Day cruise on USS Peleliu with LTJG I.Wang

Naval Logistics Precision

Email thread:

“J says 7p works for her. How about you guys?” (civilian #1 referring to civilian #3)

“i have something until probably 8:30pm. Can we meet later?” (me: civilian #2)

“Ok no prob. does 9:30 work for everyone? If not, please propose another time.” (civilian #1)

“Silly civilians, 09:30pm rdvz time when I have a 0600 liberty expiration? Negative.
Recommend the following timeline:
0700: J, J, and I rdvz for dinner..
0830: J,J, and I depart restaurant and relocate to J’ Residence ETA 0845.
0845: Recover LHui at J’ Residence. L finds own dinner prior to arrival. LOL
0900: Commence Pax transfer to LTJG Wang’s Residence
ETA: 0915
0945: Group prayer
10:00 Taps (silence on deck)
0445 Reveille
0450 Head Call
0500 Morning Chow
0515 Depart LTJG Residence
Enroute to USS Peleliu ETA 0545
0600 Liberty Expiration

Very Respectfully,
Lt. Wang

Liberty Expiration

Prior to deployment, a brother from church invited a few of us on board his naval carrier for a “open house” of sorts for friends and family. We asked for the full naval experience and we got it. Starting with a 4:45 wake up call. Sleep deprivation seems like a common thing both in training and in deployment. 4 hours of sleep of night is a great night, 4 hours of continuous sleep makes it an amazing night.

In the pics below you see just how compact things are. There is no real private space and there isn’t much room in general. In the officer dining hall the ceiling was ~6 inches above my head. As we were eating we spotted a 6’10” naval officer. It was painful to watch him duck everywhere.

For the rest of the day we shadow LTJG Wang around USS Peleliu as he shows us his living quarters, explains to us the differences between an officer and an enlisted, and demonstrated some naval ops. He patiently answered all our questions despite the constant urge to say “silly civilians”. We even got to go into the combat and bridge room (where navigation and missile commands were…no pics) and see Wang in action as he navigated the ship through the San Diego harbor.

Near the end of the day, we’re sitting in on the flight deck watching the SD skyline in all its glory and he finally mutters “no more questions”. We’ve broken our host.

So much happened throughout the day that it’s hard to recap even a fraction of what went on. A little snapshot here and there only tells part of the story but there’s no mistaking it; these guys and girls are sacrificing a lot to fight for our freedoms. It was a real honor to see a side of things I’m quite ignorant of and want to thank our host and the Navy for giving us a glimpse of their world.