Sarge's cockpit videos and low-pass flyby's are great and those types of videos are some of the best that aviation has to offer. However, my all-time favorite video from my time in the Navy is the one above. It was filmed on the USS CARL VINSON (CVN-70) when I served as part of her crew. The piece starts with a few still photos, but is fairly well synchronized with music and video kicking in with footage from the early morning we deployed from Naval Station Bremerton one day in late July 2001. We got to the Northern Arabian Sea on September 10th, transiting toward the Gulf for what was supposed to be an uneventful Operation Southern Watch deployment, turning over with the USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65). However, things didn't quite work out the way we planned, with OSW turning into Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. The video reminds me of what a historic deployment that was, as we launched the first strikes into Afghanistan in October, raising a huge battle flag, and how the whole crew felt immensely proud to do what we were trained for.
Historic deployment, indeed. You're a master of understatement, Tuna.
ReplyDeleteThat was a superb presentation Tuna.
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like cruise videos compete very well.
(Then again, I have a thing for aircraft carriers.)
Excellent memories Tuna. I did three years on a tin can and the bird farms were nothing short of amazing.
ReplyDeleteTied the images to the music quite well.
ReplyDeleteGood work on the deployment, too.
Tuna, which is the official battle flag currently, the striped snake/don't tred on me ensign or the "Don't Give Up the Ship" gold on Blue?
ReplyDeleteWell Done!
ReplyDeleteI was last in those waters in 1987 on Kitty Hawk during a World Cruise.
VX, I can't say I know what is the official battle flag, but I know which one we raised- a huge US Flag that could be seen for miles around the ship. I uploaded it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HXY5YMLEiI&feature=youtu.be
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Lex's squadron- The VFA-94 Mighty Shrikes was on that deployment. I think he had already turned over the reigns by then though.
ReplyDelete