"True Callings" is an episode of JAG that first aired on October 5, 1999. Directed by Alan J Levi. Written by Ed Zuckerman, John Schulian and Paul T Gilcrist.
In this episode, Lt. Commander Rabb receives some bad news from the carrier air group (CAG) commander. Once this deployment ends, Rabb is going to be reassigned to a desk job, and it may be quite some time before he can return to sea with an air wing again.
This was because he has spent too much time out of naval aviation, missed two wars, and therefore has too few flight hours and carrier traps compared to other aviators at his rank and age. He is then forced to reconsider his return to naval aviation.
At around the same time, his radio intercept officer (RIO), Lt. Elizabeth "Skates" Hawkes (Sibel Ergener), is getting antsy and jittery. After she snaps at a flight deck crewman over a minor issue, Rabb talks to her, and she reveals her actual issue — she feels that she survived one too many harrowing experiences, and is scared that the next time she won't make it. Rabb reassures her that he went through the same thing, but recovered in time to take his night blindness induced crash in stride.
At around the same time, a petty officer naval aircrewman on a Carrier Onboard Delivery cargo plane disembarks, escorting a pregnant Albanian woman. It turns out that not only is she not supposed to be on that plane, but the petty officer had knocked a fellow crewman out to smuggle her onto the aircraft. He is subsequently put on trial, and Rabb helps Lt. Aldridge (A. J. Tannen) with the defense.
Finally, Rabb and Hawkes fly what may well be their last mission together — a simple reconnaissance mission. However, his wingman takes damage from a flak gun and Rabb has to execute a daring maneuver involving both aircraft to get his wingman to safety.
Meanwhile, at JAG headquarters, Lt. Roberts and Petty Officer Tiner try to impress Admiral Chegwidden by getting him tickets to a nearly sold-out concert.
Tropes
- Bland-Name Product: Ticket Forum for Ticketmaster.
- Off on a Technicality: The prosecutor made the mistake of charging false imprisonment, which only applies to military law enforcement personnel with arrest powers. Therefore, the petty officer is acquitted of that charge.
- Pardo Push: Rabb executes one.
- Passed-Over Promotion: Due to Rabb having spent eight years out of Naval Aviation and missing two wars — presumably, the 1995 Bosnia campaign and the 1999 Kosovo campaign, he is warned that he will be passed over for plum assignments and promotions. Rabb is nudged to return to JAG to avoid this.—CAG Pike:"Numbnuts over there with the doll will be commanding a squadron before you ever will.'
- Status Quo Is God: This show's novelty was about a Navy lawyer who occasionally flies a Tomcat off a carrier, not a show about carrier pilots. So, Rabb needs to somehow be returned to JAG HQ as a lawyer.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Why the petty officer smuggled a pregnant rape victim onto the carrier. Otherwise she'd have been the victim of
- Honor Killing: For "allowing" the Serbs to rape her.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Andrew "X-Man" Buxton decided to resign his commission instead of going before a flight naval aviation evaluation board (FNAEB) and being grounded.
- Shout-Out to Limp Bizkit: Chegwidden doesn't know much about popular music. To the admiral, "Limp Bizkit" sounds like a glandular condition.
