All language subtitles for Carrier.At.War.The.USS.Enterprise.2007.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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narrator: An American armada

cuts through the waters
of the Arabian Sea.

At the heart of this strike
group is one of the mightiest

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warships in naval history--

an aircraft carrier,
the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Her crews work in one of the
most dangerous places

in the world.

- We only have to fail once
to fail forever.

narrator: Her orders--

support the ground troops
fighting two wars,

using some of the world's most
advanced warplanes

and weaponry.

- Your heart gets pumping, and

you know that what you're
doing is really important.

narrator: Aviators are
launched into combat.

- It's the most thrilling
and the scariest thing

I've ever done in my life

narrator: Now witness
the complex choreography

that's life
on an aircraft carrier--

home to thousands,
deployed for months,

working nonstop in controlled
chaos day after day,

wondering when they'll
see home again.

A carrier at war--
the U.S.S. Enterprise.

[epic music]

The Enterprise
is a floating city--

a temporary home to more
than 5,500 men and women

for almost 7 months

on a mission that will span
59,000 miles.

- Okay, that's the big picture.

narrator: Naval aviators
of squadron VFA-211

gather in their ready room

for one of the last briefings
of this deployment.

Meghan Angermann's one
of the squadron's pilots.

- I grew up flying with my dad
when I was little.

Then I went through ROTC,
and when it came time

to choose what I wanted
to do in the navy,

I decided that naval aviation

would be the best and most
exciting job,

so here I am.

narrator: This is Angermann's
first combat tour.

- You get excited.

My first time in there,
I didn't know what to expect.

You know, we had taken off
from the carrier several times

on training missions,
but now it's for real,

so now you have extra
adrenaline and nervousness.

We usually have
a little bit of time

right when the brief is done

to just kind of focus and
really think about what we're

gonna go do, make sure that
we're not forgetting anything.

A lot of people use the term,
like you're "in your box."

You know, you try not to be
distracted by other

collateral duties
that you have.

You're getting
ready to go fly,

and that's what
your focus is on.

narrator: Just 29 years old,

Angermann sits at the controls
of one of the most advanced

fighters in the world--
a $95 million warplane...

loaded with enough firepower
to destroy several city blocks.

- Are we losing low pressure?

[talking indistinctly]

narrator: Angermann's one of
230 pilots on deck who,

when they are flying,

live under the scrutiny
of the air boss.

Ryman Shoaf controls
every inch of the flight deck.

- I'm the manager
of the airport,

but all my aircraft
carry weapons.

We don't have Delta
or American here,

but we make a bigger boom.

narrator: He spent 20 years
in the navy.

- Turning starboard.

narrator: During combat
flight operations,

Shoaf will spend 16 hours
a day at his post,

here in primary
flight control...

- Let's get it.

narrator:
...overseeing the constant

preparation of
dozens of aircraft.

- It is nonstop.

702 airborne.

We'll launch and then catch.

We'll launch and catch.

We'll do that all day long.

And so it's kind of chaos.

narrator: Shoaf has
65 assorted aircraft

to work with.

His first wave can be launched
in minutes...

to hit targets
1,000 miles away.

Like Meghan Angermann,
Ben Bines

is a nugget--a pilot on his
first combat deployment.

He's a second-generation
military aviator.

His father served
in the Vietnam war.

- I've always loved flying.

When I was growing up,

my dad had a bunch of pictures
of his F-4 days.

He was a weapons officer--

backseat F-4s
for the Jolly Rogers,

and he'd tell me about it
a little bit.

narrator: Bines trained
for nearly three years

to get his shot on a carrier.

Over this deployment, he'll
carry out dozens of missions,

and none will be routine.

- First time going into a
combat environment

was a little nerve-racking,

mostly because you just don't
want to screw it away.

narrator: It's a challenge
to simply learn

your way around the ship.

The Enterprise is one of the
largest warships in the world.

She's nearly four football
fields long.

More than 60 planes can fit
below and on the deck.

She has four catapults to
launch planes off the ship

--two at the bow
and two at the waist.

Four arresting wires to snare
planes when they land

cross the deck, which is just
250 feet wide.

The ingenious technology that
allows the Enterprise

to launch and land planes took
nearly a century to perfect.

The first flight off a ship
was all the way back in 1910.

Just over a decade later,
the coal carrier Jupiter

was converted to the first
aircraft carrier.

The first carrier U.S.S.
Enterprise was launched

in 1936.

Her scout planes
made the initial contact

with Japanese bombers bound
for Pearl Harbor.

As the Pacific Fleet's
destroyers fought the Japanese

navy for 3 1/2 years,
the Enterprise was in all

but two of the major
actions in the war.

Dawn--May 15, 1945.

An on-deck
camera captures disaster.

A kamikaze
smashes through the flight

deck near
the stern of the ship.

12 men are killed.

72 are wounded.

Crews battle the resulting
fire successfully,

but she's so damaged
she was removed from the war.

Over the next few months,
the Enterprise sails

back to the States,
taking on board

thousands
of wounded servicemen.

They stand on her deck as she
sails into New York harbor.

20 years after her launch,

this Enterprise
had become obsolete.

A warship critical
in the U.S. destruction

of the Japanese navy
in World War II

was slowly dismantled
for scrap in the late 1950s.

A new,
more advanced Enterprise

was already
on the drawing board.

- What I tell all the new
sailors when they check is,

they will go to different
ships and possibly even

different carriers,
but none of them will have

the history or the name
that Enterprise has.

The first two Enterprises
weren't even named "U.S.S."

They were
just "Enterprise," because

the first one,
we swiped from the British

in 1775
before there was a country.

So it was just "Enterprise."

And that proud tradition
has continued on.

narrator: This Enterprise
gives ground commanders

tremendous power

without having to build
and supply air bases.

From deep in the Arabian Sea,
aircraft can launch and hit

targets within
roughly a 1,000-mile radius.

- We provide power projection
to shore anywhere in the world.

Don't require basing rights.

narrator: Known
affectionately as the big "E,"

work began on the Enterprise
a generation ago.

She was
the first nuclear-powered

aircraft carrier
built for the U.S. Navy.

Eight reactors generate
an enormous amount of energy.

The average racecar has the
equivalent of 700 horsepower.

The Enterprise--280,000.

She has 4 propellers,
each weighing 32 tons.

Christened
in September of 1960,

the Enterprise has
borne generations of sailors

and naval aviators into
conflicts around the world.

Her crew sailed
in the blockade

of the Cuban missile crisis.

Her sailors served tours

throughout America's war
in Vietnam.

[old-timey music]

announcer: The mighty aircraft
carrier Enterprise becomes

the first nuclear-powered
ship ever to enter combat.

Off the coast of Vietnam,
the big "E" launches her

phantom jets
against Vietcong hideouts.

Four planes can be
catapulted from the Enterprise

at one time.

narrator: Now
the Enterprise has sailed from

her home port of Norfolk,
Virginia, to the Arabian Sea.

Her crews have been
ordered into combat in Iraq

and Afghanistan.

Meghan Angermann has been
away from her husband, Will,

for nearly seven months.

I think the hardest part about
being out here for so long

is just being away
from family and friends...

you know, missing
the little things about home.

narrator:
For each deployment,

the Enterprise carries
eight squadrons of aircraft.

The E-2C Hawkeyes conduct
airborne traffic control,

detecting hostile aircraft.

The Viking, designed to attack
and destroy enemy submarines,

now serves as the air
wing's aerial refueler.

The Prowlers
are radar killers.

They knock out
the enemy's eyes in combat.

There are four squadrons of
FA-18s on board this cruise.

Three of the squadrons
are comprised of Hornets--

fighter bombers
lethal in a dogfight,

deadly in the support
of ground troops.

The fourth unit
of FA-18s is the checkmates.

They fly the Super Hornet.

While it resembles the Hornet,
it is essentially an entirely

new aircraft,
with greater range

and versatility against
a wider array of threats.

For the aviators and the rest
of the crew on deck,

the final squadron
might be the most important.

The dragonslayers fly
the Seahawk helicopter

and have two roles.

One--they hunt
and kill enemy submarines.

And, two--search and rescue.

Should any Enterprise
crew end up in the ocean,

these crews are responsible
for saving their lives.

- Being able to fly and swim
at the same time--you really

don't get too many
jobs where you can do that.

We fly around and do
missions and do TERF flights

and then turn
around the next day,

where we're jumping out
of helicopters doing SAR jumps

or casting or fast
roping seals or EOD

onto decks on the small ships
so they can take them over.

So it just depends
on what we're doing.

narrator: Rescue swimmers
like Brent Blackwell

are highly
regarded by the air crews.

- If something did happen
that they ejected or the plane

went down, we would be
right there behind them,

jumping in the water,
covering right over them

to get them out of harm's way,

to give them
medical attention.

- We're 21 knots away,
coming down to about...

narrator: The flight deck is
an extremely dangerous place.

- Well, we got
a little less than

4 1/2 acres of deck space
that I have to work with.

And in that 4 1/2 acres, I'll
have as many as 43 aircraft.

They will be within
a matter of inches from one

aircraft to the next.

They'll have 20,000
pounds of fuel on board.

They'll have the 500 pounders,

1,000 pounders,
2,000-pound bombs.

So it is a lot
of explosive material

in a very, very small area,

and we don't want them to
explode on the flight deck.

The two most dangerous times,
of course,

is when we're
launching and then recovering.

For instance,
when we're shooting aircraft,

launching aircraft.
Out here on the waist.

The people that are making
that happen are within 10 feet

of the airplane,
and the airplane is wide open.

It's full of fuel,
and it's full of ordnance.

When that airplane launches,
it goes right over their head.

[indistinct shouting]

narrator: It is an
environment where the threat

of a catastrophic
accident looms day and night.

- It's ugly.
It's not like the air force.

You don't have 10,000 feet
of runway and your maintenance

people are
in two buildings over.

I mean, they're right
there on the foul line.

So it's the proximity
of being close

to the aircraft,
is what makes it so different.

narrator:
Because of the constant pace

and countless ways
one can be maimed or killed,

a mistake has
fatal implications.

- Everybody's
job here is important.

And if you don't show up and
don't do your job correctly

that particular day,
then, no kidding,

in this business,
somebody can die.

What I tell the folks
that work for me is that

we have the most unique
job of anyone in the world,

because we only have
to fail once to fail forever.

narrator:
Throughout her history,

accidents have claimed many,

but there was one day

when the Enterprise faced
her most dire threat--

one that nearly destroyed her.

January 14, 1969.

The Enterprise is 75
nautical miles from Hawaii,

bound for the waters
off Vietnam.

A rocket explodes
on the flight deck,

igniting a massive fire.

Multiple cameras,
mounted on the tower

and on the deck,
captured the horrific scene,

as fuel tanks ignited
and more warheads exploded.

Flames and smoke
engulfed the ship.

The blasts from 500-pound
bombs exploding on the flight

deck tore the ship apart,
down to the waterline.

Burning jet fuel spilled down,

creating a suffocating
inferno above and below deck.

In just 20 minutes,
more than 340 sailors

were injured, many from
the flight deck hose teams.

28 men were killed.

It is a story told often

to those aboard
this ship today.

- Quite often,
I stand up here and look out

and just try to imagine
the whole fantail

engulfed in flames.

There was some heroes that day,
without a doubt--for sure.

So I've got a lot
of respect for the air boss

that was here that day
and what he had to go against.

He sat here
and watched those people die,

and he's asking people
to come back out and get

on the hoses
to put out the fire,

pull away
the bodies to fight the fire.

Then there was
another explosion,

and those people died.

So he's up here
having to tell people,

"Please get
back and fight the fire,"

'cause he doesn't
want to lose the ship.

narrator: Rebuilding
the Enterprise so she could

return to duty
took exactly 51 days.

Now, decades later,
she's at war once again.

Beginning in
the early morning,

each squadron strives
to prep their planes

for the day's strike missions.

It's an operation
that requires hundreds

of people
working around the clock.

The color of their
shirt defines their role.

Red shirts are the firemen,
as well as bomb loaders.

Blue shirts maneuver
the aircraft

in the confined space.

Brown shirts
are plane captains,

responsible for ensuring
the plane is ready to fly.

Purple shirts, or grapes,
have one task--fuel.

Green shirts,
in addition to endless

maintenance duties,
work with the yellow shirts,

launching
and recovering aircraft.

The most recognizable
yellow shirt is the shooter.

Sean McCarthy spends
most of his day just a few

feet away from
the aircraft he launches.

This is exactly where
he's wanted to be

since he was a kid.

- Well, like all little boys,
I played with G.I. Joes

growing up and enjoyed
the whole military theme.

I used to go to air shows
with my grandfather, so I got

to see a lot of naval aviation
back in California growing up,

but now I get
to be a part of it.

narrator: The shooter is
the last person a pilot sees

before the jet is
launched off the deck.

- There's no job
on board that's more exciting

than being
a shooter up topside.

The engineers run the plants,

and everyone else
is driving the ship.

We're the few guys
that are actually on deck

to get up close and personal
with the jets

and actually have a part in
making sure

that they're ready
to go flying.

It's just always exciting
to have that jet exhaust

in your face and the smell
of the jet fumes coming up.

It's just really exhilarating.

narrator: McCarthy
drops to the deck to avoid

being hit by
any ordnance hanging

on the wing,
which flies directly over him.

- It's easy to forget that
what we do on a day-to-day

basis is not the normal,
everyday thing

that every other American
gets to do,

and it's nice
to remember that.

narrator: Meghan
Angermann is the lone

female fighter
pilot in her squadron.

- When I came in the navy,

there were no
female combat aviators.

There were no female
aviators allowed on the ship.

And in my time in the navy,
that has changed.

There's been growing pains.

I think some were
very well publicized,

but every
organization in the navy,

as females have come into their
organization, have adapted.

narrator: The introduction
of women into the cockpit

of navy aircraft was
controversial from the start.

- Wave off power. Raise your
gear. Raise your gear. Power!

- Eject! Eject!

narrator: The navy's
first female fighter pilot,

Kara Hultgreen, was
killed in an accident in 1994.

The final report
attributed the crash

to both an engine
failure and pilot error.

At the time,
some people questioned if

the accident was
linked to her gender.

Now, more than a decade
after that accident,

female aviators
like Meghan Angermann

are commonplace in the navy.

She's a nugget,
on her first deployment

to a carrier, and,
according to her skipper,

she's a good one.

- She actually was--
and I want to embarrass her--

she was a top-five nugget

in the air wing
for the entire cruise.

In other words,
she was the fifth

best in landing
performance on the aircraft

carrier for the whole cruise,
so, yeah,

I'd have to say
she's a pretty good nugget.

narrator:
Angermann doesn't believe

her limited
experience or her gender

makes her any less
qualified than her peers.

- I don't like to make a big
deal about the gender and say

I'm the only female
pilot in the squadron.

I like to think of it as just,
"I'm one of 17 pilots

in the squadron."

For the most part,
it's a lot of fun.

It's like having 30
brothers who pick on you

just as much as they
pick on each other,

so I guess
that's not a bad thing.

It's fun to be part
of their club, I guess.

I don't think that
I'm any better or any worse

than any of the guys, and I
just work as hard as I can,

and that's all
anyone can expect, I think.

- There's always
still good-natured

ribbing going on,
and that hasn't changed,

whether you have males
or females in the squadron.

It's almost like a family.

So we got
brothers and sisters now

in the family,
not just brothers.

narrator: All the teasing,
hard work,

and time away from home,
and Angermann

considers herself
lucky to be here.

- I think the place that I
think about that most is when

I'm sitting on the flight
deck right before I launch out

and I have a few minutes
to just sit and think

and look around and see
what everyone here on

the flight deck is doing

and remember that
this is a really cool job.

narrator: Deployments
like this have been under way

since navy strike
groups began supporting ground

troops fighting
in Afghanistan in late 2001...

and Iraq in March of 2003.

During the invasion of Iraq,

6,500 aircraft blasted off

decks of carriers
operating in the Persian Gulf.

As the ground
troops advanced on Baghdad,

more and more missions were
devoted to close air support.

Two weeks into the war,
navy and marine pilots were

flying 1,000
combat missions a day...

a furious pace planned
and executed by air bosses

like Ryman Shoaf.

- Heads up in the LA.
We're stripping that 0-3-4.

Heads up. Don't let it get you.

There's not another
aircraft carrier that can

shoot as fast
as Enterprise can.

There have been periods
where we've averaged shooting

four catapults,
one aircraft every 28 seconds,

which just amazes me,
that you can sit there

and watch aircraft come
off the flight deck that quick.

That's the average,
as we're moving along.

If you've got a really
good team of yellow shirts

bringing your
aircraft up and shooters

getting your aircraft off,
it's amazing.

It's just like ballet,
and it's really fun.

You really get pumped up.

We're up here whooping
and hollering and yelling.

- Whoa!

- Boom!

- 103 airborne.

narrator: They aren't
the only ones to appreciate

a well-executed
rapid-launch sequence.

During combat,
that efficiency is

critical to troops
on a faraway battlefield.

- If someone's shooting
at you,

15 seconds can be a long,
long time.

So if we are not efficient
on a flight deck

and we're 15 seconds late
and someone gets shot

at 14 seconds after the hour,
then it doesn't matter that

we're one second
late at that point,

'cause that
person's already dead.

So it is a big deal to us
that we not only shoot on time

every time but that we
shoot as fast as we can.

narrator:
The pressure the pilots face

is much the same.

And they rely on
routine to ensure readiness.

Day after day, they train as
if the mission were for real.

- The big thing is, make
sure you're very methodical.

We train pretty extensively

for all the missions
that we go do.

What the goal is, is to treat
it like any other mission.

Yes, the adrenaline's
gonna be pumping.

Yes, we're delivering live
ordnance against an enemy.

The bottom line is what
we tried to do is to brief

so thoroughly and to be so
prepared to do our mission

that it really didn't
matter whether it was a tanking

mission around
the ship or a combat mission

over Afghanistan,
the same thing applies.

I think it's
probably the same,

whether you're
a nugget aircrew

or whether you've been
doing this for 20 years.

Anytime you
know that the end use

of your sortie is
to protect men and women

on the ground,
you want to do your best.

We take our
targeting very seriously.

We go to great
pains to make sure that

when we employ a weapon,
it's going

to the right
spot and it minimizes

the collateral damage
to the surrounding areas.

It's something that we take
great pride in and we train

so well and so much that when
you are out there doing it

for real,
it is something that I

think we're ready for.

narrator: The pilots on
the U.S.S. Enterprise

aren't the only ones
who have to stay battle ready.

Because of their ability
to dramatically shift fortunes

in battle,
aircraft carriers have

long been a favorite
target for enemy attack,

from the kamikazes
of World War II

to the devastatingly effective
missiles of modern warfare.

To counter threats,
the Enterprise has a heavily

armed mini fleet sailing
alongside her day and night--

a billion-dollar cruiser
with the Aegis combat system

can destroy
any airborne threat

launched against the group.

A frigate equipped
with small guns and torpedoes,

able to defend the carrier
group from enemy missiles.

A guided missile destroyer,

a staunch defender
against airborne threats.

Also, an enemy-sub
hunter/killer.

A supply ship fills
out the surface fleet,

with its critical
mission of keeping up

the ship's stores
of beans and bullets.

The last member
of the group is one

rarely seen--
the submarine Alexandria.

She's among
the swiftest submarines

in the world--and lethal.

She's loaded with dozens
of torpedoes

and can launch
cruise missiles.

The Enterprise strike group
is equipped with the most

high-tech
weaponry in the world,

and yet day-to-day flight
operations are choreographed

on what looks
like a board game.

- Our landing area is our
launching area

is our parking area.

We only have so much
space on the flight deck,

we only have so much space
in the hangar bay.

The Ouija board is
what actually shows the space,

what we have in relation
to the aircraft, and we're able

to put the aircraft
around in different spots

on the flight deck
to make that happen.

narrator: Once on station,

training flights give way
to combat sorties.

Coalition forces
generate target designations--

a flight plan
tailored to those orders.

- Are you ready on L-4?

We're ready to run L-4.

narrator:
On board the Enterprise,

the handler is given
a flight plan every day.

He and his crew have
to have everything in place

to execute that plan.

- Are you guys
ready to move the boat?

narrator:
Pilots like Ben Bines

fly every day of the week--

five training missions
and two combat flights.

- This is where the air wing
and the ship come together

so that we can put
the aircraft on with ordnance,

for fuel, getting them out
there on time and recovering

them on time--getting them
turned back around so that

we can get back in the air
and they can meet the mission

requirements of the ship that
the ship carries out every day.

narrator:
From an undisclosed location

in the Arabian Sea,
pilots and aircrew launch

in sequence
and begin making their way

to a designated point
in the skies over Afghanistan.

Ground controllers
will direct pilots

to attack certain targets.

During flight ops, aircraft
are in constant motion

across the deck.

The din of the catapult
defines the rhythm

of the day
and night on a carrier.

The catapult has
a shuttle above deck,

connected to a
steam-driven piston below.

When the plane is
locked on to the shuttle,

the pilot goes to full power.

Below deck, the steam
reaches maximum pressure.

The shooter gives the signal.

The piston blasts forward,
slinging the plane aloft.

The catapult can launch
a 33-ton Super Hornet

from a standstill
to 165 miles per hour

in less than 300 feet
and in just over 2 seconds...

subjecting the pilot to 4 g's.

- When we're prepping
an aircraft to go flying,

we have to take
many factors into account.

Those are mainly
the weight of the aircraft

and the amount
of wind we have over deck.

Those two factors come
together to determine how much

force we want to use
to launch that aircraft

for that particular cat shot.

narrator:
Calculations are confirmed

by three different crew
members before every launch.

- Well, as the shooters, we're
responsible for balancing

the needs
of the aircraft against

the needs of the equipment
and the catapult.

If we shoot
the catapult too hard,

we risk destroying
the water brakes

or damaging the nosewheel
assembly of the aircraft.

If we shoot them too light,
then we risk putting the pilot

in the water,
and we don't want to do that.

- When we get
launched off the carrier,

it knocks the wind out of me.

It takes my breath away.

You can't
imagine how fast it is.

It pins you
to the back of the seat.

- Every time I get
launched off the front end,

it's a new experience.

It's not routine.

Taking a catapult shot
on an aircraft carrier is

the best ride that any
roller coaster could ever do.

- I love the daytime cat shot.

It's a lot of fun,
'cause right when you come off,

you can see
the water rushing by you.

It's just
incredibly beautiful up there.

narrator: After the rush of
takeoff comes the hard work.

In flight,
Bines will have to juggle

a constant stream
of evolving information--

from the locations of other
aircraft to emergency plans

and, ultimately,
the target location,

which can change up
until the very last minute.

- So that when and if they
do call you to drop something,

you can do it right
away--first pass

in a very short period
of time and do it accurately.

That is where most
of your attention is drawn,

and you'll feel
overwhelmed most of the time.

they're doing
a lot of searching

for IEDs--
the guys on the ground,

convey escort,
a thing like that.

When we got to Afghanistan,
where they actually needed

ordnance to come off
the airplanes--

and that was a really
intense experience.

There is obviously
a little heightened adrenaline

because you are dropping
live ordnance on enemy troops,

but we're training
for those exact same missions.

So when we do get
to enemy territory,

we are very focused
and know what our jobs

are supposed to be.

So it doesn't require a "Hey,
be careful

'cause we're gonna drop
ordnance on enemy troops."

It's "We know
what our target is.

We're sure of that.

We have clearance
to deliver our ordnance.

We're sure of that.

And we're gonna do our
job to deliver that ordnance

on target."

- Being a junior guy
and not being totally

familiar,
even with the Hornet itself,

and then being put
into a situation where you are

taking everything
you learned up till then,

plus being introduced to a ton
of new stuff right off

the bat that you had to be
very accurate with--I mean,

there isn't a whole
lot of room for mistake,

and you'd feel horrible
if you did make a mistake.

That's a lot
of responsibility on your back

to make sure
that you release that weapon

in the proper parameters
and hit the correct target.

narrator: The FA-18
"E" and "F" models are among

the most technologically
advanced fighters

in the world.

The first Super Hornets flew
into service in late 1999.

The Super Hornet can attack
enemy planes with air-to-air

AMRAAM and sidewinder missiles

or drop bombs on enemy troops

and targets with an array
of laser-guided munitions.

Ground troops have
come to rely on air power.

Every day for six weeks,
Angermann,

her skipper, and the rest
of the air wing crews

alternated on combat
runs all over Afghanistan...

flying more than 1,000 miles
from the Arabian Sea and over

the unforgiving mountainous
terrain of Afghanistan.

With each passing minute,
the threat level rises.

- Knowing that
you're over

enemy territory,
you're doing the real thing,

it does help you keep
your focus a little bit.

You know, you've always got it
in the back of your mind,

like, "Okay,
I don't want to mess this up."

You don't want
to make mistakes,

and sometimes you're
just praying that your tanker

is there when he's
supposed to be there.

And if it's not,
then you're, you know,

trying to work backup plans,
because you're always thinking

about, "Boy,
this would be a really bad

place to run out
of gas or something," you know?

narrator: For a fighter
pilot, running out of fuel

in the skies of Afghanistan
could cost you your life.

But so could
an aerial refueling.

After almost two hours
en route,

the plane has to refuel.

It must be done quickly
and efficiently, and it

challenges the nerves of even
the most experienced pilots.

For nuggets,
it's gut-wrenching.

Pilots edge up to the basket
at the end of the fuel line.

They need to fly exactly
the same speed at a precise

altitude to get their
probe locked into position.

- You brief it
as best you can.

The people who've done it
for a long time

try to give you as much wisdom
as you can,

but then once
you find yourself

sitting behind the basket,
just a few feet,

and you have
your probe and you got

to fly the probe
into the basket.

You're the only one who
can do that for you.

And sometimes can be
significantly more

stressful than other times,

especially when you're
low on fuel and it's turbulent

and the basket's
moving around,

it can be very stressful,
and can be very intense.

narrator:
Once they're gassed up,

pilots and their wingmen move
into what is called

the stack--a multitiered
formation of aircraft

orbiting and waiting
to be called to attack.

There are numerous threats
they face

once they're in country.

- Being such a long mission,

you're doing
a lot of transit time.

But the time
when you're on station,

it's only a small
portion of our actual mission.

So the biggest concern is
that you are ready to do your

job for the very
specific hour or two hours

or three hours that
you're going to be doing it.

And so the biggest threat,
in my opinion,

is not just the weather,
but complacency as well.

narrator: Add
to that the risk of crashing

in the rugged mountainous
terrain of Afghanistan.

- Afghanistan is
very mixed terrain.

It has plains, and it
also has very steep mountains.

So you have
to be very careful.

As we like to say,
if you hit the ground,

you're gonna be killed
100% of the time, all the time.

narrator: Compounding that,
the enemy Taliban guerilla

forces have some success
disrupting communication.

- They jam most
of the radio frequencies,

so that can be
fairly frustrating.

Sometimes you'll
go the entire flight

and you can't
talk to your wingman.

narrator: The skies
over Afghanistan are swarming

with military aircraft.

Entering the stack,
a layered holding pattern

where aircraft circle
the battlefields

at prescribed altitudes,

waiting for their orders
to attack.

- For us in Afghanistan,
the biggest threat was running

into another
coalition aircraft.

You have altitude stacks
that go just near the surface

with your helicopters, up
to tens of thousands of feet.

You're worried about
small-arms fire--

the lucky potshot that
someone might take at you.

narrator: All of the threats
result in a high stress level,

which is not necessarily
a bad thing when you're flying

a close air-support mission,
or CAS...

attacking enemy
positions that are

right on top
of friendly forces.

[machine-gun fire]

- Close air support is

probably the toughest job
that we do.

It's also the most important,
in my mind,

because what we are doing
is we are providing air support

to friendly forces in close
proximity to the enemy.

So it tests our skills,

because what you obviously
have to be

is the most accurate
you could possibly be.

- Stress is
definitely a good thing.

It keeps you alert.

And an 8-hour mission is
a long mission, and you get

a lot of stress when
you launch off the front end.

And then you
truck in for an hour,

and it's not so stressful.

And then you
check in with your JTAC,

the air
commander on the ground.

It's incredibly stressful
again, because you want to do

really good work
for those people down there.

So it's peaks
and troughs the whole time.

narrator: Coping
with the ups and downs is

easier when Bines
reminds himself why he's here.

- It's really a good feeling,
like you hopefully

did some good
for the guys down there.

If nothing else,
you made them feel safer.

I can't imagine how much
better it must feel

knowing that you can just
call on a couple Hornets

with a bunch of 500-pound bombs
and some 20-millimeter cannon,

you know, if you got yourself

into a situation
where you needed it.

I like being
over there for them.

narrator: Though specific
mission details remain

classified,
cockpit video recordings

reveal some past targets--
enemy buildings,

vehicles,
even troop formations.

After roughly
four hours airborne,

the mission is complete.

It's time to fly home.

- The flight is not
over until after you've landed

safely and taxied
safely and shut down.

narrator: What lies ahead
is the most stressful part

of naval aviation--landing
on an aircraft carrier.

By now,
the pilot has been sitting

in one spot
for up to seven hours.

- It takes a lot of focus.

The landing area is quite
small compared to a runway,

and it's moving.

Our jets fly at
a pretty fast approach speed.

The landing area is angled
off the axis of the ship.

So as the ship
is moving forward,

creating the wind
that is required to land

on the ship,
the landing area is

actually moving
sideways a little bit.

narrator: Pilots
have no room for error,

aiming for a landing area

that is pitching and rolling
with the sea

and is a fraction of the
typical commercial airport.

- It's the most
thrilling and the scariest

thing I've
ever done in my life.

It's inherently dangerous.

It's not a natural thing
to do--to throw yourself at

a large piece
of steel at 150 miles an hour.

And then it's
incredibly precise.

So many things have to work,
not just on your side, also.

I mean on the ship's side.

They have to have it
set up properly for you.

Otherwise,
it could be catastrophic

on that side, too.

You have a lot of faith,
especially

in the landing-signal
officers back there.

They're there
to keep you safe.

narrator: LSOs communicate
directly with the inbound

pilots via radio, keeping
them on a precise path,

confirming air speed,
altitude, angle of approach.

All have to be within
the strict parameters

to touch down.

Ironically,
landing on a carrier

requires a pilot
to go full power.

- You have to go full
power because you need

to make sure that you
will go flying again

if you don't catch
one of the wires.

narrator: If a plane
misses all four wires that

stretch across the deck,
the radio crackles

with the word "bolter."

Pilots will once again
roar off the deck,

as long as
they've kept up their speed.

Failure to go
to full power is deadly.

It is the threat of disaster

that makes carrier landings
a terrifying rush.

- My heart starts
beating fast, and, luckily,

the adrenaline doesn't
take over too much until

after I land,
and then I can feel my legs

shaking a little bit,
especially on night traps.

- You're coming in,
you're concentrating so hard

on making sure
that you're lined up

properly and that
you're making the right

corrections,
listening to the LSO.

So you're not really--
at least I'm not thinking

about the fact that
I'm about to land on a ship.

And then you do,
and then it's over.

- I wouldn't say there's
really a huge sense of relief,

just 'cause, you know,
we're doing it again tomorrow,

and you just kind
of always stay in that role.

Usually, you're just exhausted.

"I'm gonna try to go get
some rest

before I do it again tomorrow."

- Every day, we look back
at the flights and go, "Yeah,

"we're happy we
got through today.

"These are the things we
need to work on for tomorrow,

"and these are the things
that went really well.

We need to capture those
and do those again tomorrow."

Whether it was combat or not,
anytime you're doing carrier

aviation,
it's a risky business.

We try and mitigate that risk
through great training

and great airplanes
and great people

working on our airplanes.

But it is a risky proposition.

So every day at
the end of the day,

you look at the flight
schedule and it's all complete

and all your jets come
back--what I like to say is,

"All my people
are back home safe.

"They got all their
fingers and toes attached.

All my toys are here.
It's a good day."

narrator: Whether
you're a veteran or a nugget,

being away from home
for so long isn't easy.

- I miss my girlfriend a lot
and my friends and my family.

I miss the fact
that you could just

pick up the phone
and call somebody.

You can't do that out here.

There's not a
whole lot of downtime

'cause there's always
something you can be doing.

You're just not always flying.
You have ground jobs, as well.

Coming back early.

narrator: Every month,
tons of supplies are

transferred to the ship,
from jet fuel to ordnance.

The crew consumes
nearly 3 million meals

and 35,000 gallons of milk
during 7 months at sea.

There is a certain
challenge to passing the time

in a long deployment.

- It's just like family
when you're away from home.

Just like family,
you get upset with them

sometimes, but the next day,

you forgive them
and everything's good again.

Basically you're
trusting them with your life.

If something happened,
they'll be the ones

to get you out of it.

As you can see,
this is actually Curry--

we call him "junior."

Petty officer Curry's rack--
one of my friends.

This is my rack,
and this is A.Z. Baria's.

It's really not that bad.

You get used
to the small space.

Every so often,
in the beginning of cruise,

you wake up and you
bang your head on the top,

and you learn
not to do that again.

We actually have lights
and outlets

in some of our racks.

We usually plug up our
DVD players

and just watch movies or sleep.

Most of the time,
we're playing Xbox.

I brought that TV from home.

narrator: Blackwell's
berth has an arresting wire

mechanism
running across the floor.

- This is
the number-3 wire that

the aircraft actually land
on and catch with their hooks.

It's actually
pretty loud at night.

You get used to it, though.

That's aircraft
actually landing

on the top of your head.

So it gets real loud.

narrator:
Blackwell and his fellow

rescue swimmers
have to stay in shape,

so they hit
the onboard gym often.

- Life on the big "E"
is not that comfortable.

You don't have the things
that you have at home,

and you're sharing everything,
all the spaces--

your stateroom,
your bathroom, everything.

It's loud.

There's sounds all the time,
whether it's jets

taking off
or just machinery rooms.

We know that we're gonna
be out there for a long time,

so we try to make it
as livable as possible.

- In all honesty,
it doesn't always go great.

There are some days when
people are mad at each other

and some days
that I didn't do a great

job of keeping
their spirits up.

But when it comes down to it,
I think people understand how

important the mission is,
but it's hard to leave home,

no matter whether it's for
two weeks or for six months

or seven months
or whatever it is.

narrator: For Geis
and the rest of the personnel

on the big "E," today
is an especially good day.

Their tour of duty is done.
It's time to go home.

- Very excited.

- I can't wait.

- Been a long time running.

- I woke up smiling today. I'm
just ecstatic to be going home.

I can't really imagine
what it's gonna be like,

but I'm very
excited to get there.

- We're going home!

narrator:
Seven months at sea,

more than 8,000 sorties--
2,100 of those into combat.

The battle-tested
crew of the Enterprise

sails for Norfolk.

- Our squadron matured
as we went on this deployment,

and I have a squadron now
of seasoned combat aviators.

Our young folks were
exposed to combat

on their
very first deployment.

They're savvy.

They know what they're doing.

This next deployment
we go on--instead of going

on cruise with nuggets, I'm
going to have a seasoned

ready room ready to go

and ready to go back
into the action.

- You got a lot of hours.

You got a lot
of experience under your belt.

You're by no means
proficient at everything,

but the day-to-day
tasks become much, much easier.

narrator:
Today is the fly-off.

- Let's do it!
Whoo!

narrator: The last day
of flight ops

for this deployment.

And the only day
the shooter can wear a toga.

- Whoo-hoo-hoo!

narrator: All aircraft aboard
the Enterprise have to be

launched off before the ship
sails into port.

- Final, final...

last chance to see the money!

narrator: With just one more
day until they reach Norfolk,

Virginia,
the entire air wing is

sent aloft
to return to their bases.

The day marks
the last for the shooter.

It is tradition
that the last thing

he fires off
the big "E" is his boots.

- Usually,
your boots are so dilapidated

and destroyed from flight-deck
wear and tear that you're not

gonna miss them when you leave,
anyways, so shoot them off.

Send them
to Davy Jones' locker.

narrator: The next day,
an estimated 10,000 people

line the docks.

They've been here for hours,
waiting on loved ones.

Sailors, as they've
done for generations,

line the deck
in their dress uniforms.

Shooter Sean McCarthy
is among the first sailors

off the boat.

Waiting are his wife, Lisa,
and daughters Sara and Mary.

- Every time
he comes back home

after a six-month deployment,

it's like going
on a first date all over again.

And not many
people can say that

after almost 10
years of marriage.

- Oh!

One of the greatest
days of my life, man.

I just missed them so much.

narrator:
Ben Bines steps ashore

to his girlfriend,
Angela, and his mom and dad.

Meghan Angermann
returns to base.

Her husband, Will, hasn't seen
her in nearly seven months.

- I'm pretty
excited to see her.

Very excited to see her.

narrator: For many,
the reunions are bittersweet.

The Enterprise
typically would have as much

as 18 months
before deploying again.

Instead,
her crews have been alerted

that training for her next
deployment begins immediately.

- That's really
short turnaround this time.

I don't know why.

Usually we rotate,
but we're actually

going back into
deployment real soon.

So I guess
it's part of the job.

- We are working up
again to go right back out.

So it is kind of sad
to not be with your spouse,

but we'll enjoy the time
that we do have together.

narrator:
For most of the crew,

it's a short week off
before returning to the ship,

to begin the cycle once again.

- I tell my guys that

there's only two things
that we're doing.

We're either on deployment

or we're getting ready
to deploy.

'Cause everyone pays taxes,
and we're the insurance.

♪ ♪