February 6, US carrier pilot tells of distress in Red Sea missions

 


Feb 6, 2024. Posted by  Balkan Periscope - Hellas

The pilots on board the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier have spoken about the distress they’ve experienced since they began their mission against Yemen in the Red Sea.

Speaking to NBC News, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Travis Keating, an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot, said they did not train to come to the South Red Sea and do what they are currently doing.

“When we first came out here, we had a lot of unknowns,” he said.

He said they experience “anxiety associated with the nervous energy to make sure that you don’t let this team down.” 

“There’s a lot of sights and sounds that will be etched in my brain forever for sure,” Keating said. “Seeing standard missiles being launched from ships, seeing missiles being launched from aircraft, seeing bombs being dropped from aircraft, the explosions associated with all of these things. You actually hear the sounds in the jet.”

The US and the UK have been launching air raids on Yemen over the Arab country’s retaliatory attacks against Israeli-linked ships sailing in regional waters.

The government in Sana’a, which is run by the Houthi Ansarullah resistance movement, declared its support for Palestine since the Israeli regime launched the deadly war on Gaza on October 7.

Yemen has vowed to continue its retaliatory measures in the Red Sea until the Israeli regime ends ground and aerial offensives against Gaza that have killed over 27,000 people in the besieged territory.

IRNA