FRONT ROW Part 1

THERE are two types of hierarchies in a Navy Fighter squadron.  One is based on seniority (how long you’ve been there), important for watchstanding, the types of ‘ground jobs’ one is eligible for, and ‘pecking order’ for Ready Room seating.  The other is based on merit, existing in the eyes of your peers, the other junior officers (JOs for short--Lieutenants and below): it’s the earned reputation and acquired status from the sum of your actions.  It’s how well you fly around the ship, how aggressively you fight the airplane, your handling of pressure, your liberty exploits, your leadership to your Sailors, and your general contribution to esprit de corps of the Ready Room.   

When you’re a new guy in your first fleet squadron, you arrive under an unwritten probation.  Those aviators already established in the Ready Room try and figure out whether you have the mettle to be a reliable wingman, the piloting skills to bring the aircraft back safely in any conditions, the cool head and imagination it takes to be a liberty buddy who will be both trustworthy and worthy of their company.  Aviation is a harsh business that demands a high level of performance; those who can’t adjust to this crucible of pressure and scrutiny, will be culled from the herd sooner or later. 

This probation lasts until the collective decides you have the skills to survive and that you’re ‘ok.’  For some, the ‘natural’ pilots with God-given abilities who were born to fly Navy fighters off carriers, the period is short, a couple of months, many even weeks.  For those that struggle with anything--mastering the aircraft systems, in-flight refueling, boarding rate, landing grades (and every landing is graded throughout your career, no matter how senior you are), adjusting to the Ready Room--that period is much longer, perhaps a year or longer, until they earn acceptance.  Those who have to work hard at almost everything for a long time are not-so-endearingly referred to as ‘plumbers.‘  I was a plumber.

New pilots to their first fleet squadron were either 'rock stars' or 'plumbers.'  I was a plumber.

But this is a story of good fortune, of how my relatively low place in the seniority pecking order resulted in one catalyzing event, because I literally happened to be sitting in the right place at the right time--boosting my status in the eyes of my peers to Ready Room hero, and resulting in my acceptance.  A plumber understands that it is better to be lucky than good, if you can’t be both.

Ready Room photo from the early days--unknown squadron.  They haven't changed much over the years. 

For the unfamiliar, a Navy Ready Room is the gathering place onboard an aircraft carrier for all the aircrew from one squadron.  It’s the both soul and nerve center of a squadron at sea.  It’s where the business of Naval Aviation is conducted: flight planning, briefs and post-flight analysis; aircrew training and LSO debriefs; and All-Officer-Meetings (AOMs) for the Commanding Officer (CO) to communicate to his/her officers.  On the walls are charts and corkboards covered with diagrams, weather forecasts and divert information, required reading about the ‘emergency-of-the-day’ to be discussed in every brief, intel photos of threat nations’ aircraft and surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers.  At the front of the room are chalkboards for briefing (later replaced by whiteboards and markers), and in the back greaseboards for tracking the flight schedule (later replaced by flat screen TV/video displays).  The Ready Room is a squadron’s identity and sovereign territory.  Aviators from other squadrons are welcome, provided they understand they are guests and act accordingly; disrespecting trespassers and invaders will be dealt with swiftly, and face the possibility of forcible ejection.  

On no-fly days, or after flight operations are complete, Ready Rooms become part clubhouse, part fraternity house.  They can be noisy with cards or backgammon, or movies (‘called ‘roll’ems)’; or they can be quiet, a good place to catch up on paperwork, study aircraft system manuals (NATOPs), pore over Tactics Manuals (TACMANs), or write a letter home (later replaced by e-mail).  On a no-fly day you’ll eventually congregate to the Ready Room sooner or later just to ‘see what’s going on.’  A good squadron with good morale will cultivate a positive atmosphere that attracts folks to the Ready Room on no-fly days, making folks want to be there--a bad squadron with poor morale will always be almost-empty, unless mandatory JO presence is required.  

The iconic Ready Room chair, your office, home, and personal space on deployment  

An iconic part of each Ready Room are the sturdy metal ready room chairs, designed in the 1930-40‘s.  The are heavy, created to stay still during heavy seas; they recline slightly, and each has a sliding drawer underneath the seat, and pivoting tabletop swiveling from the armrest.  They are comfortably padded in brown leather (some commands get them re-covered in squadron colors).   Each officer has his/her own Ready Room chair.  It is your personal office, your private space, and the neighbors around set the tone for you deployment.  Choice of chairs is made at the beginning of each deployment by seniority; CO and XO always sit in the front, usually flanked and followed by the squadron Department Heads, then the JOs, from most senior to least.  The most junior JOs get the least desirable chairs. 

VF-154 BLACK KNIGHT emblem.

My first fleet squadron was the ‘Black Knights‘ of VF-154.  The Black Knight Ready Room on USS CONSTELLATION in the 80‘s was Ready Room 8, nestled in a large space between the arresting gear engine rooms for the 1- and 2-wire (very loud, distinctive metal/hydraulic screeching noises when an aircraft caught the 1-wire).   The space was a little ‘wider’ than it was ‘long;’ it had a few less ‘rows’ of chairs and more chairs in each row than many Ready Rooms on the ship.  

Ready Room 8 on CONSTELLATION, late 1989 while operating in the North Pacific.  Aircrew are donning heavy anti-exposure suits, or 'drysuits,' designed to lengthen survival time in the event of ejection over the cold waters.

The Black Knights in those days were an assortment of odd characters (as most squadrons were, I suppose); a mix of hard-drinking womanizers with the abstemious, including a Mormon; former football-playing jocks alongside slide-ruler-toting geeks and nerds.  We were a collection of All-Americans, misfits and strange agents, sometimes goofballs, sometimes brilliant.  But there was an ethos of openness and accountability, cultivated through the Fighter community in that time.  You needed to be able to trust those you flew with in dangerous conditions and in combat; that trust was borne out of an absolute honesty with each other, to the point of brutality.  There wasn’t much room or tolerance for ‘spin‘ or sugar-coating--if your performance on a flight was bad, you needed to own up to all aspects of that, or your peers would hammer you to get the message across.  It wasn’t mean-spirited; this honestly was the necessary basis for trust in bad-weather/pitching-deck flight conditions, and would be necessary in combat.     

One of my role models during that 1989 deployment, at the Royal Perth Yacht Club during a formal Dining In.  You can dress us up, but you can't take us anywhere...

One more thing the Black Knight Ready Room consistently was in the late 80‘s--it was always entertaining.  The wit and humor of the Ready Room was incredible--thick skin was necessary for survival.

Skipper (left) and his pilot participating in one of the Black Knight traditions, the Arena--those who have brought discredit to the Black Knights during flight ops that day are subjected to 'stoning' by paper wads.  Some of these paper wads were reinforced or enhanced.  I was 'stoned' many times my first deployment for my various transgressions.  It was a great training tool...   

I got to the squadron in March 1988 at the beginning of the ‘work up cycle;’ I had the opportunity to go to sea several times for the various exercises a ship and Air Wing do together before deployment.  There was a reason for that timing....