There are only a handful of moments that will be forever etched into your mind. Moments that shape who you are and change your life permanently. These can be the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, or something as simple as your sports team winning a title. I have been blessed to have my fair share of positive ones and a minimal amount of negative ones. Serving in the United States Navy has given me more of those moments than I ever thought possible. All of the positive and negative emotions of my time in uniform came crashing down on me in one glorious moment like a waterfall when my aircraft touchdown for my last flight.
There is a tradition in Naval Aviation that on your last flight in the command you are congratulated by being drenched in water by your comrades. This practice is also for when you become fully qualified in the aircraft. I don't know how or why it started but the military has all kinds of crazy and fun traditions like that. I have dumped plenty of water on plenty of people of all ranks. It is a fun celebration to be a part of especially when you get the fire department on base involved and can use their fire hoses on a Commanding Officer. They were at a safe pressure level so don't worry! As much as I have participated in the event I had never been on the receiving end of it. My flight to become fully qualified was canceled due to aircraft malfunctions, so it was moved to a simulator. The simulator ran long and the debrief ran even longer so by the time I left late into the evening, the squadron didn't stick around. I don't blame them because I wouldn't have either. My last flight in my first command wasn't supposed to be my last flight so we didn't treat it any differently. My crew was called back to the main squadron and I was to stay in Africa until they came back and start flying again. Then plans changed and my crew didn't come back and I had to stay to watch over the site until the day before I left deployment when another crew came to relieve me so I could go home. Just based on poor timing I had avoided the water celebration in my time at the first squadron.
The second squadron was a little more unique. We were a scientific and development squadron so we didn't have standard missions like I had grown accustomed to. We flew scientists around testing new equipment and technologies. We also were not funded like normally Navy units. We had to make money from renting our aircraft for projects to maintain our flight hours. While I had flown some really cool missions in my time there, it was coming to the end of my orders and my aircraft just was not getting the flight hours. I was getting dangerously close to missing the last flight celebrations again. Worse yet, I had decided to leave the Navy at the end of this tour so this was my last chance. I volunteered to fly on any flight I could to spend as much time in the air before this opportunity was gone. Flying had always been a passion of mine ever since I was a kid. Getting the chance to do it for a career was dream come true. Even though I was ready to leave the service for a more stable lifestyle with my growing family, I wasn't ready to give up flying. The issue was none of the aircraft I was scheduled on was my aircraft. The one I had been trained on and deployed with. They were smaller and I was just a passenger on them to experience what they were like and sneak in some more flight time. With the months turning into weeks and the weeks into days, it was looking grim for me to get one last flight on my aircraft. I had two weeks of leave for the birth of my son, two weeks back to finish paperwork, and then start transition out and move back home. I came back from the time off with my newborn son and still no projects had been scheduled for the upcoming week. I was not going to get my last flight.
I had an amazing run in the Navy where I was able to get the orders I wanted. Whether this was hard work, timing, luck, or knowing the right people, I had done my Navy career the way I wanted to do it. That is a rare treat so I reminded myself of that when I walked out of the squadron for the last time and said goodbye to everyone. Fate has a funny way of intervening though and it seemed like my lucky streak was about to continue. When I woke up the next morning I had a text from my Commanding Officer who I got along with really well. I assumed it was a generic thank you and good luck on your future endeavors kind of text. It was that but it was also something more. The squadron had scheduled a pilot training flight for the next day and while I was "technically" not part of the command anymore he really wanted to give me a shot to add my name to the crew list. A pilot training flight is just a flight to get the pilot's flight time and landings to maintain their proficiency so it was not a mission flight and not a flight I would normally be on. He went out of his way to give me one last chance to fly the aircraft that has shaped my life. I would still be in the area and the movers wouldn't have packed up our stuff yet so I emphatically said I was interested. He responded, "Good because we already have your name on there".
While I was in flight school I had one instructor that made me truly appreciate how lucky I was that I flew military aircraft for a living. Wanting to impress this instructor I had yet to fly with, I kept my head down and made sure I didn't miss any calls or navigation points. I was comfortable in the plane so I knew I was doing well but he disagreed for a reason I didn't expect. He asked me how many times I have looked outside of the cockpit to look around. Thinking this was a test question I answered with the memorized answer from our books. That was not the answer he was looking for and said for the rest of the flight he wanted me to look out the window and appreciate the unique opportunity I had. I was doing well so he promised I would pass the flight but just to enjoy this moment. That was such a simple event that changed the way I looked at flying for the rest of my career. Every time I flew I tried to make sure I looked out the window at least one time to just take in the experience. Thanks to my current Commanding Officer I was going to get one more chance to take it all in.
The flight was incredible. Since it wasn't a mission flight I was able to fully soak in every aspect of the aircraft. I could truly feel the takeoff and look out the window, I could walk through the plane and slowly go over the pannels that I had become so familiar with. I could sit in my seat one last time and breath in the old plane's museum-like smell. The pilots let me fly it for over an hour while we reminisced about our time together. For those few hours, I was able to truly appreciate everything, good or bad, that I was able to do because I choose to fly. There is a quote from the tv show The Office's Andy Bernard that came to my mind during the flight. “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.” and luckily for me I was able to recognize this moment's importance while I was still in it. Once the plane finally touched back down on the runway I was so thankful for this opportunity to say goodbye to such an instrumental part of my life. This was not only my last flight for this command, this was the last flight of my military service. My friends in the squadron knew that as well and were ready.
Having been a part of so many last flight celebrations, I knew the trap that was being set for me. I removed everything out of my flight suit pockets because they would not survive the downpour that was about to occur. The engines turned off, the propellers had stopped, the door was opened, and I began my trek down the ladder to the ground. I didn't initially see anyone but as soon as I turned around the water was waiting for me. Not only did I get one final flight in the warbird I had spent countless hours in, I finally got my last flight celebration.
What better way to commemorate the end of Naval service than with a whiskey that spent more time at sea than I did. Jefferson's Ocean is a bourbon that is aged on land to start but they finish aging it at sea. According to their website each barrel is "Aboard the deck of a ship, barrels of Jefferson's Ocean bourbon travel to 25 ports, 5 continents, and cross the equator 2 times. This bourbon is "Aged At The Mercy of The Sea." Considering my time in the Navy was flying a plane that was too big to land on a carrier, I have never set foot on a Naval ship as a commissioned officer so this whiskey does in fact have me sea time than I do. Even with my time in college on a nuclear submarine for two weeks and an aircraft carrier for another 2 weeks, my time still is dwarfed by this whiskey. Each batch of it comes from a different voyage and Jefferson's adds a description from the ship's log of where this batch traveled. It was fun to read through and see if I had shared any destinations with it. It is a great whiskey and I do like the faint saltness to it that makes you feel like you are out at sea or as my wife says, on a beach. Results may vary on life experiences! Having a nautically aged bourbon was the only way I could think of ending my nautical career with.
Jefferson's Ocean is 90 proof and is such a unique bourbon. The sea salt does shine through but it does not take away from the bourbon. It adds such a unique touch. These are the listed notes but I don't always get all of these. I am curious to hear what you got.
Nose: Salted caramel popcorn and tropical fruit
Palate: Salted caramel popcorn, tropical fruit
Finish: Warm, Viscous, and a hint of brininess
I would recommend a glass of this neat, but an ice cube doesn't hurt to open it up. As always drink it the way you will enjoy it most. Overall, I would definitely find a bottle of Jefferson's Ocean of any voyage. The best whiskies have stories and this one is a world traveler with its story on the bottle.
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