2 days on the Most Powerful Ship in the World! USS Gerald R. Ford CVN 78

I've got him inbound, bogey heading 270 at 10 miles. Hey, what's up happy people? I'm Robert Arrington. This is Deer Meat for Dinner. Man, I'm at one of my favorite places on planet Earth. This is the Jupiter Inlet. I mean, I grew up as a little kid just snorkeling and diving and fishing and having a good time right here. Lately, I've had some very unique opportunities. About three months ago, I was invited with a distinguished group of amazing men to fly out to the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford. We got aboard a COD, which is basically an airplane that flies back and forth from the Navy Station out to the aircraft carrier, dropping off personnel and supplies. When we landed, F-18s are taking off, landing. They were in a full-blown operation. Testing, practicing, working. Anytime I see a fighter jet, I always think to myself, how amazing is that? My favorite movie is Top Gun. My dog is named Maverick. I love that lifestyle. The Navy is so incredibly special. So for me, to get to go there was beyond my wildest imagination. But the story doesn't start there. Very few people realize how interested I am in World War II. Specifically, the Pacific Theater, where the United States was faced off against Japan. I'm telling you, as sure as I'm alive, I've traveled all over the world and we enjoy freedoms and liberties here in America that this world has never known and probably will never know again. That's why it's so vitally important for the United States of America to have a strong military presence, to have an amazing Navy. 2018, I got to go to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. We refer to it as the CNMI. I met a Chamorro guy named P.K. Hoko in Washington and I was able to take him home out to his little island of Rota. When I went there, I was excited about just bringing him home and letting his family see him. He hadn't seen his family in like 10 years. But what I didn't know is I was going to fall in love with that land and I was amazed with the people. Then I started to dig into the history of the CNMI, the Battle of Saipan, Tinian, the Enola Gay, the turning point in the battle in the Pacific during World War II. I started realizing that thousands upon thousands of U.S. military men died on those islands. What did they die for? They died for freedom. They died fighting tyranny. They died protecting the United States of America. And you know what? The CNMI, it proudly flies the flag of the United States of America. That would have been 100% impossible without the might, force, and mobility of the United States Navy and our carrier forces. I'm sitting here on the beach right now. Without our Navy to protect this great country, people could come here and bring the fight to us. But with our Navy, with our aircraft carriers and our carrier groups, we can go worldwide and defend freedom. Not only that, while I was on the Ford, we got to enjoy amazing dinners and sit down and fellowship with the officers and talk with people all over that ship. I mean, I got to talk with sailors from the bottom to the top. All right, well, we're going to wake you guys up bright and early Naval style. See this big boy right here? He's a big boy. He's from Maine. From what I hear, you don't have a call sign, right? No, I do not. Hey, if we could get 20,000 thumbs up, can we make your call sign moose? Let's do it. Dude, he's from Maine. Look at that head. It's moose, folks, 25,000. 25,000. When he's on R&R, he's coming to Florida. We're taking him fishing. Let's do this, y'all. Me and my good friend Alejandro Villanueva, we actually got to sit in the captain's chair, lock the flight deck, hang out in the hangars. And one thing that kept resonating with me is how proud I was to be an American. And when you would look into the eyes of all those sailors, you just saw a sense of pride and dignity, a sense of reason for being there. And, man, it made me happy. It made me feel free. Everybody wanted to ask me, what was it like landing on an aircraft carrier? And I'm telling you, it's the second most amazing thing in the whole world. When you're flying around, you come in for the landing, the flight crew yells, brace, brace, brace. You brace and you come in under full power. Like, typically, when you're landing in an airplane, you know you're about to land because they kill the power and you glide in and you touch down. When you're landing on an aircraft carrier, you land under full power. And as that restricting device, as you get caught, there's a wire that your tail hook catches. As you get caught, the jet or plane that you're in is under full power. It's amazing. The restricting wire catches you and actually pulls you back. You're getting caught. After spending two days on the Ford, we got back on the Cod, and that's where the most amazing experience ever is. You're sitting there, and the plane starts winding up. It's under full power. The flight crew on the deck are getting ready. Your pilot's ready. They yell, brace, brace, brace. The engines go to full power. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And all of a sudden, the catapult shoots you off the front of that. You go from zero to about 160 miles an hour in like two seconds. You're like, it's the most incredible. And when it throws you off the front of the aircraft carrier, it feels like you're floating, but you're not floating. You're flying. You're just not increasing velocity that fast. That's a feeling to me. But what's really amazing is when you're on the flight deck and you're watching all the guys running around in unison, working, doing their job. Everybody's wearing their own shirts, like purple, yellow, white, green. But the yellow is my favorite. The yellow is the shooter. The yellow is the guy who's basically talking directly to the pilot, and when all systems are go, boom, he shoots it. Off they go. If you're a youngster and you find yourself wondering where you're going in life and what you want to do and you want to make a difference, I'd encourage you to check out the military. Check out the Navy. It could take you places and teach you things that your mind can't even comprehend. Whenever I look at all the men and women aboard the Ford, they all had a sense of direction and a sense of purpose and a sense of common bond. That's something the world is missing today. So to everybody who made this possible, who made my dream come true of getting to land on an aircraft carrier and getting shot off the front, thank you very much. To each and every one of you who watch my videos and subscribe to my channel, you're the wind beneath my wings. You're the encouragement to make me be my best and to do my best each and every day. So thank you very much. But that's all I got for today. Take care. God bless. And we gone.