This website constitutes a brief pictorial biography of the naval aviation career of Lieutenant Commander Peter Jalajas, with his active duty spanning the years 1986 - 1995. Please visit PeterJalajas.com for a more detailed profile of the pilot.
Pictured above are the drill instructors that molded the young officer candidate Jalajas. Gunnery Sergeant Calamari is pictured top, two left from center. The hilarious jokes he made during the twelve weeks helped alleviate the arduous physical activities performed that hot and humid summer on the Gulf Coast! Our class 30-86, "Calamari's Dirty Thirty," was pretty good in that we earned every ribbon that was possible during the intense program (watch the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" for a hint into the rigor that was pressed upon candidates to get them to quit, to "DOR" or Drop On Request).
After being commissioned as an ensign, Peter proceeded to basic flight training at NAS Whiting Field, Milton, FL with VT-2. He trained on the T-34C, and due to his decent grades in the simulator he got selected for jets. From there, he proceeded to Meridian, MS, for T-2 Buckeye basic jets in VT-19 followed by TA-4 Skyhawk advanced jet training at VT-7. On selection day, Peter got caught into an S-3 Viking draft where almost everyone was given this aircraft and not a single pilot got the glamorous F-14 Tomcat. That said, the Lockheed S-3 would prove to be an enjoyable and memorable aircraft to fly, with a multitude of different missions to master.
Off to San Diego and VS-41 Shamrocks for Anti-Submarine Warfare training and learning how to fly the Viking. It took about one year here at the "RAG"
(Fleet Replacement Squadron, formerly called the Replacement Air Group Squadron), and after being assigned to VS-38 Red Griffins, this assignment would pair him up with Airwing Two and the USS Ranger, CV-61. LT Jalajas then completed two full "workups" and two complete cruises (deployments), finishing with Ranger's Last Ride in 1993! The highlight during these cruises were Peter's contributions to Desert Storm operations, and many of the photos included on this site are from that period. Most memorable during this short war was getting selected for the very first "combat mission" in that operation, where he launched shortly after midnight, topped off his tanks from a KC-135, and then tanked a couple A-6 Intruders inbound to Kuwait (or Iraq?). The average sleep every day for the pilots was often as low as 3 hours per day, sometimes broken into two separated 90 minute naps!
Back to VS-41 as an instructor pilot with the Shamrocks for several years, Peter finished his active duty in late 1995 and would serve ten more years as a reservist. It was quite the adventure!
