TRIPWIRE

SERVICE RECORD

LT Steve “TRIPWIRE” is the rare new arrival aboard the USS Leviathan who doesn't need anyone to show him where the wires are. A former Army infantryman with thirty-two years of service to the U.S. government, ten in uniform and twenty-two as a civil servant, he reports to the 62nd Attack Squadron “Abyss Hogs” carrying more carrier time than most of the squadron's furniture.

Before CVW-0, TRIPWIRE spent five and a half years and roughly 4,000 hours in the F/A-18C with VMFA-122, flying alongside RAHPE back when RAHPE still technically had a rank to lose. Over that stretch he held nearly every job a squadron has to offer: Executive Officer, Division Lead, Section Lead, Instructor Pilot, and Landing Signal Officer. That last one matters with the Hogs, who bring a land-locked attack jet aboard Leviathan every day and treat the arresting wires as a suggestion. The LSO platform has seen things it will not discuss. Somewhere along the way TRIPWIRE decided the Hornet was too polite, and traded it for the one jet in CVW-0 that was never supposed to land on a ship.

By day he's a Senior Systems Engineer for the U.S. Department of the Interior, working out of Reno, Nevada, which makes him one of the few men in the air wing qualified to explain exactly why the jet's systems are broken and then fix them anyway. Married thirty-two years with two grown kids, he has already survived every form of chaos a nugget can produce on the radio.

He'll be the first to admit it's been a couple of years since he flew seriously. He'll also be the first to tell you the rust comes off in about one trap. Standing 6'4" and lean, with a bald head usually hiding under a ball cap, TRIPWIRE notes that the squadron artist gave his portrait a little extra muscle. He has reviewed the discrepancy and elected not to file a correction.

APPEARS IN

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