Tag Archives: USS George Washington

RIP Seaman Apprentice Matthew Snow

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I deployed last year, aboard the USS George Washington for twenty-five days. It was not a traditional deployment, but merely for an exercise. And this sad news, about one of the ship’s Sailors, just surfaced:

Paul Charles, 24, of Lantana, Fla., is being held without bail in the Palm Beach County Jail on charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and burglary for allegedly stabbing (USS George Washington’s Seaman Apprentice Matthew) Snow and Vanessa Vandermeeren-Sanchez, according to media reports.

The Division Officer, mentioned at the end of the article, was my stateroom mate! A great guy, very quiet and respectable. I’ll have to email him about his brave Sailor who died a hero. I talked of my job so highly, he actually put in a lateral transfer, where you change officer communities. (He was already thinking of transferring into another community before I chatted with him, for hours.) I wonder whether we accepted him?

Behind the Scenes, the Ground Crew

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Behind any successful aviation squadron is a team working behind the scenes to make sure the planes run properly. Some work as airframers, avionic mechs, fuelers, plane handlers, ordies, and parachute riggers among others.

On aircraft carriers, each crew member wears a specific colored jersey shirt to denote what job they do. Here the ship’s catapult and arresting gear personnel work on a jet blast deflector:

Ship’s catapult and arresting gear personnel wear green, here working on a jet blast deflector (JBD)aboard USS George Washington (CVN-73)

When I flew, we were not based off the carrier, but were land-based. And after we landed, we used to carry our extra flight food over to the mech shack to share it. Better that then throwing it out. They deserved it, those guys worked hard. . .