A San Diego Fighter Pilot Describes What Its Like To Be On A Long Deployment Aboard An Aircraft Carrier

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But I could choose to have a hamburger every night, but you know what that would do to me, obviously. So, you know, it's just like mom said, you got to have your greens. You got to have your, you know, an apple a day to keep the doctor away. So you really have to be disciplined in your food. And then also the exercise that we talked about to maintain that physical health. And the mental health, yeah, you need a break. You need to do something completely different. For us, believe it or not, we not so much cards, but we would do Xbox. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, and we would have multiple Xbox stations connected together via those cables, cap five cables. And so we would have these giant melees. We'd have 24 guys. in a combat kind of a scenario you know first-person shooter stuff so that would that's honestly we'd have competitions that way or we would we loved to binge our movies i think we had cruise flicks we'd call them like a dirty dozen but you know should go all the way back to the classics like dirty dozen and then all the way forward to binge watching something like arrested development. You know, we needed our comedy. We needed our kind of a humor, if you will, to break up the monotony. We're talking to retired Navy fighter jet pilot lieutenant commander Brian Sinclair. Okay, two things. Did you ever get deployed that long? And do you blame people for getting antsy as long as they've been gone? I've been deployed almost that long, not quite nine months. So I've had, I have four combat deployments under my belt in the 20 years I was in the Navy. This was back when we were fighting Iraq and Afghanistan, so a little different operations. But the monotony of it, all I can say, honestly, and it's not just me serving on the boat, right, or as we call it, the aircraft carrier, it's also the folks at home. So every watch that stood out at sea has to be supported by someone who's keeping a faith at home. So we have this kind of combined or shared mission, but now people at sea are going to have different weights, they're carrying different weights from the people at home, right? So I think that's important to recognize. And the people at sea, they have the danger, they have the repetition, which is going to cause the fatigue. But at home, you have that empty chair at the table. You have those added responsibilities. You have those missed birthdays. So today, excuse me, together, they all need to work on that combined mission. Since you mentioned family, my late father served on a Navy aircraft carrier and has many stories. Didn't share a lot of them, but did a little bit, so I got kind of a picture. But in back then, the technology was different. So when you were serving on board an aircraft carrier, were you able to contact your family or was that limited to communication? It was limited, and you bring up a good point, Brett, and that is folks at home, don't think that the, don't quantify the love that your deployed member has are the number of times he can communicate to you. So we get busy out there, but what will happen is right before deployment or combat operations, because they actually shut off the internet.

So they shut off email and all that stuff because they don't want, you know, some certain details getting leaked out, obviously. Right. So there are a lot of, yeah, there are a lot of times that the telephone system on board, it's actually a satellite relay, as you can imagine. There's no wires, obviously, I don't care. And so what happens is there's a delay of about two seconds. So I don't know the last time you tried to practice talking to someone on the phone when there's a two second delay, but there's a lot of stepping on each other. So it's very difficult over the phone. The phones don't always work. And then the email doesn't always work. And it's really hard to send pictures, but it's easy to send words. So it would be a lot of short emails. I have a question. We're almost out of time. But do you think a lot of what's happening is pressure from home? These guys that are there are feeling so much pressure by their families and their loved ones that they're saying, I need off this carrier. Well, it kind of, Veronica, it kind of is going to lend itself back to the whole idea of the opt tempo. So things are happening quickly out there. They are in, in harm's way, and it's happening repetitively over and over. And so that just wears on the deployed members. So I would not say it's pressure from home. I'd say it's pressure to get home from the people that, you know, they were promised to be out there for seven months and then due to operational requirements. Now they're out there nine months. And it is just a grind. So I feel for the families at home as much as I do as the people deployed. Your perspective is so important for us to understand what's happening. Commander, thank you so much for joining us. You bet. Have a great day. All right. Retired Navy fighter jet pilot, Lieutenant Commander Brian Sinclair. Hey, it's Bubba Wallace from 2311 racing. You know what feels like forever? sitting on a plane waiting for takeoff. Good thing, I've got Jumba Casino. With daily boost and social casino games on tap, this is a kind of fun that makes time fly. Why not turbocharge your downtime? Play now at Jumbacasino.com. Let's Jumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Voidware prohibited by law. 21 plus. Terms and conditions apply. Got plans this summer? A brewery crawl? Another lake trip? The same festival you've been to three times already? Do something different. This August, Virginia International Raceway becomes the ultimate summer destination. Watch Inns's Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, August 21 through 23rd, bring some of the fastest sports cars to battle through VIR's legendary corners. Camp with friends, enjoy live music, and experience a weekend you'll actually be talking about afterward. Start planning now at govIR.net. Vital doesn't always mean visible. Across America, advanced technology is working behind the scenes, strengthening our nation. It protects our war fighters, advances life-saving healthcare, combat cyber threats, and defends the critical infrastructure that keeps our country moving. At GDIT, we power the systems that help America operate, connect, and stay secure. Every hour, every mission, every day. GDIT, behind America's invisible advantage.