By BILL SWANSON
Public Affairs

NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, MD—For five years now, NAVAIR's Logistics department has been sponsoring field trips for its acquisitions logistics interns to visit a Navy ship for a few days to help them get a grasp on how their logistics work fits in to the "big picture." And so to do that, they have always chosen a big ship, an aircraft carrier.

This year's group of 10 logistics management specialists and logistics engineers chosen from five NAVAIR facilities recently returned from their field trip, and they got to do something few others have done: they were the first interns (and the very nearly the first visitors of any kind) on newly commissioned carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), currently stationed in Norfolk.

In August Reagan put to sea for four days of tests and sea trials off the Virginia coast, and the interns rode along.

"It was probably the most exciting experience I've ever been afforded," said Suzanne Cavano, a logistics management specialist doing a rotation in manpower personnel and training at NAWCAD at NAVAIR Lakehurst, N.J. "We were treated like VIPs the moment we set foot on that ship."

"It was an outstanding learning event - we got to see how logistics affects the average Sailor out there," said Ryan Moore, a logistics management specialist intern working at Air 6.0 Industrial Operations at Pax River for the past three months. "A couple of guys [on the Reagan] pleaded for us to remember the older legacy [systems] when newer things are fielded, support the older legacy [equipment] until they are phased out - they'd been bitten by that before."

The interns were quartered in staterooms in "officers' country" and ate in both the officers’ wardroom and the enlisted mess.

All 10 interns were made "honorary Sailors," and got their share of souvenirs - hats, shirts, coffee mugs, and USS Reagan Beanie Babies - from the ship's gift shop, she said.

The highlight of the trip "had to be watching the night flight operations from 'Vulture's Row' [the observation platform, nine decks above the keel]," Moore said.

The interns were also allowed a special privilege - watching operations from the landing signal officer's platform.

"The LSO platform was also pretty cool, [watching] F/A-18s and F-14s and CODs [C-2s flying 'carrier onboard deliveries'] doing some daylight operations," Moore said.

"That was spectacular," Cavano said, "one of the highlights - being able to stand out with the LSOs on the LSO platform while they were arresting aircraft."

The interns spent the first day at sea touring the ship with Lt. Cmdr. Terrence Hammond, the AIMD officer, who explained what was done in each shop.

"We listened to their concerns, and they told us about what they do, and its importance to the mission," Cavano said. "We got a good understanding of the issues in the AIMD department."

"We really got an insight into how the fleet operates, and how what we do here at NAVAIR and Pax River affects them - it really puts it in focus," Moore said.

"It gave us all a different perspective, being out there," Cavano said.

The interns went up to the bridge, met the skipper, who then was Capt. J.W. Goodwin, and met the air boss, and participated in FOD walk-downs on deck a couple times a day, she said. It was announced on the ship's intercom that NAVAIR interns were welcome to join the foreign object debris walkdowns, and under those circumstances the interns could hardly refuse.

Still, it wasn't all fun and games.

"By end of the trip I didn't want to hear the bells and whistles, especially reveille at 6 a.m.," Cavano said. "After a week we'd had it with reveille, especially after working 12-hour days as they do [on the Reagan]. I've never seen such a bunch of hard-working people."

"Being introduced to the fact that ships have only ladders and no stairs was one of the best physical fitness programs the Navy ever instituted - I lost five pounds, even eating everything that we ate," she said. "We all came away with such a respect and admiration for the people that are serving us in the U.S. Navy, and how important it is for us to do our job to the best of our abilities to allow them to do their duties."

"I can't say enough about the crew on board, they displayed a lot of professionalism and military bearing," Moore said. "They definitely gave me a new appreciation for what the new men and women are doing [in the Navy]. I really enjoyed meeting the Sailors out there - I was amazed at their dedication-working 12 hours a day seven days a week, [they] even hang around the shop after hours. To me that was very impressive, shows what a high-quality military we have."

Moore described the trip as "very useful, I'd recommend it to any of the interns who might be a little skeptical about it, especially any who haven't been in the military - give 'em an idea what it's like."

The interns included three from Lakehurst, four from Pax River, two from MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., and one from NAVAIR Orlando, Fla.

—USN—

NAVAIR provides advanced warfare technologies through the efforts of a seamless, integrated, worldwide network of aviation technology experts. From aircraft and weapons development to carrier launch and recovery, from sensors to real-time communications to precision targeting, from aircraft and weapons sustainment to state-of-the-art training, NAVAIR provides dominant combat effects and matchless capabilities to the American warfighter.