Aircraft carrier projects sea power from the Gulf of Alaska: USS John C. Stennis supports Northern Edge 2009

  • Published
  • By Marine Sgt. Zachary Dyer
  • Northern Edge Joint Information Bureau
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Northern Edge 2009 brought together 9,000 servicemembers and more than 200 aircraft to train on land, in the air, and over the water. A large part of that water training came courtesy of the Sailors and Marines aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). 

From June 15-26, the carrier and its 5,000 servicemembers trained alongside personnel from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps to increase interoperability of the services and prepare themselves to respond to a crisis in the Asia-Pacific region. 

"We're here to support the Northern Edge exercise, which is practicing for potential scenarios that may develop in the Pacific, but I think the large part of what we're here to do is to learn how to operate more fluently with our sister services, particularly the Air Force," said Navy Capt. Joseph W. Kuzmick, the commanding officer of the Stennis.
During the exercise, the Stennis' flight deck was alive with a dangerous ballet of high-powered aircraft launching and landing, and with busy pilots, mechanics and aircraft handlers who are responsible for daily operations of the aircraft carrier. The average age of those servicemembers who shoulder the huge responsibility of running the carrier is in the low twenties, according to Kuzmick. 

"So you've got people who are just out of high school and you give them the responsibility and say to them, 'These multimillion-dollar airplanes with human beings in them are about to go catapulting into the night -- well, there's no night up here -- but into the sky. And its your responsibility, you're the last guy to look at it'," said Kuzmick. "It's amazing how much they'll step up and handle that responsibility."
After each day of operations, the aircrew go through an extensive debrief to single out lessons learned and highlight whatever strengths or weaknesses became apparent. As the exercise progressed, interoperability that Northern Edge was designed to create became more and more visible, according to Kuzmick. 

"It's almost like polishing a shoe," explained Kuzmick. "You do it once, you get a little better at it. You come back again, it gets a little bit better still. I think over the last couple of decades we've gotten a lot better at working with the other services." 

The carrier's stop in the Gulf of Alaska comes on the tail end of a six-month Western Pacific deployment. In a few weeks, the Stennis will return to its homeport at Naval Station Bremerton, Wa.