Authorized newspaper of Fort Lewis, Washington Monday, September 14, 2009 1:53 PM

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‘Deadliest Catch’ crew spends day on post

Laura M. Levering/Northwest Guardian

Published: 12:07PM September 10th, 2009

 

Ingrid Barrentine/Northwest Guardian

Deadliest Catch "Wizard" crab boat crewmen, Travis Lofland, L-R, Jon Lawler, Capt. Keith Colburn, and Monte Colburn hone their shooting skills on the Engagement Skills Trainer 2000 during a visit to Fort Lewis, Wash. Sept. 3, 2009. Seven members from the popular Discovery Channel television show spent the day on post in a gesture to support local troops. In addition to the weapons training, the group

 participated in Humvee rollover training and signed autographs at the PX.

Seven members from the fishing vessel Wizard spent the day at Fort Lewis visiting troops Sept. 3. The vessel and its crew are best known for being featured on the Discovery Channel’s reality TV series, “Deadliest Catch.”

In addition to visiting troops at their work locations and signing autographs throughout the day, the crew got a chance to see how their rough-water-handling skills transferred to dry land.

The crew started out at the Humvee Egress Assisted Trainer, where they got a lesson from Soldiers and took turns being tossed inside the model humvee.

According to Spc. Justin Rathbun, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the fishermen took it like champs.

“They did really good for the little bit of training they had beforehand,” Rathbun said. “They paid close attention and did really well.”

The captain of the Wizard, Keith Colburn, said it wasn’t quite what he had expected.

“I was expecting some crazy, wild carnival ride, but I think it’s probably a little more realistic in that it throws you and tosses you, then you’re hanging upside down and you have to try and get out,” Colburn said.

He compared it to being on the Wizard in middle of the Bering Sea, where he and his men risk their lives hunting king and opilio crab.

“It’s like a mariner’s worst nightmare ... being upside down in the (dark),” Colburn said. “At that point, everything is disoriented and now all of a sudden you have to figure out how you’re going to get out of a sinking ship ... or in this case, an armored vehicle.”

After taking shots at the engagement skills trainer, Colburn took a moment to reflect on what he described as “videogames on steroids."

“The training is amazing,” he said. “It’s all high-tech in every possible scenario. Guys are looking at and reviewing every possible situation.”

Although the crew’s jobs are vastly different from those of Soldiers, Colburn said his experiences at Fort Lewis helped him realize they are actually similar in ways. From long months away from loved ones to the dangers in performing their jobs, both make heavy sacrifices, and have their reasons for choosing to do so.

“Once we leave town, that’s it. We’re basically deployed,” Colburn said. “There are no breaks, no stops ... periodically, we get a day in town, but we’re out to get the job done so we can go home to our families.”

Fortunately for Colburn, the Wizard hasn’t lost any of its crew to the raging waters in the nearly 25 years he has been fishing. However, he has had friends on other vessels who weren’t so lucky.

“As (Soldiers) are in for longer and longer periods of time, more and more people that they know probably don’t come back, and that’s the same thing with fishing,” he said.

Despite the difficulty of his job, Colburn said he can’t see ever leaving it behind – not any time soon, anyway.

"It’s a completely uncontrollable environment, but I think that’s probably what drives me through it,” he said. “It’s about trying to find a way to control it and finding a way to succeed in it; that, and the sense of camaraderie. When we’re fishing, we have each other’s backs.”

Colburn said sometimes he feels more like a “damage-control expert” than a fisherman ... a view he thinks Soldiers can relate to.

“They’re responding to situations that come up out of nowhere and, hopefully, their training takes over and they can get through the situation and deal with the next one,” Colburn said.

Rathbun agreed.

“We both have to watch each other’s backs,” Rathbun said. “They never know when a wave’s going to come in, just like we don’t know when the enemy’s going to attack.”

With the fifth season of “Deadliest Catch” due out on DVD, and likely more to follow, Colburn does not let the fame get to his head.

“We’re just blue-collared workers fishing, who happen to be on TV,” Colburn said.

For him, a successful season on the sea has nothing to do with whether or not another series of the Emmy-award winning show returns or not. Instead, he gauges his success on three things: safety of his crew, condition of the Wizard and lastly, profit.

“If you go out there thinking, ‘Am I gonna make some money?’ and you’ve forgotten the most important items of the job, then you’ve lost track of things,” he said. “It’s almost identical to the (military) in that aspect.

Colburn said he was grateful he and his crew were able to come to Fort Lewis.

“I was expecting to come out here to just show our support for the troops, but what I’m finding is that these guys are also supporting me,” Colburn said, “and that is just so awesome. It’s a great feeling and experience.”

 

Laura M. Levering: laura.may.levering@us.army.mil