler showing how refueling happens midair. The helicopter was demonstrating a search and rescue.






After the airshow, Glenn and I had lunch and watched a movie in his state room. Since he hadn't been on the ship for about a month, we had lots of packing up to do as well. He had to bring the rest of his uniforms and the playstation back home. Since the ship will be in port and things will get fixed and people are living aboard, we also had to lock everything up. You never know what will go missing on the ship.



We headed home right after the shipped docked at about 5 pm and this time it did take about 2 hours to get home. I love Japanese traffic! Glenn and I were exhausted from such an early start to our day.

Geography Lesson of the Day - Sulawesi

The George Washington is in Sulawesi around now according to news reports, but just where the heck is Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes)? I have no idea, but I looked it up for you:


View Larger Map

Fancy Flight suit

Glenn sent me this picture from Foc'sle Follies which was last week. Glenn is in his "fancy flight suit" he said. (They did a skit where he was a news reporter).We're now down to one hand's worth of weeks til I'll see him. Give or take a couple weeks of course. :) The Navy is good at changing it's mind last minute. Miss you baby.

Beer and Phone Calls

The USS George Washington is pulling in to port today! For the 5500 sailors on board this meets drinking and possibly not sleeping in a tin can for a few days and for the thousands of spouse's back here and in the states, that means phone calls and web chats!

I decided not to go since I just got back from the States and few days ago and I didn't want to leave Stella, again. I really wish I was there to see Glenn, but he'll be home soon (just not soon enough). We're still waiting on TDY orders for Glenn, but it looks like a strong possibility that Glenn will fly from port (I'll tell you where once they are actually there) back to the States for LSO training for a few weeks and possibly a swing through a few states to see family and friends. I know he is very excited! I can't wait for phone calls and Skyping!

Go Liberty Bells!

I just got this email from our Skipper. I'm so proud of Glenn and his fellow Liberty Bell pilots!

We just walked out of follies and the Liberty Bells won “Top Hook”! You should have seen everyone’s faces in the air wing when it was announced we won! Many of the fighter guys had never seen an E-2 squadron win “Top Hook”.

It is a unit award given for the squadron during a given time period (line period) who has the best cumulative landing grades in the air wing. Impressive for an old clunky E-2 squadron to win it when we fly against all newer airplanes with modern cockpits, heads up displays, and fly by wire flight controls.

Exciting night for the Liberty Bells!!!
Let me decipher a little bit. Follies is a once a cruise event of skits, songs and sober debauchery where they make fun of each other and other squadrons in good fun. I wasn't aware of this, but they also give out awards it sounds like.

Also, the Liberty Bell is the squadron "mascot" of VAW-115. The spouse's club calls itself the Liberty Belles, but now we have a mouse (male spouse) so that doesn't always work. VAW-115 is our squadron (V=fixed wing airplane AW=airborne early warning).

Sorry baby, but these are kinda funny

Glenn finally was able to send me pictures of him in his flight gear and protective mask. They're actually pretty funny. Funny now that I know he is better and after hearing how ridiculous the situation was. Glenn said he was glad he didn't have an oxygen mask emergency. Do you take off the mask? Put the O2 mask over the other mask? Who knows?!

I've been spending the weekend with my girlfriends from college and I leave for Japan on Monday morning. I've actually been quite anxious to get back to Japan because I feel very out of the loop over here. I don't get word from other wives and the emails they receive from their husbands. When Glenn was in quarantine, I heard nothing and it stressed me out. I also can't wait to see Stella bear! I did not expect to feel this way at all because I didn't feel this way when i was home last fall, but I don't think I knew any better last fall. I only knew what Glenn told me (which Glenn would probably tell you is better) but in Japan I hear rumors and word from everyone else. Soon enough!

Glenn and Jimmy Jett.

Perth Day 5 & 6

Day 5 was a long day but pretty uneventful. Glenn had to be on the ship by 2 am on Saturday morning so we planned on going to Fremantle for dinner that evening, but that is all we had planned. We slept in, hung around the hotel, went to lunch and then went to Fremantle that afternoon. It was a rainy, lazy day for the most part. Just what we needed.

I really hate the day the guys leave for obvious reasons, because he is leaving, but also because it is the longest, most agonizing day. Sometimes I wish they would have to be on the ship at 5 or 6 am. He would wake me up, kiss me goodbye, I would go back to sleep and wake up and it would be a normal day.

Laura and I ended up dropping Glenn and Tyler off at the ship around 11 pm after a few stops a the microbreweries, but they didn't make it to the carrier until 3:30 am. The seas were rough and the small boats kept breaking the mooring lines when they tried to pull up to the George Washington. (Australia doesn't like a nuclear powered ship to pull up to their pier so the GW has to stay about a mile off the coast and small fishing boats take about 90 people at a time back and forth).Laura and I took the train back to Perth and headed to bed. A random side story though, Laura checked out of her room that evening and was staying in Glenn and I's two bedroom, two bathroom suite! Glenn and I got upgraded to a suite his first night in the hotel because the walls were paper thin and Glenn has a, well... boisterous laugh. Banging on the wall from our neighbors ensued with a response from Glenn and a visit from the receptionist and bammo we get upgraded to a suite. Yay! I now know what you get for $100 a night- paper thin walls. Worth the money for a nicer hotel!

So the next morning the girls and Mike had planned on going to an animal park to see kangaroos and koalas up close. We first had to deal with several cases of wine which I'll blog about later, but then we took the train about 30 minutes away to Cohonu Wildlife Park. Our flight didn't leave until 11 pm so we had all day before we had to head to the airport.

The part wasn't the nicest place in the world but they let you wander around with most of the animals. We got to feed kangaroos and wallabies. Here's my new friend, he likes yellow peppers.We real attraction of this not so nice park though is they let you actually hold the koalas! They are the only park in WA that lets you do this. Most you just get to pet and take pictures with. They rip you off to do it, but whatever, I was in Australia.One of the koalas had a baby quite recently and it came out its mama's pouch for a short time. It was so cute! The koalas have very soft hair but it is thick like a sheep. They are just so snuggly though. They hold right on with their giant claws (hence the vest).
Yay Australia! Such a good trip!

Perth Day 4

Sunday was the only day of our vacation that we had planned slightly in advance. When we got in on Thursday and knew the duty schedule, we booked a private wine tour of the Swan Valley. Swan Valley is located about 25 km NW of Perth and is known for its boutique wineries. This means that most of the wineries produce less than 10,000 liters and only sell directly from their tasting sheds. They do not sell their wines to bottle shops.

The twelve of us staying at our hotel as well as two of our bachelors came on the tour. We took a bus to 3 wineries and had lunch at one of them, visited a chocolate shop and then took a cruise down the Swan River back to Perth. We lucked out and had perfect weather for our wine excursion. At one point, Glenn looked out from our table at lunch over the fields of vines and said, "This isn't awful at all." I think he was right. It was my favorite day in Australia.This is where we had lunch at Oakover Wines. We ate out on the terrace and drank wine and had some good food. I could have sat there every day for lunch and been very happy.At Lancaster wines and Jarrah Wines we got to taste some amazing cheese as well. All locally made in WA. If you know Glenn at all, you know he was very happy about this. My man loves him some cheese! We bought some and I sent it back on the ship with Glenn. I'm sure he's enjoying it- a little piece of heaven in a big metal box. :)On the boat cruise back to downtown Perth. What a wonderful day in Western Australia!

Perth Day 3

We didn't have much planned this trip because the work schedule for the squadron was not decided upon until the day that I left for Australia. Pre-booking tours wasn't really an option because we weren't sure when Glenn would be able to attend. I think it worked out best in the end though because it was a nice and relaxing vacation for Glenn.

On Saturday we wanted to visit King's Park because we had heard there were some beautiful views of the city. We also ate at a restaurant called Fraiser's which ended up being one of my favorite meals of the trip- beef filet with pumpkin and feta. I should start remembering to take pictures of the food I order. Oh, western style cooking, I have missed you! King's Park also has a "sky walk" along the park trail. A leisurely stroll with my hubby and friends. Good times.That afternoon we headed to Fremantle to go to the market and attend a reception that the Australians were holding for the US Navy. They had aboriginal dancers perform to the music of a digereedoo. It was really interesting. I didn't know you could make those sounds come out of a hollow tube!Even though it was the 4th of July, we didn't have any fireworks this year, but I think this sunset comes pretty close.

Fall Cruise 2009

Here are some pictures Glenn gave me when I saw him this week (!) that he has taken over the last few months that he has been gone. He even took a video of his plane taking a trap on the carrier. He said he is in the right seat (not flying) which is how he is taking the video and the reason for the less than center-line approach. :)

The USS George Washington as Glenn is approaching it for landing

Some island in the Pacific, couldn't tell you which one even if I wanted to.Thunderstorms rolling in, but a beautiful sunset

I like seeing what Glenn does at work and I'm glad he's finally taking pictures this cruise. Sometimes I have to beg him to get out his camera, but he's getting better!

I miss you already, Mr. I hope the next few months fly by!

Down Under!

Postings will be automatic for a few days because I am here:Visiting him:Yay!!!! I love port calls!!!

Korea?

In case anyone saw or heard about this article which says:

Yokosuka, Japan (TRN)-- The United States has deployed the aircraft carrier George Washington and its Strike Group to take up station near North Korea in advance of a planned ballistic missile launch by that nation toward Hawaii. The missile launch is scheduled for July 4.

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) with its crew of approximately 5,500 Sailors is the United States’ only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier. The George Washington will be joined by Carrier Battle Force 70, Carrier Air Wing 5, Surface Combatant Force Seventh Fleet (CTF-75), Carrier Strike Force Seventh Fleet (CTF-77) and Destroyer Squadron 15 in a massive show of force.

North Korea has stated they will respond with military attacks against South Korea and Japan if any of their missiles are shot down by an outside country.

Glenn's response was: That's all a load of shit as far as we know. Awesome story though. I printed it out and hung it in the ready room. Everyone laughed.

To which my response was: Phew!