The best part of the day was boarding the Thai aircraft carrier HTMS Chakri Naruebet (CV911) to take photos of the arriving ships. Check out the bow of this carrier - it's got a ramp for the aircraft as opposed to our catapult system. Thing looks pretty silly to me.
The Thai guys weren't exactly cool w/ letting us on their ship - despite it being open for any civilian to embark. And they were doing it by the hundreds as we had to wait. After some Jedi mind tricks (calling their officer in charge), we were finally able to get on board and set up for the shoot.
I ended up posing for more pictures with the civilians than taking my own - including one where I held a young boy for a family portrait. Then it was back to business shooting.
I was absolutely drenched from the intense Thai climate while my asian counterparts remained bone dry. The high yesteday was 97 degrees farenheit w/ about 85 percent humidity. As you can see, I was wearing thick cammies - the equivilent of a canvas tent in dark colors.
As for myself being back on a ship, both the Thai carrier and USS Harpers Ferry was a bit surreal, but incredibly familiar. Warships are warships and if you've lived on one long enough, there's very little readjustment when you revisit - if any at all.
After all that time on an aircraft carrier I figured it was time for some flight ops. Look at my UAV (unmanned arial vehicle) go!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment