You hear it almost everywhere you go — a discordant mix of pneumatic guns, multimillion-dollar aircraft engines, JP-5-fueled afterburners, and steel clashing steel in the galley, or rather, any compartment aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). But there is another sound, friendlier and more unified in nature that catches your ear: the music of the crew, the crew that makes every carefully planned operation and evolution run.
American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote, “music is the universal language of mankind.” In an environment that combines vastly different cultures, backgrounds, and skillsets, this statement most certainly applies. It’s not just a representation of the...
Admiral (ret.) Samuel Locklear III, a distinguished visitor aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), listens to a briefing on the ship’s rigid hull inflatable boats, March 29, 2025. The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is underway in the Atlantic Ocean completing integrated naval warfighting training. Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) is the Joint Force’s most complex integrated training event and prepares naval task forces for sustained high-end Joint and combined combat. Integrated naval training provides America’s civilian leaders and commanders highly-capable forces that deter adversaries, underpin American security and economic prosperity, and reassure Allies and partners. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Spencer Staggs)
B-Roll package of USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) cyclic flight operations during dusk to nighttime hours while the ship operates in the Caribbean Sea, Nov. 19, 2025. U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. Southern Command mission, Department of War-directed operations, and the president’s priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland. (U.S. Navy Video)
CAPT Rick Burgess, a native of Bellevue, WA, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and was designated a Naval Flight Officer in 1998.
Operational assignments include tours with Fighter Squadron (VF) 31, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72); Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 102, USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63); and two tours with VFA-103, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and USS George Washington (CVN 73).
Shore assignments include service as Action Officer in the House Liaison Office, Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA); TOPGUN Instructor with Navy Fighter Weapons School; Strike Fighter Placement Officer (PERS-433B) with Navy Personnel Command (NPC); Branch Chief, Global Missile Defense...
Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States, was born July 14, 1913, in Omaha, NE. The future President grew up in a close-knit family, excelled scholastically and athletically at South High School in Grand Rapids, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in November 1927.
Ford attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he majored in economics and political science. An extremely gifted athlete, FORD was voted the Wolverine’s most valuable player in 1934, with opportunities to play professional football.
Ford chose the legal profession over a professional football career, graduating with a law degree from Yale in 1941. After the United States entered the war during World War II, Ford received a commission...
