Advice on Aircraft Carriers

[loween]

My daughter is an AM about to graduate from A school and is going to be stationed in Lemoore. She said she can anticipate going out on aircraft carriers. Does anyone have any advice on what she can expect and for a nervous parent who has heard that the flight deck is very dangerous. Will she most likely be on the flight deck if she is an AM? 

[BeachBunny]

loween....Are you on the Pensacola group?. If not, we'd love to have you join us as there are a few other AM moms you can chat with...There's a carrier group on N4Ms but it not very active but has some great information....that being said, my airmen son has been on 3 different carriers. He has been at sea for 20 out of 24 months and works on the flight deck. Yes it can be dangerous but they are highly trained and qualified to be on working on it. I personally spent time on the carrier with my son watching the flight deck in operation.....I'd be happy to answer any questions, feel free to PM me.....:))

Carrier Families:

http://navyformoms.com/group/carrierfamilies?groupUrl=carrierfamili...

[loween]

Thank you so much for you insights. Very helpful! Do you have any idea how long it takes for them to get their paper orders once they have selected their duty station? It has been almost two weeks and my daughter still does not have her paper orders. She is thinking of coming home for a week or so before heading out to Lemoore. Do the orders usually give some leeway before they have to report in Lemoore?

[Jenn (Proud AO Mom)]

Hi loween.  My son is an AO stationed in Lemoore.  He deploys with the USS John C. Stennis when they go out.  He is actually on his 2nd deployment now but has done numerous DET cruises since moving to Lemoore 4 years ago.  I can't speak about AM's on the flight deck - so BeachBunny is your best source there but I totally understand how you feel about having your kid on the flight deck.  I was so afraid his first deployment that something terrible would happen. But they are all so well trained and so respectful of being on the flight deck that it is all second nature to them.  I know that for my son's squadron if one of the guys doesn't seem to have his head in the game while up there they pull him and he can get in a lot of trouble because it's not only dangerous for that individual but for everyone else up there.  Safety is taken very seriously and it is really amazing to watch everyone in action up there. Hang in there!!

[loween]

Thanks for your reply! I am still learning all the Navy lingo. What is a DET cruise? What does that involve?

[BeachBunny]

loween...

DET is detachment...it's a short cruise or training detached from their home base....deployment is longer, think the time line is 4 months or longer for deployment...

Your daughter will know more when she gets to Lemoore, there's many squadrons stationed there. Some are coming back from the Southern Seas deployment so they shouldn't be going back out and others will be scheduled this year...there's a rotation schedule. She'll get her schedule once she gets to Lemoore....step 1 is grad in Pcola, getting her paper orders and then report to Lemoore....I drove by that base the other day..:))

[BeachBunny]

I reread your post from the other day....you're daughter probably won't be on the flight deck much until she has met her quals to do so...which takes time...the squadrons do so much work in the hangar bay and their shop..my airmen didn't work the deck until his 2nd deployment, first one he had KP duty(kitchen prep, he worked in the officer's galley), which is a qual....he loves the flight deck..so much so he volunteered for TAD orders to go with another squadron that was short handed for a 10 month deployment...:)