On Board the USS Abraham Lincoln

These are some of the men and women protecting our nation’s freedom.  They're on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, sometimes underway for months at a time.  When tragedy strikes their brothers and sisters at war, as it did earlier this month when 30 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan, the crew mourns.  22 of the fallen were navy seals.

“It's an extremely sad situation.  It comes with the territory, you wish it didn't.  Your heart goes out to the families,” said Lt. Mike Givens, originally of Hanford.

Givens has been in the Navy nearly 20 years, many of which were spent as a pilot.  He says two decades of experience doesn't diminish raw emotions and occasionally, loneliness.

“[We’re] doing a pretty important job, so that helps, but being away from family for as long as we are takes its toll on everybody,” said Givens.

At the young age of 25, Scott Elwell, a pilot stationed in Lemoore, has already coped with loss on his own base.  Two Lemoore pilots were killed during a training exercise in April of this year.

“It affected the whole community.  Those guys were very, very close.  It was just a sad day.  We all pulled together and moved on,” said Elwell.

On the ship, communication with the outside world can be difficult.  There's usually no cell service, only internet access.  Much of the time, sailors receive bad news online.  For most, email is their lifeline during the months away from family.

“Whenever I get a chance to use a computer, once or twice a day, just make sure everything's going alright back home,” said PO3 Chris Skowronski, a maintenance technician.

Many on board the Lincoln will be deployed at the end of this year.  For some, it's a second or third tour.  That's why days like this one are cherished.  Land appears through the haze, the ship docks in San Diego, and crew walks on solid ground.  Modern conveniences, and maybe even the company of friends and family, will be enjoyed, even if it's just for 24 hours.

While at sea for months at a time, it's nice to lighten up once in a while.  Crew on board the USS Abraham Lincoln unwind by watching a news program with a twist.  Life on an aircraft carrier can get pretty monotonous.  Work, eat sleep, and then work some more.  But according to The Boat Show, which is produced by a Valley sailor, things can get pretty interesting.

It's not the real Olympics, just a routine exercise aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.  But for The Boat Show staff, it's material for their bi-monthly newscast.

MC3 Colby Neal is the man behind the show.  Not only is the Clovis High School grad the host., he also writes, shoots, and edits.  When he enlisted four years ago, the Navy sent him to video school.

“I couldn't believe that I would come into the Navy and end up hosting a news show on an aircraft carrier.  I would have never believed that, coming from photography and just wanting to get better with that,” said Neal.

The Boat Show's been on the air for about a year.  It's the only broadcast of it's kind in the entire fleet.  It features real news, with a twist.  There's comedy and even music videos.

“We try to keep it fresh.  We know we have an audience of 20 to 21-year-olds, on average, so we introduce hip hop to the show.  We try to keep it fun that way,” said Neal.

MC3 Jimmy Cellini is technically a reporter, but the former stand-up comedian mostly just hams it up for the camera.  It helps ease tension during the long months underway.

“Everybody's really serious so it's kind of nice to be a little light-hearted.  We all understand what we're doing is a real thing but it's nice to joke around,” said Cellini.

The show is a big hit, on board and off.  Crew members’ families can watch on Facebook to try and catch a glimpse of their son or daughter.

“Family members can follow us along while we're on deployment.  It gives them a good feeling, seeing some of their kids in our news segments,” said Neal.

Making The Boat Show could be a reality series of its own.  Equipment is less than top notch, for example, their microphone flag is made of cardboard and electrical tape.  But it's a labor of love and the experience may be a ticket to a future career outside the Navy.

With 5,000 people aboard one ship, crowds and a lack of personal space are common.  But occasionally, sailors get the opportunity to stretch their legs and have some fun.

They duck for low ceilings, squeeze past lines of people in narrow walkways, and carefully navigate steep stairs.  At capacity, 5,000 sailors are on this one ship.  The tallest among the masses may have it the worst.

“It's like a video game trying to make my way through that deck; dodging left and right,” said LCDR Corey Cherrett, who is 6’7” tall and works in an area where there’s several obstacles overhead.

“There's a nice barrel switch behind me that's taken me to the ground on one knee a few times,” said Cherrett.

It's not PO3 Chris Skowronski’s height that presents a challenge, it's his background.  He was raised in rural Jackson, outside Sacramento, population: 4,000.  There were less people in his entire city than on this carrier.

“Just a lot, a lot, of people in such a small space.  It's really cramped and there’re a lot of different attitudes everywhere,” said Skowronski.

One of the few places on the carrier that's not cramped is the hangar bay.  That's where a lot of people like to unwind with a very competitive game of basketball.  With music blaring and basketballs bouncing, a tournament draws players and spectators.  I'm told this kind of action only happens once a month.  It's a much needed break from day to day duties.

“It gets stressful working so much and off time isn't really off time since there's not that many activities to do.  When they give us the opportunity to get the court out, a lot of our friends get together, have a good time, laugh, just be competitive,” said Matthew Richard, an aviation technician who loves playing basketball.

For a few precious hours, they get to stretch their legs.  No job to think about; the only thing that matters is winning.  But when the game's over, the music stops, and the basketball gets put away.  Back to the routine and small spaces for another month.

It takes thousands of people doing dozens of odd jobs to make a floating city run smoothly.  From steering the aircraft carrier to making the coffee, every task serves a purpose.  CBS47 was recently invited to spend 24 hours on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, where sailors from all over the world work long hours to protect our freedom.

The combat mission is simple: provide support for troops and launch and recover aircraft.  But it's everything else that happens on board the ship that keeps thousands of sailors busy on a daily basis.

When you think aircraft carrier, you probably think of jets launching and landing.  But for each one, there are hundreds of people working behind the scenes to keep everyone on board safe.

“What we do up here is very important.  If we don't train people properly, lives could be lost up here,” said Assistant Officer Paul Young, who works flight deck control.

The mechanism flight control uses to "see" what jets are where on the deck, looks much like a big game board with game pieces.  They use this map to decide whether jets can come in or go out. 

The captain has a better view of the action from the top of the tower.  When he's away from his post, a team of officers navigate through the waters.

“We keep it from hitting other ships; keep it from hitting ground.  If I can do that, we call it a success,” said Lt. Commander Corey Cherrett.

These are some of the big jobs, but there are dozens of others, equally essential, manned by some 5,000 people.  The average age of a sailor is 20 years old, which is younger than the actual the carrier, built in 1989.  Simply maintaining supplies on board takes hundreds of hands.

“There are certain items that we call "never out."  Toilet paper, copy paper,” said Arsenio Tango, a logistics specialist.

If an Army marches on its stomach, the Navy sails on caffeine.  The ship goes through 80 pounds of coffee every day because no matter the job, everyone on board works long hours.

“We work about 14 hours, in supply.  It's about a 14 hour day,” said Paul Godbey, a logistics specialist.

As for who prepares the coffee and cleans up after meals, they all take turns.  Every sailor does four months of mess, or kitchen duty.  Each job, big or small, is vital to operate this city on the sea, which can be underway for months at a time.

It's a city on the sea.  The USS Abraham Lincoln is one of eleven active aircraft carriers in the United State's Navy.  Thousands of sailors, including local men and women, live and work aboard the ship.  CBS47 was invited to spend 24 hours on the carrier, but first, we had to get there.

It began at the Navy base in Coronado where a cargo aircraft is ready to go.  Although it's spacious, the C-2 alpha greyhound, or COD, as it's known, is a far cry from commercial first class.  After a brief safety talk, the flight is underway.  Our camera is allowed to shoot from the cockpit as pilots guide the plane toward the air craft carrier, located about fifty miles off the coast of San Diego.  When we land, the plane will go from over 100 MPH to a complete stop in about two seconds.  The pilot only has a 350 foot landing strip, compared to thousands of feet at an airport.  Takeoffs require even less space.

Over the course of several days, pilots from Lemoore and other bases train to become qualified to land and takeoff of air craft carriers.  Scott Elwell, a 25-year-old from Lemoore, is one of those pilots.

“You get that feeling of, oh my God, there's small air craft carrier in the middle of the ocean, and you're just like, ‘I'm supposed to land on that.’  It's a pretty intense feeling,” said Elwell.

His training class wears these patches that say “The Emancipator.”  Each class creates its own slogan to remember this time.

Back out on the flight deck, it takes hundreds of people to make launches and landings run smooth.  Lt. Mike Givens, originally of Hanford, is called a "shooter," just like it says on his shirt.

“It's a steam-operated catapult, so there're two giant pistons,” said Lt. Givens.

He's responsible for launching aircraft off the boat.

“I think it's a blast.  I love it; the adrenaline rush every time you do it.  I haven't got tired of it yet,” said Lt. Givens.

Each day, when the last plane is safely in the air, the crew celebrates the victory.  The dangers of working the four acre flight deck are inherent, but it's the carrier's most obvious and important duty.  On the 19 other levels of the boat, thousands of sailors work behind the scenes to successfully operate this floating city.