Carrier Landing Practice ("CQ")

US Navy Photos

A big part of what we do when out to sea these days is support "CQ" Carrier Qualification or landing practice for the aircrew. We've just finished up with a couple of our tactical squadrons (F/A-18 Hornets) and as I write this the training command is qualifying some of the Navy's newest aviators in the T-45 Goshawk. I can't claim much first hand knowledge since I've only even been a passenger for a couple hundred of these landings but the Navy has studies that show that this evolution (especially in bad weather at night) is more stressful for our pilots than actual air-to-air combat. We practice this often and that makes us the best in the world (much better than those Air Force guys!).

Your Navy Today

US Navy Presentation

You may have noticed that I'm gone a lot! Here's a great snapshot of what the Navy is up to on any given day. The briefing slide is not classified and in fact is a bit old (no security compromise here) but it's a great representation of where we're currently deployed. A number of different missions, with very different requirements. Most of this will never make the news, but we're out there as we have always been out there: contributing to the 'War on Terror,' keeping the shipping lanes open (counter piracy), interdicting narcotics and generally "showing the flag" in support of our allies and as a deterent to any potential adversaries. What is not depicted is the recent Humanitarian effort in which more than 10,000 Sailors and Marines have been involved in the Haiti relief efforts: a total of approximately 17 ships, 48 helicopters and 12 fixed-wing aircraft have been engaged in delivering relief supplies for distribution to affected areas. It's a busy time for us and it takes a lot of training to prepare our ships and their crews for so many diverse missions. And that keeps me out to sea a lot these days.