6 minute read
Radio Check
Our greatest advantage in Rotary Wing Aviation is the “Weapons System with a Heart,” namely our people and our families who support them.
The theme for Rotor Review 156, and for NHA Symposium 2022, is “The Human Advantage.”
Military careers can be unbelievably rewarding and fulfilling for service members and families alike. At the same time, this line of work presents us with a litany of challenges that test the strength of our relationships.
Through the stress of deployments, Permanent Changes of Station (PCS), occupational risk, and irregular working hours, what makes a family cohesive? What are the characteristics of a strong and successful military family? What advice do you have for the young family who is just beginning its journey in Naval Aviation?
From CAPT Mike "Midds" Middleton, USN (Ret.)
Nothing shows the Heart of a Navy Family like a Tiger Cruise!
From day one of a long deployment, every sailor starts thinking of the reunion of the family 6-9 months in the future. As you get close to the fly off, the possibility of a tiger cruise brings a mini-reunion one week earlier. I was blessed to host my boys on back to back XO/CO cruises that allowed them a great bunk room with their dad. Without mom onboard to oversee “the boys”, the mini refrigerator was stocked with 5 days of cokes and candy bars! A great 2 days in paradise were planned on Oahu with a luau, snorkeling, and a car tour around the island! Big stuff for a 10 year old (and a dad).
Onboard the BIG “E”, CVTV had a line up of 5, Star Wars movies complete with popcorn, and the Marines had automatic rifles to fire from the round down! But the highlight, in my view, was the opportunity to see Dad participate in the “Airshow” from the flight deck of the Enterprise.
The Seaking went airborne and displayed a dazzling display of smoke launches, MAD, sonobuoy, sonar and swimmer deployments, ending with Old Glory streaming from the rescue hoist, close aboard the flight deck. From my perspective in the cockpit, it was the “highlight of the show”. Upon the debrief of my youngest son on the show, all I heard was, “Those Tomcats were awesome!” Tom Cruise I wasn’t!
The cruise was a career highlight for me and my boys. But to see all the dads and kids of the Indian Squadron together onboard after a long cruise, showed the love that is found in all Navy families that was truly heartfelt!
Our Helo Community is mission centric, but what makes it special, are the people and the families that made up its core! It’s not a job it is truly an adventure. An adventure with great Navy people and great Navy families that are honored and loved.
Sailors man the rails aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) as it pulls into Naval Station Mayport. Enterprise stopped briefly to embark almost 1,500 friends and family for a tiger cruise.
From LCDR Marty Jarosz, - USN Retired HC-6, HC-3, HC-5
My wife and I were married in December of 1974. I had just finished VT-2 and was on my way to HT-8 when we became a crew. We were young, in love and made a commitment that whatever happened in our lives we would always have each other’s back. She was my co-pilot and I was hers. She probably knew emergency procedures better than I did, when she was making sure that I knew them for real. Our crew expanded when our first daughter was born a week before receiving my wings in November of 1975.
We deployed together. I got underway and she navigated the seas on the Homefront. I left her pregnant with our second child for my first Med deployment with HC-6. Back then, all we had were letters to communicate, but communicate we did. We solved problems, argued, loved, discussed and made decisions by mail. We trusted each other to make decisions when the mail didn’t cooperate and we never questioned those decisions because they were made in good faith with information available at the time and they needed to be made. The decisions may not have been right all the time, but they were made with the understanding that we were in this together. Communication is so much easier today, but that doesn’t make it any less important.
My wife and I became involved with squadron life and taught our children to appreciate the importance of what we were doing and what their friend’s dad’s and mom’s were doing to support American values around the world. We made each move an adventure, and over a twenty year career we had many adventures. We never let the kids dwell on what they were leaving when we moved but what they were gaining or had to look forward to at a new duty station. I think if you asked our kids today if they would change anything in their lives growing up, I think they would all say that they wished they could have had one more Navy adventure.
We got mad and frustrated with each other at times. Adjustment to life after deployment, was especially taxing. We had both been independent steamers for seven plus months so the transition back to being together was at times a challenge. We always, however, remembered that early commitment, that we would always be there for each other. We ascribed to the adage, “Always kiss me goodnight!” and if I could impart one piece of wisdom to young couples just starting out it would be that to never go to sleep angry. Sometimes it took us all night to work things through. Sometimes we were individually disappointed at the outcome, but we always tried to lose the anger and anxiety and that was a key ingredient to our success.
I lost my dear copilot a few years ago but I know that she is still there for me and our three children. She still has my back.
