In February 1982, I was on the USS Coral Sea (CV-43), assigned to the Black Knights, an F-4 Phantom squadron (VF-154). We were conducting routine flight operations in the Sea of Japan.

Around 2 a.m. one day, two Russian Bear bombers (Tu-95) were detected on radar flying toward our ship. I was on the alert launch to intercept and escort the Bears. It was a long night that led into the first scheduled morning event. Aircraft had to be re-spotted, and our flight deck crews were working hard preparing aircraft for the morning flight schedule.

Each squadron has a flight deck coordinator. Chief Petty Officer AMHC Gilbert "Chevy" Chavaria was the flight deck coordinator for my squadron. He was responsible for training the young sailors who moved our aircraft on the flight deck and performed pre-flight maintenance.

Chavaria was a mentor, trainer and a disciplinarian to the young sailors working in this most unforgiving environment. The average age of these sailors was around 19. For many, it was their first cruise and the first time they had been on their own away from home.

We were in our sixth month of a seven-month cruise, and until this particular morning we had not experienced any bad accidents. It was an unusually cold morning, with temperatures near zero. The wind was blowing with a 5- to 6-foot sea state, causing the deck to move up and down.

The first launch of the day was under way, and an F-4 was taxiing aft to be spotted on the waist catapult. The F-4's tires got hung up on one of the arresting gear cables.

The pilot had to come up on the throttles to power over the arresting gear. Chavaria was behind the F-4, securing a tie-down chain on another aircraft, and was caught in the jet exhaust of the taxiing F-4. The force was so great that Chavaria grabbed onto a section of the aircraft he was working on and his feet were lifted off the deck.

He would have been fine if the F-4 had made it over the arresting gear, but the F-4 reduced power too soon to clear the wire. The chief let go of the aircraft he was working on and started to run when the F-4 came up on the power a second time. He was lifted off the deck and impaled on the rail that attaches a missile to the plane, which killed him instantly.

What I remember most is that flight operations did not stop for our fallen shipmate. Chavaria's body was quickly put in a litter and taken to medical, but the day's activity continued as scheduled.

This was a hard lesson for these young sailors. They had just seen their mentor, protector and friend killed, yet they had to keep working.

Even in peacetime, working on a flight deck of an aircraft carrier is very dangerous. I reflect sometimes on Chavaria when I think of the men and woman serving our country and how, even in peacetime, they put their lives on the line for us at home. I am proud of all the men and women who freely give so much in the service of our great country.

Retired Navy Capt. Paul Paine accumulated more than 3,400 hours in tactical military aircraft. He is a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School. A former base commander of Naval Air Station Fort Worth, Paine is the executive director of Fort Worth South Inc.