For civilian workers at war, a lonely existence

ABOARD THE USS CONSTELLATION-On a ship of more than 5,000 sailors, three civilian depot employees stand out in the crowd. Often, the three workers eat their meals at a table by themselves in the ship's wardroom. With their jeans, T-shirts and long hair-two of them wear ponytails-they're never mistaken for sailors. They spend their nonworking hours in their stateroom, watching television or e-mailing their families back home. Sailors have little time for the civilian outsiders they call "ship riders."

"We're treated like red-headed stepchildren, unless something breaks on an aircraft-then they love having us around," said Dana Grimsley, a sheet metal worker. Grimsley usually works out of a Marine Corps facility in Okinawa, Japan, but now he is one of three repair workers aboard this aging aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf as a member of the Naval Pacific Air Rework Activity.

The 12-man organization is the on-the-spot aircraft repair team for the Navy's Western Pacific Fleet. The dozen wage-grade employees, who are usually split into teams of three, carry their own tools and key composite materials that allow them to make structural repairs to aircraft that would otherwise be grounded. Currently, there are depot repair teams on the Constellation, Kitty Hawk, Abraham Lincoln and Carl Vinson aircraft carriers and a small support staff at 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, which can order parts for the workers at sea.

The team on the Constellation includes two sheet metal engineers and a planner/estimator, who manages the repair projects. Crews will typically stay with a ship for several days to a few weeks, depending on the repair work needed. They often find themselves at sea for about six months a year. "We're out here more than the Navy guys," said Grimsley, noting the current crew has been aboard the Constellation for more than 40 days.

All aircraft carriers have hundreds of Navy aircraft mechanics to handle routine aircraft repair jobs. Depot workers are called in only for the most complex repairs, usually involving structural damage that prevents a plane from flying at all. For example, the repair team recently spent four days replacing metal on the wing of an F-18 fighter that was torn up after striking a seagull. If the crew had not been on board to make repairs, the plane would have been grounded until the ship returned to port.

"These are 18- and19-year old kids out here that don't have the training we have had for close to 25 years. A lot of times, we can just put our heads together and figure things out without having to go through any engineers," said sheet metal worker Gus Saban.

Rocky Brazil, who coordinates the crew's work with the carrier's air wing, says jobs can last anywhere from a few hours to several days, sometimes longer if special parts need to be ordered and shipped to the carrier. The crew, he said, works in spurts. Sometimes they'll be on the job around the clock for urgent repair projects; at other times they'll go days without work. Since the air war began last week, the air wing has been reluctant to ground any aircraft for repairs.

The depot workers are WS-11 wage-grade employees paid hourly salaries for eight hours every day they are at sea, even when they don't work. They receive overtime pay for working beyond their regular shifts. Additionally, the workers receive free berthing on the ship and a small per diem covering the cost of their meals.

A sore point among the repair crew members is that they work alongside sailors, but don't get comparable benefits. "Our biggest complaint is we don't get paid tax-free like the sailors while they are out here," said Grimsley, adding the crews do not receive hostile fire or family separation pay either.

The crew members know that most people could not do their jobs. They laugh about depot workers who come out for two weeks and then beg to return home. "It takes a different kind of person to do this," said Grimsley.