Left photo depicts our Greyhound at the Norfolk Naval Facility awaiting the DVP Group. Right photo depicts the cramped passenger compartment of the Greyhound as seen from it's rear cargo door.

The next morning the Navy had a van and Chief Sesit pick us all up at 8:00 a.m. at our hotel.  The drive to the base air terminal took us by the docks where destroyers, freighters, and helicopter carriers were impressively moored.  The Norfolk Naval facility, which is the Truman's homeport,  is the largest Navy base in the world and it is packed with interesting buildings, ships, aircraft and people.  Once at the air terminal, Chief Sesit, who is a journalist with the PAO, gave us our second of many, many briefings.  The Navy is excellent about giving out useful information and the Chief and his contingency did an outstanding job.

A COD about to "arrive" on the USS Truman. It lands will full throttles and stops within 400 ft. if it's tail hook catches one of the five arresting wires. If it doesn't, it is "bolter" and continues down the deck to take off again.

At this second briefing, we were required to fill out short medical histories.  After being told that life on a carrier can be dangerous, we were also asked to complete a form for notification of our next of kin in the event of a medical emergency or accident.  The form also gave consent to provide medical treatment if the need arose.  The Chief concluded his briefing telling us the Truman was now involved in carrier qualifications (CQ's) and training carrier qualifications (TCQ's).

The top of the island tower is 20 stories high off the water. Truman's deck is 251 ft. at it's widest point and stretches 1096 ft. long - it covers an area 4.5 acres. Interestingly, the photographer was not tilting the camera in this shot. Rather, the Truman was in a fast turn.

Our next briefing was about the "float coat", which is the Navy's version of a life jacket.  Petty Officer David Wells explained how, in the unfortunate event of a water ditching, what we were to do.  Being an attorney, a water ditching didn't concern me much because I knew, as a professional courtesy, I could depend on sharks to help us out.  Nevertheless, I listened as we were told how to automatically and manually inflate the float coat, to inflate it only after leaving the plane, and how to use the strobe lights, whistle, and the die markers therein.

COD pilot Lt. Steve Sladsky briefed us next on the planned flight and on the COD.  We learned that the Navy has thirty-eight C-2's and that our plane and crew were part of the "Rawhides."  The flight was briefed for us to travel approximately two hours at an altitude of 25000 feet to a spot 90 miles off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida where we would "arrive" on the Truman. 

An F-18 at the blast wall readies for departure as a hold back is attached to connect the plane to the catapult shuttle. Notice the rainbow shirts where each color denotes a specific duty.