My luck came in good today. Last night I met a FAST company United States Marine Seargent named Kerry at the local beach bar. He was one of 3000 shore leave Marines and Navy that arrived here in Kuta last night. They have been circling Indonesia for two weeks, ready to evacuate Americans in the event that the local food riots escalate to more serious civil unrest.

Kerry explained that his specialty was anti-terrorist activity. I traded information on dealing with the beach salesmen hawking cigarettes, lighters, woodcarvings and rings. In return for that and a beer, he offered to give me a tour of the ship today. We agreed to meet at his hotel at noon.

Fully expecting to be ditched, I arrived at noon and Kerry was nowhere to be found. The visiting Navy guys told me never trust a Marine, and if I wanted a tour they’d take me in a couple of days. Undaunted, and feeling reasonably lucky, I planned to go to the pier where the shuttle boats to the ship landed and find someone else to show me around.

I hooked up with my new friend Susana from Berlin and hired a cab to the pier, embarking on an adventure. Along the way Susana and I discussed the nature of lying. Had Kerry lied, knowing well that he wouldn’t meet me, or did something else get in the way of his showing up. As a cynic, I figured it was just an empty promise like thousands I’ve told in the last ten years. Who knew?

Making it all the way to the transport boat, we reached a dead end, with no one interested in taking us shipside. Turning back to find some more Navy guys, down the pier came Kerry. Such good timing for us, questionable for him. Given the 3000 sailors on the island the odds were heavily against finding the one guy I knew just at the time we needed him to arrive. He seemed as surprised as me – the pier is three miles from the hotel lobby – but he still offered to take us out to the ship and see what he could do.

Along the way I commented how bad he looked compared to the previous night. “Well,” he said, “a couple of my guys got in a little trouble last night, and this is the second time I’ve been to the ship today.” Seems Sargent Kerry has 40 guys reporting to him and five or six hadn’t made it back last night. Ah, the joy of responsibility.

I didn’t think of a ship tour as too physically demanding – exciting -but not dangerous. Well, that perception changed when we came alongside the aircraft carrier in somewhat big seas. Tossed from side to side we managed to jump from the transport boat to a barge roiling around in 4 foot waves. As the barge tilted back and forth we next had to negotiate a rolling staircase attached to the ship. The Marines told us to wait till the bottom started to roll away from us and to sprint up the 40 steps as the ship rose away. Who knew getting on the boat would be such a challenge. Only sheer embarassment got me up the steps without peeing my pants.

This was the first time I’ve been on an active military craft, and the difference was evident right away. The USS Bellawood was first commisioned in 1943 and toured the Pacific, seeing action at Iwo Jima among other noteworthy battles. It’s a short aircraft carrier, no longer carrying fixed wing aircraft, but rather serving as base for helicopters and vertical take-off jets. Lots of the fixtures on the ship look dated and primitive. I suppose a boat that was built fifty-five years ago deserves to show its age. Despite this, it was easy to see the radar guided multi-launch anti-missle units around the bridge and at each end of the runway. High-tech bolted on to low. Kerry explained it worked fine.

The first place we visited was the aircraft hangar, one deck down from the top. It was filled with ten helicopters and four or so Harrier jets. These craft were clearly working units, not pretty, but ready to go. On the flight deck there were an additional fifteen helicopters, including a six-pack of attack Cobras with big swivel 50-caliber machine guns on the front. Kerry gave us statistics about how many personnel and machines the boat could get to shore in a six-hour period, pretty much everything on the ship.

The LHA Bellawood is an amphibious assault craft, and on the third deck down there were three big beach-landing boats filled with troop transport trucks and Humvee jeeps ready to be fitted with grenade launchers and machine guns. I saw six or eight artilery Howitzer-type cannons, fork lifts, and old Willys jeeps which fit into the transport helicopters for quick deployment. I’d figure there were about 200 vehicles most of them armed and ready to move people.

Total manpower on the ship is about 3500 including Navy, Marine and some civilians. Our tour of the troop sleeping quarters was an eye-opener. Each row of sixteen bunks was four feet high, about twenty-four inches from bed to ceiling, with an equal space for gear. Neatly stacked at the end of each row was a rack of gun-metal M16 automatic rifles at the standby. That put a little reality into life on a warship. Crammed living conditions and weapons. No wonder Kerry’s guys were a little troublesome at the beach.

Bidding farewell to our guide we rode a shuttle boat back to the pier. There was an amazing collection of sales people offering trinkets, transport, and female companionship for the evening to the arriving servicemen. Perhaps they need my luck more than me.