Wow - what an experience ! Today the boss gave me an extended "lunch" so I could attend a presentation to the docents by Captain Ted Branch, Captain of the USS Nimitz.

It was just super !

Capt Branch talked for about 45 minutes with a power point presentation, then he took questions for the next hour. It was amazing. Here is a young man, one of the Navy's finest, and he was giving us the feel for a day-in-the-life of an Aircraft Carrier Captain. He is certainly one busy man, and he's very much in the know. I'm glad he's on our side !

He also explained and showed how the ship is a small city with all the elements you would expect a city to have. They even have an on-board TV station. He sometimes uses this to address the crew, since it's hard (impossible) to assemble 5,000 + sailors at once.

The Capt took us on a video tour of the ship introducing us to key sailors and a variety of locations on the ship. He even showed us his state room. He pointed out that after 18 months as Captain, he can count on one hand the number of times he has slept in those quarters. He showed us his "at sea cabin", which is located within 10 steps of the Bridge. Very tight, yet efficient, quarters. But it has it's own 'head', and as any sailor in the Navy will tell you - when you get your own head, you are really somebody !

The vets in our group really grilled him on questions how the Navy has changed since they were on ships. I just drank it all in, making notes, and sitting there very impressed.

Thanks boss, for the extra time - and thank goodness for this experience.

Tomorrow - I'll be back in uniform and standing watch on the ship. If you are on-board, come by and say "ahoy". ( I think that's sailor talk for 'howdy' )

Wow what a day at the Air Show. I met vets from all the services and boy-o-boy the stories they tell !

I saw some vintage aircraft and some newer models too. I got to see a B24 - which as we all know, was the kind of plane that FDR and Harry Truman used for their Presidential aircraft. Very cool.

I met a fellow from a Civil War group and we traded trivia until I stumped him 3 times in a row. Nice enough fellow, though. He wanted to know if I'd volunteer for his group - sorry pal, I have my hands full with the Midway these days.

What a day on the ship !

It started with a "CE" (Continuing Education) meeting in the new training room. The Galley Supervisor gave us the low-down on all the Galley processes and wild stories. It was really interesting. Then, we had a panel of pilots sit thru "Aviation for Dummys" for us. I'm still a dummy, not as much as I was before.

Then I worked the ship giving tours thru the Island. I took groups from Pri Fly, to the Chart House, and then to the Bridge. I have several very interesting groups. A bus load of high school students arrived. Turns out they were from Wisconsin. They were enthusiastic and very inquisitive. They really seemed to enjoy the tours. Then, as they were leaving, we saw them gather on the pier and they began to sing. They were a chorus - they sang God Bless America. Wow - we watched it and were very impressed. Thanks Wisconsin !

Then later, I noticed my tour groups had a several older follows with "USS Oklahoma" caps and jackets. I asked them about it and it turns out they are in town for their annual reunion. These are Pearl Harbor Survivors of the USS Oklahoma. After the tour, a couple of them came back to thank me for the tour and said how much they enjoyed it. Thank me ? ! ! ! Are you kidding ? I told them "THANK YOU!" and that we were honored to have them as guests on board.

Well, what a day. Tomorrow I'm working at the Midway booth at the Air Show. That should be interesting too.

Another great weekend on the ship . . . They started something new - taking a survey of guest coming out of the Chart House and the Bridge after we gave our presentations. The guests were asked to rank the experience on a 1 to 5 scale. Afterward, we went over the results in the docent office. Well, you can't expect all 5's - and I didn't get all 5's. I got a few 6's and a 14 too !

I think it has something to do with measuring the customer responses and experimenting with re-routing the guests to find the most efficient path thru the Island ( Pri-Fly, Chart House, and Bridge ). This Summer we may get 5,000 or more on board - and the officers want a plan to handle them efficiently while still providing a good on-board Midway visit. We'll see what happens next.

Today is/was Easter - I went to Sunrise Service at Point Loma then worked on the ship all day. We had a pretty good turn-out - more than last year on Easter. The clouds looked threatening in the morning, but cleared up in the afternoon to become another beautiful Southern Calif day on the flight deck.

Next weekend is the CE ( Continuing Education ). The topic will be the Galley, and Aviation for Dummys. Looking forward to it - since I'm the biggest dummy.

It was another fun weekend on the ship. Today was really "international day" - I worked in Primary Flight Control and in the Chart House and the guests I met throughout the day came from: Norway, Finland, Mexico City, Germany, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, England, Peru, and Iran. How about that ? ! ! I even had a few people from San Diego come thru.

The Midway Volunteer Appreciation Event was last night on the ship.

I got to meet many of the other volunteers and mingle a little. There are some very nice people volunteering there, most of them are Vets with very interesting stories.

I got to sit thru a pre-flight briefing and then actually fly an F4 Phantom in the Flight Simulator. That was great. Watch your air speed and your elevation - I found out those are key. I buzzed San Diego and then spotted terrorists had taken over Qualcomm Stadium so I launched my rockets and leveled it. Then as they were trying to get away on Hwy 8, I machine-gunned their caravan. Hmmm - that might have been the 6:pm San Diego commute traffic, I'm not sure.

We had a nice dinner, they gave out awards for service, and then we heard speeches from the leaders. They said nice things about us and that the Midway Museum couldn't operate without the volunteers. It's nice to be appreciated.

Today I worked the Hanger Bay in the morning, and finished the day in the Engine Room. I haven’t worked the Engine Room in a while, so it was fun to get back there.

In the Engine Room it seems sometimes that crowds come down all at once, and then nobody for a while. That was the case today. I was sitting there by myself when a couple walked down the stairs. They were listening to the self-guided audio tour, so I didn’t approach them. Then they noticed me standing to the side and asked… “are you one of the ghosts we’ve heard about on this ship?” I’ve been asked about ghosts before, but this was the first time I’ve been asked if I was a ghost! I disappointed them and told them “No, I’m just a docent.”
I should have told them “Boo !” oh well, next time.

Here is a pic of the Throttle Board in the Engine Room. It looks pretty ship shape to me.

I worked the full watch both days this weekend. We had a pretty good crowd both days. I worked the Island tours Sat morning.

We got backed on on the tours - my group left the Chart House and had to wait on Vultures Row while the group ahead of us in the Bridge finished. So I created a new 'station' on Vultures Row.

Here a pic of Vulture's Row. This is where we staged waiting for the Bridge to open up. Notice the line backing up down below on the flight deck. I hope that docent ahead of us hurries up.

On Vultures Row I pointed out the E2 Hawkeye below us and the A6 Intruder. I took this time to explain how Admiral March chose this to be his Flag Ship during the 1991 Gulf War. The group seemed to like that.


Here is a pic of the E2 - ain't she a beaut ? !