 ) Carrier Qualifications 1980-83By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025 Before you could earn your sea legs and get assigned to the USS Midway, you had to survive the ritual known as Carrier-Qualify That meant launching and trapping on a floating airport until you either got the hang of it or lost your lunch. The whole circus took days, and of course, it was up to us enlisted types to keep the recce pigs running while the officers practiced their carrier ballet. 
USS Ranger CV-61 1980 By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025 Sgt Tim Francis, probably after losing a bet, picked me as one of the plane captains and decided to show me the ropes on my first big carrier adventure. The fun started when a pair of CH-53 King Stallions dropped in like they were late for happy hour. We piled in and got airlifted out to the USS Ranger, already floating somewhere in the Pacific, probably trying to avoid us. We made quite the entrance landing on deck, pretty sure the Navy was wondering if the circus was in town. Watching our birds come in and snag the wire was a rush, and standing just feet from the action as the blast shield popped up and the afterburners lit off? That was the kind of heat you don’t get from a space heater in the barracks.
Armed with my trusty 110-pocket camera (the kind you hide in your skivvies), I snapped my first action shots of the RF-4B Phantom doing its thing. The thrill wore off fast when we found out our berthing was right under the catapult. It was so hot I practically fused to the mattress, and the soundtrack was jets thundering overhead and the catapult slamming like a gorilla with a sledgehammer. That noise is still rattling around in my skull. After a few days of this spa treatment, the choppers came to haul us back to the Flight Line. Visit My Photo Album Photos of CQs on USS Ranger CV-61. USS Constellation CV-64 1982 By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025 Not long after Detachment Charlie in '82, it was time for another round of Carrier Quals. On June 20th, we got TAD orders to North Island and hopped aboard the USS Constellation for about 20 days. By this point, I’d spent so much time on floating steel that it all blurred together, no photos, no memories, just a vague sense that I survived and probably lost another pair of socks. USS Dwight D Eisenhower CV-69 1983 By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025 My last carrier qual rolled around on January 25, 1983, just three months before I got my freedom papers. This one was a real travel brochure: fly cross-country to MCAS Beaufort, pit stop at NAS Cecil Field, then on to Jacksonville to hop aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Off in the distance, the shiny new USS Carl Vinson was probably laughing at us. We set sail into the Atlantic for 12 days of carrier quals, saltwater, and questionable chow. We even got to watch Super Bowl XVII, Redskins over Dolphins, 27-17, while waiting for our birds to snag the wire. Out of nowhere, an F-18A FSD Prototype 3 dropped in, did a touch-and-go, and blasted off like it had somewhere better to be. That jet was the future, but we were still living in the present with my Olympus OM1 and a Super 8 video camera, both of which are probably lost in a sea bag somewhere. After the dust settled, we limped into Naval Base, Norfolk, Virginia ready for the next round of Marine Corps shenanigans. Visit My Photo Album Photos of RF-4B, MCAS Cherry Point.
FlashForward Today By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025 USS Ranger CV-61, was commissioned back in 1957 and immediately started racking up sea miles like a sailor with a fresh liberty card. She spent most of her glory days in the Pacific, especially during Vietnam, where she collected 13 battle stars, because apparently, she liked shiny things. Toward the end, she took a world tour through the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, probably just to show off. Decommissioned in '93, she spent a couple of decades sunbathing in Bremerton before finally getting the one-way ticket to Brownsville for the big chop shop in 2017. Fair winds, old girl. USS Constellation (CV-64): the Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier with more nicknames than a salty chief, "America's Flagship," "Connie," and probably a few we can't print. She hit the fleet in '61, just in time to get dragged into every Pacific dust-up from Vietnam to the Iranian hostage circus, and even stuck around for Enduring Freedom. The Navy finally gave her the boot in 2003, and after a long, undignified shuffle to Brownsville, Texas, Connie met the scrappers. Not a bad run for a ship that spent decades dodging retirement like a crusty old master chief. Alright, you glorious Rat Phixers and Phlyers, if we ever survived a TAD, a Det, or a BOHICA, who haven't, and you didn’t think I was the biggest gaff off in the squadron. Got a sea story, or some grainy photos your ex didn’t set on fire, and they’re only slightly illegal? Send ‘em by email, snail mail, or safety wire it to a carrier pigeon. I collect ‘em all, just nothing that would incriminate me. 80svmfp3@gmail.com Return To The Home Page  |
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