On March 7, 2003, I boarded a Navy COD in Bahrain and was flown with a first group of 30 embedded media to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Photographers Grant Haller of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Vincent Laforet of the New York Times, Max Ortiz of The Detroit News and myself shared quarters several levels under the flight deck where fighter pilots returning from missions over Iraq made cable-arrest recoveries with their Super Hornets and Tomcats. Patrolling the Gulf waters we worked the long days aboard ship, following the crew below in their daily activities and observing catapult launches and recoveries on the flight deck, time-precision work comparable to a ballet or symphony orchestra, and considered to be the most dangerous 4 1/2 acres in the world.