Going Down (Intro)

This is a taste of what I go through on a daily basis

The Mighty USS George Washington was churning away in the turbulent waters of the Yellow Sea. I was circling the carrier as I waited for my classified squadron to land. Finally it was my turn; I brought my thirsty bird around for one more orbit around the Washington.

I had her positioned for a treacherous landing; the wild wind buffeted her as I continued to bring her in. My tail hook was down, waiting to snag the third arresting wire and bring her to a safe grinding halt. The super carrier bobbed up and down in the violent sea as I continued to bring my nimble bird in. My F/A-37 was undaunted as she defiantly flew through the tropical downpour. The rain began to come down in blinding sheets, but my Talon refused to be intimidated. Her keen optical sensors easily knifed through the watery interference and showed the bobbing Washington on my HUD.

I was about a half a mile away from safety when a thunderous dazzling bolt of lightning flashed between me and my bobbing destination. My bird shook in the turbulent wake; I grabbed my flight stick with two hands to steady my wobbling fighter. “Whoa!” Commander Quinn’s voice boomed over the radio, “You okay lieutenant?”

“Fine,” I lied. God Bless Miami, did that ever…HURT!

Privately I went to a civilian doctor and told her what I was going through. She confirmed what my eye doctor told me six years before. I had an inflamed V (5th) or trigeminal nerve, the condition was called Trigeminal Neuralgia. It is the most painful conditions known to man. I was given naproxen prescription to help alleviate the pain. If navy flight surgeons knew I had this condition I would be grounded and face the possibility of being kicked out of the navy. I had no desire to neither be the next Alan Shepard nor face the possibility of having a surgery that might not work.

I had been managing the pain quite effectively for the past few months, but this proverbial bolt out of the blue changed things for the worse. I felt like that bolt of electricity was repeatedly firing fiery daggers into my left eye. I winced and grimaced as I vainly commanded the pain to go away.

I could see the fuselage was radiating a golden yellow as the lightning bolt dissipated. Suddenly my forward swept wing big girl was responsive. It was as if she were flying herself down to the flight deck on autopilot. All lights were green, signaling a perfect landing. That was good, now I braced myself for more excruciating pain.

The Talon snagged the third arrestor wire, she went from 150 mph to a dead stop in the blink of an eye. My left eye nearly exploded at the near sudden stop. I took a deep breath, held it, and closed my eyes. I opened them, the eye left was pounding in pain. I haven’t felt this much pain in years. I thought I knew how bad an attack was, but this felt like an 11-12 on the 0-10 scale.