Association leaders experience life aboard the 'Big E'.

• Position: NDIA NEWS

A recent visit to the USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered carrier in the U.S. Navy, became an unforgettable experience for Rear Adm. Fred Lewis, USN (Ret.), president of the National Training and Simulation Association, and for Dave Chesebrough, president of the Association for Enterprise Integration.

Lewis, a retired naval aviator who flew the Navy's F-14 and F-4 aircraft, led a group of visitors who had never experienced life aboard an aircraft carrier.

The adventure: fly out to the carrier, make an arrested landing, spend the night with the crew observing operations, and then fly off the next day with a catapult shot. What started as a theme park like adventure quickly became more of a lesson about the people serving aboard the USS Enterprise. The officers and crew of the USS Enterprise and Carrier Air Wing One exemplify the honor, courage and commitment of all our men and women in the military services.

The USS Enterprise, or Big E as she is affectionately known by those who served on her, is a unique carrier, literally in a class of her own. First deployed in 1961 she has eight reactors making in excess of 280,000 horsepower. Her sailors will tell you that the Big E is the fastest and most agile of the Navy's carriers. She is nine feet longer, one foot narrower, weighs 7,400 tons less and has two more rudders than a Nimitz class carrier. She is the "Ferrari" of the nuclear carrier fleet.

The flight from Norfolk, Va., aboard a C2A to the Big E took about an hour. Generally the approach is straight in, as opposed to the race-track pattern of the jets. Passenger seats face backwards on the plane, and with no windows, there are no cues as to the location of the ship. Approaching the carrier the C2-A Greyhound is traveling at 130 mph. It lands on the Big E abruptly and with considerable force.

A kaleidoscope of colored shirts met the group as they exited the C-2A and were greeted by officers and crew. Escorted to the commanding officer's quarters they were welcomed by Capt. Ron Horton, who had just recently assumed command of the Big E, the executive officer, Capt. O.P. Honors, the air wing commander, Capt. Mark Wralstad, and the public affairs officer, Lt. Cmdr. Dave Nunnally.

The first stop was the Flag Bridge. On level 09 of the ship it was six ladders up and afforded a great view of aircraft launching from the forward catapults. On the port side of the bridge a door exited aft to "vultures row," a balcony where landings are...