Page 88 - The Jazzsipper Novel

87

THE JAZZ SIPPER

coming into the squadron. There were always people transferring in and out
of the squadrons. The first stop at the squadron was processing, it took about
two days to get all checked in. The last day of check in he met with his chain
of command. And they informed him that they were schedule for deployment
within three to four months. Headed into the Mediterranean Sea and he would
be assigned Temporary Duty Status for the course of the deployment. Which
meant that he would be pulled out of his shop (the Line Department), which
was a part of the aircraft division and began working in the ships laundry, the
squadron living quarters or in the ship’s kitchen. But, until their deployment
date he would be assigned to the Line Department. The Line were where the
majority of all new junior enlisted personal would go in the squadron, it was
where you earned your rights of passage in the squadron. It was one of the
most dangerous assignments in the squadron and one of the most physical,
and mentally challenging. But it was one of the most fun assignments in the
squadron as well.

By the time Vance’s squadron had deployed for the Mediterranean he had
been on two short deployments called work-ups. This was a requirement that
all ships had to pass before they were considered battle ready. Before a ship
could go on an extended overseas deployment there were a battery of tests
the ship and its crew had to pass. The majority of the time you were out on
work-ups you were training and drilling for all sorts of wartime scenarios. For
each month long work-up you got three days Port of Call. Usually the Port of
Call was somewhere in the Caribbean. When the deployment date actually
came Vance was already familiar with shipboard life. The ship he was on was
an aircraft carrier, one of the largest ships in the Navy Fleet. The tip of the
spear for military operations, most people called them floating cities. They