VFA-27 "Royal Maces," a US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet squadron deploys aboard the USS George Washington and the highlights of their cruise are captured in one awesome video set to music.
The Royal Maces are part of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5), based out of NAF Atsugi, Japan. As America's only forward deployed Air Wing, CVW-5 gets some of the Navy's best aviators. The importance of the George Washington and her Air Wing have been underlined by the DoD and the Obama Administration's attempts at "pivoting" the military's focus away from counter insurgency operations (COIN) in the Middle East and towards battle over vast distances and potentially against advanced peer state enemies, some with area-denial/anti-accesss (AD-A2) capabilities.
So basically, the Royal Maces and their Super Hornets are considered the "tip of the spear" when it comes to America's ability to react fast to crisis in the most troubled areas of the world. A heavy task to say the least. That is why it is so great to see that the squadron still take the time to show us all how awesome their job is via some well placed GoPros and some killer editing!