[Parker]

There was this one time I was going to post a story of something I did that was crazy and possibly illegal - it was a good and funny story that explained what it was like for me to go through menopause, but I thought better of posting it ... read: I chickened out.


Instead, I will talk about how this one time, I was briefly stationed on the USS Constellation (aka the Connie) during the Women in the Sea program - which, to be fair, I dont know if that was actually the name of the program, but I called it that so much as a joke (like, chicken of the sea) that I dont know it by any other name now. lol

Basically, I was in the Navy during the time of no women in combat, no women on ships (save for hospital ships), etc but the higher-ups wanted to see how men and women working on ships worked together and if we requested it, they would allow us anywhere from 2-14 days on a ship of their choosing. I was on the Fort McHenry for a couple of days, then went to the Connie for 2 weeks

See, I was a Plane Captain for an anti-submarine helicopter squadron - it was a land-based squadron that was about 98% female and we trained the men who would be deployed on aircraft carriers. We were good enough to train the men, but not join them - and we were misogynistically referred to as a "rag squadron."

So it was important to me and a friend of mine to be on an aircraft carrier to get our Landing Signalmen Enlisted (LSE) qualifications, which just meant we would be qualified to do the same job we did then, just on an aircraft carrier.

Anyway, my friend and I were plugging along, having a grand ole time (she and I got our quals in 2 weeks - it took the men their whole 6 month deployment ) hanging out on the flight-line, taking tons of pics, learning what it was like to live on a ship (it sucks lol), etc.

One night, we were getting our night quals and a jet was coming in unexpectedly. We were just inspecting our birds, adding fluids, etc - but I should note that I was so stick-thin back then, someone had to hold me down when the helicopters took off because the down wash of the rotors threatened to blow me on my ass and possibly off of the ship. Also, while we were doing that, a couple of other squadrons were fueling their birds nearby.

As I said, this jet was coming in unexpectedly because there was some sort of problem and they half-expected a crash onto the deck of the ship, so sirens were going off, people were screaming and yelling for everyone to get off of the flight-line, the fuelers were trying to drag their hoses (about 6-8" round and heavy) off of the flight-line - just total chaos.

My friend and I, along with all the other people on the flight-line were running for the catwalks on either side of the carrier when I tripped over a fuel hose. Losing my balance, I went flying down the stairs and into the arms of someone in the catwalk - if they hadnt caught me, my momentum most likely would have carried me over the railing & off of the ship into the water several stories down.

I posted a few pics I found on-line to give you an idea - none of them are exactly right, though the third is pretty damn close.

The first 2 are of the catwalk on the Connie (both pics are from 1972) - but in different areas of the ship than we were that night so the wall of the catwalk is wrong, but they are still a good spacial reference.






This third one is from a model of the USS Enterprise - this catwalk is really close to what we were running onto that night, but ours was just a bit narrower (like the other pics) - the stairs and railings instead of walls are what I'm talking about in my story.




The end.