From Waiuku boy to helicopter commander aboard US super carrier

Lieutenant Lewis "Lamb" Chaloner, who grew up in Waiuku, now flies MH60-R Seahawks with the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 78, based in San Diego. Photo / NZDF

Standing among the jets and helicopters atop one of the most formidable super carriers on the globe, Waiuku native Lieutenant Lewis "Lamb" Chaloner looks right at home.

The Kiwi is now a United States Navy helicopter commander with the "Blue Hawks" HSM-78 squadron in San Diego, California.

"Being a helicopter pilot is great. We're working in an always-changing and challenging environment. The flight deck of a carrier is one of the most exciting and dangerous places in the world to work.

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"You'll never forget your first day on the flight deck during flight operations, with jets shaking your chest as they land and take off," Chaloner said.

Despite his impressive position now, his path was not always headed for the military, he said.

He had ambitions to be a professional football player after he secured a scholarship to play football at Furman University in South Carolina

While he graduated with a political science degree in 2009, his sporting career was marred by persistent injuries.

However, his political studies sparked an interest in the military.

"I had seen what I considered at the time to be defining moments of my generation happening overseas, with major ongoing conflicts."

At university he met, his now wife, Claudia, of West Virginia, and the two decided to make a life in New Zealand, with Chaloner looking at joining the New Zealand Army while Claudia studied as a chiropractor.

"But we would have struggled to pay for Claudia's graduate education and her American university debts. I also wanted to deploy and experience that side of the military, and thought I could do that quicker and go to more places with the American military."

After tying the knot in Auckland they returned to the US where Chaloner enlisted in the US Navy as a medic.

He was accepted into officer training in 2012 and enrolled in flight school in 2013.

As exciting as aircraft carriers were, it was landing on the back of a destroyer in bad seas on a dark night that separated real helicopter pilots from the rest, he said.

He recently worked alongside New Zealanders as the helicopter element coordinator during Exercise Rim of the Pacific in Hawaii, attached to Royal New Zealand Navy Captain Blair Gerritsen and his Sea Combat Command team on HMAS Adelaide.

"It was great being able to work alongside Kiwis again," he said. "There is a strong contrast in cultures and it was great to operate within a new framework.

His known call sign "Lamb" had a few different meanings, he said.

"Depends who you ask. It either stands for "Legally Arranged Marriage Bloke", where my mates are making fun of me and saying I got married for a Green Card, or it's a sheep joke.

"I really should come up with a better story."

His parents still live in New Zealand and Chaloner and Claudia hoped to return next year for a visit.