I'll add one last thing about the carrier and the LSO.  In the years Bill was flying, he said that after you hooked wire, the LSO rated every landing.  In later years (after the LSO used paddles), you were flying by a light that they called the ball.  Depending on the color, you could tell if you were on the correct glide path.  

Speed, level, steady and hook.  Did you hit the deck at the right point, or was it the first or fourth wire which--wasn't optimal.

The LSO still had the last word.  He still controlled the deck.  He graded every single landing and could abort your landing at any time.  I didn't know that.  Once Ken retired, we started living in a different world.

When Bill was flying, the LSO would post your landing score, rating, and mistakes you made on the ready room wall for the world to see.  Bill said it was a great motivator.  You didn't want to embarrass yourself--especially in front of the other pilots.

I wouldn't take anything for the years I got to be a part of Marine aviation.  But I would never want to do it again.  The Marines had a saying, "If the Marine Corps wanted you to have a wife, they would have issued you one when you joined up."  Aviators were doing something that they loved.  Families--not so much. Some marriages didn't survive.

The life, separations, and stress were difficult.   Ken had two tours overseas--thirteen months each--back when we couldn't afford to call. One of those tours was war.  Vietnam.  No facebook.  No Google.  Just letters.  I saved them all.  

And I've never read them again. It was moment in history.