Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Amanda Hayes | 170708-N-CF658-001-19 CORONADO,California (July 8th, 2017) -- Aviation Electrician's...... read more read more
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“It is completely overwhelming once you step on a ship. Everything is giant, it is all grey and there are people everywhere,” remarked Marianne De Silva, an Aviation Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 4 stationed at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, California, about life aboard an aircraft carrier.
“ Eventually you fall into a groove and it becomes the same day over and over.”
Having just returned from deployment on June 23rd 2017, De Silva also remarked that coming home and stepping off of the ship was nearly as big of an adjustment as stepping on.
“When you do reach land…well, it’s different,” said De Silva pausing momentarily. “You’re not really used to seeing bright colors like green. You’re used to seeing grey and various shades of blue.”
Turning around at the table where she is seated, De Silva narrows her eyes while peering at the carrier that is towering in the distance.
“You’re used to hearing whistles all the time,” she continues, “and people talking over a loud speaker. So once you get into a hotel or you’re back at home…the silence is almost deafening. That’s one thing you have to readjust to and that’s kind of difficult.”
Putting her back to the ship she squints as she faces the sun and begins again. “Having your own personal space and not having to share your living space; that’s the hardest,” she begins as she recalls a story from deployment.
“I had to fly to Osan, South Korea overnight to fix one of our helicopters that was having engine trouble. As soon as we got to the hotel I was given my own room as one of the only females there,” said De Silva. “ I stood in my hotel room for twenty minutes not knowing what to do. I just stood there in my uniform staring off into space because I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t had this much freedom in close to 70 days and I was lost. That’s when I looked at my watched and realized that I had just been standing there.”
De Silva said that in order to adjust to being in the hotel room and in her own personal space again that she had to start slow by first telling herself that she could
take off her boots, it was alright to sit down on the hotel bed and that she didn’t just have to stand there waiting for an order or a whistle to tell her what it was time to do.
Now thankful to be back on solid ground and away from a place where cacophonies of catapult shots fill the air and personal space is none existent, De Silva had this to say to help others imagine how hard it can be to assimilate to life during and post deployment. “Think of your most stressful moment, multiply it by 10 and take away all creature comforts. Now build your life around that.”
| Date Taken: | 07.09.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 07.09.2017 18:21 |
| Story ID: | 240560 |
| Location: | CORONADO, CA, US |
| Hometown: | BAKERSFIELD, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 105 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Noise and Deafening Silence, by PO2 Amanda Hayes, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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