Today really felt like a Monday.  I know, it was a Monday.  Walking around the ship guys were exercising, moving stores (supplies), working on the birds, removing and replacing paint, and lotsa training.   Here (below) is a dolly driver training without a plane attached.   Here he practices navigating through an obstacle course made up of wheel chocks.   Later when he has a plane attached, he'll be making the same sharp, precision moves that enable the move crews to park planes within inches of each other.

Hance said he joined the Navy to help finish acquiring a college education.  He said at times it's hard to focus on his job because his thoughts are on his family and friends.  "I fill my spare time with reading and working out," he said.   "Mostly I settle into a good mood by listening to a bit of jazz and typing an email home, to Lainers."  Well, it's only Monday, they've got another five days before the mess decks serve up the pizza again.

Making sure the tables are ready for their next "customer," ADAA Dan Shin (right) from Garden Grove, CA said his job mostly reminds him of being a waiter.   "I've got two more months left of TAD then I go back to VFA 154," he said.  They both said while on board they try to get around the ship to see the action, but what they like most about Indy are the port calls.

Well, a little towards evening the sun did pop out for a brief moment... giving the big lake out here that glass-like effect.  While taking a moment to watch the ripples ripple, I was reminded by a shipmate that tonight the AIMD Jet Shop was going to be testing a jet engine, running the afterburners.  So, although it's now the 28th, it's still Monday... good ol' Mondays.

More than 16,000 pounds of pressure is shooting out the back of this twelve foot tube that's only held in place with a few bars and bolts.  "Are you sure that thing won't take off," I asked?  "Very sure, we spend the first hour or more running through a two page checklist," said AD1 Robert Jaquilmac (right) from Manila, Philippines.  Jaquilamac checks the data the the test cell collects throughout the test.  The temperature, pressure, RPMs, vibration levels, and more are monitored closely and logged as the team troubleshoots the engine until they solve the problem.  The information is fed to the test cell control room through the ECA, the Electronic Control Assembly better known as "The Brain." 

The Jet Shop works closely with the Engineers in Fuels via their phone talker, ADAN Jerome Dones (right) from Daily City, CA.  The engine is fed fuel through a firehose sized black rubber tube.  The phone talker works beside the engine operator & trouble shooter who was AE2 Cory Von Pinnon (below) from Reno, NV.   The engine controller has the ability to run the engine through all the same functions it would in a jet.  And tonight when they kicked in the afterburner, I thought, are you sure that thing is going to take off?  Roaring like a volcano and spitting out at least ten or so feet of flame, I could only imagine what it must be like to sit between two of those tubes, and scream through the sky...  Until then.

Good friends since arriving to Indy at the same time, AZ3 Mike Hance (below; left) from Rochester, NY and AZ2 (AW) Jeff Henrikson from Parma, OH agreed the best meal on board is Saturday night's Pizza Night!  Henrikson said interested Navy candidates can sign up with him after DECOM in the Schaunburg, IL area where he's going for Recruitment Duty.  "It's what I've wanted to get into since joining," he said.  "The first time I walked into a recruiting office was with a friend after track practice.  I signed up the same day," he said smugly commenting he hasn't regretted a day since.  "There's more to the Navy than a 30-second TV spot can cover, and that's what I want to share with questioning teenagers."

Working in food service, but not the mess decks, Airman Mark McClain (photo left; left) from Frankfort, IN serves up a glass of water in the Officers Mess, Ward Room ONE.   "No, it's just what I expected," he said when I asked him if anything's surprised him since coming to Indy.  "I knew what I was going to be doing, and I'm doing everything I expected to do."  TAD to the Ward Room, McClain said when he's done he'll go back to being an Aviation's Boatswain's Mate.

Tonight they ran an F/A-18 (a 404) engine, testing it for an unexplainable flame out at high altitudes.  "We can pinpoint the problems the airwing can't," said AD2 Silverio Cruz from the Philippines as we walked around the engine wired up with a dozen different wires, cables, hoses and more cables.  Cruz walked me through the steps they take to run an engine through the test cell, but it wasn't until a few hours later when the thundering ring began I thought, this is crazy.

Working above the control room operating the Huffer was ADAN Jason Trujillo (left) from La Habra, CA.  "The Huffer is used to start the engine," he said.   "It compresses air and gets the turbine spinning."  Once the engine is started, the Huffer is still in use for the possibility of a fire inside the tube.   "If a fire starts, the Huffer will just blow it out," he said in the same way someone tells you the steps to making corn chowder.  "So, this is a little dangerous," I asked?  "We just say, if you don't know what you're doing, stay out!"  I asked him if having a front row seat on the edge of it all is exciting?  "The first time I sat here, I was like 'WOW!' but, after three years, I'm used it."