PACIFIC OCEAN – With a crew of more than 350 Sailors and less than 30 of them facilitating air operations, it’s up to one man to make sure things run smoothly aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70).
With Lake Erie capable of catching, maintaining, and launching helicopters, that leaves a lot of work to be done with not so many people. Enter Chief Aviation Electrician’s Mate James Wardrobe, from Imperial Beach, California. Not only is he in charge of the aircraft, but he’s also in charge of the Air department Sailors.
“My job here is to ensure that whatever mission we are assigned for the helicopters, we execute it,” said Wardrobe.
Wardrobe, who has served for 19 years across multiple U.S. Navy cruisers, has made it a point his whole career to ensure air operations are both safe and effective.
“It’s honestly a full circle moment for me,” said Wardrobe. “I started as a young aviation electrician on a cruiser much like the Lake Erie. So, it’s all actually very familiar to me. It’s where I started my career in naval aviation, helicopters specifically.”
Wardrobe spent his first two deployments on cruisers, where he promoted and continued to progress in his career. Nowadays, he maintains a detachment of airmen, facilitating their daily tasks and operations.
“On a great day when everything is set and good to go, we’re really just grooming the aircraft and troubleshooting discrepancies,” said Wardrobe. “That’s a best-case scenario day. There are the downs, the valleys if you will, where we have to troubleshoot complex discrepancies in order to get the aircraft to a safe launch status.”
There could be several situations that complicate a normal day such as emergency medical evacuations, emergency landings, live fire drills, heavy weather, and damage repair just to name a few. However, the department’s primary hurdle doesn’t lie with mission readiness.
“We have a mixture of veteran and junior Sailors with next to no sea time,” said Wardrobe. “Just the leading petty officer, one second class petty officer, and myself have been on a cruiser. We have four other Sailors who have been on a carrier, and all the rest of my maintainers have not even been on a ship prior to this underway.”
Most of Wardrobe’s Sailors need to tackle two issues simultaneously; acclimating to life on a ship and acclimating to doing their job in a smaller, more limited space then what they may be used to.
“They’re barely hitting a month underway,” said Wardrobe. “That length of time is probably the biggest hurdle we’ve met so far. But when it comes to the aircraft maintenance, my guys are good; they’re solid.”
To the naked eye, the Navy’s guided-missile cruisers are large ships, with thick hulls and weighing more than most one-story buildings. However, the ocean is always going to be bigger. The pitching, rolling, and swinging of the ship makes handling heavy equipment dangerous and tricky. As well as adding extra hurdles when it comes to moving equipment, everything must be secured safely in case the ship needs to make a sharp turn or encounters tall waves. Helicopter pilots also need to remain cautious of operating on a cruiser as well, launching and landing on a moving platform is a skill developed through long hours of rigorous training.
“My guys can take a punch so to speak,” said Wardrobe. “They can also dodge a punch too. Meaning that whatever’s thrown at us, they take it on the chin, and they roll with it. They’ve also been able to maneuver around tricky situations such as today where we had to move a helicopter in and out as quickly as possible, and we did it with ease.”
Dealing with stressful tasks on short notice can be daunting for a crew member in a new environment, but the training and support the crew receives from their leadership and fellow airmen creates a solid working structure.
“We weren’t very quick at one point but we’re definitely gotten better,” said Wardrobe. “Today, when we had to swap to the other aircraft, we did it in just over an hour. That was the first time we’ve done it with this crew. I was really proud of my guys for how quickly everybody responded all hands were in.”
In fact, the department has faced multiple scenarios where quick action was necessary. Wardrobe described one such example of how one of his airmen took it upon themselves to stay after their shift to fix a popped helicopter tire.
“When it’s go time, they flip the switch,” said Wardrobe, looking at his division and smiling. “They got the attitude, cooperation, military bearing, and it’s only been a month.”
Their comradery, skills, and willingness to go the extra mile help the department pull through tough challenges. Wardrobe’s task to be their chief, and manage their day to day operations becomes easier, and allows him to act more as a mentor to the young Sailors.
“I’m very blessed to be here,” said Wardrobe. “I’m trying to do whatever I can to be there for them. And I pray about it all the time. They come in, they check the workload, and they execute the workload. Sometimes I just feel like I’m here.”
When questioned about whether he has any thoughts on the future of his crew, he simply stated:
“We are ready to do what our Nation needs to do, no matter the mission.”
Lake Erie is part of Carrier Strike Group 9 and is currently conducting integrated training exercises in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations, which leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy.
| Date Taken: | 11.24.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 11.29.2023 15:57 |
| Story ID: | 458580 |
| Location: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Hometown: | IMPERIAL BEACH, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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