Nobody's Dying Tonight

"That's about the end of my pitch." He said. "My main focus was to impress on you that this is critically important, and this is not just another Bull shit training evolution thunk up by the nutty guys in the schools command. The ejection was something I never experienced and likely you won't either before you have to do it for real, but we can prepare you for what comes after your down. So now I am going to turn it over to the survival guys, the real experts. Guys, listen to them, follow the instruction, play it for real and when you are all done here and get your commission, I'll be happy to meet you at the airfield and start the training that you are all here for."

"Gentlemen." He said in conclusion." Thank you for your attention. Good luck. Remember your lesson." And he walked off without another word. The class was stunned silent. The AOC sat silently in the group. "I think this is going to be a long afternoon." He thought as the Petty Officer in charge of the training walked up to the stage.

*************

Chapter 10

A Petty Officer walked up onto the platform. "Alright gentlemen," He started as he uncovered a chalk board on the stage. "Nothing we do here is going to be new per se. You should remember the classroom lectures and the several different exercises that you completed in the pool. What this exercise does is to join them all together; from the time you hit the water, to the time you get into your life raft, to the time you get picked up by the rescue helicopter."

"Let's review" He said and pointed to the chalk board and the numbered steps printed in block letters.

He started to read the steps and explain. "Face UP. This is where you flip yourself over. Remember the drill, you push down on one riser while you pull up on the other until you get to your back." He was using his hands to demonstrate as he spoke.

"Second, Stabilize." He went on. "This is where you spread your legs in a V to get you tracking straight and keep you on your back as you're getting pulled along." And he stood with his leg akimbo in a wide stance.

"Next, Separate." He put his hands on his shoulders as he continued. "You reach up to your Koch fittings." The Koch fittings were the manufacturer's name for the mechanical clips that held the parachute to the harness that they wore. "And open them," The Petty Officer continued. "The load on the chute will help and once you open the fittings the chute will continue blowing down wind and you will start to sink."

"That leads us to; Inflate." Again, he demonstrated the action as he spoke by pushing his arm down and away from his body as if he was actuating the CO2 cartridge. "Reach down and find the beaded handle and pull to inflate the bladders in your float vest."

"After that, climb up into your life raft and wait for the helo crew's instructions. He concluded by telling everyone to do a check of their shipmates gear as well as their own.

He waited his turn as he watched his classmates going through the exercise. He ran it over in his head while he waited. The next thing he knew he heard his name called and stood up and started up the platform steps.

Two riggers met him and began looking over his gear. Checking, tugging, and looking for any defects. Satisfied they handed him off to the Petty Officer standing near the edge of the platform. "Ok Candidate." He started "I'm going to hook you up and when you give me the thumbs up -- it's off you go. Do you understand what you are going to be doing? Any questions?"

He shook his head side to side to indicate no for both questions. "Ok then, come on over here and let's get the party started." He quipped stealing a line from a pop song and busting some dance moves.

He stood at the edge of the platform and the Petty Officer hooked up the harness to the Koch fittings built into his web gear. "Last time." The Petty Officer said. "Ready?"

He nodded and before he knew if he was airborne, yanked off the tower harshly by the hydraulic winch mounted about 50 yards away.

He faceplanted hard into the water and went under as the harness grew taught and was pulling him through the water at a fast pace. "Gotta flip." His mind was racing. He pushed down on his right riser while simultaneously pulling up on the left and twisting his body to the right to get his face out of the water.

It was just a second or two and he was on his back. Without thinking he splayed his legs out wide in a V to keep himself on his back. He was coughing and spitting up sea water and the wake of the water flowing around his helmet as he was drug toward the winch seemed to split at the back of his helmet and re-converge right over his mouth and nose.

He lifted his head to breath and reached up for his Koch fitting. His fingers found each one and he pulled down on the clip, opening the catch and setting the parachute harness free as the winch continued to pull it away.

He settled rapidly, so he kicked his legs and reached for the inflation handles, pulled both and was pleased to hear the CO2 filling the bladders and feel himself being buoyed up as the vest inflated.

He spat out more seawater and wiped his eyes clear. He was free and floating now. He looked behind him and saw his life raft on the tether connected to his seat bottom. The intent of the drill was mimic a typical ejection. In an ejection, the seat bottom goes with you. As you descend, you release a handle to deploy your life raft. In the drill, it was already inflated, and they clipped it onto his gear when he was on the tower.

He turned back to the raft and began to haul it in by the strap. When he got it to him, he remembered the lesson on boarding and pulled the rear end of the raft up to his chest. He grabbed the handles on the life raft, kicked his feet, pulled, and wriggled his way up and into the raft.

Once in, he turned over and breathing heavily he sat in his life raft catching his breath.

Two Petty Officers in a small center console fishing boat idled up to him.

One reached out and handed him a line. "Hold on." He said. "We're going to tow you out into the bay a little further to give the helo more room to hover."

He nodded, took a wrap of the line around a handle and held the loose end as they began to pull him away from the seawall. He looked up and saw an old SH-3 Sea King hovering off to the side. The Petty Officers got him to a point where the helicopter could maneuver and put the engine into neutral. He threw them the line and one of the Petty Officer's said, "Enjoy your ride." The other Petty Officer put the boat back in gear and idled away.

The helicopter started to slip sideways toward him and that was his signal to get out of the life raft. He slipped out and disconnected the lanyard from his vest. As instructed, he made a thumbs up gesture and began to wave his arm back and forth horizontally in front of him, dragging his arm through the water to provide better visibility to the crew in the helo.

The hoist kicked on and he watched as the wire rope descended toward him. He waited until it hit the water and discharged any static electricity built up in the cable.

He swam to it, grabbed it with his right hand and clipped the hook over the "D"Ring on his web gear. He signaled once more as before and felt his harness tighten as the winch whirred back into operation. He was rising now, clear of the water and heading to the hovering helicopter. He didn't look down. He wasn't really afraid of heights but, he never hung on a thin wire rope, below a helicopter, 50 feet in the air before and thought it best to focus on the helicopter and the horizon.

Before he knew it, he was even with the deck. The Petty Officer operating the hoist looked him in the eye. "Are you Ok?" He asked.

The candidate didn't have any air to waste in reply and merely nodded. The Petty Officer took a small striped peppermint candy from his vest pocket and popped it into the candidate's mouth. "Good job. Enjoy the rest of the ride."

He rode back down and disconnected once in the water and signaled the helicopter that he was clear, and it moved off to the next "survivor."

Another center console boat came along side. He was towing a number of rafts and there were two candidates already aboard when they got to him. He swam to the boarding ladder and climbed aboard.

They were all laughing, a shared catharsis, allowing the anxiety and fear that they had been managing to float way with the sound of the receding laughter as they headed back toward the dock.

"I hope I never have to do this for real." He thought on the ride back in.

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Chapter 11

With the memory of his training fresh, he knew exactly what to expect tonight on the lift from the sea to the aircraft.

"That was a long time ago." He thought. "Easier to do at 25 then it might be to do at 62." But he was fit. He made sure that he exercised every day at sea or ashore. Unconsciously, maybe maintaining his preparedness for a day just as this. But he knew it wasn't an "unconscious" random action. It was in fact a direct response and reaction to the training and conditioning undertaken a lifetime ago as a young man but carried on to today. It was there every day even if he did not acknowledge it. It was ingrained so deeply that it was as much a part of his personality as any of his other daily habits, housekeeping, grooming, inspecting his clothing and appearance...There even when it was in storage. There nonetheless when needed and he summoned it now and readied himself for the swim to the basket.

The preparation was mental as well as physical. For all his love of sailing and joy being on his boat out in the deep blue water he was never comfortable IN the water. He wasn't someone that scared too easily. As a Naval Aviator he had trapped, made an arrested landing, 237 times; day and night, fair weather and foul and while fear was always there, he always managed it and used it. But he did fear two things. Irrationally one could say and ironically easily avoidable except for his avocation. Of all the manners of death the idea of drowning or worse yet, being torn by a shark were his greatest fears. If left to him, he would no sooner consider jumping into dark water over a reef at night then he would bungee jumping off a high bridge.

But it wasn't left to him now was it. And he knew he was going to swallow it down and make the swim. He stopped his drift and came back to the present. The wind was whipping up spray and hitting him in the face, the boat was bucking, and the noises from the helicopter and the disintegrating boat flooded his senses.

*********************************

Chapter 12

The helicopter had stopped its circling and was hovering about 50 yards off the starboard side. "Osprey, this is Coast Guard helicopter, we're going to deploy the swimmer now. He'll board your boat and brief you on how we are going to get you off the boat and into the basket."

"Roger Coast Guard." He said. "We're ready for him."

He watched as the swimmer sat on the edge of the helicopter deck and with a push, he launched himself into the night and the black water below. The helicopter trained its spotlight on the swimmer as he made his way toward the boat. He grabbed his own spotlight and trained it on the swimmer, being careful not to shine the light into his eyes and blind him or ruin his night vision. He kept the light ahead of him, pointing out where he was and leading him toward the boat with the light.

He scuttled along on his butt down the starboard hull to the break in the lifelines where the boarding area was located. The swimmer was nearly at the boat and he marveled at how quickly and precisely the swimmer made his way thru the churning water. The waves were breaking over the transom with greater regularity now and were getting larger by the minute as the tide continued to come in and break on the reef.

The swimmer came along side and he reached out to help him climb up onto the boat. They both crawled forward to where the women were sitting.

"Hi." He said as he came into the group." My name is Mike. Is anyone hurt or in need of medical assistance?"

"No." The captain answered. "None of us are hurt."

"Good." Mike said. "I'll take any advantage I can. Now let me tell you how we are going to do this."

The helicopter was still hovering in its spot off the starboard hull and between the thumping of the spinning rotor blades and howl of the wind and crash of the waves, the four people on the bow were huddled together to hear Mike speak. They were listening intently, not wanting to miss a single word and Mike had to yell above the combined noises to make himself heard.

"Ok." He began. " We can't lower our rescue basket directly onto the boat because of all the rigging, sails, and antennas on the boat so I am going to swim each one of you over to where the helicopter is hovering and we will lift you from there."

I think all the anxiety and fear, built up and until now being held down by his best efforts at calming them with his narrative of the preparations, now finally burst through its dam and Laurine began silently sobbing.

"Laurine will go first." The captain told Mike. "We're almost there Laurine. You've done great so far, just a couple more minutes and one more hard push and you're out of this." He brought his face level with hers so he could look into her eyes and speak directly into her ear. He was trying his best to keep a calm voice and still be heard above the noises swirling around them.

With Mike sitting close by he went on, "Mike here is a pro."

"I know your scared." Mike said. "You'd be a little crazy if you weren't but if you know what we are going to do and how we are going to do it will help you focus on what we need to do and not let your imagination take over."

Laurine nodded, smiled, and wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

"I'm going to get into the water." Mike said. "When we're ready, I'll signal you to lower yourself off the side. You have a great life jacket on, that will make my job easier. I am going to float you on your back and tow you behind me till we get under the helicopter. Then they will lower a rescue basket. I'll help you get into it and signal the helicopter crew. My buddy Steve will operate the hoist and lift you to the helicopter. Once he gets you up there, he will pull you in and help you out, then get you belted into a seat. That's all there is to it. Now, if you're ready, let's get going -- what do you think?"

She nodded, still smiling but, the tears were still streaming down her cheeks. "I'm ready to go." She said.

"Great." Said Mike. And with that he, Laurine, and the captain began the crawl back toward the boarding area.

Several minutes ago, Mike had to climb up to get onto the boat, now the hull was nearly level with the surface of the sea and waves were encroaching further up toward the bow as the stern settled and the tide crashed up and over the decks.

Mike slipped into the water and turned back to the boat. "Here we go." He yelled. "Let yourself slip into the water and I'll grab you."

The captain had a hold of the back of her life jacket. Laurine was seated on the hull with her legs over the side. "Ok." The captain said into her ear. I've got you and Mike will grab you once you are in the water. Ya' know what? You're going home." He smiled. "We'll be along in a few minutes."

She looked back at him, still scared of course but, she had dug deep and found her last reserves of strength and determination and pushed off the boat and into the water. He still had a hold of her life jacket and began to turn her so the Mike could begin the swim. Mike grabbed hold of her vest. "Here we go." He yelled and began paddling toward the hovering helicopter.

The captain moved forward quickly and grabbed the spotlight. Once again, he focused the beam on the swimmers as he keyed the hand-held radio's mic button. "Mike is away with the first Pax." He said. "I have my light on them."

"Roger Osprey." The helicopter crew replied." We have them." And the giant spotlight from the helicopter shone down on the swimmers in the water.

"You're next." He told Jen. "Follow me." And he headed back toward the boarding area with Jen following closely behind.

They watched as Mike, towing Laurine reached the spot below the helicopter. He saw the basket get pushed out of the cabin and begin its descent. "Remember, don't reach out for the basket." He told her. "It could have a static charge. Let it hit the water and discharge and let Mike get you in."

She nodded that she had heard and the watched as the Laurine, now in the basket began to rise.

Mike began his swim back to the boat. "Do you have your stuff?" He asked. "He had told them earlier to salvage what they could of their personal gear, concentrating on needs and only then their wants but, in any case, only one carry on size bag.

Jen nodded and clutched the bag to her chest as Mike drew up alongside. "Who's next?" He quipped though they had discussed the order earlier and knew Jen was second.

As he had done with Laurine, he held onto her life jacket as she let herself into the water. She did not have to drop into the water, just slide in. The level of the sea had reached the deck and lapped over with each wave.

The boat continued to shudder with each smack of a wave on the stern. The sea seemed calm by comparison. He watched as Mike with Jen in tow made it toward the pickup point. He was again following them with the beam of his spot and called again to the helicopter. "Two's away." Was all he needed to say.

"We have them Osprey." The female pilot responded. "Get yourself ready, you're next."

*****************************

Chapter 13

He took a moment to look around him at the carnage that once was his home and his passport to the rest of the world, to voyage and discover on his time, on his schedule, and according to his whim. He was wet, exhausted, and sore from a thousand bumps against hard steel or the dozens of pieces of the hull now bent at odd angles.

He began to ask himself "What happened?" for the hundredth time and stopped himself short. No value going down this road again. "It's over, you lost your boat, you hit a fuckin reef and tore her guts out. You failed. You weren't up to it. You thought you had what it took but, in the end, you didn't have the goods or the ability."

La Mere was the boss and she had a way of finding any weakness or lack of preparations. And now she was holding a mirror up to his faults and showing him the fallacy of his pride in the most unforgiving terms. He was shaking his head slowly side to side as he mourned his loss and anguished over his ineptitude.

He looked over toward the helicopter. Mike was approaching the pickup point with Jen in tow. "You know?" He thought. "It wouldn't break my heart if she fell out!" And that was the only wicked thought he allowed himself. He turned back toward the stern of the boat. He went to the hatch above the salon and peered in with his head lamp.

It was awash with a jumble of items, clothing, food, plastic containers; all the gear so necessary to his plan, each item chosen with care. All the money, all the effort; thousands of hours of back breaking work in the Florida sun, but at the time it was a true labor of love and the heat and humidity had not bothered him. He worked 10 to 12 hours a day on refit and maintenance to get Osprey ready for the coming trip. All that work, all that planning, all that money being swallowed, inch by inch, by an unrelenting sea.

He looked up at the mast. All new standing rigging. Upsized stainless-steel wire rope glistened in his spotlight. He had also added a furling rig and new head sail to replace the old "hank on" headsail and a traveler to control the boom better than the original boom brake that had been installed. The upgrades also included new running rigging, rebuilt alternators and water maker pumps, new fixtures, and improvements to the interior, not to mention all the new electronic gear he had installed. He had salvaged what he could -- he was allowing himself two bags, one for his personal items and one for ships papers and all the electronic gear he could fit but, in truth he did not think he would ever use it again. His heart had been torn loose from its mount every bit as much as the sail drives had and he did not think he had it in him to do it all again. So much invested, so much lost and so little to show for it. "Well maybe nothing to show for it in a few minutes." He allowed with a wry grin, once again watching the water continue its unhindered rise eating up more and more of the foredeck as it rose.