Southern Air Pirate's Haze Gray Thoughts

I need to make a confession

2010-04-13T23:19:00.000-07:00

I have an couple of addictions that I feel a need to confess about. The first one is tough and only through living life in the Navy has it put a dent in this addiction only slightly. That is wargaming.

Wargaming is an very old hobby going back centuries to when chess came into vouge with the common people. It is also used by militaries and nations around the world to plan/teach tactics, tech military theory, plan a national policy for the future. One of the most famous places that I can think of in the US that really started using wargaming to do all of that was the US Naval War College. Which if I ever have a chance to visit Rhode Island, going to Newport and walking around on the campus would be really cool to me. Anyhow, I digress.

My addiction to war gaming started early on in my life. In one of the schools that I went to for elementary school, had a chess club. If you have ever played chess, then you have wargamed. As it was, the chess club didn't last long, but from there I started to learn more about some of the various games. Everything from the basic "beer and pretzel" games like Risk or Axis & Allies up to some of the more complex ones like Advance Squad Leader or some of the monster games like "Pacific War" by Victory Games. Being that I was young and couldn't afford much from some of the smaller jobs I had when I was younger. So it always seemed as if I was permenately in hock to my parents for some of the money they loaned me for the games. My very first "true" war game, was a game called "Flat Top" by Avalon Hill.

It was a game set in the South West Pacific from the opening days of World War 2 until the final carrier battle for Guadalcanal. At the time I bought it from a local toy store in town called Ted's Toys, the game set me back about fifty dollars. Going through the rules they had all sorts of different litttle rules from things like replenishment at sea up to how to show storms on the game board. I was ten at the time I bought the game and really had a hard time understanding all of the rules. In stead with a couple friends of mine we used what rules we could understand and then made up the rest as we went along, as well as introducing house rules (like letting the Hornet once a month launch B-25s, I know, but we were history junkie kids). As I got older I picked up a few others here and there. Such the "Fleet" series of games by Victory Games and Gulf Strike. As I hit high school though, most of my wargaming fell off to the wayside as more important things seem to rise up. However, that isn't completely true either. As in my junior high time frame I ran across a computer version of a game called "Harpoon". This was originally published by a company called Three-Sixty Pacific. It was being demostrated at a local computer shop to show what the new VGA graphics board and 500mb hard Drive could do for your computer. In the end I asked for it as either a birthday or Christmas present from my dad. Low and behold that next Christmas I had this game unde the tree. I spent the rest of the holiday using submarines to sneak inside a NATO carrier group to put both missile and torpedo into the side of a American carrier or try and defend Iceland from a WARSAW Pact invasion force using only under armed RAF and USAF units and some small escort forces. That is when the hook for war gaming was made even worse for me. I found that I didn't always need to have some on to lay a game with. Rather I could try and see if I could defeat the AI programming.
Since then that has been the primarly wargaming that I have been playing. Though at times I have thought of trying to get back into beer and board gaming. For a while when I was stationed on USS Neverdock I played a few times of the latest boardgame version of Harpoon with some friends. Usually over a duty day when it was after work and instead of sitting around waiting for some drill or watch to come up. We would sit around in a work space and waste time some some scenario. We did ones from scenarios to understand how the rules worked to just plain silly scenarios that never would have happened except for never. Since then I have slowly started to get back into regular war gaming. At times it is still hard since I haven't run across that many people wear I live who play nor that many clubs at my end of the world.
The other half of my addiction to computer wargaming can easily be put in check at time because of the cost at times from ordering some of the wargames that interest me come from small online only publishing houses. Put two or three games in thier shopping carts and your looking at 200 dollars by the time shipping and handling is figured in. At times though, that itch starts to scratch the back of my head.

At the end of the day, this little addiction can be fun and at times trying on my life. There have been a few times I have been up till the wee hours of the morning living on tea and classic rock while telling myself just one more turn, and there have been times that I start to get going and get my butt handed to me only to try it differently. Only to realize that I have basically dug a deep hole for myself and need to pick the lesser of two devils to get myself out. At which point I only make a few turns before going on to a couple of my other addictive hobbies.

Back for a little bit, but may have the programming pre-empted again

2010-04-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

Okay all. I am back. Having returned from my 8 month deployment and really only gettting a month home before heading back out again for another two months. I am hoping soon to get back into blogging and just putting all my thoughts about the world, my life, and sea stories out there. I hoping that some of my regular readers may come back and please understand that at a number of times real life interupts me to keep from putting a post up for a while.

A fun filled new year

2009-01-12T20:14:00.004-08:00

Well dear readers I have been busy the past few months. About two months ago I got married. I have been busy dealing with adjusting to married life and living as a Geo-Bachelor. I also transferred from one VAQ outfit to another VAQ outfit. This time I will be going on a WestPac cruise, or Western Pacific Cruise. Heading to places such as Hawaii, Japan, the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and hopefully some fun places such as Singapore and Australia. One of the downsides though is that I am working in a work center outside of my normal rating. I also walked into a work center that is afu'd eight ways to Sunday. I have to spend a whole bunch of time trying to figure out how to bring this work center back in line with local instructions and in line with the master program called the CNAFINST 4790.2a. On top of that I have to prep for an inspection coming along in this week. It is really going to be a fun year. Since basically my career is going to be based on how well I am able to bring this one work center around to being what is ruled "On track" or at a minimum "Needs Work" from the various inspectors coming down the pipeline. Some where in there I need to find time to prep a LDO package and a CPO package. Why? Because I will be eligible for taking the CPO exam in Jan of 2010.

On the home front the honeymoon is almost over. Now we are planning on trying to move into a house in the Pacific Northwest Region. Someplace that we both can afford and it isn't a killer commute for either of us. Someplace that is cheap, has a lawn, and various other features. You know the American dream of having a home, picket fence, and hopefully a ton of kids toys out front. What I really want though when we get a house is a dog. I would love to have a Lab. Honestly, how can you not smile coming home to dog that is just so happy to please and is a great family dog, either that or a German Short Hair Pointer. Both of these are fun, happy, family style dogs. However, my significant other wants to have a small dog. Which I am not opposed to. I just haven't grown up with a little dog. Oh well, just one of those things that I will need to work through as life comes along.

As to the rest of the house. I would love to just have a man cave for myself and a few of my hobbies.

A speech that changed a nation

2008-12-08T02:34:00.003-08:00

Full text of the speech:

Mr. Vice President [Henry A. Wallace], Mr. Speaker [Sam Rayburn], members of the Senate and the House of Representatives: Yesterday, December 7, 1941 -- a
date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and
deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation
of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking
toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese
air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the
United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State of form
reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed
useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat
or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of
Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many
days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government had
deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and
expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the
Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces.
Very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been
reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against
Malaya.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last
night Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night Japanese forces attacked
the Philippine Islands.

Last night the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending
throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The
people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well
understand the implications to the very life and safety of our Nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all
measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character
of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to
overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous
might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the
will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only
defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of
treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no
blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in
grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces -- with the unbounded
determination of our people -- we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us
God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and
dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has
existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

A date which doesn't seem to live in infamy anymore

2008-12-07T12:05:00.003-08:00

Today is the 67th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As this day passes more and more of the men and women who survived this day die from old age we lose our contact with history. Even worse is less and less people know about this day and what a history/life changing day it is. How that day lead to our involvement in the Second World War. How this day lead to some of the world changes we say in the last fifty plus year. I would suggest that you take your time head to Survivor's website and find a local Pearl Harbor Survivor's chapter (regional offices can be found under the contact link) . Take time to head out and listen to their stories when they have their meetings. These are some of the most interesting people you can meet and actually be able to say that to your children (or have your children meet) that you meet someone who made history.
I meet a survivor myself years ago, a CWO-4 named Wallace Louis Exum. He was at Whidbey selling and signing a book that he had written named "Battleship" years ago. I still have that book and it is a signed copy. It was very interesting to meet this man and listen to him for a few moments talk about December 7th and the months in Oahu before that day.

A few holiday rants

2008-11-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

So dear readers today is Thanksgiving. My only question for all of you as you all are reading this probably just finished eating the turkey with stuffing, some giblet gravy, some mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and a slew of other typical food for the feast. My only question is What in the world happened that caused this day to suddenly show up. I remember in years past when I was younger (like under the age of 12) that the down time between Halloween and Thanksgiving was the ramp up for Thanksgiving. In the stores there were Thanksgiving decorations and on TV there was usually a Thanksgiving-themed episode for all my favorite TV shows. At least maybe a Thanksgiving themed special. Now a days, you might as well just forget it. It seems that in the last twenty years Christmas has creeped closer and closer to the summer. Heck in a few stores out here in good ol' Washington State I shopped in they were already had a corner set up for Christmas decorations and gifts. Don't try and tell me it was because of the economy, because it the "Christmas Creep" as some have called it is happening earlier and earlier for the past few years even when the economy has been strong.
The two biggest annoyances have been since the first of November when a few radio stations have been playing Christmas music along with all the typical top 40 rotational. Heck since the day of my wedding on Veteran's day there were two stations in the Seattle area that transitioned straight in to only playing Christmas music.
Even worst was the fact that I was at the mall the weekend before the wedding and Santa had already setup and was in the process of setting up for pictures with the rugrats.
I feel very much like Charlie Brown and asking what is the true meaning of Christmas?
AGGH

On another side of the coin as these holiday times approach and people are asking to donate some of my fellow bloggers out there are donating to the VALOUR-IT project. This program give laptop computers to severely disabled service members so they can help to progress with their lives. This is a very worthwhile cause and I would highly suggest that you all stop by and try to find time to donate either your time, your money, or anything else that these fine people need to help out.

The other thing I would seriously ask everyone that reads this blog is find time to donate to the United Service member's Organization, or the USO. I have stressed it before and I will stress it again. This is a wonderful non-profit organization that provides a little bit of home to the folks stationed away from the US. Whether that is care packages that are delivered to various service members, providing places at airports for someone to put their feet up, or helping to bring entertainers around to help brighten the mood if even for a day of everyone on a ship or at a land base. Even if you can't donate money, find a way to donate your time.

That is all for today. Have a happy turkey day and enjoy the time you have with your friends and family.

Mea Culpa

2008-11-14T21:17:00.004-08:00

So on top of trying to help plan a wedding, I was also trying to check out of my current command and plan for a series of inspections that are annual requirements. As I was on a drive around today I realized that I have failed in making the place that I am leaving a better place. So here are my Mea Cuplas for failing.

Since about March of this year I have had in my hot little hands, written orders detailing me from the Happy Zappies and over to another EA-6B outfit up here at the Rock. This outfit is a Western Pacific deploying outfit and they just returned from a deployment this past June. One of the processes to check out is to start handing over programs to another person. One of my programs is a Secret Squirrel program. That is all I can describe and some of you who have been in Naval Aviation or military Aviation know what sort of Secret Squirrel program I am talking about. Anyhow, it isn't anywhere near where I am happy with it being, but I have a little less then three days left at my current command to try and fix it. The guy I am passing this on to
has a decent grip on this program and with only a little less elbow grease then what I have put in can make this work and at least getting it working to the condition that the Big Navy out there while only smack their hands for these little gray areas.
I should of had it a whole lot closer then what it is and will probably spend the rest of this weekend working on massaging my guilt on this part to make this happen. So I failed here
As I mentioned early in this piece we have a series of required annual inspections coming at us. Ones from the Naval Safety Center, then from our type commander, and the final one (which I will be gone for ) is from the Big Navy (CNAF themselves). All of these inspections deal with maintenance related programs. Such things as tool control, Foreign Object Damage Control, Support Equipment Licensing, Training, Technical Directives, and a whole slew of other ones. The overall guidance is from an instruction referred to as the CNAFINST 4790.2A NAMP. In the king's English this is Commander Naval Air Forces Instruction series 4790.2A, titled Naval Aviation Maintenance Program. It is a large binder of about 16 chapters on the basics of how to fix airplanes and what everyone's roles are.
We were inspected by our type commander and found to be so seriously snafu'd that we are going to quit flying just to get the squadron back online and on track. I had always heard of other squadrons and even ships that this has happened to, but never one that I was in. This is the biggest place that I have failed at. Being at that leadership position I should of never let my own work center get to that place. This is the toughest Mea Culpa to swallow and accept. Right now the command that I am at moral is at an all time low. There are a series of folks who are tired of the Navy life and are leaving. Which is their complete right, however they are also bad mouthing the Navy and the command in general. In turn feeding ideas to some of the more impressionable juniors and basically started a death spiral. This is something that I should of put a stop to months, maybe even years ago. Yet, I didn't. Why? I am not completely sure. Part of me feels that what they are speaking is the truth, part of me didn't want to get involved because I was leaving the command myself, and I think the final reason was that I just didn't want to feed their fire of self-consuming hate with leadership.
On top of that some of these people only seem to put in the minimum effort on their own aircraft related maintenance programs. This effort just seem to be enough to keep ahead of the Khaki Mafia and their hit squads. Again I should of stepped up and said something, done something, instead I contributed to it. So out of forty different programs we only had eight of them running according to the book. Nineteen of them were in serious need of review, and the other thirteen were off track. This again is unacceptable. The command is probably going to begin to sacrifice weekends and long hours to pull themselves up. The other thing is that those of us in the first class mess are going to have to start knocking heads with those who can't seem to say anything nice at all about the Navy or the command. Again I have failed and should of helped to push to those who don't want to be part of the solution out.

I have failed as a leader and as a supervisor. The most that I can do is grab a hot shower and collect my thoughts. Attempt to wash these damn spots off my hands and go back in swinging to improve things.

One day and counting

2008-11-09T15:34:00.003-08:00

Survived the day. Stood up on the altar in my dress blues with full medals. She was in a gold strapless gown. The day cleared as we went running out to my car and it stay cleared through out the reception. It didn't start to rain until I pulled up to the honeymoon suite at the hotel and we settled in for a long night of fun and excitement as a married couple. Now comes all the fun stuff in the next few days, ID cards, Tricare enrollment, stickers for the car, and signing over half of my paycheck.

Oh and long hours, long deployments, and missed anniversaries. That might be easy though. "Honest, I wish I could be there this year but I will be deployed. So here is your gift a few months early."

Any hints on how to survive please be sure to share.

36 Hours and counting

2008-11-06T17:57:00.002-08:00

Well dear readers in 36 hours I will no longer be the swinging single sailor. Rather I will be married and tied down. As per the norm here in the evergreen state, it is raining cats and dogs so some of the outdoors shots in front of the church have been canked. See what will happen the actual day of the event. I know everything is going to go off with out problems. The only problem is to settle the future misses's worries.

Our long national nightmare is almost over

2008-11-03T22:41:00.002-08:00

As I write this it is election day on the East Coast of the US. So that means the nightmare of the election season is over. I can't wait myself. Why? Mainly because for as much as I love politics that this past election season has just seemed to be so full of hate and so full of horse hockey that is hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Part of me wishes that I was still haze grey and under way just to avoid listening, reading, or even seeing some of these ads. I can't wait to do it all over again in two years.

That being said, I have done my part a few weeks ago with my absentee ballot and voted. What about you dear readers?

Taking it out of mothballs

2008-10-26T22:51:00.003-07:00

Dear reader,

Keep watching this space. Hopefully in the next few days I am hoping to take this blog out of mothballs and head back to posting. It is has been a busy two months for me. Planning a wedding (which is only two weeks away), trying to get ready to transfer, dealing with enough inspections that it is getting annoying. I can't wait for things to slow down.

Oh and Byron, I know you can't show up. Just thought I would share the good news with you. That hospitality thing that you southerners are famous for.

A plane's history

2008-08-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

"Could of been a contenter category" today folks.

So we are in 1952 and in the middle of the Korean War. One of the primary lessons being learned at the time with the conflict over "MiG Alley" is the need for speed and the ability to maneuver. One of the ways to improve this was by use of the area rule effect, or "Coke Bottle" effect as it was called since the fuselages started to look one of the Coca-Cola bottle that was common in the
vending machines at the time. Grumman realizing that both variants of their F9F airframe the Panther and Cougar couldn't handle themselves against the MiG-15's that the USAF F-86's were flying against at the time. Grumman decided to try and apply the area rule effect to the F9F-8 Cougar as an internal redesign, they labeled it the G-98. However early on during the airframe changes it was realized that a whole new aircraft was going to come out of this. It wasn't just a little nip and tuck. Rather a full scale tear down and rebuild it "6 Million Dollar Man" style.

The aircraft was built around the Curtiss-Wright J65 engine, which itself was a copy of the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire. This engine is the same that was being used by the British in their Gloster Javelin, Hawker Hunter, and Handley-Page Victor. The aircraft featured a cockpit well forward of the fuselage. It was covered by a rearward sliding bubble canopy. The nose was a small sharp pointed affair that provided good visibility over the nose for the pilot to see during a landing. It was also big enough to accommodate a simple ranging radar as well to give it limited all-weather capability. The wing was manufactured different from most normal construction techniques. The main wing box was milled from light alloys that incorporated integral stiffeners. This was all done to save weight. What does that mean Southern? Well basically think of it this way with your house instead of nailing each piece of dry wall on the internal frame of your house, the builder would take rebar cover it in rebar and then cut it to size to fit your dimensions. One of the more interesting features with this aircraft is that instead of folding up with the wing tips, they folded down.

BuAir was seriously impressed with the design that in April of 1953 they ordered a pair of prototypes. It was initially assigned the designation number by BuAir of XF9F-8, but the Grumman Design G-99 (which was an improved version of the basic F9F Cougar) became the F9F-8 and the G-98 was assigned the designation XF9F-9. Due to problems of engine delivery with the after burning variant of the J-65, Grumman mounted a non-after burning version.

The aircraft took to its first flight with this underpowered engine on July 30th of 1954 with famed Grumman test pilot Corwin "Corky" Meyers at the controls. Even on that first flight with that subpar engine the Tiger showed it had something going right with it. It almost achieved Mach 1 on that first flight. Not three months later in October of 1954 the second prototype took flight. Flight testing progressed was moved out to Edwards AFB just before the holidays. It was out in California that the Tiger was mated with the engine it was designed for and it was the second US Navy fighter (behind the Douglas F4D Skyray) to achieve Mach 1 in level flight. Things were just looking better and better for this Grumman Fighter. During flight testing there was only a few things that turned up about the airframe which were easily solvable. It was in the early half of 1955 that the Navy finally realized that this aircraft was a totally new aircraft completely different from Panther/Cougar family. So they assigned it the next number in line with their scheme, F11F-1, and the name Tiger was carried over from the Grumman designation.

The Navy had this aircraft equipped with four 20mm cannons (since it was found post Korea that the 50 cals just couldn't do it anymore in jet combat), this aircraft was also one of the first Grumman aircraft hardwired from the beginning for the new AAM-N-7 Sidewinder infrared air to air missile. It would be typically armed with Sidewinders or drop tanks on its under wing pylons. Just prior to accepting the aircraft the Navy asked for a few more changes to the airframe from lessons learned during carrier trials. The need for fillets on the wings, which do a better job of control airflow over the wing, were added. As well as adding some additional fuel cells in the vertical tail and around the intakes to increase the range from about 900nm from the carrier to just under 1050nm. The other change asked for was the addition of an inflight refueling probe, going on the standard that all new Navy aircraft will have an inflight refueling system installed. The final change was a six inch extension to the nose to incorporate a new fire control radar system. These new "Long-Nose" Tigers with all these changes started with the second batch of production versions. The initial ten short nose Tigers were issued to between a testing squadron and VA-156 (a day fighter squadron). It wasn't until the end of the year that VA-156 received a full complement of "Long-Nose" Tigers and returned their first few Tigers for overhaul at Bethpage, Ny.

The aircraft enter service with the United States Navy The Tiger unfortunately had a short service life in the United States Navy. There were a number of things the primary reason was that about the same time the F-11F Tiger was entering service the Navy had received from Vought an aircraft design to satisfy a 1952 Naval Fighter contract. This aircraft from Vought was the XF8U-1 Crusader. An airplane which was going to have a famous and absolutely wonderful career with both the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps, but a few other nations in the world. Both the Tiger and Crusader were very capable and comparable aircraft but in the end the Crusader could do it just that much better in some aspects of the performance envelopes. One of the other reasons the F11F was only accepted for a short while is that aircraft was accepted at a time when the Navy was reviewing the role of its fighter aircraft at the time and instead of crossing the beach and mixing it up with enemy aircraft over enemy territory or near the fleet, rather there was a growing need to prevent enemy bombers from delivering nuclear weapons against the fleet. The Tiger was phased out of active duty service in 1961.

Over all the US Navy accepted the Tiger into seven fleet squadrons, VA-156 (later VF-111 in 1959), VF-21, VF-33, VF-24 (later VF-211), VF-51, VF-121, and VF-191. As it was removed from service the aircraft was relegated to being an advanced jet for fighter pilot training and then used as either targets at various ranges around the nation or just taken to the Arizona desert to be stored at the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center on Davis Monthan AFB. Production stopped at Bethpage on the Tiger in 1959 and only 200 airframes were built.

The Tiger is most remembered for two things. The first is not something that you want to be remembered for, which is shooting yourself down with your own weapons. During a gunnery run pilot Tom Attridge was in a shallow dive and fired his four 20mm cannons at targets. Things were going good, however instead of pulling off his target near the bottom of the dive he continued for a few more seconds only to fly through the burst he fire at the initial start of the run this in turn damaged his aircraft sever enough to warrant a crash landing near the target range.

The other thing that most people remember about the Tiger is that was the jet the Blue Angels flew in between the the F9F-8 Cougar and the F-4J Phantom. The Blue Angels flew the Tiger from 1957 to 1969. This jet was the first jet that they had which could go supersonic.

There was an attempt to update the Tiger with a J79 engine in 1956, Grumman called this the F11F-2 Super Tiger. It was able to hit Mach 2.0 at some of the altitude ranges the J65 engine Tiger was having problems in. For reasons lost to history the Navy decided not to buy the Super Tiger. In turn Grumman spent the next two years trying to market the Super Tiger in NATO (to the Luftwaffe, Royal Dutch Air Force, Belgian Air Force, RCAF) to the Japanese Self-Defense Air Force. However due to a number of reasons most of the people that Grumman tried to offer the Super Tiger to decided to go with other fighters.

The final end of the story for the Tiger came in the late 1970's when Grumman brought two F-11A (as the F11F-1's were referred to post 1962 designation standardization) out of the Desert. Cleaned them up and used both of them at Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River to test inflight thrust control systems. One aircraft was modified with the systems under test and the other one was used primarily as the chase plane. This went from 1973 until late 1975 when they were returned to the Desert. These two Tigers were the last to fly.

An Airplane's History

2008-08-11T20:52:00.007-07:00

At the end of the Second World War and just as the Cold War was going through some of its frostiest relations. Both the Soviets and the Western Powers were reviewing their options to fight a new type of war. That is a war with nuclear weapons. It basically boiled down to this in the aviation world:

You built an airplane to be able to deliver a nuclear weapon:

Or you built an aircraft to prevent the first mission:

The United States Navy was in a very interesting position. It had fleet fighters that could attempt to mix it up with tactical aircraft over the fleet. Such aircraft as the F8U Crusader, F3H Demon, F11F Tiger and the recent new comer the F4H-1 Phantom. However as the Office of Naval Intelligence started to see the ways the Soviets would attempt to kill a carrier these fighters didn't look that powerful at all. The ONI looked around and realized that the way the Soviets were going to attempt to kill a carrier was either through attack by the submarines using torpedoes or cruise missiles, surface ships mounting cruise missiles, or by long range bombers such as the Tu-16 Badger or Tu-95 Bear armed with large cruise missiles such as the AS-4 Kitchen or AS-5 Kelt to deliver either a large warhead or nuclear warhead against a carrier battle group. The planing and intention folks in ONI took a look around at the aircraft and then realized the current generation of fighters just didn't have the range nor the staying power to stay on station as far as possible from the battle group ready to intercept a massive bomber formation coming from the Kola or Crimea Peninsulas.

What was needed was an airplane mounting a large radar that was capable to see a far way out from the plane, the ability to carry a butt ton of gas to hang around at the long reaches from the battle group, and finally it was going to be armed with a long range powerful missile. So BuAir submitted the official request for an interceptor that had to have a good loiter time, a very good intercept radar system (to the point that it could do the search and intercept on its own with out assistance), and be capable of possibly carrying one of two planned missiles the AIM-47 Falcon or the AAM-N-10 Eagle.

The Douglas Aircraft Company submitted a design to compete in this bid. It was a straight wing monoplane, with a large bubble canopy designed to sit two aircrew side by side and a third in a special radar compartment near the rear, its was going to mount a radar dish that was about five feet across in a large bulbous nose, finally it was going to be subsonic. Navy officials looking at the drawings commented that it basically appeared to be the F3D Skyknight just grown bigger.

Douglas won the competition in 1959 and began to further design the aircraft. It was going to be powered by Pratt and Whitney TF30-P-2 engines and be armed with the Grumman Aerospace company AAM-N-10 Eagle missiles. A series of other things came into being at this time as well to make this planned weapon system look very good together. Grumman just won the contract to build the follow on to the WF-1 Tracer, the W2F-1 Hawkeye which was going to be capable of data linking radar information between itself and the carrier battle group along with selected interceptors. The other thing that was coming on line though very slowly was the new Navy Tactical Data System, or NTDS, this was a series of computers built around a UNIVAC computer system which was going to receive all the radar data from the battle group in a specific data link and present it back out to the various Combat Information Centers, CICs. That way the battle group commander and his various warfare commanders could gain a better handle on what was all going on around them. The advantage the F6D was going to have is that its radar system the Hughes APQ-81 tied in with the APS-125 of the W2F, that way the Hawkeye could successfully guide the Missiler to the right steering an line up for a missile shot even before the bad guys knew there was anyone else out there. On top of that if the F6D was on its own as it relayed its own radar data back to the W2F or the Carrier the air defense officer could have a better view of what was going on around the battle group.

As it was when the F6D Missiler was announced there was strong resistance from the fighter community with inside the US Navy. The idea of just being a launching platform for the Eagle just didn't sit well with some of these fighter pilots. On top of that the tactics being expressed just didn't seem to make sense at the time either. Questions about was a carrier air wing going to give up a fighter squadron to be equipped with this long range all-weather interceptor. What would of happened when the Missiler shots its load of Eagles at an incoming bomber stream? Just pull out of the way and wait for the carnage to end in the hope that the next set of defense lines could properly defend the battle group? What about about the need to cross the beach in support of a strike package? Obviously this airplane couldn't mix it up with the light weight tactical fighters (such as the MiG-17 and MiG-19) the Soviets were using. In the end BuAir decided to put a hold on this aircraft in 1961. Overall it was an interesting though and a different challenge to the defense of the carrier battle group from an bomber/cruise missile attack. At various times through out both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations the idea of the Eagle and Missiler were dusted off only to be finally killed in 1967 as some of the lessons learned from the Have Doughnut and Have Drill exercises at Nellis testing ranges, along with the huge costs of both developing the radar set, missile system and airframe were approaching costs that at the time the national defense budget couldn't afford.

Not all was lost though. A number of ideas from the F6D Missiler were retained for usage in the next fighter project being developed for the United States Navy. This project was the Tactical Fighter Experimental or TFX program. It was going to mount a radar system that though not as large as the APQ-81 it was going to try and be as powerful, this radar system was going to be the AWG-9, also the lessons learned from the development of both the AIM-47 Falcon and the AAM-N-10 Eagle were combined to create the AIM-54 Phoenix missile. Finally with the further refinement of the aerial refueling store and conversion of selected aircraft into dedicated tankers the idea of having a six hour loiter time was lowered and instead the tactic of "Chainsaw" was begun to be developed. Chainsaw was where everything that wasn't a fighter or AEW aircraft was uploaded with a buddy store. Then during an incoming Soviet bomber regiment raid a group of fighters and a tanker would be launched. The tanker (or aircraft with the buddy store) would fly with the fighters then top the fighters off as they would start to run dry. The tanking aircraft would turn and run home, get gas and fly back out to join up with their assigned charges fly even further out to get as far as possible from the battle group. At which the AEW aircraft would begin to assign a pair of Fleet Defense Interceptors to let loose with their missiles, finally closing range to get as many as possible with the on board gun system. Until the penetration of the battle group SAM belt was achieved.

Why not just open your wallet, we will take what we want.

2008-08-09T21:25:00.005-07:00

So as my good friend Steel Jaw reported this past Friday was his 26th anniversary. I applaud him for it and wish him another twenty six years of happiness and bliss.

Meanwhile I have proposed to the future Mrs Pirate. We have set a date for November 2008 to join in happy matrimony, which should make it easy for me to remember. So now it is settling on the church, reception site, hotel for all the out of town guests, a potential after party place, the rings, dresses, etc. All of which seem to want me to open my wallet up and just dump the cash out till they say stop.

I have already decided that I am going to sport my dress blues with my medals for the ceremony. So I don't need to spend any money on a tuxedo or a suit. I just think it is going to look cool. The most that I am going to have to spend on my uniform is taking it to a cleaner and getting the white pipping around the sleeves and the back flap cleaned up and looking its brightest white. The other thing that I am going to have to do is buy all my medals again, get them mounted and buy a ribbon bar for the awards that I have which don't have a resulting medal. That will suck up some cash out of my wallet. No big worries about that because even though I am a minor war hero, there isn't that much money to get my medals and ribbons mounted.

It seems that the next place that wants to suck money from me is the House of God that I want to have the ceremony to occur in. I was born and raised as a Methodist . For a while though I fell out with following the church and am just coming back to attending services. One of the first things we started to look was a Methodist church in Seattle area (since that is where we decided to have the whole event). A couple of churches we looked at couldn't fit us into their schedule in November. No issue, since we had about ten churches selected. A church we talked to near the U of Washington mentioned that they would do the ceremony for us. Yet when it came to the price list it seemed to be an À la carte style. We could rent the sanctuary for five hundred bones, but to add the padre was an additional hundred dollars, If you want to use your own padre well that will be seventy five dollars, oh you want to use the speaker system that is an additional seventy five dollars, one of our notaries could be on station to sign the paperwork for the state for an additional fifty dollars. At the end of the running list of charges I felt as if should of
been in front of a fast food restaurant counter and being asked if I wanted fries with all that. We found one that offered a package deal it was a cool thousand dollars for the sanctuary, padre, sound system, organist, and the ability to get the paperwork signed for the state. However, as it came time to sign the deal they shut us down do to party politics differences ,can people separate the job I have chosen to do from their disagreement of modern politics? So now we are searching non-denominational Christian Churches for a place to have the event occur.
She decided on a pretty cool reception site located down near a lake which has a nice view of downtown Seattle and has a very artsy antique styling on the inside. The downside is they are charging about six thousand dollars for a four hour block and every hour we go past the allotted block is an additional thousand dollars. I understand from looking around at other places six thousand dollars is a good price, and yet I still feel as if I am being ripped off. Since if I want to add alcohol to the reception I need to procure a separate liquor license then pay for an additional bartender. Some of the other reception sites that I have talked all ready had a liquor license already built in to the package deal. It isn't a big deal for me to have a liquor license since both me and the misses don't drink, having already decided to make it an alcohol free event.
We have now spent time looking at photographers some of them have different rates depending on the time of day or even location. There was one guy who charged more to do it at a park that was across the street from his studio. When cornered it was simply the hassle of lugging some of his equipment out there. I just stood there with my jaw on the floor with the audacity of him charging an additional fifty dollars to lug an extra flash light and camera across the street to a park for engagement photos, then to try and say we would be discounted if he did our wedding as well. We finally signed with a engagement and wedding photographer this weekend.

Overall it has been really frustrating for us to try and stay with in a budget that doesn't thrown us into debt so far that we are paying for the wedding, by the time that our first born is looking at college. Yet it seems that every time I sit there on the phone making arrangements to talk to people and schedule some of these important steps that are involved with properly executing a wedding are driving the budget into funding a small nation's economy level. I think I literal hear the cash registers ring in the background the minute I talk with someone about quotes for services. When the question about why the services are asked about, I then mention for a wedding it appears the quote changes again to standard rate plus whatever they think they can get.
It feels as well when I try to make decisions about some of these services the final thought that is dangled in front of me is the "You want this to be special right? Well you need me!" line. I am so tired of the wedding hustle that I think when I get out of the Navy, I might just start to offer to be a wedding package seller. Sell everything as a pre-packaged deal so that all someone has to do is call me up sign the contract, write one check (or make one credit card swipe), give me the guest list and you can go on to planning the honeymoon, combining the household, etc. Then just just show up on the proper date and time in dress of choice. Who knows, I might be able to rack in buckets of money in this wedding racket by doing this?

Quiet time

2008-07-29T22:03:00.002-07:00

I am sure a few of you all have noticed that I haven't been posting as rapidly nor as often as I did before my 7 month paid vacation. That is primarily because I am wrapped up to the top of my head with various projects. The biggest being trying to arrange a marriage ceremony. I have a whole posting that is being fleshed out sitting on my back log about how it seems the world wants to rip off the married couple. Maybe my dad is right and it would be just cheaper to grab a flight to Vegas, spend a night at a hotel, maybe gamble for the honeymoon, then get hitched by Elvis.
The other big project is at work. There are too many things to comment on, mainly it feels that even though we are in stand down, the work load appears to be coming at us as if we are getting ready for a deployment. I am also loosing bodies to various schools and follow on training. At times the only bodies I have is me, myself, and I.
So anyhow that is why I have been slow posting in the last few weeks. I hope to see a few things settle down for me and will wait and see how things pan out.

39 Years ago today

2008-07-20T19:18:00.003-07:00

July 20th 1969, Lunar Module touches down on the surface of the Moon.

The Lunar Module had former United States Naval Aviator, Ltjg Neil Armstrong, Korean War Veteran. Successful NACA/NASA test pilot and one of the pilots of the X-1, X-5, X-15 program. He was one of the crew members.

One of the other men inside was Colonel Edward E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. A Korean War vetern himself with a pair of MiG-15's under his belt. After the Korean War he flew F-100's in Germany and then went to MIT earning a Masters in Astronautics. Following graduation he was recurited by NASA to join the Gemni program.

Meanwhile floating above in the Command Module taking photography and preparing for the return to Earth was Michael Collins. A former F-86 pilot and graduate of USAF Test pilot school at Edwards AFB. Picked up for the Gemni program 1964.

This mission succeed in accomplishing President John F. Kennedy's plan to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

There have been a number of good books and movie dramizations on these missions to achieve the landing on the moon. I would really, really recommend reading these books. Then ask yourself what happened to the NASA that strayed from being able to put men on the moon thirty plus years ago and now is only being able to put probes on to Mars?

A plane's history

2008-07-17T20:29:00.007-07:00

As the US Navy made the transition from using seat of the pants flying and dropping bombs based on best guess of the pilots. When the A-1 Skyraider was being phased out being replaced by the A-6 Intruder it was realized that the Navy needed a dedicated trainer which was slow enough and had enough space to basically re-create the cockpit so that both pilots and Bombardiers/Navigators could train together. Looking around both the Navy and Grumman realized that the executive transport which Grumman was selling only a few years before looked pretty good. It was already being used by the military as a basic VIP transport with the US Air Force and US Coast Guard. This aircraft was the Grumman Gulfstream I or C-4 Academy (as it was known in the military). So Grumman took a number of these aircraft and grafted on the nose of an A-6 Intruder. The cockpit was changed around to reflect the cockpit set up in the A-6 Intruder. The rest of the cabin had a jump seat for an instructor then a few other seats for aircrew followed up with a couple of setups only for the B/N's. One of the other things that was done was that nearly all the same electronics that the A-6 had installed into it. So the same radar, radios, ECM, etc. The only thing this thing couldn't do was actually drop bombs. After being accepted in Navy usage it was referred to as the TC-4C Academy or more commonly along the flight lines at Whidbey and Oceana as the "Tic-4". The TC-4C saw the most usage of the aircraft were used as an introduction to instrumentation of the A-6 and then it was used as trainer for instrumentation flight training. It was also used to get teams of pilots and B/N's trained to learn how to operate as a team or as it is known now it is called crew resource management. With the introduction of dual crew attack jets, the team concept was stressed very much.

All of these aircraft were assigned to the three RAGs, VA-128 Golden Intruders(West coast), VA-42 Green Pawns(East Coast), and VMAT(AW)-202 Double Eagles. As the A-6 was phased out of active Navy inventory the TC-4C was removed and most of them are sitting out in in the Bone yard in Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

Every happen to you?

2008-07-17T19:43:00.004-07:00

Have you ever been working hard and then had some one on the outside come in review a project of yours and say basically it is all wrong you need to fix it. Turn to the boss for some help and he tells you, "sorry I am going on vacation". That is what has happened to me this past week.

So this past week I had a courtesy inspection on a program that is pretty important in running my work center. One of those things that Secret Squirrel and my LPO should be doing to make sure runs correctly. This is also one of the programs that if done incorrectly people go to jail, commanders are fired, and in general just isn't a good thing to let fall apart.
The inspector spends about 4 hours going through my program and what happens? Well the program is so far off track it might as well be in Timbuktu for all that it really matters. The biggest thing was that all the paperwork was filed wrong, portions of paperwork was missing, and the inspector was playing around some of the grey area of the instructions on how some of the paperwork was supposed to be worded. In other words, I got stomped on and it hurt a lot.
After the inspection was over I sit down with my LPO just prior to end of the day and explain to him what happened.
Exact words from him were as follows: "That is a shame. Well I am going on leave, you can fix this have a nice day." I was ready to vent on him, but that would of been pretty poor on my part. So it was go home for the day, sit there drank some beer (actually a lot of beer) and wonder how in the world I got myself in this mess. I was not even involved with the program. It use to be one of my multitude of collateral duties prior to a shuffle of collateral duties following some promotions. At the time the program was on track and in decent condition. I was actually the alternate since my LPO was the primary, but I did most of the work on this program since he was swamped with other things.
I have been working very hard at trying to get this back on track, yet the guy who is the alternate right now, wants nothing to do with the program. I don't want to do this to him, but I might just take it back and run with it before I leave the command. Maybe even have it as a billet on my eval for when I transfer.

The harder thing though is a number of the instructions that I need to up date and replace are just daunting. It is one of the thing that I hate with a passion is doing technical writing. The biggest reason being (and I am sure any English teacher can tell by reading these blog posts), my English is pretty poor. So sitting down, trying to craft new instructions from old one, sentence structure, formatting, and other things are killing me! It has felt like I spent all day in front of a computer with electronic copies of the old instructions or re-entering old instructions into the computer to be edited. Sitting there pouring through the big Navy's instructions on how to run this program of mine, then trying to compact 50 pages of information into three paragraphs. I am pulling my hair out. I have come home every not and just felt like I went twelve rounds with heavy weight boxer. I really, really, really hate doing this type of writing. The other hard part is making sure that there are no grey areas and everything is spelled out in Navy legalize. So that an absolute idiot could read this and understand what is supposed to be done with this program.

I almost have this program beaten into submission or at least back to a point where my LPO could take this and put his polish on it. It is just driving me nuts to achieve that level.

A video from the RN 800 Squadron

2008-07-17T19:38:00.002-07:00

A quick break for right now. I am up to my eyeballs with some jobs at work that are driving me nuts trying to get them together.

Anyhow here is a video from the RN's 800 squadron of some Harrier Ops off the HMS Illustrious. Enjoy.

sonicbomb.com

I hate new uniforms part two

2008-07-13T10:06:00.003-07:00

So a few weeks ago I had expressed my displeasure about spending $70 dollars on the new PT uniforms the Navy has brought out a week ago. Well after wearing them for PT sessions the this past week I hate them even more.
First issue. The shorts. Everyone else out there in the world has complained about them. Basically the liner inside causes chaffing on me and it just sticks to me as I sweat. So it is just annoying all over. I will have to cut those out. The other issue I have with the shorts is just how long it take to wash and dry them. because the liners and pockets are made of some sort of sweat-wicking material I have to wash them in delicate cycle and dry them in the low heat fluff situation. Afterwards hang them up to air dry after that. Which wouldn't be that much of a problem if I had the space to do so.

The shirts are the second issue. I thought I had bought the right size for me (extra-large) and instead I am swimming in the shirt. There is enough material that I cold almost use it as a night shirt. So I went back this past Friday to look at the large and it is so small on me that I have limited movement. This is not going to go as the CNO and MCPON planned, IE looking like people coming off the recruiting poster. The other issue that I have with the shirts is that even though they did a pretty good with removing the sweat off of me and keeping moderately dry in the process, but in the process they became thinner and thinner looking. It was even worst with one of the women that was wear testing one of them If she wasn't wearing a t-shirt under it, that would of lead to all sorts of distractions. So this weekend I did laundry with it and has to wash it delicate in cold water with dry it either by hanging or low heat fluffing (just like the shorts). I do so but pulling out the shirts there appeared to be all sorts of water stains on them so once more through the dryer. Through the cycle again and pulled them out, still had the stains. Yet the these "stains" weren't wet to the touch. Instead what it was is that all three of the shirts that I bought are now burned by my detergent. So there is some more money out of my pocket if I want to replace them.

I said it before and will say it again. These things stink and who ever thought them up needs to be fired.

More debt brought on to myself

2008-07-13T09:40:00.003-07:00

So I drive a mid-size pick-up truck. I have had it for about six years and overall it is just over ten years old. I have now hit the point where any major maintenance is equal to or greater then what the blue book value is. So what to do? Well I need to downsize to a more fuel efficient car. The other issues that I need to deal with is I want to pick up a car that the Misses will enjoy to drive (argument avoidance here), something that is fun and sporty, and something that I can afford. So it had been bouncing through car dealerships and fending off the sharks just to try and find something that I am going to enjoy driving to and from work.

The biggest annoyance are the car sales people. Since I live near a military base, the first thing out of their mouths are "Are you in the military?" then the next line is "What is your pay grade?" Most of the time I see their brains bring up the pay chart and finding the monthly paycheck that I get from Uncle Sugar. Then they start to walk me away from my choices over to the more expansive cars. It doesn't matter whether I am at a little town or at a big city, the car salesmen always seem the same.
Even worst is how I have read the reviews and looked online at various cars. But I need to look at one up close and in person to figure out what I like. So it becomes a game of hide and seek. I see if I how long I can hide and look at my choices before one of the sharks come swimming by. My current record is about 30 minutes before one of them came by to engage me.
The final thing I hate about wheeling and dealing for a car is listening to them try and nickle and dime me to death. Those add ins such as clear coating, floor mats, the dealers stickers, you name it they try to add it on. It annoys me because I tell them up front as we start to negotiate the price the only add-ons I want and if I see anything else I am just going to get up from the table and walk away. Yet they do it time and time again. It drives me up the wall.

Style decisions and registration

2008-07-09T19:44:00.005-07:00

So this past weekend myself and the future misses were out doing our registration bit for the upcoming wedding. I really don't have a style per say, since primarily I have lived in places where the only style has been haze grey wall paint and battleship grey flooring. The only other living arrangements that I have had besides living under my parents house was at military style barracks. Most of these barracks rooms always seem to have a mandatory motivational poster, a poster that was usually a natural scene common to the region, finally the paint scheme was always white and I always seemed to be in the ones with a tiled floor that were an off shade of yellow because the wax had not been taken up and replaced in years.

Anyhow, I spent the last weekend (and expect this next weekend doing the same) walking around a major department store comparing and trying to discuss about what our respective styles are. The future misses is a light and airy person and most of her house is painted and decorated in that sort of scheme. So we spent the better part of a day walking around the home section of this major US retailer, making discussions about what the good china, the everyday china, bed spreads, and shellfish forks would look like. At the end of the day I think we were both frustrated. Our different views on that day seem to conflict.

So to make it easier on both of us, I have told her to go out on her one after work. Look around write down what she likes and then the next few weekends before the wedding just add it on to the registration after we talk about her choices to decide on something that we like.

I wonder if this is what the future is going to be?

Quick history lesson

2008-07-04T12:17:00.001-07:00

One of the things that appears to be lacking in modern United States of America basic educational systems is how precarious the nation's position was on the 4th of July in the year 1776 when the Continental Congress agreed to pass the Declaration of Independence. Most of what I have heard from family members who are going through US History it appears to go something like this: Boston Tea Party, Declaration of Independence, Lexington and Concord, Valley Forge, and finally Yorktown with the war being won. All of it being in the space of few years and then the Constitution of the United States was adopted. It just wasn't like that. Rather the year 1776 was a very hard and rough year on the colonies and through shear luck that the Revolution wasn't crushed. So lets take a quick review of everything that occurred that year.

To start with after the debacle that was Lexington and Concord (for the British), the British Army retreated to Boston and hold up. The Rebel Army pursued them and basically a siege had been in place since the previous fall around Boston. The British Army was too weak to push out against the Rebels and the Rebels didn't have enough arms or men to push in. So basically they dug trenches and took pot shots at each other. January of 1776 saw a small Rebel army march overland to Fort Ticonderoga under Henry Knox retrieve the heavy artillery to help in trying to break the Siege of Boston. In March the rebels pull off a major surprise against the British by capturing the Dorchester Heights. This caused the British Army to board what Royal Navy ships in Boston Harbor and basically they left for Halifax. Meanwhile coming from Merry Ol'England was a large fleet loaded with additional troops. That spring the Continental Army saw its size shrink because a large number of the recruits were farmers from the New England states. They hadn't received pay from the Continental Congress and still had to pay for their farms and families back home. This was a standard thing through out the Continental Army for the duration of the war. The various recruits would tire of playing soldier or because of troubles at home they would just up and leave in the middle of the night and walk home. General George Washington marched the Army to New York that spring as well. He realized that if the British seized New York the colonies would be split in two between the New England states and the Southern States. One of the other things he did as well based on input from some of his fellow generals was split the Army and sent a portion of it north of Canada to try and seized Quebec. The thought was that all of the colonies needed to be free from the tyranny of King George the III not just the ones stretching from Maine south to the tip of Spanish Florida.
As it was the British Garrison troops from Boston settled in to Halifax along with a large number of Loyalists who were lifted out as well. The Continentals settled into New York.
In June the Continentals were beaten back from Quebec at the Battle of Trois-Rivieres. This basically ended the attempt to seize Quebec but it wouldn't be till 1777 that the Continental Army would leave from probing to gain Quebec. Washington's Army in New York meanwhile was trying to learn how to actually be an army. They were training on close order drill, how to load and fire their weapons in a timely manner, battle order, and various other items.
On July 4th after months of spirited debate Thomas Jefferson presented the Declaration to the Congress and they passed it.
By August most of the states had ratified it. By the fifteen of August a large number of Hessian troops, who were Mercenaries from the Prussian state of Hesse Kassel had landed at one end of Staten Island. Just days later the Battle of Long Island occurs where the Hessian and British Army were able to route the Continental Army. By shear luck the Continentals were able to hold the ferry landing going to Harlem from Brooklyn. This allowed a majority of the Army to escape. The next few months was just a series of running battles as the Hessians and British pushed hard against the Continentals, time after time the British saw the Continentals break ranks and run. At White Plains, At Harlem Heights, at Kip's Bay. The Continentals by that November were in full retreat across New Jersey with the Hessians and British nipping at their heels. By Christmas Washington has his troops in Pennsylvania and in and around Philadelphia for the Christmas holiday. The Hessians were in Trenton and the British were encamped up around Princeton, New Jersey. On Christmas night the Continental Army forded the Delaware river and set up in Trenton. Washington found out that the Hessians were celebrating the holiday in a typical Prussian way. Partying hard with booze and song. By the dawn of the 26th with the lose of only 5 men the Continentals dealt a heavy blow to the Hessians captured 948 and killed well over 1500. Afterwards Washington retreated back to Valley Forge to spend the rest of the winter.

Even before the Declaration there was a good chance the revolution could of been stopped. Even after the year 1776 it wasn't until 1783 that a peace treaty was passed the total war lasted 9 hard years in which a large amount of pain was spread up and down the colonies. It wasn't even until the end of the 1812 War that a large number of issues regarding the original Revolutionary War were felt to have been resolved to most people's satisfaction. There are a number of good books about the time period. The one that I would recommend everyone start with is "1776" by David McCullough. Then as you all play with fireworks and watch the shows tonight think hard about how close we came to not be separated from the United Kingdom.

History of the Navy's EW Mission Part 2

2008-07-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

Okay when school was in session we started to talk about the history of the Electronic warfare mission and some of the aircraft that were being used by the carrier air wings. Now lets finish up.

When the AD-4 Skyraider was accepted into fleet in 1950 the number of specialized versions that were being used by the Navy at the time were converted from AD-3 airframes were numerous. To standardized across the fleet most of the AD-3's were started to be phased out and replaced by AD-4 Skyraiders. The AD-4 became the most numerous example of the Skyraider used in the fleet. Just like with the AD-3, the Navy asked for a Q-bird in the AD-4, again the ECM operator was stuffed in the back with all the gear. To get in they had a small door on the left hand side of the aircraft and only two small little windows where the enlisted air crew men could look out to see the sights.
"Enlisted Aircrew?" you ask. Yes dear readers, before the decision to make more jobs with college graduates that got wings of gold pinned on them. Naval Air crewmen usually in the avionics field were flying in some of these aircraft to do such things as operate the anti-submarine gear, ECM gear, and there were radar operators in both the AD-4W AEW version (yes SJS, us enlisted folks were doing the radar operator/airborne intercept controller until the mid-60s) and the AD-4N's had radar bombardiers/navigators. So with the AD-4Q had enlisted ECM operators sitting there in the back tweaking knobs trying to tun in the signals from the bad guys and send out signals from the aircraft.

Following the end of the Korean War there was a need to upgrade aircraft because there was a need for heavier and more complex jamming equipment. The end of the war also saw the Composite squadrons get out of the Jamming role and concentrate more on the night time/all weather bombing operations. With that change most of the Q-birds went to the VAW-11 and VAW-12. Things were good though very complex. At the time VAW-11 and VAW-12 were the largest squadrons in the Navy. Primarily because they operated the AEW (airborne early warning) mission so they had dets of up to four aircraft joining up with each of the deploying carrier air wings to provide that early warning which the Navy found was valuable. So with the introduction of the AD-5Q a Skyraider that had its fuselage stretched to accommodate two ECM operators in a full size aft cockpit rather then a broom closet set up in the fuselage.
With the arrival of the AD-5Q the US Navy saw an airplane which had the room for expansion as additional and improve ECM gear came down the pipeline. They also saw an airplane that had a great loiter time and could effectively fly the maneuvers which were required to provide the jamming which could open up the defense so the strike package get in. With the AD-5Q also saw more room for the various antenna which were required for the job. As the AD-5Q came out the other problem saw the need for another squadron to provide room for various officers to rise up in the Department head and Commanding officer billets. Along with reduce the paperwork requirements for tracking all the various dets that VAW-11 and VAW-12 was providing. So in 1959 the Department of the Navy took a det from VAW-11 and created Carrier Airborne Early Warning Thirteen (VAW-13) at NAS Agana Guam. VAW-13 was using both the AD-5W's and the AD-5Q's and the det it was supplying to the squadrons were putting both types of airframes on the carrier decks. Also the Squadron was assigned the "Victor Robert" Tail Code. The squadron also called themselves the "Zappers" because they were zapping out electrical energy. Things were good for Early Thirteen until 1961. Commander Naval Air Forces Pacific (aka AirPac) decided to shuffle things up. VAW-11 was subdivided into smaller tactical units and VAW-13 lost the Guppy version of the Skyraider. VAW-13 was told to concentrate only on the ECM mission, VAW-13 was also recalled to NAS Alameda (which is just across the bay from San Francisco). So in 1961 they packed up their things and went back to the good ol'USA. On the Atlantic side VC-33 which became VA(AW)-33 picked up flying the AD-5Q's for the Atlantic deploying air wings and carriers.
Meanwhile the USMC while they had been using all the various "Q" versions of the Skyraider in their Composite squadrons said "thanks but no, thanks" to the AD-5Q and instead took a number of F3D-2 Skyknights and modified them into F3D-2Q ECM birds. Their thinking was they needed an aircraft that could keep up with the faster jets they had in their inventory. Along with being a larger and more powerful aircraft they could carry more ECM gear. These aircraft were still assigned to the Marine Composite squadrons (VMC) and these squadrons were later designated VMCJ's. The Marines used the F3D-2Q (later designated EF-10B after 1962)from 1955 until the 1970. These aircraft were used in Vietnam to a large success and were primarily operated ashore at Da Nang.

In 1962 Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara required the services to simplify their designation system for both aircraft and weapon systems. He did this, according to scuttlebutt, is that both the Navy and Air Force were ordering parts for the same aircraft (the F-4 Phantom) by the Navy called its version the F4H-2N while the USAF had designated its version the F-110B. He realized that money could of been saved if we were buying parts for the same aircraft types. So following September 1962 the way aircraft were described followed an improved pattern.

In 1965 the Navy Realized that they needed to replace the vulnerable EA-1F (as the AD-5Q was designated) and while looking around they realized the airplane to use was the A-3 Skywarrior. It has a tremendous space for all the various antenna and black boxes the ECM mission were requiring. On top of that as radar systems improved they realized more and more of the actual tweaking of out going signals had to be done by computers. Again there was only so much room in the EA-1F for these new computers and for the new ECM gear to radiate out the energy required. So it was in 1967 the EA-3B Skywarrior started to join the home base element of VAW-13 and as the various detachments came home they traded in their old EA-1F's for the new EA-3B's or EKA-3B's. The final deployment of the EA-1F occurred in 1968.
The EA-3B's were completely different compared to what was being flown before. Where as the EA-1F's had to fly straight at the radar site they were jamming along with decreasing their altitude to make sure their jamming was covering the offending site. Near the end of the path the aircrew had to execute a hard climbing turn to turn away and start climbing back up to a high altitude to restart the attack again. This lead to the squadron to adopt the motto "We can Hack it!". Now with the A-3's they just had to fly a basic race track pattern and the antenna's could be turned and tuned. No more violent maneuvering and no more getting into range of air defense of the bad guys. The other big difference between the two birds is just the size alone. The EA-1F had a 50 foot wing span, was about 40 feet long and the cockpit was only 13 feet off the ground. The EA-3B had a 72 ft wing span, 76 ft long and its cockpit was 22 ft high off the ground. Things were just bigger. The EA-3B's started to deploy in 1968 and continued to deploy on carriers. As the bomber versions of the A-3's were being phased out they went through re-work at the Naval Air Depot in Alameda to be converted into either the EA-3B or the EKA-3B. The only difference between the two was that the EKA-3B had a little housing near the aft of the bomb bay for an in-flight refueling system. So it could do the Jamming mission or the other mission the squadron could fly is the flying gas station (aka Texaco).

The Marines again looking around when the Navy was making the modifications to the Skywarrior. The Marines realized that the EF-10B just couldn't handle flying over such an integrated air defense system like North Vietnam was become. Again, the airframe was tired and the need for more and more jamming power just lead them to look around for something bigger and better. The Grumman Aircraft Corporation took an A-6A and modified it to and electronic attack variant called the EA-6A. They enlarged tip of the vertical stabilizer to house the various antennas required. Added some additional pylons to carry either Chaff pods or electronic counter measure pods. The nose had a plug installed it was actually made heavier. The first EA-6A was accepted at MCAS Cherry Point in 1965 and its first combat deployment was with VMCJ-1 at MCAS Da Nang in 1967. The EA-6A was eventually picked up by the Navy at the end of the Vietnam war. It was supplied to its reserve air VAQ squadrons, VAQ-209 and VAQ-309. Along with being supplied to the first tactical electronic warfare squadron VAQ-33 The Firebirds.
The Firebirds were originally a composite squadron based out of Rhode Island and after a shake up post the Korean war they became specialists in the all-weather bombing mission with the re designation as VA(AW)-33. After receiving the AD-5Q's they were re designated again to become VAW-33. In 1968 the Navy realized it was too burdensome to train people in both the early warning and electronic mission at the same time. There needed to be specialization so VAW-33 became the first tactical electronic warfare squadron VAQ-33 on the first of February. Following on the heels of that VAW-13 became VAQ-130 on the first of October. The need for more ECM lead to the re designation of VAH-4 and VAH-2, both heavy bombing units that flew the A-3 Skywarrior up in Whidbey Island to be re designated VAQ-131(nee' VAH-4) and VAQ-132(nee' VAH-2). They then moved down to NAS Alameda to trade in their bombers for electronic Whales. VAQ-130 also became the EA-3B Replacement Squadron in 1971 with the disestablishment of VAH-123. It was the largest tactical electronic attack squadron in the Navy at the time. Between training Pilots and Electronic Countermeasures Officers (ECMOs) and providing dets, they were also the Electronic Attack Wing commander. Things were hard but good. They got a little easier as VAH-10 converted to EA-3B's with them being re designated as VAQ-129 and the plan to take over the training requirements.

In 1969 the Navy realized that although the EA-3B was good there is always better. They took a look at the EA-6A and realized that it was good as well. After some figuring they realized that if you combine the airframe of the A-6 with the crew requirements of the old EA-1F and EA-3B (both of which had a pilot, navigator, and two ECMO's). They looked around and saw that the Grumman was already thinking ahead of them. The EA-6B Intruder (as it was originally called by Grumman) was being built for flight testing. The Navy bought into the idea, it was a common airframe to their primary attack aircraft. The EA-6B started to arrive in the US Navy in 1971, VAQ-129 dropped their plans to become the Electric Whale RAG and instead they built the syllabus and training regime for this new electronic attack aircraft. VAQ-132 became the first squadron to deploy to a combat zone with it when in 1972 they deployed on board the USS America (CV-66) and CVW-8. There they flew missions in support of Operation Linebacker I and II. There is a story that during the midst of the Christmas Bombing there were two EA-6B Prowlers were flying their race track pattern when they detected just over one hundred missile being launched. Both aircraft realized they couldn't jam all the missile guidance radars, instead they knew the missile command detonate signal and proximity radar signal (which the warhead used to detonate itself near the target) so they jammed both of those signals. The reports later that night from all over Pacific Command was everyone from B-52's over Hanoi to USN strike packages near Haiphong were reporting Surface to Air Missiles were going ballistic past them and were not detonating. That is some power and some idea of why this mission is so important now a days. As more and more EA-6B's came on line the Electronic Warfare folks moved away from San Francisco in 1973 and resettled up to NAS Whidbey Island.
The EA-6B had been there from flying electronic support missions along route paths for the RH-53D's to rescue the Hostages in 1979, to open holes in the Libyan air defenses in 1986 so the USAF and USN could bomb Qadhafi for his support of international terrorism. They were the jamming both radar signals and throwing anti-radar missiles during Operation Desert Storm. Supporting the folks on the ground during Operation Desert Saber by jamming enemy communications. They flew support missions during Operations Northern and Southern Watch. The EA-6B was there over Serbia and Kosovo. When international terrorism came to the United States, it was EA-6B's that were providing ECM support as US Navy and USAF strike packages were having their way over Afghanistan.
The same was said again over Iraq. Now the EA-6B's in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, by flying ECM support of the folks on the ground.
Both the US Navy and the US Marine Corps operate the EA-6B in 20 different squadrons. VAQ-129, VAQ-130,VAQ-131,VAQ-132,VAQ-133,VAQ-134,VAQ-135,VAQ-136, VAQ-137,VAQ-138,VAQ-139,VAQ-140,VAQ-141,VAQ-142,VAQ-209,VMAQ-1,VMAQ-2,VMAQ-3,VMAQ-4.

In the mid-90's it was realized that the EA-6B was starting to get a little long in the tooth. On an average most of the airframes were over thirty years old and even though they had been through re-work. The age was just showing, fatigue on the wings and airframes was there. Some of this fatigue had caused aircraft losses. McDonnell/Douglas (and later Boeing) had started to play around with converting an F-18F into an electronic attack aircraft. Playing around with the needs and requirements, Boeing built the EF-18G Growler. With the arrival of the first EF-18G to the fleet on June 3rd of 2008, a new path of electronic warfare is being forged. Again VAQ-129 has taken it upon themselves to establish the maintenance and training syllabus. The future looks bright. I won't say bright enough to wear shades though. The Marines again have decided they are not going to buy into the EF-18G and instead try to soldier on with the EA-6B until something that fits their requirements comes down the pipeline.

The future beyond manned aircraft.
A possible future for the Navy's EW aircraft might be a UCAV. There are advantages here along with disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that one could conceivably build a number of smaller versions all of which using improved networking capabilities could accurately plot mobile early warning sites and radar defense sites. On top of that each separate one could be built and configured separately to fly missions for longer periods of time then what a human crew member could possible even fly. The disadvantage is that even under the best possible conditions UAV's are a lost at very high rate. With the cost of some of the ECM systems that just would be unsustainable for the Navy. The other disadvantage is adapting a UCAV for carrier usage. It hasn't really been tested out yet to explore all the problems that would come with it.

Standing the Guard

2008-07-04T09:42:00.001-07:00

It is the 4th of July. A holiday for most of us. A chance to relax, go out picnicing with family and friends. Buy the kiddies some fireworks and then head down to the city park to watch the big show. Mean while there are those of us who are standing the guard to keep the barbarians at the gate. Whether those barbarians are domestic or foregin. A quick chance to remember those people while you all are out celebrating the birth of a nation.

I hate new uniforms.

2008-07-01T18:05:00.003-07:00

So while I was haze grey and underway, we heard that starting this summer some new uniforms were coming down the pipeline to replace some things in the enlisted sea bag. The new Navy Working Uniform (aka the Navy's Digi-cammies), a new all year working uniform (which looks very much like the Marine's Charlies), and finally a new PT Uniform.

Basically these are something completely different then what I was issued at boot camp and actually spent the first two weeks walking around Great Mistakes in. What I was issued was a heavy white cotton t-shirt that had the Navy crest on the front and on the back the work "NAVY" in a silver reflective screening. Then there was a pair of dark blue shorts. While the shirts came in sizes from extra small to extra large it always seemed as if the shorts ran from snug to "OH MY GOD ARE THOSE PAINTED ON" snug. Finally to top it all off we were given blue sweat pants and a blue hooded sweatshirt with "NAVY" on them as well. Overall these worked pretty well, but for the most part once I hit the fleet I dumped them to wear something that were a little more comfortable.

So it was with a little anger and surprise to see that Task Force Uniform brought out the idea of a PT uniform. I guess it was because the Army and Air Force were doing it. So to be part of the cool kid crowd we had to do it. This new uniform is composed of either a long sleeve t-shirt or short sleeve shirt, either a 6 inch long shorts or 8 inch long shorts (pant length), finally we have the option of buying socks that are either ankle highs or sneaker highs. All of these items are manufactured with the word "Navy" on them and finally with the sweat wicking that brands like "Underarmor" have. GROAN!

Roll out occurred near the end of my deployment and at my home base the uniforms showed up on the 1st of July. Being the proper thing as senior leadership, I went out and purchased the uniform components for myself at the local on base uniform shop. I started with just three long sleeve shirts and two pairs of shorts. I didn't buy either types of the socks since the socks look the same as most of the white athletic socks that I already have. After picking out the sizes that I should fit into walked up to the cash register and cashed out. Didn't really pay attention to the prices, stupid me. But just for those two pairs of shorts and the three long sleeve shirts I forked over seventy dollars! $70.00, what in god's name are the Navy Exchange (which is something comparable to a Target for you non-military folks reading this) and the United States Navy thinking!?!? Oh that is right, they probably aren't thinking and I was grumbling about this as I came into work the next day.

"Well that is why they have been beefing up your yearly clothing allowance the past couple of years"

that was the statement from one of the CPO's at my current command. I looked at him and rolled my eyes. My retort was a tactful that if it just costs me seventy dollars just to purchase enough of the PT uniform to get by a full wash cycle, then I won't be able to afford to purchase enough of the new cammies or working uniform components when they show up come October.

This is something like the third major uniform change that I have made since coming in to the Navy. The first one was getting rid of the older style dungarees and replaced with the new style utilities, the other was the addition of the coveralls to the sea bag. Each time I have seen a major uniform change I have also seen the costs spiral up to bring the sea bag back into regulation. I really don't know if I am going to be able to afford the next round of uniform changes when they bring out the cammies. Some one needs to stop the insanity!.

History of the Navy's EW mission part 1

2008-06-27T14:17:00.009-07:00

With the arrival of the EF-18G, I started to think about the history of the EW mission in the Navy and its possible future.

To start with we actually need to go all the way back to the World War Two. Right around 1943 the Navy through its Naval Research Laboratories started to work on smaller and lighter radar sets to be mounted on fighter aircraft such as the F4U and the F6F. That way these aircraft could be used to defend the fleet from night time snoopers. Along with that the NRL's were also working hard on radars so the torpedo, scouting, and bombing squadron could hunt for the enemy fleet at longer ranges and in worst weather then what the good ol'mark one human eye ball could find. As a side project a couple of the Naval Research Labs realized that if they were doing this then there might also be a way to create a way to an active way to disable enemy radars. At the time the only way to defeat a radar was through the use of something called Chaff or as the Brits called it "Window". Basically it was aluminum foil cut to certain lengths and dropped in huge bundles. This created a large blossom of reflected energy on the radar scope. Think of your classic radar scope and where there should be clear area there is a huge blot on it. That is what Chaff can do. The downside of Chaff is that it is pretty static, in that once you drop the stuff it just hangs there till it falls to the ground. On top of that you need to cut this stuff to the specific radio frequency that the bad guys are using. So if you guess wrong, well then it again isn't as effective. So that is where what is called active electronic counter measures comes in. This idea is that instead of using something passive like chaff, one uses electronic energy to "attack" the enemy radar sites. The scientists fiddled around and discovered that if you are able to "look" at the radar signal then mess with the return signal then hiding from the radar sites for longer were possible. One of the first aircraft to be converted to an electronic countermeasures aircraft was a Grumman aircraft.
The venerable TBF/TBM Avenger was modified into numerous different versions and types both during World War 2 and after the war. One of these variants was the early version of the Carrier On board Delievery (or COD) called the TBM-3R. Another version using the TBM-3R airframe was something called TBM-3Q. This aircraft started to see its development in 1945 and wasn't accepted to service until 1946. The basic differences between the TBM-3Q and the regular bomber version was that it replaced the after powered turret with faired over hole where an operator sat at looking at a radar scope, a pulse scope, and finally had the controls to operate the basic jamming system. The aircraft had installed the Yagi direction finding system installed in it as well as the APS-4 surface search radar system. On top of that it was still able to carry bombs and rockets under its wings. The Navy bought enough of these to try and issue about five to six of them out to the torpedo bombing groups in the post war carrier air wings. These aircraft only served with the Navy for two years from 1946 until 1948. Where they were replaced by the new Navy attack aircraft from the Douglas company and the design mind of Ed Heinemann

When the AD-1 Skyraider was accepted into the fleet it was realized that the old TBM-3Q couldn't keep up with the new hot rod attack aircraft being built by Douglas. So they asked the Douglas Aircraft Company to modify 35 of the AD-1's that were being produced to include space in the fuselage of the aircraft for an ECM operator along with all his gear. It was a tight fit, but they were able to install a little door on the port side of the aircraft and make room for a single man in the fuselage right behind the cockpit tub. Douglas also added a blister on the underside of the aircraft where the radiating antenna and air scoop for the electronics were located. Also permanently installed on the starboard wing was the same APS-4 radar set that the TBM-3Q had.
AD-2Q
As structural difficulties lead to the replacement of the AD-1 with the AD-2 so to the AD-1Q was replaced by the AD-2Q. Same set up as before with the AD-1Q. They also installed a pod on the port side to hold chaff as well. So the AD-2Q could go and mess with the enemy radar signal or it could drop chaff along an approach path to hid the air group from enemy air defense systems.

As improvements came with the introduction of the AD-3 into fleet service AD-3Q was accepted into service as well. The AD-3Q's were in used in Korea where they used the ECM skills to jam the radar control anti-aircraft artillery the North Korean and People's Republic of China armies used to defend such things as rail depots, bridges, and other high value targets.

Most of the Q-birds were assigned to a fleet composite squadron where they were mixed with other specialized mission aircraft such as the AD-3N, F2H-2N's, AD-3W's, and those aircraft configured as special weapons delivery aircraft. Some of these squadrons were units such as VC-33, VC-11, VC-12, VC-35, VMC-1. Something else while I am taking the quick break. I realize that I might need to explain how to decipher the cryptic aircraft designation system that the Navy Department used up until 1962. Basically the alpha numeric code used to describe an airplane told you what the primary mission of the aircraft was, who the manufacture was, and what production variant it was. Any other codes following that described any additional missions that were added on to the airframe.

So for example TBM-3Q actually equals out like this:

T=Torpedo
B=Bomber
M=General Motors manufacture
3= Third production variant
Q=Special Electronic mission

Or as in the example AD-1Q it would read like this:

A=Attack
D=Douglas Aircraft Company
1=First version produced
Q=Special electronic mission

Any questions? Ah yes you in the back, what you don't completely understand it? Okay see if this crib sheet might help you out. Okay schools out. When we come back we will pick this up from the AD-4Q and work our way on up to the possible future of the Navy/Marine Corps EW birds.

Should I taste the Kool-Aid?

2008-06-26T17:37:00.006-07:00

The Growler has now been up here at Whidbey for about week. The first production variant straight from the factory in St. Louis arrived here on the 3rd of June. About two days after the main body of my squadron arrived. I have yet to see it actually fly mind you all. Let alone what the whole set up in the cockpit looks like. I will probably find a way to duck out of work some day walk down to the RAG and ask for a hook up from one of the guys that I know working there. That way I can get a chance to sit in the cockpit and look at all the new cool toys.

On the flip side of this equation there appears to still be some serious teething issues going on. As I write this it is the 27th of June and according to the word on the flight line, this wolf has yet to pass its acceptance FCF. Let alone there were some tools from the production line found inside the jet and bags of fasteners found in other places. Time will tell what is going to happen and how this is all going to succeed on the EF-18G. There are still kinks to be worked out but hopefully all will go well.

Meanwhile on my side of the EW world, I have to strip two jets down and get them ready for the interim modification by a field support team. The interim mod is going to install some of the cool features of the EF-18G like digital ICS, improved IFF system, and digital flight control system. The digital flight controls isn't a true fly by wire like the F-18's have. Rather it is a frankenstein design, an improved computer compared to the older one and it has a better response time when in autopilot and an auto carrier pilot landing system. Meanwhile there is also talk of taking another look at some of the older EA-6B's and if they are under the flight hours restriction sending them to the Naval Air Depot for further upgrade to ICAP III with the new and improve ICS, IFF, DFCS, and the new ECM suite. Some one up the line has gotten smart and decided that it might make sense to simplify down to only have two different variants floating out in the supply system instead of the way the F-14 folks did it (with F-14B's, F-14A's, and F-14D's out there in the fleet). Again time will tell if logic will prevail or if there will be a Dilbert style leadership intervention to prevent that bit of logic to escape into the wild.

I am sure some of you readers will want to know, but personally I think the name "Growler" sucks big time for the name of a jet. The reason is that to my sailor like mind the term just conjures up the thought of an action that is supposed to be very private. :) I would of preferred something more interesting like the "Shocker" . I have also heard the term "Electric Bug" or even "Lightening Bug" by some people around here.

Geeky fan boy moment

2008-06-25T18:15:00.003-07:00

I want to get this off my chest right here and right now. I have one geeky fanboy obsession. That is GI Joe. As a child of the 1980's I grew up watching the cartoon and having the action figures. I remember having the huge GI Joe Skystriker and remember seeing the live action ones fly over my head while as a kid in Virginia Beach, Va. It didn't matter to me that those jets I saw flying over my house were US Navy F-14's. In my mind at the time I thought they were just waiting for the likes of Ace to take them up and do battle with. I use to annoy my mother by having huge out battles in the living room with all the different figures, vehicles, and bases. Leaving them out while she tried to clean up prior to having guests over.
I also liked to imagine that some place, some where there really was a special Anti-terrorism force only answerable to the President in charge to protect us from evil terrorist group called Cobra. As per the norm with any childhood obsession though as one grows up it is filter by age and time. So my fun and coolness about GI Joe fell out of favor as other interests took up my time. It wasn't rekindled until I happen to run across a bunch of comic books featuring GI Joe. The obsession was rekindled. Now I hear there is a live action movie in the works and it is supposed to come out next summer some time. I can't wait, hopefully it will come out before I deploy on cruise.

Okay now back to the regularly scheduled programing.

No rest for the weary

2008-06-23T18:48:00.003-07:00

So I finally received orders in hand for my next unit. So I am basically going down the flight line for another sea tour, my third since coming into the US Navy in 1998. So now I have all sorts of transfer paperwork to go through prior to leaving the Zappers. The first is getting my medical knocked out and then deciding on when I am going to transfer. So the debate with myself is when I am going to transfer. I have to deal is I am authorized with thirty days of leave. Knowing that though and I have to report no later then the 19th of December means if take the full thirty then I will probably have to pull the double holiday shift when Christmas and the New Year comes up. On the other hand I could just take a couple of weeks off check in early and then try to wheel and deal to get at least the four days around Christmas off. That way I can spend time with the Fiancee and the rest of the family.

I also took some time today before getting home from work to travel and talk to my next unit. With in about a month of checking in to the new unit, they will start work-up cycle to deploy. I get a chance to go on deployment with them in July of next year. There are advantages to this and disadvantages.

The biggest disadvantage is that I am going to be gone from the future Mrs. Pirate for about 6 months during that cruise.
The advantage is I should be home again before the major family holidays later that year. Unlike last time where I was gone through the holidays.
Disadvantage is that even though I am getting married and the stress of trying to combine two households. There are somethings I won't be there to do such as helping to make the decorating decisions and helping to paint a room with whatever paint scheme we have decided on. Discussing on what furniture will go where and other fun single house hold topics such as that.
Advantage: I need to replace my pick-up truck. Beyond the fact that gas is about five thousand dollars a gallon, it is also hit that point where any repairs I do to it will be the same as the blue book value. I have hit that point where it isn't economical to keep anymore. So I get a new car this summer and will have a larger chunk of the loan pay it off with the cash from deployment.
Advantage: I don't want to sound like this, but again going on deployment and working hard on saving money. I should also be able to pay back the debt of the upcoming wedding.
Did I mention the biggest disadvantage was being separated from loved ones?

I guess it is true there is no rest for the weary.

Just did it

2008-06-13T16:22:00.003-07:00

So as you all know from a couple of days ago, I am home and living life again back in the good ol' US of A. One of the things that I did while on my two weeks of vacation was bring my significant other out to the east coast with me. Mainly to see my family and introduce everyone all around. While out there as well on the last night I was in town I proposed to my significant other and asked her to become Mrs. Southern Air Pirate.
Now I need find time in my schedule to plan a wedding. A couple of my close cousins have basically told me to just accept that anything I pick out will be viewed as wrong by the future misses and if I am lucky my future mother-in-law will not be making faces at me while I sit there and wade through what the china will look like nor what the stationary for the invites will look like.
Will just have to wait and see what comes down the pipeline. I do know that I am at a minimum a few months off from getting married. This will definitely change everything that I have going on in my life. I am excited and dreading the moment all at the same time. I can't explain why, but I am.

Home at last

2008-06-12T08:01:00.003-07:00

So after 7 months of fun and excitement on board a United States Navy aircraft carrier. I took a week to see various friends and relatives in and around the nation's first capital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Caught the red eye out of Philly International last night and got home around midnight this morning. Finally glad to be home. The really fun thing that I am going to be using my remaining vacation time is going through a Mount Rushmore size pile of junk mail and regular mail.

On the 11th Hour

2007-11-12T23:34:00.001-08:00

Did you ever wonder where the phrase "at the eleventh hour"
came from?

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the "War
to end all Wars" came to an end with an armistice between the
Allied powers and the Great Power countries. To this day,
throughout Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, it is
celebrated as Armistice Day. Their versions of the VFW and
American Legion put poppies out on the graves of those that
died in the defense of their country's beliefs. Not only for those
that died during the great war, but also on the graves of those
that have come after. The United States instead turned the day
following the end of World War 2 into Veterans Day. It is supposed
to be a time to reflect on those that have died helping to defend
the bigger belief of democracy around the world, those who have
given their lives in combat to protect American interests.

Haze Gray and Underway

2007-10-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well dear readers as I write this I am in the process of packing up for my grand adventure to help show the flag, become an ambassador, and in general make the world safe for United States of America style democracy. When the big hour of midnight strikes tonight, I won't be out trick or treating; rather I will be on a big white plane flying out to be part of the early detachment on board the carrier my squadron is assigned to. I leave a day earlier then the rest of the main body and am get to meet up with the 18-wheelers that we stuffed everything including the kitchen sink.
So after today the updates to this little bit of the blogsphere will be laid up into preservation. I have a couple of guest authors who will be posting my comments from being on cruise for me. I do appreciate all of you that stop by and drop notes or comments.

Thanks folks.

Prowler P0rN

2007-10-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share some videos of the might Grumman war pig, the EA-6B Prowler.

Remember how I said there are folks up there making life or death decisions about whether an airplane is up or down for the launch. Well here is a little video about some of those people. VAQ-138 The Yellowjackets Shooter and Line shack. During the Round the World with the Chucky V

From the Forward Deployed Bubbas over at NAF Atsugi. VAQ-136, The Gauntlets, and a mid-cruise vid from thier 2005 summer deployment.

VAQ-139 during a CQ det on Stennis in 2004.

A possible donation place for the holidays

2007-10-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

As the holidays come upon us there will be all sorts of people asking for your time and your money to help those that that are disadvantaged. I would ask all you dear readers to look at possibly donating some of your time or your money to this orgnization, United Servicemembers Organizaiton.

Here are some of the things that they do.

Providing enterainers to troops whether they are deployed in a combat zone, overseas, or even at home:

Or just someplace to hang out free of charge and alcohol free. A place to relax, find out about the area, or make a call home:

They provide a place for a weary traveller to hang out for a little bit or get some help at an airport.

Or just a care package to remind those deployed away that those at home think of them.

A date that is linked in my mind forever

2007-10-17T00:45:00.000-07:00

October 23rd is a date that forever linked in my own mind to history. The first is that I was born on that date, so there it is very important (at least for me). The second is a date in 1983 when due to failures of the lawyers and the willingness of an American government to act as a peace broker in the Mid-East lead to the death of 241 Americans. I thought of these men again today because of my own minor link to the response of their death.

It was a Sunday afternoon and I had some friends over to celebrate my 6th birthday. The house had a Holloween theme going for the party since the next weekend was going to be Holloween. I remember that my mother didn't want to have a costume party and it was only about six or seven of my close friends over for cupcakes, punch, some simple games, and presents. Even better was that my father had just come home from a deployment about two weeks earlier and was on his leave period. I was excited because my father was home and going to be there for a birthday. I woke up and was excited as every. The party was supposed to go down around noon. I spent the morning looking around for my dad. I half expected to see him on his recliner watching either the early morning news shows or the NFL Pre-game and realized he wasn't there in the house, no biggie right, must be out getting some food or an extra present or two. At least that is what my mind told myself. It was then that I ran across my mother and realize that something was amiss. Since she was packing a box of clothes and stenciling it with the address that we used to ship things to my dad. After looking at her that I got the answer I was looking for. It seems that he had gotten a phone call in the middle of the night on the 22nd (the attack on the barracks occurred at 620AM local time Lebanon on the 23rd, which due to the magic of timezones occurred about 9pm Saturday night in VA Beach ), it was the SDO for my father's squadron. He had been told that the battle group and air wing was redeploying. He had to report to the hanger and begin the process to ship out since they were still on call even though the ship had just returned off a cruise only a few days before. So he was at work trying to reload the trucks that they had just unloaded only two days prior to that.

So it went I still had my party. I wasn't a happy camper, because my dad wasn't there and the party was kind of a downer over all. I woke up Monday morning to hear my father's voice booming out and about as he was making breakfast after coming home (he worked the night check hours). As I ate my cereal and watched some cartoons on TV while waiting for the bus to take me to school, I was able to hear my folks talk. It seemed that as soon as my father showed up to work no one had a clue beyond the fact that a recall was in order. After that nothing else was planned out. Since it was Sunday, only the duty sections were on call at the base at NAS Oceana. So those men that were local and were actually on duty called in started the pack up again, only to be told at around 10pm that the emergency sortie was off. It seemed as though someone higher up in the food chain realized that a carrier battle group, an amphibious readiness group, and a surface action group built around a battleship was more then enough firepower on hand. So there was no need for his ship or squadron to deploy again.

Every so often I think of those men on when the 23rd comes and goes. I also think of the men that perpetrated the attack and their backers. I think of the stupid lawyers and their rules of engagement that prevented the Marines from created a viable defense for themselves. Finally I think of the lessons not learned and were repeated only thirteen years later at a USAF barracks called Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.

Just so it is more then a date to you all. Here are the names, service, rank, date of death, and home of record of the 241 men that died that morning in Beruit trying to bring peace to Lebanon:

Abbott, Terry W. .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. New Richmond, OH
Alexander, Clemon S. ...... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Monticello, FL
Allman, John R. ........... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NM .. Carlsbad ... NM
Arnold, Moses J. Jr. ...... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Philadelphia, PA
Bailey, Charles K. ........ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. MD .. Berlin, MD
Baker, Nicholas ........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Alexandria, VA
Banks, Johansen ........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MI .. Detroit, MI
Barrett, Richard E. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Tappahanock, VA
Bates, Ronny K. ........... USN .... HM1 .... 10/23/1983 .. SC .. Aiken, SC
Battle, David L. .......... USMC ... 1stSGT . 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Hubert, NC
Baynard, James R. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Richmond, VA
Beamon, Jesse W. .......... USN .... HN ..... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Haines City, FL
Belmer, Alvin. ............ USMC ... GYSGT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Bland, Stephen ............ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Midway Park, NC
Blankenship, Richard L. ... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Hubert, NC
Blocker, John W. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Yulee, FL
Boccia, Joseph J. Jr. ..... USMC ... CAPT ... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Northport, NY
Bohannon, Leon Jr. ........ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Bohnet, John R. Jr. ....... USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. TN .. Memphis, TN
Bonk, John J. Jr. ......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Philadelphia, PA
Boulos, Jeffrey L. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Islip, NY
Bousum, David R. .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. MI .. Fife Lake, MI
Boyett, John N. ........... USMC ... 1stLT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Camp Lejeune, NC
Brown, Anthony ............ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. MI .. Detroit, MI
Brown, David W. ........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. TX .. Conroe, TX
Buchanan, Bobby S. Jr. .... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Midway Park, NC
Buckmaster, John B. ....... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Vandalia, OH
Burley, William F. ........ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NJ .. Linden, NJ
Cain, Jimmy R. ............ USN .... HN ..... 10/23/1983 .. AL .. Birmington, AL
Callahan, Paul L. ......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Lorain, OH
Camara, Mecot E. .......... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Campus, Bradley J. ........ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. MA .. Lynn, MA
Ceasar, Johnnie D. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. TX .. El Campo, TX
Cole, Marc L. ............. USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Ludlow Falls, OH
Coleman, Marcus A. ........ USA .... SP4 .... 10/23/1983 .. TX .. Dallas, TX
Comas, Juan M. ............ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Hialeah, FL
Conley, Robert A .......... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Orlando, FL
Cook, Charles D............ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Advance, NC
Cooper, Curtis J. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. North Wales, PA
Copeland, Johnny L. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Burlington, NC
Corcoran, Bert D. ......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Katonah, NY
Cosner, David L. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. WV .. Elkins, WV
Coulman, Kevin P. ......... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Seminary, NY
Croft, Brett A. ........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Lakeland, FL
Crudale, Rick R. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. RI .. Warwick, RI
Custard, Kevin P. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MN .. Virginia, MN
Cyzick, Russell E. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. WV .. Star City, WV
Davis, Andrew L. .......... USMC ... MAJ .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Decker, Sidney James ...... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. KY .. Clarkson, KY
Devlin, Michael J. ........ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. MA .. Westwood, MA
Dibenedetto, Thomas A. .... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. CT .. Mansfield Center, CT
Dorsey, Nathaniel G. ...... USMC ... PVT .... 10/23/1983 .. MD .. Baltimore, MD
Douglass, Frederick B. .... USMC ... SGTMAJ . 10/23/1983 .. MA .. Cataumet, MA
Dunnigan, Timothy J. ...... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. WV .. Princeton, WV
Earle, Bryan L. ........... USN .... HN ..... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Painsville, OH
Edwards, Roy L. ........... USMC ... MSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Camp Lejeune, NC
Elliot, William D. Jr. .... USN .... HM3 .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Lancaster, PA
Ellison, Jesse ............ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. WI .. Soldiers Grove, WI
Estes, Danny R. ........... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. IN .. Gary, IN
Estler, Sean F. ........... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NJ .. Kenall Park, NJ
Faulk, James E. ........... USN .... HM3 .... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Panama City, FL
Fluegel, Richard A. ....... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Erie, PA
Forrester, Steven M. ...... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Foster, William B. Jr. .... USN .... HM3 .... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Richmond, VA
Fulcher, Michael D ........ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Madison Heights, VA
Fuller, Benjamin E ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. GA .. Duluth, GA
Fulton, Michael S. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. TX .. Ft. Worth, TX
Gaines, William Jr. ....... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Port Charlotte, FL
Gallagher, Sean R. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MA .. N. Andover, MA
Gander, David B. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. WI .. Milwaulkee, WI
Gangur, George M. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Cleveland, OH
Gann, Leland E. ........... USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Camp Lejeune, NC
Garcia, Randall J. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. CA .. Modesto, CA
Garcia, Ronald J. ......... USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Gay, David D. ............. USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Harrisburg, IL
Ghumm, Harold D. .......... USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Gibbs, Warner Jr. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Portsmouth, VA
Giblin, Timothy R. ........ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. RI .. N. Providence, RI
Gorchinski, Michael W. .... USN .... ETC .... 10/23/1983 .. IN .. Evansville, IN
Gordon, Richard J. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MA .. Somerville, MA
Gratton, Harold F. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Conoes, NY
Greaser, Robert B. ........ USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Lansdale, PA
Green, Davin M. ........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MD .. Baltimore, MD
Hairston, Thomas A. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Philadelphia, PA
Haltiwanger, Freddie Jr. .. USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. SC .. Little Mountain, SC
Hamilton, Virgil D. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. KY .. Dayton, OH
Hanton, Gilbert ........... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. DC .. Washington, DC
Hart, William ............. USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Haskell, Michael S......... USMC ... CAPT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Camp Lejeune, NC
Hastings, Michael A........ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. DE .. Seaford, DE
Hein, Paul A. ............. USMC ... CAPT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Camp Lejeune, NC
Held, Douglas E. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Helms, Mark A. ............ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NE .. Dwight, NE
Henderson, Ferrandy D. .... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Tampa, FL
Hernandez, Matilde Jr. .... USMC ... MSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Midway Park, NC
Hester, Stanley G. ........ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Raleigh, NC
Hildreth, Donald W. ....... USMC ... GYSGT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Sneads Ferry, NC
Holberton, Richard H. ..... USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. SC .. Beaufort, SC
Holland, Robert S. ........ USN .... HM3 .... 10/23/1983 .. KY .. Gilbertsville, KY
Hollingshead, Bruce A. .... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Fairborn, OH
Holmes, Melvin D. ......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. IL .. Chicago, IL
Howard, Bruce L. .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. ME .. Strong, ME
Hudson, John R. ........... USN .... LT ..... 10/23/1983 .. GA .. Riverdale, GA
Hudson, Terry L. .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. AL .. Prichard, AL
Hue, Lyndon J. ............ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. LA .. Des Allemands, LA
Hukill, Maurice E. ........ USMC ... 2ndLT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Iacovino, Edward F. Jr. ... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. RI .. Warwick, RI
Ingalls, John J. .......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Interlaken, NY
Innocenzi, Paul G. III .... USMC ... WO1 .... 10/23/1983 .. NJ .. Trenton, NJ
Jackowski, James J. ....... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. S. Salem, NY
James, Jeffrey W. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MD .. Baltimore, MD
Jenkins, Nathaniel W. ..... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Daytona Beach, FL
Johnson, Michael H. ....... USN .... HM2 .... 10/23/1983 .. MI .. Detroit, MI
Johnston, Edward A. ....... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Struthers, OH
Jones, Steven ............. USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Brooklyn, NY
Julian, Thomas A. ......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. RI .. Middleton, RI
Kees, Marion E. ........... USN .... HM2 .... 10/23/1983 .. WV .. Martinsburg, WV
Keown, Thomas C. .......... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. KY .. Louisville, KY
Kimm, Edward E. ........... USMC ... GYSGT .. 10/23/1983 .. IA .. Atlantic, IA
Kingsley, Walter V. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. WI .. Wisconsin Dells, WI
Kluck, Daniel S. .......... USA .... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. KY .. Owensboro, KY
Knipple, James C. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Alexandria, VA
Kreischer, Freas H. III ... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Indiatlantic, FL
Laise, Keith J. ........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. East Stroudsburg, PA
Lamb, Thomas G. ........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MN .. Coon Rapids, MN
Langon, James J. IV ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NJ .. Lakehurst, NJ
Lariviere, Michael S. ..... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Perry, FL
Lariviere, Steven B. ...... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. MA .. Chicopee, MA
Lemnah, Richard L. ........ USMC ... MSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Camp Lejeune, NC
Lewis, David A. ........... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Garfield Heights, OH
Lewis, Val S. ............. USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. GA .. Atlanta, GA
Livingston, Joseph R. ..... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. IL .. Champaign, IL
Lyon, Paul D. Jr........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Milton, FL
Macroglou, John W. ........ USMC ... MAJ .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Maitland, Samuel .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Martin, Charlie R. ........ USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Camp Lejeune, NC
Martin, Jack L. ........... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Oveido, FL
Massa, David S. ........... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. RI .. Warren, RI
Massman, Michael R. ....... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. MI .. Port Huron, MI
Mattacchione, Joseph J. ... USMC ... PVT .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Sanford, NC
McCall, John .............. USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Rochester, NY
McDonough, James E......... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Newcastle, PA
McMahon, Timothy R. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. TX .. Austin, TX
McNeely, Timothy D. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Mooresville, NC
McVicker, George N. II .... USN .... HM2 .... 10/23/1983 .. IN .. Wabash, IN
Melendez, Louis ........... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. PR .. Puerto Rico
Menkins, Richard H. II .... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Tully, NY
Mercer, Michael D. ........ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Vale, NC
Meurer, Ronald W. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Milano, Joseph P. ......... USN .... HM3 .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Farmingville, NY
Moore, Joseph P. .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. MO .. St. Louis, MO
Morrow, Richard A. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Clairton, PA
Muffler, John F. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Philadelphia, PA
Munoz, Alex ............... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NM .. Bloomfield, NM
Myers, Harry D............. USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Whittler, NC
Nairn, David J. ........... USMC ... 1stLT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Nava, Luis A. ............. USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. CA .. Gardena, CA
Olson, John A. ............ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. MN .. Sabin, MN
Olson, Robert P. .......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Lawtons, NY
Ortiz, Richard C. ......... USMC ... CWO3 ... 10/23/1983 .. OK .. Ft. Sill, OK
Owen, Jeffrey B. .......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Virginia Beach, VA
Owens, Joseph A. .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Chesterfield, VA
Page, Connie Ray .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Erwin, NC
Parker, Ulysses ........... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MD .. Baltimore, MD
Payne, Mark W. ............ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Binghamton, NY
Pearson, John L. .......... USMC ... GYSGT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Perron, Thomas S. ......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. MA .. Whitinsville, MA
Phillips, John A. Jr. ..... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. IL .. Wilmette, IL
Piercy, George W. ......... USN .... HMC .... 10/23/1983 .. MD .. Mt. Savage, MD
Plymel, Clyde W. .......... USMC ... 1stLT .. 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Merritt, FL
Pollard, William H. ....... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Pomalestorres, Rafael I. .. USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Philadelphia, PA
Prevatt, Victor M. ........ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. GA .. Columbus, GA
Price, James C. ........... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. AL .. Attala, AL
Prindeville, Patrick K. ... USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Gainesville, FL
Pulliam, Eric A. .......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. IL .. E. St. Louis, IL
Quirante, Diomedes J. ..... USN .... HM3 .... 10/23/1983 .. RP .. Calcoocan City, RP
Randolph, David M. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. AZ .. Siloam Springs, AZ
Ray, Charles R. ........... USMC ... GYSGT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Relvas, Rui A. ............ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Philadelphia, PA
Rich, Terrence L. ......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Brooklyn, NY
Richardson, Warren ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Brooklyn, NY
Rodriguez, Juan C. ........ USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Miami, FL
Rotondo, Louis J. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Philadelphia, PA
Sanpedro, Guillermo Jr. ... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Hialeah, FL
Sauls, Michael C. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. SC .. Waterboro, SC
Schnorf, Charles J. ....... USMC ... 1stLT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Camp Lejeune, NC
Schultz, Scott L. ......... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Keeseville, NY
Scialabba, Peter J. ....... USMC ... CAPT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Moorehead City, NC
Scott, Gary R. ............ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. IL .. Rankin, IL
Shallo, Ronald L. ......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Hudson, NY
Shipp, Thomas A. .......... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Shropshire, Jerryl D. ..... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. GA .. Macon, GA
Silvia, James F. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. RI .. Portsmouth, RI
Sliwinski, Stanley J. ..... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Niles, OH
Smith, Kirk H. ............ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Miami, FL
Smith, Thomas G. .......... USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. CT .. Middletown, CT
Smith, Vincent L. ......... USMC ... CAPT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Soares, Edward ............ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. RI .. Tiverton, RI
Sommerhof, William S. ..... USMC ... 1stLT .. 10/23/1983 .. IL .. Springfield, IL
Spaulding, Michael C. ..... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. OH .. Akron, OH
Spearing, John W. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Lancaster, PA
Spencer, Stephen E. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. RI .. Portsmouth, RI
Stelpflug, Bill J. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. AL .. Auburn, AL
Stephens, Horace R. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MD .. Capitol Heights, MD
Stockton, Craig S. ........ USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Rochester, NY
Stokes, Jeffrey G. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. GA .. Waynesboro, GA
Stowe, Thomas D. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Sturghill, Eric D. ........ USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. IL .. Chicago, IL
Sundar, Devon L. .......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. CT .. Standford, CT
Surch, James F. Jr. ....... USN .... LT ..... 10/23/1983 .. CA .. Lompoc, CA
Thompson, Dennis A. ....... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Bronx, NY
Thorstad, Thomas P. ....... USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. IN .. Chesterton, IN
Tingley, Stephen D. ....... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. CT .. Ellington, CT
Tishmack, John J. ......... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. MN .. Minneapolis, MN
Trahan, Lex D. ............ USMC ... PVT .... 10/23/1983 .. LA .. Lafayette, LA
Vallone, Donald H. Jr. .... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. CA .. Palmdale, CA
Walker, Eric R. ........... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. IL .. Chicago, IL
Walker, Leonard W. ........ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. AL .. Dothan, AL
Washington, Eric G. ....... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. VA .. Alexandria, VA
Weekes, Obrian ............ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Brooklyn, NY
Wells, Tandy W. ........... USMC ... 1stSGT . 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Wentworth, Steven B. ...... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Reading, PA
Wesley, Allen D. .......... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Philadelphia, PA
West, Lloyd D. ............ USMC ... GYSGT .. 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Weyl, John R. ............. USMC ... SSGT ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Wherland, Burton D. Jr. ... USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Jacksonville, NC
Wigglesworth, Dwayne W. ... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. CT .. Naugatuck, CT
Williams, Rodney J. ....... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. FL .. Opa Locka, FL
Williams, Scipio Jr. ...... USMC ... GYSGT .. 10/23/1983 .. SC .. Charleston, SC
Williamson, Johnny A. ..... USMC ... LCPL ... 10/23/1983 .. NC .. Asheboro, NC
Wint, Walter E. Jr. ....... USMC ... CAPT ... 10/23/1983 .. PA .. Wilkes-Barre, PA
Winter, William E. ........ USMC ... CAPT ... 10/23/1983 .. SC .. Fripp Island, SC
Wolfe, John E. ............ USMC ... CPL .... 10/23/1983 .. AZ .. Phoenix, AZ
Woollett, Donald E. ....... USMC ... 1stLT .. 10/23/1983 .. OK .. Barthesville, OK
Worley, David E. .......... USN .... HM3 .... 10/23/1983 .. MD .. Baltimore, MD
Wyche, Craig L. ........... USMC ... PFC .... 10/23/1983 .. NY .. Jamaica, NY
Yarber, James G. .......... USA .... SFC .... 10/23/1983 .. CA .. Vacaville, CA
Young, Jeffrey D........... USMC ... SGT .... 10/23/1983 .. NJ .. Moorestown, NJ
Zimmerman, William A. ..... USMC ... 1stLT .. 10/23/1983 .. MI .. Grand Haven, MI

The US Marines were not the only ones to die that day due to a terrorist attack. The other nation to supply members to the multi-national peacekeeping force was the French. The 2nd Brigade of the French Parachute Regiment lost 58 men the same day when their barracks in the western half of Beruit was attacked on the same day at almost the same time.

The housing/mortage crunch and the military

2007-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

With the collapse of the mortgage market and the stagnation of the housing market around nation, I am left to wonder where and how new buyers are supposed to get into the market. A new buyer such as myself. I live in a little town on the outside of a major regional military base in the Pacific Northwest. The town has seen a boom in population with the latest rounds of BRAC, but it has also seen an boom due to the number of people that want to live in the county. When I first arrived in the area about 5-6 yrs ago prices for the "starter home" were running in the $175K range, which was out of my range. Yet, now they have risen up to $220K and it seems to only get worse. I want to settle down into a house, yet with the collapse of the mortgage market and the rising restrictions to those with little or no credit history has basically closed me out of the market. That is unless I am willing to put myself up to my nose (or beyond) in debt to establish credit history. I am also sure that there is a number of fellow enlisted military members who are in the same situation. They have either lived in the barracks or the ship, the only thing that they have have on their credit is a credit card, cell phone, or car loan. They finally get high enough in the rank structure and are authorized to move ashore and into town. During the process they find out that they are shut out from most banks because of the no/low credit history. Their only way to find a place to live is via a rental, whether that is an apartment or a house. Well there is base housing but that is only for the married folks and that is at a premium right now all over as well. So that is out for us single folks.
Ah Southern but what about the VA? What about the VA you say. Well if I apply for a VA Loan that has to be through a pre-approved bank or loan provided that has been cleared by the Veterans Administration (VA). Also on top of that I can only get so many VA loans with in a certain time period and I still need to be able to pre-qualify for a loan. On top of that all a VA loan is just a guarantee up to a certain limit.
So the only hope for me to even try and get what is now considered to be part of the American dream. The dream of a house of mine own, with two cars in the garage, a bunch of rug rat toys in the front yard and a large dog running around in the back yard is out of reach. That is unless I am willing to start swimming in debt like it appears most lending institutions want the modern American to do.
So what is it going to take to cool the market down or make it easier for the US Military member to get their piece of the American Dream? I don't know off hand, I have my smarts in electronics not economics. I just understand the basics of economics (ie supply and demand, not writing checks I can't cash, etc) and even that seems complex at times (don't get me started on how to compound interest).

Busy, Busy, Busy

2007-10-03T00:15:00.000-07:00

I have had to slow down my blogging for a while and am in the process of debating with myself whether I am going to continue blogging. I am getting ready to leave sometime next month for the big deployment. A seven monther or so they tell us, rather I have my money on a seven month plus one. Anyhow, I am in the process of getting my house in order before I leave, my finances, and my social life. Along with working hard to support a flight schedule. There are times one comes home and all I seem able to do is sit down and grab a bite to eat.
I am also debating on whether just putting this whole blog thing on into mothballs for the duration or invite a few close friends to post for me via email. I am not cool enough to be given constant internet connection while haze grey and underway. Heck the USS Newboat limits internet connection to an hour a day for everyone including the skipper of the ship and the battle group commander. I don't know what to do with this. AT times it has been fun to comment and at other times it has been hard to come up with something to write about.

Last warshot torpedo dropped

2007-10-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

I enjoy to read a number of different blogs from around the net. One of my favorites to stop by over a cup of tea at the end of work is SteelJaw Scribe. He posts a number of different and interesting stories about his time in E-2's as an Carrier Airborne Early Warning dude. Talks about aviation history and comments about world military-politico events. One of his most recent posts was talking about a wonderful attack aircraft built by Douglas Aircraft Company. That aircraft he talks about is the AD-1 Skyraider, an aircraft designed by Ed Heinemann. This is a man who also developed the A-3 Skywarrior, SBD Dauntless, A-4 Skyhawk, A-20 Havoc, F3D Skyknight, F4D Skyray, A-26 Invader. All of these aircraft had successful and famous careers in their own times.

After reading, well actually watching his post about the Skyraider it got me to think about its history and a sea story that I heard about when I was a kid, from a few family friends that flew A-6's but had previously flown A-1 Skyraiders when they were just brand new LTJG's coming from Pensacola. That story was of the last use of aerial torpedoes in actual combat and the last airplane to dropped in the US Navy. To tell this story we need to head in the wayback machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman. We get transported back to Spring of 1951.

The war in Korea has been running for about a year. Following the breakout from the Inchon landings and the following fight from out of the Chosin Reservoir. UN Forces had to retreat south of the 38th Parallel after the intervention of People's Liberation Army "Volunteers". From there the war started to stabilize into trench warfare again and the gains that were being made was for little bits of ground before the armistice was signed. It was learned from 8th Army Headquarters (which was the major army headquarters in Korea) that the North Koreans and Chinese were using a dam that controlled the Hwachon Reservoir and in turn the Han River. The would at times raise or lower the river levels so that attempts to bridge the river that separates a good portion of South Korea from the North, would fail. So the 8th Army ordered an attack against the dam. First up was a massive B-29 raid that even employed some early use of radio-guided munitions. All that happened to a dam built by the Japanese during the time they had Korea as a colony, was some of the reinforced concrete was chipped and a couple cracks were made into the upper facade. The call next went to the US Navy. Commander Carrier Task Force 77, RADM Ralph A. Ofstie passed the order off his newest carrier on station for a line period.

That carrier was the USS Princeton and her air wing CVG-19 composed of VF-191 (F9F-2 Panthers), VF-192 (F4U-5 Corsairs), VF-193 (F4U-4 Corsairs), VA-195 (AD-4 Skyraiders), VC-35 (AD-4N Skyraiders). While the CAG and his squadron skippers were reviewing target. After the crews thought about it the idea was brought up to use Tiny Tim rockets and 2000lb bombs. It was thought that precision dive bombing would get the primary target which was the sluice gates. The strike was flown and results were not pretty. The rockets bounced off the reinforced concrete that the dam was composed of and the precision dive bombing that delivered the 2000lb bombs only chipped the paint. So that night as everyone was sitting around the officer mess table debating how to do this when the commanding officer of the Princeton, Captain William O. Gallery, suggested that maybe some of the torpedoes that the Princeton had on loaded at Puget Sound Naval Base prior to start of the cruise.

The torpedoes that they had on loaded were improved versions that the torpedo squadrons had used through out World War 2, the Mark XIII (Mk13). This was the torpedo that squadrons such as VT-2, VT-3, VT-6, VT-8 had tried to use during the Battle of Midway. It was going to take a whole day to prepare torpedoes since they were buried near the bottom of the magazines.

A review of the aircrew in the Skyraider squadrons found out that only four pilots besides LCDR Carlson and the Captain Gallery had any experience with torpedoes. Three pilots were part of VC-35 and one was a lowly Ensign fresh from school to VA-195. So a quick and dirty classroom time was established and it was determined that 8 pilots from VA-195 and VC-35 were going to make the drops the next day. So tactics were reviewed and the mechanics were explained in how to make a torpedo drop.

It was also realized that to help the torpedoes not dive deeply that some sort of device was going to be need. So the Aviation Ordnancemen placed plywood tails and plywood nose cones on the torpedo. These were going to help it stay shallow and not detonate against the bottom on the initial drop. This was before the use of parachute packs like we use now for aerial torpedoes.

The next morning the brief was accomplished the aircrew grabbed breakfast and head out to their planes for a 0900 launch. They arrived over the target area around 1130 and found it strangely quiet.

It was realized that due to how narrow the valley was that only two planes at a time could make the run. So that is what happened at just inches above the ways four times a pair of Skyraiders made the run down the valley. They had to go very low and very slow to make sure the torpedo didn't break up on the drop. All the while being shot at. One can only guess that it looked just like the final scene in "Star Wars" when Luke Skywalker is making the run to put a torpedo into the Death Star. With all the concentration about the attack run and all the anti-aircraft fire going off around them.

All the while some F4U's of VF-192 flew strikes against the air defense sites and VF-191 flew top cover in their F9F's.

Out of the 8 pilots that dropped a torpedo that day it was ruled that 6 actually got hits, two torpedoes suffered damage to their gyros and swerved into each other and blew each other up before the dam. Out of the 6 that hit the dam, one actually blew open a sluice gate and the other 5 heavily damaged the others that they were later the be found unusable when UN ground troops recaptured the area later that summer.

VA-195 would forever carry the nickname from that simple operation, The Dambusters. They would continue to fly the Skyraider up until 1960 when they would transition over to the A-4 Skyhawk and later on to the A-7 Corsair II. They are still an active duty squadron flying F-18 Hornet and currently forward deployed onboard the USS Kitty Hawk with CVW-5 out of NAF Atsugi.

VC-35 was established in May of 1950 as a night attack squadron. They would serve with proud tradition through out the Korean War. The primarily flew the AD-4N, which was an AD-4 with an enlisted radar operator stuffed in the tail of the plane looking for night targets and via an ICS system would tell the pilot where to fly to and when to drop his weapons. Besides this one mission in the daylight most of the time was spent getting launched at dusk and recovering just as the sun was coming up. They would go out and bomb rail lines, bridges, major roads, and in general just not give the enemy any satisfaction that night time would cover his operations. VC-35 would later become VA(AW)-35. This designated them as an all-weather attack squadron, the designate came a year after the war in Korea ended and with the introduction of a new plane the AD-5N. VA(AW)-35 would continue to make deployments to the WestPac until they 1959 when they would stand down and re-stand up as VA-122 as the FRS for Skyraiders and later on for A-7's the squadron would finally be dis-established in 1991 as the A-7 was retired. VA-122 was recently stood back up as the FRS for the F-18E/F-18F Super Hornets on the West Coast.

VF-191 Satan's Kittens would fly F9F's, F-8 Crusaders, F-4 Phantoms and then the F-14A before being decommissioned in 1991.

VF-192 The Golden Dragons would fly the F4U for another year before making the transition themselves to the F9F. They would then go from the Panther to the Cougar (F9F-6) over to the Fury (FJ-4B) and make the transition to the A-4 Skyhawk in 1960. VF-192 would be re-designated as VA-192 during the transition to the North American Aviation FJ-4B Fury. They would retain this title as they flew the A-4 Skyhawk and then the A-7 Corsair over North Vietnam and in 1986 make the transition to the F-18 Hornet. Since 1986 they have been forward deployed to NAF Atsugi at attached to CVW-5.

Some interesting history

2007-09-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

I have watched Ken Burns latest documentary titled "The War". It is an amazing documentary, or at least what parts that I have been able to catch in between working. Watching a portion of it got me to think about some of the interesting events for the US Navy in Europe.

When you look at the US Fleet in the hours after the Pearl Harbor Attack you can see that the US fleet was left to this:
In Pearl was the battleships that had made up the various battle lines of the Pacific Fleet. All of them were sunk or heavily damaged. Coming home from delivery mission to Wake was the USS Enterprise, CV-6, Battle group. Going to Midway was the USS Lexington, CV-2, battle group. Scattered up and down the Western Seaboard for overhaul and refitting was the USS Saratoga Battle group.

On the Atlantic Side coming out of the Brooklyn and Philadelphia Naval Yards was the USS North Carolina (BB-55), USS Washington (BB-56). Respectfully, they had just finished being initially outfitted. Then scattered at either Norfolk Naval Station, Brooklyn Naval Yard, Philadelphia Naval Yard, Newport Naval Station; was the remains of the US Neutrality Patrol. USS New Mexico BB-40, USS Idaho BB-42, USS Mississippi BB-41, USS New York BB-34, USS Texas BB-35, USS Arkansas BB-33, USS Ranger CV-4, USS Wasp CV-5, USS Yorktown CV-5, USS Hornet CV-8, USS Long Island CVE-1. Except for the aircraft carriers all of those battleships were of pre-WW1 or completed during WW1. By the end of start of 1942 the only carriers left in the Atlantic was the Wasp, Ranger, Long Island.

The USS Wasp helped to escort the 6th Marines to Iceland and flew off US Army Air Force P-40's to Iceland in 1940. Then became part of the Neutrality Patrols on the US eastern seaboard. After the days after December 7th, the USS Wasp sailed south out of Norfolk Naval Yard with CVG-7 (CVG=Carrier Air Group). They went south to the Caribbean to make sure that the no Vichy French Naval Forces sortied to harass Allied Shipping. All of those ships were sighted tied up through out the rest of that December. After being refitted at Norfolk Naval Yard in the early part of 1942, the USS Wasp and the USS Washington departed with escorting destroyers and cruisers sailed to Scapa Flow which was the home of the British Home Fleet. Both ships were to help bolster the losses that the Royal Navy had suffered during the previous 3 years of war. It was at Scapa Flow that the USS Wasp would undertake one of her most important missions. She offloaded a portion of CVG-7 to the airfield at Scapa Flow, she only held on to VF-71 all of which were placed down on the hangar bay. She took on a number of Supermarine Spitfires Mark V's. The plan was that the Wasp was going to steam with a Royal Navy Convoy to with in range of the little island of Malta and deliver those Spitfires to the RAF contingent there. It was on the 20th of April that the USS Wasp, launched a combat air patrol of 11 F4F-3's early in the morning. with in minutes of the Spitfires were roaring down the flight deck and on the way to Malta. The force returned to Scapa Flow. However, those Spitfires she initially launched were decimated with in hours of their landing at Malta by the Italian and German Air Forces. So Prime Minister Churchill asked to use the Wasp to deliver another squadron of Spitfires to Malta. So she sailed again in May with another load of Spitfires.
It was during this delivery that a RCAF pilot named Jerry .A. Smith was awarded a pair of gold Naval Aviator Wings from Lt. David McCampbell who was the LSO that waved the Spitfire pilot back on board the USS Wasp. The plane returned to the ship after it was found out that Pilot Officer Smith found that his drop tank would not transfer fuel. It only took Smith two tries and he was able to land with only 6ft left on the deck. Unfortunately Smith disappeared a months later while flying over Malta.

With the damages to the US Pacific Carrier Fleet forced Adm. King to withdrawn the USS Wasp to the Pacific combat zone. While leaving Scapa Flow the crew of the Wasp heard over a German radio station that the ship had been sunk by the Luftwaffe during the second delivery mission.

The Yorktown patrolled the Eastern Seaboard and Caribbean from the spring of 1941 as part of the USS Neutrality patrol. Possible came under attack by a German U-boat off the coast of the Carolina's that summer of 1941. Then she laid into Norfolk Naval Base on the 2nd of December. Nine days after the events of Pearl Harbor, the Yorktown left for Pearl Harbor and to become part of Task Force 17 under the command of Rear Adm. Fletcher.

The last fleet carrier on the Atlantic side was the USS Ranger, CV-4. She was the first purpose built carrier in the US. She was small when compared to the USS Lexington and Saratoga. Lessons learned from her being built lead to the improved Yorktown class carriers. She was just of the coast of the Eastern US Seaboard on the way home from a neutrality patrol off the windward islands when war was announced over both the military and civilian radio networks. The day after Pearl Harbor, while the President Roosevelt was making his "Day of Infamy" speech. The USS Ranger, was on loading supplies and war shots over night. She then went back underway on the 10th of December to patrol again along the Eastern Seaboard. She returned home and then entered Norfolk Naval Yard in late March 1942. After coming out in late April she proceed to deliver USAAF P-40's through out portions of Gold Coast of Africa and then patrolled South America to show the US Flag. In October the Ranger was joined by 4 brand-new carriers made from converted tankers. These were ships of the Swanee class. These ships provided air cover for the landings in North Africa as part of Operation Torch.

Some F4F's of VF-41 and SBD's of both VS-42 and VS-42 struck at dawn against the Vichy French naval forces at the port of Casablanca. VS-41 and VS-42 dropped bombs on the Vichy French battleship Jean Bart and other elements of the Vichy French naval units that made their home port in Casablanca. Meanwhile the F4F's mixed it up with elements of Vichy French Air Force as it left its base at Cazes. The rest of VS-42 and VS-41 along with VF-41 were trying to attack air base. Meanwhile the two squadrons VGF-26 and VGF-27 also flew the F4F tangled with the Vichy French. The Vichy French flew a local French Fighter called the Dewoitine D.520 and the export version of the USAAF's P-36 Hawk fighter also known as the Hawk 75 of which a small number had been delivered to the French before the fall of France in 1940. The French pilots that the US Navy pilots flew against where not conscripts rather they were experienced pilots and survivors of the battle for France in 1940. So it was a serious challenge and 5 US aircraft were lost to combat. Meanwhile about another 23 pilots of CVG-4 cracked up their aircraft during operational use. That was a serious attrition loss.
On the 8th of November 1942 the US Army landed in Morocco, by the 12th Casablanca had capitulated and two of the CVE's had been carrying both L-4's and P-40's of a USAAF fighter group had landed at the airfields around Casablanca that US Carrier Force started to make the return trip to the US.
Of another note is a battle between Vichy Naval Forces and the US Navy. It was the second time in 139yrs that French and US Naval forces had engaged each other. A naval gunnery battle erupted between the French Cruiser Primauguet and the battleship USS Massachusetts. Those two along with seven French destroyers and the cruiser engaged the Massachusetts and the US cruiser USS Augusta (which had onboard General G. S. Patton and his staff). In the period of about 2 hours the French task force had either been sunk or so heavily damaged that the ships were beached by their crews.

At the end of the Operation Torch Landings the USS Ranger and CVG-4 had shot down 15 enemy aircraft. Her SBD's had sunk two enemy submarines near the invasion fleet, heavily damaged or destroyed 86 enemy vehicles, destroyed 70 enemy aircraft on the ground, and destroyed numerous fixed positions that were holding up the advance of the 1st Army.

The USS Ranger, went into the yards yet again in December of 1942 and didn't leave the yards until late February of 1943. After which she proceeded yet again to the North African coast but with only a load of P-40's to be delivered to the USAAF units in North Africa. After returning home to she preformed ASW patrols from as far north Halifax to as far south as Key West. She also opened up her flight deck to pilots learning how to be naval aviators as well during this time period from March until August. When at the request of the Royal Navy that the US Navy donate a fleet carrier to the British Home Fleet. So the Ranger and air group four headed to the Home Fleet's home port of Scapa Flow. They arrived on the 19th of August and were immediately put to use patrolling the northern and southern approaches of the British Isles for Axis naval units whether that was S-boats and other surface shipping or U-boats. On the 4th of October the Ranger and her air group flew air strikes against German shipping in the Norwegian port of Bodo. They proceeded to sink 6 German ships and while ranging all over the waters around Bodo at the lost of only 3 planes. She returned to Scapa flow on the 6th of October. After which she returned to the US by that December. She was then tasked through out the rest of 1944 to operate in the Chesapeake Bay as a training carrier for new pilots.

So that was the experiences of the fleet carriers of the US Navy in the Atlantic. Most of the combat was seen in the opening months of the war and by 1943 the escort carrier or "Jeep Carrier" was coming into service to close the gap and they were being used in hunter-killer groups to hunt the German U-boats and protect convoys of men and supplies that would form the forces that would invade the French coast in June of 1944. Except for the Ranger, most of the fleet carriers would be sunk during the battles to secure the waters around Guadalcanal.

Think about this

2007-09-14T23:56:00.000-07:00

Watch this interesting video from a combat journalists in Afghanistan

Average age of a plane captain for a US Navy squadron is approximately 19yrs old.
Average salary of someone on the flight deck is approximately $22,000 dollars a year before taxes.
Average work day under way is 12 hours on.
Average education completed is about one year of college
They are trusted to make go or no go decisions on multimillion dollar aircraft with men and women that flying put their complete trust in the PC to make this decision.
Now think that more then likely they were not trusted with their parent's car which only cost $30,000 dollars only three years earlier when these same people were 16.

Just your deep thought for the day

My own September 2001 experiences.

2007-09-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

My own experinces on September 11th and the days and weeks following:

Part 1- The inital night that the attacks happened

Part 2- The stress of the next night and trying to get back into working.

Part 3- A short synopis of how we felt watching the news, how the ship tried to keep our moral up and how we felt when we returned the favor to the Taliban.

Seems like only yesterday part 3

2007-09-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

As the days progressed following the 11th and 12th we were all glued to the TV's. In my shop we quit watching the all news channel. I think the biggest reason was that a number of us felt burned out from watching the planes hitting again and again. Watching the people run from the towers, and watching people fall, and finally watching all the missing reports. It just was depressing at times. At various times for the next few weeks we would catch the news at shift changes. It was depressing at times to see how the United States main stream media reacted following the President's address to Congress. As we would watch the news, they had reports of how people believed that this attack was an inside job. There was reports from various colleges and town halls that showed some people supporting the build up and the possibility of going to Afghanistan. The rest of the reports were of people protesting and claiming that we deserved to lose over 3000 people. It was sad to see some of those reports.

Even worst was listening to all the different talking heads that were ex-military members claiming how the US was just going to have their butts handed to them. It was going to be a repeat of Vietnam for the pilots and the ground troopers were going to face the same sort of fighting that defeated the Soviets.

We watched the news of the American Red Cross and United Way charities failures on the news. The failures of various other charities in helping those who were injured or were harmed.

We watched one night talk about the Anthrax attacks. That night watching the Postal Clerks on the ship take bags of "To Any Servicemen" letters to the ship's incinerator and they dumped everything including the bags that they keep the letters in were shoved into the incinerators.

That was the worst of it all. The ship tried very hard to keep our minds away from all this news with movies. We watched "Top Gun", "Band of Brothers.", Chuck Norris in "Delta Force", "Red Dawn", "Animal House", "Midway", "Tora, Tora, Tora", "Armageddon". They also ran all sorts of comedies. There was also the race to the world series between the Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks to watch and when we could catch it the opening of both college and pro-football.

We also paid attention to the news as the build up began. One of the shops had a large world map and had converted it from a "Where we had been" tracker to one that showed where most of the forces were going to. At least from what we had heard on the news.

It went to working hard and watching movies that have a obvious pro-USA lean to them. Listening to the Skipper or the Admiral talk about we don't know when we will be home, but that we are doing important things out here. The skipper was big about bringing up previous Enterprise's experiences in combat. Till the day that we heard all four catapults fire off with in rapid succession with each other and then do it again 30 seconds later. The skipper came on and announced that the first strikes to head down town left the deck and were on the way to their targets in Afghanistan. There just seemed to be a big cheer come from the entire ship.

We proceeded to fly strikes into Afghanistan until we were relieved on station by the USS Roosevelt and we arrived back in Norfolk on Veterans day.

Seems like only yesterday part two

2007-09-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

One of the things that happened the night of that September, was that the powers to be in charge of the battle group shut down email and Internet browsing. We could receive emails but not sending anything out and the only thing we could browse was the ship's intranet. We still didn't know what was going to happen with us. Rumors were flying hard and fast, the next night at at dinner.
"They are going to start the draft again"
"We are going to be out here for the duration."
"We are not going to be in a port again."
"It was...." and you could insert the name of a known terrorist group or hostile country.
Came into work that night and day shift was glued to the TV like us on nights were. They had accomplished the same thing that we did. Put a minor dent in our backlog of fire control radar gear. I did turn over with the day check supervisor and proceeded over to production control.
"I need 8 hours ago," began the production control Master Chief, "a list of all the major components that you will need to clear all of the exreps off your work loads."
"8 hours ago, then why didn't days do it." someone mouthed off from back of the PC office.
"Because the Washington Naval Yard.."
"I thought it was the Pentagon?"
"It is FUCKING GONE ASSHOLE! LET ME FINISH! ANYONE ELSE HAVE A STUPID COMMENT OR QUESTION?!? GOOD!"
"Now as I was saying, a message just came through where BuAir and AirLant has ordered a 747 from a contract and it is going to be loaded to bear with all of ours and the Chucky V's maintenance department requirements. So I need you all to scrub your workloads and give me an itemized list by MCN, part number, and how many you need. As it stands right now price is no objective. We are tapping into war reserve cash as of right now."
"Oh and I would like them typed please. Some of you all were successful graduates of Va Beach schools and don't know the Kings English nor how to write it. So type up your lists and drop them off in my box here."
I walked back into the shop and passed out the information to each of the benches. So we all started to scrub our sections of the workloads and started to draft our listings.
Our work center chief walked and started to talk to us.
"Any of you have family that live in either Washington DC or in NYC? If so I need a listing of who they might be and how they are related to you."
So in the middle of trying to get work done we started yet another list.
After working through the lists, my list for the people in DC or NYC was mercifully short. I knew a cousin might still had been living in NYC. The other list took a little longer, I had about 2 or 3 million dollars in parts for seven or eight radar systems that were down from our F-14's and F-18s in the air wing.
After turning all of those in we started to get to work. Try and put a number lower priority parts out and back into the supply system. I decided to check my email, because even though I couldn't send anything I could still receive. Might hear something outside of the normal channels form my hook ups.
The first email I got was from a friend of my back at the beach at Ocean-Banana. He asked how things were out here, and then mentioned how everyone including the two training squads were uploading live ordnance. They were also preparing to stand alert 5. He mentioned that it was strange to be standing alert 5 on the beach and that even the general announcing system for the reveille and retreat was being tested to announce shift of the Alert 5 status. He then closed it out about an ex-gf of mine and how she had broken up with one of our friends for yet another friend.
I got two emails from my father. The first told me that I was being turned around and I was thinking that how did he know that when I didn't even know that. At which the bosun's pipe came across with the whistle to announce the skipper was going to pass a word. Instead of announcing that a message from the commanding officer it was going to be a message from the admiral.
"Shipmates of the Enterprise BG, I just received word from 5th Fleet that we are being turned around and going to steam back north to a defined box up near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. What this means for us is that we are going to be part of the response from the attack on our country by these suspected terrorist group Al Qaeda. I am glad to be here with you all and know that you all are going to do your job to the fullest. Admiral out."
Wow is all that I could think about the email and the announcement. It was then that I skipped the rest of the first message from my father and saw that he had posted the CNN website page stating that my ship had been turned around.
The second message reported that all of my clan except for my cousin who was working in NYC had reported in to some other relative. After finishing up reading those two emails I closed everything out and started to get to work on cleaning up my workload. Push out those parts that the air wingers needed. Myself and another second class petty officer started to form a mini-production line. I was working on circuit cards while he worked on the total components. We had about 10 or 12 radar sets and started to cannibalize them all to make working radar sets. By the end of the shift at the end of the second night and first full shift after the attacks we had pushed out seven of those radar sets. As I walked to my berthing I stopped and looked out the elevator door at as the sun rose over the IO and thought to myself if the world was really going to change for the better. Mainly because the last thing I watched on TV before heading home was a news report from the NBC nightly news of people looking to blame the US foreign policy for this horror and not accept that there are just evil people out there.

Seemed like only yesterday

2007-09-07T00:36:00.000-07:00

I write this with a heavy heart and with some trepidation. The heavy heart because these are hard memories for me to bring up. Not because I lost anyone I knew only 6yrs ago, but the scariness of knowing that I was safer haze grey and underway then those at home. I also do so with some trepidation because I am not looking for any sort of hero worship or even acclaim. I just feel as though I am finally ready to talk about my own experiences back in September 2001. I came to this from talking with my fellow blogger and friend SteelJaw, he was the one that pushed me to at least jot down what I remember from that day. If you go and check out his blog for this weekend you will read about his experiences inside the Pentagon at the moment American Airlines Flight 77 hit it. I was haze grey and under way on board the USS Enterprise, CVN-65, we had just been relieved from doing Operation Southern Watch in the Persian Gulf by the USS Carl Vinson, CVN-70. We were going to cross the equator hit Cape Town, South Africa and be the first US warship to have visited South Africa in 50 yrs and then hit Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. After which it was going to be home and relaxation in my own bed in my own home.

The big talk as we were getting ready to out chop from 5th Fleet control was about crossing the line. Bringing on Davy Jones, King Neptune and the Royal Family, and then all the shellbacks inducting us lowly pollywogs into the royal realm. I had been debating with myself which set of boots and dungarees I was going to burn up for the crossing the line. The other big thing was just how few shellbacks were on board. In my department alone out of about 800 of us only 80 people were official shellbacks.

I was working a night shift, so my hours were from approximately 1900 (or 7pm for you military types) to about 0700 the next morning. We were in the Indian Ocean and about 12hours ahead of the east coast of the USA. For some reason I woke up early that night. I was up around 1800, normally my alarm clocks ( I use two) wake me up around 1830. It was at that time I heard the following from our commanding officer.

"....so we are going to be setting condition Zebra through out the ship until we know what else is going on. I need all of you to push the TV images you might have seen or might be seeing out of your mind and do your jobs at general quarters. To emphasise again the United States has been attacked and we are going to GQ, we don't know who or what else has been attack, don't know what is going on next, to be honest we don't know much."

I thought to myself as I was slowly waking up that it wasn't drill day, because we just had a drill two days ago. I staggered from the cubicle that I slept in and walked over to our tiny TV lounge. This was located just outside the berthing and it was a tiny little space. On a good day about 12 people could very comfortable in this little space and look at a 36in TV and DVD combo in one corner. Because this little space was under a catapult room and it was very loud, so one of us AT's had rigged up a ghettoized versions of theater sound package using a couple amps and some government issued speakers (about eight of them) so we had some pretty decent sound.

Anyhow, like I said this tiny little space had enough room for 12 people and that at standing room only. We forced about 30 people of the oncoming shift all in there. Someone had turned on AFRTS's all news channel and we were catching a satellite delayed of what was supposed to be the second hour of the "Today" show. Instead we heard one of the NBC news anchors reporting all that was going on live on the "Today" set. Then some one screamed on the TV that it is happening again. At which I saw the second airplane hit the towers.

It seemed to me that time sort of froze and I felt as if I had failed some how in my job.

"I think we are at war." , came from some one in the room and pulled me out of my deep thought cycle.

"You fricking think so!", came from someone else. Before it could descend into a good ol'fashioned stressed filled argument, the general quarters klaxon went off. So those of us still not dressed for work staggered back to our racks and tried to get dressed. There was 4 other night checkers in my cube and with us all there it became a Chinese fire drill as we got dressed. I remember trying to pull over a clean undershirt when my pants started to come up.

"OKAY who is touching my pants!?!" I said pretty loudly

"My bad, I thought those were my pants." someone else said to me.

Another pair of us rolled into each other because they each tried to pull the same dungaree shirt. If this wasn't a serious thing going on it probably would of been funny. I finished up getting dressed and ran down to my repair locker. I was assigned to one fox in the forward hangar bay. Got down there and started to suit up into a fire fighting ensemble and OBA's. We sat around for what seemed like forever sweating while waiting for the other shoe to drop. One of the phone talkers in the locker was reporting what she was hearing on the line. It was strange because all sorts of rumors were running on the lines. Think of that only campfire game of telephone. You know the game don't you readers? Everyone sits around the campfire and someone on one side whispers into another and it goes around to the end. Where the end repeats it out loud to see how it might of changed.

There were rumors such as attacks in other cities besides NYC and DC were going on. There was rumors of a nuclear attack, submarines spotted near the battle group. All sorts of rumors were reported on the lines that night. As the stranger and stranger rumors were coming out, the secured from GQ was passed over the 1MC.

I got changed out of the FFE and OBA and then walked into the shop. We were glued to the TV's. People were watching the all news channel. The funniest thing that was happening that day was how the Navy News Service's "Daily News Update" seemed to be stuck on repeat since all it kept to be reporting that the Pentagon was on fire and had been struck by something and that the WTC towers had been attacked. It seemed about every half and hour the DNU came up and this fine looking JO2 said the same thing and same thing. After sitting around forever watching the news and arguing about what this was all about. One of my guys said that maybe it was that some sort of crew from Senator Condit who was involved with Chandra Levy. They did this to take him out of the news. Another guy brought up maybe it was that Dominican Republic teenager who was kicked out of the little league world series for being too old. We bounced all sorts of strange things off each other as a way to lighten the mood. I don't know how to explain it, but we resorted to this sort of gallows humor as a way to bury our own stress.

Some one noticed that it was around midnight and we should try and get some food from Mid-Rats. The lines for food was unusually short. So after getting food we found a place to sit down. I noticed that it was church like quiet. That was unusual because most of the times on the mess decks of an aircraft carrier it is a pretty noisy affair. People were talking about work, port, or what have you normally. This night it was hushed tones about what was going on. Rumors again were running rampant.

At the end of the meal we walked back to work and started again to sit around the TV and watch the news. Again nothing new. We should of been working on the gear we had. Yet we wanted to see what the news could tell us about what was happening next. It was in between grabbing food and coming back to work that the towers fell. At that point the bitch boxes we had in our shops came alive and the maintenance master chief started to scream at us (actually all of the maintenance department) to get to work pushing gear out. There were priority one repairables to work and we had plenty of time. I just remember the TV becoming background noise at that point and I started to work. It was some time in the morning the day shift came in and relieved us. I debated with myself if I should stay up or just head to bed. It was when I almost stumbled because I was so tired that resolved my debate. I went up the ladder wheel, stripped down to a towel and some shower shoes. Staggered off to the showers and came back to get the rack and fell promtly asleep in my rack.

That was my memories of that day.

Flight Deck Friday done Southern Air Pirate's way

2007-09-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

I happen to read on a vacation the great book "Bridges of Toko-Ri" by James A. Michener. It is a great book about a Naval Air Reservist who was recalled to active duty when the Korean War started, a CWO helicopter pilot who is a little wild and eccentric, an enlisted rescue swimmer who is fresh off the farm and afraid of officers and the chiefs, finally there is an admiral who realizes what sort of fight the Korean War is. The book was written from Michener's experiences amongst the Naval Aviators of CTF 77. He wrote a series of articles for the Saturday Evening Post about being with these fine folks. He then fictionalized the telling of a real raid against a series of bridges near the Korean and Chinese border. Publishing the book and it was turned into a great movie with William Holden and Grace Kelly. The biggest difference between the book and movie is the plane that is flown by the hero Brubaker. The movie had the Grumman F9F Panther and the book he flew the F2H Banshee. That second plane is an aircraft built by the McDonnell aircraft company. It was an enlarged version of their first jet fighter for the US Navy the FH Phantom.

The McDonnell learned a number of things from their first jet fighter. The biggest thing was to have a more powerful engine to do anything safely behind the carrier. They also learned that to be a successful fighter a more powerful weapon then just the Browning .50cal machine gun was needed as well. So in 1947 before the ink was dry the production lines in St. Louis, Missouri were making the conversion from the production of the FH Phantom over to producing the new jet fighter for the US Navy the F2H Banshee.

The initial production version of the Banshee, officially designated the F2H-1 was powered by a pair of Westinghouse J34-WE-22's, she was armed with four 20mm cannons in the nose. Delivery of the first Banshees went to VF-171 out of NAS Cecil Field, FL in 1949. This date was also important because it was also during the "Admirals Revolt", that one of the VF-171 pilots pulled off an interesting intercept. The revolt of the admirals was the debate about whether the country should spend money on carriers or on big bombers. One of the big debates that the brand new USAF had about their super bomber the B-36 was that it flew so high that it couldn't be intercepted. So one sunny Florida day a VF-171 pilot was able to push his fighter up to along side one of these B-36's up near the 45k altitude band. Even better he was able to maintain control of his plane and supposedly took pictures of the intercept. This totally blew away the idea that the B-36 was invulnerable to enemy fighters. It was also with the easy way that the plane could be flow that the other nick name "Banjo" was assigned during the initial operation of the F2H-1.

With the speed of developments the Navy realized that the F2H-1 was a good plane but they wanted what every user wants of their planes longer ranges and heavier payloads. This lead to the development and production of the F2H-2. This version of the fighter became the big player in some little war over in Asia called Korea.

The F2H-2 had an improved version of the J34 installed that gave her an extra 500 pounds of thrust. Along with receiving plumbing to carry two 200gal wing tip tanks, and wing mounts to mount up to six 5in HVAR rockets on the wings, along with receiving fuselage mounts that could carry up to two 500lb bombs. She also received a fuselage plug to receive larger fuselage fuel tanks. The first production version of the F2H-2 being delivered to the fleet in December of 1949. From the basic model the Navy asked for three different versions. The Banjo was used to do everything from fly strikes against ground targets, fly Combat Air Patrol over Carrier Task Force 77, Fly escort for photo recon birds or strike groups, fly suppression of enemy air defense missions. It served with distinction along side the Grumman F9F Panthers ,Vought F4U-5 Corsairs, and Douglas AD Skyraiders above the Korean air space. Only once was the F2H was sent against "MiG Alley" that was in 1951 and even though contact wasn't made with any MiG-15's. The mission wasn't repeated.

The first was the F2H-2P version. This was the photo recon version. In place of the guns it mounted a series of cameras in its enlarged nose. This flew most of the USN and USMC battlefield photo recon missions through out the early parts of the Korean War. The USMC were the primary users of the F2H-2P with VMJ-1. The aircraft was so fast and could fly so high that it could evade most of the optical and move faster then the communist radar control AAA guns could operate. It became so valuable that even the USAF was willing to accept that it was an important aircraft and on missions up near the Yalu. They tasked F-86's to protect the Banshee from the MiG-15.

The other two versions of the F2H-2 was the F2H-2B version and the F2H-2N version. The Bravo Banjo was the nuclear delivery variant. It had the fuselage mounts strength to handle the some of the early tactical nuclear weapons. On top of that it also had installed some of the early low altitude bombing system (AKA as LABS) equipment installed. LABS enable the pilot to preform a nuclear deliver profile that basically tossed the bomb near the target and hopefully would allow the plane to escape the blast. The "N" version of the Banjo was the night fighter version. The F2H-2N mounted an APS-19 ranging radar installed in a larger nose so that this early aerial intercept radar could be mounted.
The F2H-2 was removed from active duty service in 1952 and replaced by an bigger and better version of the Banjo, this was the F2H-3 version.
The F2H-3 in its basic form mounted an APQ-41 aerial intercept radar that gave not only range and bearing but also limited altitude information to the pilot. This version became the standard all-weather fighter on US Carrier Decks through out the 50's and into the early 60's. It could carry up to four 500lb bombs or two AAM-N-7 Sidewinder when that missile was introduced in the late 50's.
The final version of the venerable Banjo was the F2H-4 this was an all-weather version as well it mounted the APG-37 radar produced by Hughes. It was with this version that also saw the introduction of the in-flight refueling probe
Now the only thing that limited the range of the Banjo in its mission was human endurance. The F2H-3 and -4 served along side each other from their introductions until 1959 in active duty service and 1964 in USNR service.
It was with the F2H-3 and F2H-4 that squadrons such as VC-3 and VC-4 along with some of the VX squadrons started to more and more experimentation in night flying and night time operations. According to the book "Dark Sky, Black Sea: Aircraft Carrier Night and All-Weather Operations" by Charles Brown, some of the detachment OIC's and squadron CO's started to force not only the commander of the air groups, but also the admirals to test tactics and operations. These started to write the books that those of us in modern carrier operations take for granted. Some of the lessons these men learned were written in blood. One of the more interesting stories involving the Banjo was this one that I read in Dark Sky. According to LCDR Bob Lyon:

Flying in the Med atmosphere was usually in a "milk bowl" - that is, so hazy that one sees no horizon, no water, no sky. For reason unknown, three of us were launched one night as a division. .... Bennington advised us to stay aloft [and conserve fuel] until a foul deck was cleared. Later we were ordered down for landing. Having descended, we were ordered to orbit in vicinity of the ship because the foul deck had not been cleared as anticipated. .... A flight of AD [SAP-Douglas Skyraiders] were milling about, having also been directed to orbit in vicinity of the ship. At low altitude our division skimmed beneath cloud cover as fuel reserves dwindled. The AD flight passed dangerously close under us in a near-miss. When we finally got back in the ready room, I asked Otis Inge, "How Much
Fuel did you land with ?" Otis [replied,] "The aircraft ran out of fuel before I could park it."

A situation like that today though rarer still happens. But everyone involved from the CATCC folks up to the Air Boss work to make sure it never happens.

One of the more interesting adventures the Banjo went on was its only export customer. The Royal Canadian Naval Air Forces. Yes, Virginia once before the kindly neighbor to the north of the US had an aircraft carrier and it decided in the 1954 to replace their older Sea Furies with McDonnell F2H-3's. So the Canadian government spent $25million to buy 39 recently retired F2H-3 to populate their carrier's deck. The HMCS Bonaventure, had VF-870 and VF-871 had plenty of fun flying the Banjo off their carriers deck and proved to some of the more timid US Naval Aviators that even though the Bonnie's 704ft flight deck was shorted then the average Essex class carrier deck by about 100ft it could be done. However, old age and not enough money being spent on defense lead to the F2H from being removed after a high attrition rate. After that the HMCS Bonaventure flew only Grumman S2F's and Sikorsky H-3's on the anti-submarine mission.

The F2H served a little longer then its stable mate the Grumman F9F Panther. It helped to fight off the communist hordes in Korea, it was one of the first single seat all-weather fighters, it was a joy to fly, it helped to write the books on night and all-weather operations. The F2H Banshee or Banjo was an a joy and probably one of my favorite naval jet fighters from the 50's.

Survived

2007-09-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

So dear readers I survived my 10 year high school reunion two weekends ago. The hotel we were in was pretty nice. The food was good and a catching up with friends I hadn't seen since graduation. There were a few things that threw me for a loop. The biggest thing was even though my graduation class was close to 400 and about 100 or so of us still live in town we probably had about 40 or 50 people actually show up. The other thing was just how much I changed from some of us that were still around. A few of them had traveled around a little bit, but that was only local or any international travel they did do was to either Mexico or Canada. There was one cop and one fireman in all of our class, about 4 people who had reported to the reunion committee along with myself as service members. The rest of the people that I meet there had done the college thing and are now out there. Most were drones in sector 7-B, only a few of the folks that I knew were in senior leadership at wherever they worked. Myself and the romantic intrest really didn't stay that long since I had meet up with the people that I cared to talk to. It was alright function, I think I agree with what my folks told me. The really interesting one will be the 20yr, that will be the one to see who had succeeded in thier life and who was still living in thier glory days of high school or college.

Arrived in the real world 10yrs ago.

2007-08-25T11:19:00.001-07:00

Well dear readers. Yours truly, has decided after many moons of consideration to head to his 10yr high school reunion. I am going with the romantic interest. It will be interesting to see how we all have changed since high school. I am still feeling kind of scared about this, but the romantic interest has told me that she will stand by my side and help me get over it.
I know the biggest change for me is that I didn't got to college and now 10yrs later am basically middle or upper management of a maintenance work center. Most of my close friends from college have been out of the college for about 6 years, they are more then likely still in the drone in section 7-b status. That along with the fact that I can tell some really funny (or bad) sea stories of being to places like Lisbon, Naples, Portsmouth, Hiroshima, Rhodes, Palama, Cannes, Monaco, Mount Vesuvius, Crete, Dubai, the Gold Suk, etc.
So as I write this I am arguing with myself about whether to wear the uniform, even if it is the whites, or just go in a nice blazer and pair of slacks to my reunion which is tonight. Will have to hit up the romantic interest and ask her opinion.

Meet another family that lost 5 sons to a war

2007-08-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

Reading about the Hubbard family today in the news and about how this family gave up three of thier sons to the war in Iraq. Then with the lost of an US Army UH-60 Black Hawk heliocopter the Hubbard family had lost two sons to the war. The first one LCPL. Jared Hubbard to a roadside bomb in Ramadi in 2004 and now Spc. Nathan Hubbard died. All the Mainstream media seems to be making this a big deal. I feel for the family and the lost of their loved ones, yet this isn't the first family to lose one or more member in the same war. Thinking about this at lunch with some of the guys that I work with, I remembered the name of another family that lost all 5 of thier sons in the same battle in World War 2. That family was the Sullivan family when the ship the sons were on was sunk from under them in the meat grinder that became known as Guadalcanal.

The five brothers: George, Frank , Joseph, Madison, Albert; aged 27, 25, 23, 22, 19 respectively. They joined the US Navy after Pearl Harbor after hearing that one of thier sister's boyfriends had died at the Japanese attack. All five of them enlisted in 1942 and did so on the stipulation that they serve together. They all came from Waterloo, Iowa. The Navy bent over backwards to make that request happen. The oldest two, George and Frank had previously served in the Navy for an initial four years and had gotten out in May of 1941 before the war crisis froze everyone in place. After hearing about a close friend and boyfriend of theirs sister named Bill Ball who had died that terrible morning of December 7th, 1941. The brothers decided to enlist again in the Navy to take the fight back to the Japanese. Through out the entire enlistment request they stated they wanted to served together. So the US Navy honored that request, mainly as a PR stunt initially. So they all were processed together, sent off to boot camp together, and then only time there were broken up was to attend the rating specific schools. After successfully graduating their A-schools the 5 brothers were assigned to the USS Juneau (CL-52) a light cruiser that had been recently commissioned.
The Juneau had previously served in actions in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Her previous claim to fame was as part of the blockading force off some of the French colonies still in the Americas. The tied down the Vichy French naval units to prevent them from sorting and razing all sorts of havoc with Allied Shipping. As the naval war in the Pacific became something of desperation, the Juneau sailed Brooklyn Naval Yard to be refitted and made the transition through the Panama Canal into the Pacific theater of Operations. it was during the refitting that the Sullivan Brothers joined up with the crew of the Juneau.
She joined up with the USS Wasp (CV-7) task force as they sortied out of New Caledonia to help support the US Marines on the ground at Guadalcanal. It was during the Battle of Santa Cruz, that the Juneau first tasted combat. The Juneau was there with the rest of the screening destroyers to help and rescue the survivors of both the USS Wasp and the USS Hornet (CV-8). Both of which were sunk during the battle. The screening force brought home a total of 1910 survivors from just the Wasp alone.
During the third Battle of Guadalcanal that the Juneau was sunk. The Juneau formed a covering force for Adm. Richmond Turner's cargo ships, which were bringing in fresh troops and needed supplies to the Marines ashore. On the morning of 12th of November the ship arrived off the 'Canal and with in hours they were attacked by Japanese bombers out of Rabaul. The Juneau put up a great fight in helping to protect the transports from the air attack, it was that night when things went bad for the Americans. A strong Japanese naval force composed of 2 battleships and numerous cruisers and destroyers came south down the slot. The Juneau was one of three light cruisers, two heavy cruisers, and 8 destroyers trying to form a covering force to still protect the cargo ships in the Iron Bottom Sound and protect Henderson Airfield. During the battle the Juneau was struck by a torpedo and she along with the two other cruisers the Helena and San Fransisco were trying to make it south to the US Naval Base of Espiritu Santo. The Juneau had three torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-6 put into her on the morning of the 13th of November. The Juneau broke into and sank in 20 seconds.
Dear readers take that in for just a second. imagine having your bed shaken and your house disappearing in 20 seconds. That is what it was like for those men onboard the Juneau. 20 seconds is about how long it takes to start a car, 20 seconds is how long it takes an average person to dial a long distance telephone number. 20 seconds is about how long an average computer takes to boot up to Windows.
Frank, Joe, and Matt Sullivan died instantly to either the torpedoes or from the ship going under in 20 seconds. The youngest Al died from drowning later in the day and George survived for about 4 or five more days before succumbing to his injuries. Out of a crew of 700 only ten were rescued a week later. The reason that the other ships in her group didn't stay to rescue survivors was due to the threat of the submarine and it was only a pair of ships that had no weapons with which to fight a submarine.

The aftermath of the Sullivan brothers event lead to the establishment of the Sole Survivor Policy with in the Navy Department and War Department. On top of that the Navy became stricter about where family members served in a theater of combat operations and what units they served with. There has been only one movie made about the Sullivan brothers, in 1944 and it was nominated for an Academy Award in 1945. The US Navy had built two destroyers and named them after the Sullivans. The most recently is an Alreigh Burke class destroyer, DDG-68.

An Airplane's History

2007-08-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

One of the big missions for the US Navy post World War 2 was the delievery of nuclear weapons. For a while the US Air Force had a monoply on this mission for the better part of five to six years. The US Navy had a few aborted attempts before the introduction of an airplane that would spend the next 4o years in the service of the United States doing either its primary mission or a few additional missions that was added on to the aircraft later on in its life. What was this aircraft? It was the A-3 Skywarrior designed and built by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation. It was designed by the famous Ed Heinemann. The Skywarrior's mission was to fly off the deck of an US Navy aircraft carrier and delivery a nuclear weapon against an important theater or strategic target. The plane carried a crew of three and could lift up to 12,000 bombs up to a range of 1325 miles. The only down side was the aircraft was built before the introduction of ejection seats. So one of the nicknames the plane earned related to its designation of A3D was jokingly called All Three Dead. The plane was pretty heavy and was flown off both the modern super carriers of the USS Forrestall class but also a pair or more were fitted able to fly off the older World War 2 Essex class aircraft carriers as well. The A-3A and improved model A-3B were onboard US Navy Aircraft carriers during the Suez Crisis, Tawian Crisis, Lebanon Crisis, and the Hungary Revoultion. There was a few squadrons that tried to use the A-3B over North Vietnam against some of the harden targets such as the infamous Dragon's Jaw Bridge or Thanh Hoa Bridge. The lost rate was pretty high at it was reasoned not to risk the Skywarriors over Vietnam in the bomber role.

The plane was replaced by the North American Aviation A-5 Vigilante in the early 60's. With the advent of a successful ballistic missile in 1960 for use on a submarine, the US Navy moved out of the stratgetic bomber role by 1964. However, it still retained the A-3 Skywarrior as a bomber in both the nuclear and conventional role. The aircraft was also modified to be both an electronic reconnasice aircraft and to be a photo recon aircraft. Such as the example to the left. As the picture on the left shows it could carry a number of cameras and with its great speed out run most of the fighters at the time. One of the more interesting items with the RA-3B Skywarrior is that it use to carry flash bombs that were incredabile bright. There were stories of these recon birds dropping these flash bombs at night and some ground observing reporting that the plane had blown up in the air. It was retired from the photo recon role with the introduction of the RA-5C.

Yet another mission assigned to this aircraft was the in-flight refueling mission and the aircraft was redesignated from A-3 to KA-3B. Here a hose and drogue unit was attached to the plane via an airstreamed fairing. There were plenty of stories through out the Vietnam conflict where the KA-3B crews might take themselves and thier tanker tracks closer to the feet wet points to help those aircraft that were damaged make it home or at least make the swim that much shorter.

One of the other mission and the mission that the aircraft would have from the time it quit trying to deliver a nuclear weapon till it was retired shortly after Desert Storm ended was as an electronic bird. It was either an electronic intelligence bird or as an electronic countermeasures bird. It served in this role from early 60's till 1992. This plane flew through out the Cold War and up thorugh its end preforming in front line service in one way or another.

The Skywarrior is still flying too. After a number of them were retired by the US Navy, Raytheon bought about 8 or 9 of them and are using them as flying test beds for new electronic systems or as range instrumentation birds during tests. I have seen one or two flying when I have gone down to NAS Point Mugu, CA for a missile shot with my squadron. Amazing that a plane introduced in the late 50's is still flying today.

If you want to see some more information about the this aircraft please go and check out this link here, A-3 Skywarrior Association.

Digging around I found a couple of videos shot of Skywarrior in action with either VQ-1 out of Guam or VQ-2 out of Rota Spain. You all might enjoy watching them as well.

Back to the good ol' days?

2007-08-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

Other posters that I read from time to time (such as Cdr Salamander, Neptunus Lex, Steel Jaw Scribe) have commented about a pair of Russian long range bombers being intercepted near the US Territorial island of Guam last month. I recently received this link from across the pond of our good allies the British. The article mentions their quick reaction alert crews in their brand new Typhoon fighters intercepting a Russian bomber near the United Kingdom. This makes me wonder if things are starting to cool down again between NATO/USA and the Russian Bear. What is even more interesting is how the Guam thing and now this UK thing was only given a cursory overview by the US media here. Although I am not given to partisan politics that often, I do wonder if the mainstream media or even some of the more extreme POTUS haters out there couldn't of had yet another opportunity to hold President's feet to the fire about the cooling down of relations between Russia and the US. This also takes me back to pictures and stories from family friends of the days when it was GI Joe vs Ivan the Bear in the middle of the cold war. When the Soviets use to run their long range bombers out of their bases in Russia to Soviet client states such as Cuba, Vietnam, Libya, India, and which ever nation was in their pocket along the Atlantic coast of the African continent at the time. Thinking about those times brought me to these pictures. When at various times US or NATO aircraft intercepted some Soviet long range patrol or long range bombers near US territory or near US Navy task forces or near NATO bases.

A 102th Fighter Intercept Wing F-106 from the MA Air National Guard intercepting a TU-95 Bear E Electronic Patrol aircraft near Nova Scotia. Circa 1984 An A-7E from VA-146 off the USS America intercepts a TU-95 Bear D long range patrol aircraft in the Norwegian Sea during Northern Wedding '82

A F-4J of VF-41 intercepts a TU-95 Bear D near the USS Nimitz in the Indian Ocean in 1979.

A F-15 from the 21st Tactical Fighter Wing based at Elmendorf AFB and a F-14 of VF-74 intercept a TU-95 Bear G near Naval Air Station Adak, Alaska in 1986

A 12th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-15C intercepts a TU-95 Bear H near Nome Alaska in 2006 A Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16A intercepts a TU-22M belonging to the Soviet Naval Aviation over the Norwegian Sea in 1984A Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18A intercepts a Soviet Naval Aviation TU-95 Bear D near Saint John's Bay in 1987
A VA-95 A-6E intercepts a TU-16 Bear J Electronic intelligence aircraft near the USS Enterprise Battle Group in 1989

A KA-6D and F-18A from off the USS Midway intercepts a Soviet IL-38 May maritime patrol aircraft while the Midway was steaming in the Sea of Japan in 1986.

I just wonder if when I go on cruise next time there might be a Russian tattle tail or two following us?

Posers

2007-08-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

A few years back I received a book for my birthday titled, "Stolen Valor : How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History" by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley. It was a book that attempted to attack the stereotypes of the Vietnam veteran. Which is they are a drugged out, homeless, psychotic person similar to John Rambo. Yet that wasn't true. During the process of research Mr. Burkett stumbled on a sub-type of person those living up the Vietnam Vet stereotype. That is the faker, the wannabe, the poser. Who is this person? Well most of them were found out to be ones who found their own military service lacking so they made something up, to pick up girls so they made something up, or to defraud the government they made something up. What is really interesting is how those in the military are obvious to spot these posers and fakes. Usually because something that the poser says about their service, when cornered about a certain moment or how they set up their uniform, or just how the poser carries themselves.
Why do I care about the posers? Well it seems as though there seems to be a certain trend recently again of certain people to claim that they are (or in) the military as a way to get something for free (such as VA benefits) or as a way to make a political statement and earn their 15 minutes of fame. It it s a total shame that these sorts of people come up and rob from the real experiences of those real soldiers who did do heroic things or just do their job day in and day out.

It is just sad that there are those who feel the need to commit fraud and spread lies to make themselves feel better.

An interesting day in History

2007-08-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

Approximately 46yrs ago today August 13th, 1961 the East German Army began the building of something that became one of the symbols in the Cold War. The Berlin Wall.
A place where tanks and army troopers faced each other. A place where Presidents used to build their foreign policy creditenials

I am a child of the tail end of the Cold War. The time period when Jimmy Carter failed with Detente and saw Ronald Reagan bring his challenge to the Soviet Empire and one of the classic speeches he gave during his presidency.

A time when it was assumed that if the balloon goes up the first people to fight was the Berlin Brigades. The fear mongering movies about nuclear war during the 80's always assumed that it was going to be a riot in East Berlin which would of been the reason that the masses of Soviet armor would cross the frontier. Either that or the East Germans and their puppet masters the Soviets would close off all access and NATO would have to cross the border to re-open access to the city of Berlin.

I also remember hearing about plenty of spy stories being told in Berlin of trying to spirit people out or people in to the city. Then as I got older, reading of the horrible stories of those East Berliners who were shot dead by the guards as they tried to scale the wall. It was always assumed in the West that it was an order of the border guards and the Stasi (the East German Secret Police) were to kill those attempting to defect.

Well it has come out yet again in Europe that it was an order and someone digging thru some of the unshredded Stasi files a written order authorizing the killing of defectors. So now there are politicians trying to decide if there should be criminal proceedings against those members of the border guards and the Stasi.

Thinking about this day in history makes me think about some of the other things that happened today.

1521-Tenochtitlan falls to the Spanish under conquistador Hernan Cortez

1913- Stainless Steel is invented by Harry Brearley

1937-The battle of Shang-hi begins between the Nationalist Chinese and Japanese

1940-The Luftwaffe begins to use the newly captured airfields on the coast of France to bomb RAF airfields as the opening round of the Battle of Britain

1953- The USS Mississippi (EAG-128, ex-BB-41) conducts the first shipboard launching of a surface to air missile against an aerial target drone. She fired a Terrier SAM against an F6F target drone.

1963-USS Gen. R. M. Blatchford (T-AP-153), returns to Brooklyn Naval Yard after serving overseas for 2.5yrs in support of UN and US operations. While under the UN flag she carried 40,000 troops to Morocco, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia for peace-keeping operations.

1990- The first two of eight super fast cargo sea lift ships, the USS Altair (T-AKR-291) and USS Capella (T-AKR-293) begin on-loading heavy lift cargo to head to the Saudi port of Jubail during Operation Desert Shield. These ships and their sisters are capable of 27 knots or approximately 31MPH and are being loaded with elements of a US Army brigade. Not all of these ships will make the 8700 mile trip to the Arabian peninsula. One will break down in the North Atlantic and lead to it being towed to a Spanish port, with its cargo being loaded onto other Military Sea lift Command ships.

Scenes from the Flight Deck

2007-08-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Previously on "Scenes from the Flight Deck".

...He skipped that one and looked through the 15 or 20 messages that had been stacking up since he forwarded he email the Friday when he got off from work before the flights out. When he finally found the two with the name he was looking for. The romantic interest had written him twice. Once asking how the flight some general life subjects, the other email was some questions about himself. They had just barely known each other for a few days before he had to ship out. So it was perfectly natural to sit back and start to answer these questions.

He read those emails and then turned around and deleted half of those emails which didn't out right apply to him. Such fun emails as "NMCI will go down...", "NAS MasterJet Liberty Program has tickets to..", "Gate J35 will be closed because of maintenance on...". After he deleted those he in turn gave up the computer to the guys from the night check. They checked their mail while the night check supervisor was off at his own maintenance meeting. Same thing that was put out during day check was put out to night. They all started to mill around, he finally realized that he was tired. So grabbed his stuff from out of the drawer for personal gear and staggered back to the rack.
"Hey, Southern you going to chow?" AT1 asked
"Hmm," he said as he looked at his watch, "Nah, it is past 1900 and I don't feel like trying to scarf another water burger and fries again. So I am heading back to the berthing for a hot shower and some sleep."
"Okay see you back there."
With that he staggered on back to his wrack and watch as the night check guys were milling around getting use to the 12 on/12 off schedule. Walking past some of the staterooms where the TAD guys were cleaning in prep for the air crews flying on or taking laundry down of those ground officers that had already been on board for a few days. The air department guys who were doing the last minute testing and maintenance on either the cat gear or the recovery gear. Listening as the handlers began to reposition the SE. Also listening to all the conversations that went on as people walked around the passageways.
"...and so I told him to go to Toys 'R Us and buy the home game of "Go f--k yourself. Who does he think he is..."
"... Bulldog told me that Lex and Steeljaw were trying to get a CAG only spades tourney going up in..."
"....she stuck some letters in my bag while I was packing and I didn't even know it, now my bag and clothes smell of her perfume.."
"Hey, can I bum a cig..."
"Chief Sackdonuts wants these maintenance actions cleared before mid-rats...."
"...why are they showing 'X-men' again on SITE TV..."
"Pardon, me young man how do I get to the wardroom." someone said to him as he felt a pull on his sleeve. He looked around and saw this older gentleman in some civilian clothes and a USS Newboat ball cap that said VIP on the back. It pulled him out of his tripped down memory lane of being back out to sea after two years away.
"Huh? Excuse me, sir" he said with a slightly startled tone and confused look on his face
"I said how do I find my way to the wardroom," his gentleman said again, "I am looking for wardroom 2. I need to find a pilot with the nickname of Willy."
"Oh, here I will show you." He looked around and realized that he had only gone about 40 frames from where the shop was. So back tracking back up the way he came he pointed this gentleman to the wardroom. Realized that this guy had gotten separated from some sort of tour group. Thinking about the tour groups and VIPs took him back to being on board USS Oldboat. A slight smile crossed his lips as he thought of some adventures that occurred there. Then his mind cross of the romantic interest and an even bigger smile crossed his mind. He had that smile even as he laid down to get some sleep at the end of the day. His thoughts took him back to that last night with her and some of the best dreams started.

Shore Patrol with foregin sailors

2007-08-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

So while out the powers to be in large and charge of the battle group decided to pull into a US port. Then we pretend it was a foreign port. What port did they decided one, Ft. Lauder dale. Been there done that told the story of being there a few years back to some of the guys I was working with. Some of them believed them some of them didn't. That is the joy of telling a sea story.

We find out that instead of going pier side we will be moored out and have to ride liberty launches in. No biggie. The watch bill gets posted a few days before and I find out that during a five day day port visit I draw duty twice. First and last day, again no biggie and the only time I have watch is the first day which is at the casino in town. Yes, dear readers the same casino that a celebrity died in just a few months back. I have the last watch on that day which is awesome. Why? Mainly, because I get a chance to skate back out of work and head to the rack, so that I can grab some extra shut eye. So it goes that we pull up to the beach front of Ft. Lauderdale around 0800 in the morning and after helping to complete an inspection on one of the aircraft, I rolled on down to grab lunch and then grabbed some shut eye. Woke up just before I had to go and stand the watch. Assigned the 1900 to 0200 shore patrol, because we are moored out and it was about 45 minute ride out on the launch. So I have to be down to muster at 1700 in the Hangar bay in a my working whites. Go mustered up with the shore patrol team and then wait for the launch to arrive at the ship. Spend a few moments on the phone with the romantic interest and then with the folks, while on the launch heading off to the beach. We arrived at the cruise terminals in town and see that the a couple of our escorts were tied up pier side and one Her Majesty's Ships, the HMS Manchester.

After arriving where they set up fleet landing, walked over to where the shore patrol team HQ was. Got the brief from the shore patrol leader about what our responsibilities were. Same thing as always, keep our people safe and try and prevent problems. I was told that I was the senior man of the team and was supposed to be leading the team hanging out at the casino. Found out there was no bus and we were going to be dropped off in a rental van. The best part to date was given a map that had been photocopied way too many times and try and give directions to a F-18 fighter jock. We would have gotten there about 20minutes later if he had just listen to the navigator, but those single seat jockeys just can't listen to anyone giving them directions while sitting in the seat next to them. We arrive and find the earlier SP team standing out front. Sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the tourists in their skimpy clothes or really bad and loud Hawaiian shirts.
Everyone piled out of the van, we then proceed to do turn over with the on coming folks and begin our walk around. The funniest thing was that when we checked in with hotel and casino security staff we were told this, "Your who and why are you here?" The head honcho told us in a tone that made us feel real welcome.
All six of us on this shore patrol party were hungry. A couple of guys went off to try the buffet, myself and two others went off to check out some bar-b-que joint. It was funny, because we were wearing our whites and they seem to attract all sorts of stains, even if you are sitting in an all white room some how some way you get some sort of stain on it. Anyhow, we sat down grabbed a bite of eat. I polished off a plate of gator tails and deep fat fried frog legs. One of the guys with me was a brand new petty officer and still new to the Navy. He ordered a pulled pork sandwich. The first bite in just dripped meat and sauce all over him. We all got a good laugh about it and luckily for him the bar keep gave us some soda water to mop out the stain. It didn't come out completely and made for a good way to give the new guy some ribbing as we walked around.
At this hotel and casino there was an outdoor shopping center and party block. On the outside near the hotel was a few family friendly restaurants and shopping block, but further near the back and closer to the actual casino area was the club block. The club block was composed of about eight to nine different up scale clubs of all different themes. That is where we spent most of the night. Bouncing from club to club, watching people spend their money and making sure that what few sailors that showed up were not causing problems.
It was pretty good for the first couple of hours. I think I spent more time getting my picture shot with pretty girls that night. It also seemed as thought I couldn't buy a drink either, all of us had to refuse what most people wanted to do, which was buy us a shot or a glass of beer. We had to refuse, so it was ice water or a soda. Plenty of hand shakes and congrats, which made a few of us coming from military unfriendly towns feel that warm and fuzzy.
The best part of the night was that we ran into a roving shore patrol team from the Royal Navy ship about 2100 (or 9 pm for you military types). By roving they were authorized a vehicle and traveled where the major tourist spots were to make sure their lads were not getting in trouble. Once these guys found out that the place was filled with hot women who loved sailors in their uniforms. Well, their car "broke down" :). I spent the rest of the night walking around enjoying the sights and talking with this Brit. We talked about everything from how much is sucks being away from home to how awful a few of our officers were. It seems as though things are as common no matter what military you are in. That it sucks to be away from your home and family, some of the officers are good and some you wonder how they made it out of the womb, the ship sucks, and liberty is good in any port near the equator during the summer time. The most amazing thing though was how after watching a few of these Brits in action with regards to a few of their rowdy people, which wasn't many, all it took was the stare or a sharp word and the guy knocked it off. Most of the US sailors were a little harder to control, but even then there wasn't any incidents the first night from off the carrier. Only a guy off a US destroyer got in trouble because he couldn't handle his liquor and his tongue.

Overall a successful night and a good first night in town, even if it was the duty day.

After 30 days haze grey and underway

2007-08-02T07:15:00.001-07:00

I just spent the past 30 days haze grey and underway doing some exercises getting ready to head back out to show the flag, put warheads on foreheads, and defend the four points of light; whatever other sort of buzz phrase for foreign policy is being used in either the 5-sided wind tunnel, Halls of Wind, the garden of roses, and the halls of academia.
Overall it was fun and full of adventures with even more coming for a port visit to Southern Florida. Even cooler was doing the same with members of Royal Navy.
I am glad to be home and can't wait to spend the next month at home and spend it putting it back together.

Leaving on a jet plane

2007-06-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

So one of the joys of living on one coast and deploying from another is having to fly to get there. So I get a chance to pile myself along with a hundred to two hundred other people into either a DC-9 or a 737 (as per typical government contracts these are small bodied early versions) and fly at what seems like hours from the West Coast to marry up with my aircraft carrier on the East Coast. Before I fly out the day before or hours before I have to support launching my aircraft over to the east coast. Before even that about a week ago, I boxed everything up that my work center owns and then stuff it all into an 18 wheeler which should arrive, hopefully, by the weekend. Which means I will be spending the weekend working to get all my gear loaded on the ship and stowed in the spaces on the ship. Why do I share all of this with you all, because instead of hanging out with friends, the romantic interest, and my family for the 4th of July; I get to spend it haze grey and underway for the last minute practice also known as a COMPTUEX/JTFEX or COMPosite Training Unit Exercise and Joint Task Force Exercise. Both of these are where the carrier strike group (of which I belong to via my squadron) and the Expeditionary Strike Group (what use to be known as a Amphibious Ready Group) work together as a team. The ESG carries the land strike element of the United States big stick. That is also known as Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, Jarheads, Leathernecks, or just Marines.
We all work together to work completely together as an air,land,sea team. Fun stuff this is the last wicket that needs to be hit before going on the big 6 (or more) month deployment.

Finally, since I will be working hard trying to keep my jets in the air and am not cool enough like some other mil-bloggers to have constant Internet access while they are on a ship or deployed someplace. After the 4th this little road side attraction will be on hiatus for a while at least till I get back in to town.

Interesting name change because of history

2007-06-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

One of my friends sent a note about how Japan is changing the name of a famous island in both Japanese and American history. That is the island of Iwo Jima. Instead the Japanese are changing the name to the pre-war name of Iwo To. The government is doing this to make some of the former citizens feel better, because Iwo To is how the name was pronounced before the war and it was some Imperial Japanese Naval officers who made the mistakes of calling it Iwo Jima. I am not completely sure how I feel about this because as a student of history, when you look at a map and try to find area's where history has occurred you will see names change all over the maps of the world.

In case you don't know Iwo Jima is where 30,000 US Marines landed and faced off with 20,000 Imperial Japanese troops. One quarter of the Medal of Honor winners for the US Marine Corps were issued during the battle. Later on in the battle another 40,000 US Marines would land, at the end 25,000 men were casualties and 7000 were killed. If you crunch the numbers to take an island that is 8 square miles around the Marines suffered eighty percent casualties of those that landed. If you crunch it even further basically 32 men were injured or killed per every square mile to route out a fanatical enemy that was dug in and taught to die by their religious convictions. It was also a place that helped to fortify the mythos of the Marines. The US owned the island till 1968 when it was returned to the Japanese. Now it is a dual use base. 7th Fleet which is forward deploy in Japan uses the airbase there as a training field for carrier landings and the Japanese Air Self Defense Force usually has some fighters as quick reaction force based there.

This is the dedication of a memorial to the Marines lost during the attempt to secure the island on the 50th Anniversary. The man speaking is the Honorable John Dalton. The memorial was put up on the exact spot that the Joe Rosenthal Photo showed the second flag going up. The last two photos are from the 58th anniversary. 3rd MEF commander speaking in front of the dedication to the Japanese men and finally a shot of the island today.

You are the weakest link and you have failed as a leader.

2007-06-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

Naval Base Kitsap Command Master Chief Petty Officer gets only 9 months instead of 7 years.

All I have to say is this:

YOU ARE A PISS POOR LEADER AND DESERVED TO SPEND ALL THE TIME IN JAIL AS REQUIRED BY LAW. THEN SPEND TIME WITH THE HEAD SHRINKERS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU.

What former MCPO Scott got seems very similar to the khaki mafia influencing a mast or court martial to protect one of their own. This looks bad to any E-6 or less service member. Why? Cause given a chance and this was an blue shirt, the book and then some would have been thrown at him. Go ahead and yell at me for saying this, but those of you that are (were) CPO's or Officer and try to tell me that I am wrong are just not looking back with the rose-colored glasses off their nose.

If I could afford to gas it and maintain it.

2007-06-15T00:06:00.000-07:00

Deep thought for the day.

If I had the money to buy it, fuel it, and to maintain. Is a Grumman J2F Duck. I just think it would be cool to have at the local flying club on base. Then if I had a good weekend, hop in it with my fishing gear and find some secluded spot in one of the bay, coves, or lake. Spend the day fishing while sitting on the wing or in the radio operators station. Then when I have had enough, start the engine up again and come on home.

The Grumman J2F Duck is a further expansion of a design that Leroy Grumman borrowed from a former employer, Loeing Aircraft Co. It was so successful that it originally came into active service in the early 30's and served in a variety of locations and with either the US Navy or the US Coast Guard from 1931 until 1945.

It is a pretty easy aircraft from the maintaince side of the house. Just a rotary engine, hand cracked landing gear, cables and pulleys of the flight controls. In the cockpit there are some pretty simple gauges. A wet compass, a engine speed and temp guage, attitude indicators, then there is just a simple UHF radio that would be capable of doing radio direction finding. UHF radios aren't that hard to fix.

Like I said if I had the money for it. I would use it to go fishing or hunting in those hard spots to get to in other ways. I just think it would be a fun plane to play with where I am at right now.

Why does life throw curveballs?

2007-06-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

So life is going strong for me. I am in a great relationship with a beautiful woman, have just gotten a promotion, and am settled well in an apartment that I am renting. Then it happened, life in its finite wisdom threw me a curve ball.

I am expected to rotated from my current assignment in 12 months. "So what?", you say.

Big things.

The biggest question is where do I want to go to for my next assignment? Just looking at what is available is not good if I needed to rotate from here in the next 90days. It is all USS Neverdock scattered either here, San Dog, or Norfolk. On top of that if I want to stay in the community the only place to head off to is Japan and forward deployed. I am due to head to shore duty because I have done two sea duty tours with a short 9 month school in between them. Just looking at shore duty all I see locally is Always In Meetings Department. Which I am not really motivated to head to either. Been there, done that one, and got rid of the nervous tick.

What do I want to do? I want to head to either the school house and teach or head to the training squadron. If I do the school house then it is Monday thru Friday and a chance to get home by 1700. If I do the training squadron, I will still go to sea. Yet that will only be for two weeks then I am home. There are disadvantages to these choices.

My other choice is if I need to head back out to sea I would love to do a pacific deploying squadron and see some of the sights, sounds, tastes on that side of the world.

The other question is will the romantic interest react to me being forced to move if I can't stay in the area? I mean I am getting all back into the dating thing and really enjoy being with her. Yet, if it falls apart because I move away, then what? Do I become a hermit again and retreat to my job again or do I man up and try to date at my new duty assignment? Or will she stick by me and we just try to do the long distance thing?

I really liked Japan last summer I was there, but do I want to spend the next 3-4 years there?

I am so full of deep thought philosophical questions that unfortunantly only I can answer. I can try and talk to people about this, but still it is my decision. I am totally confused and unsure of what I should do.

Can you feel the love

2007-06-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

So through out a number of cities in the US they have what is called "Fleet Week" which is usually used to celebrate the US Navy and US Marine Corps. Most of the time it goes off like Fleet Week in New York City, a time when the Sailors and Marines of the US Department of the Navy are celebrated.

Yes, I will admit too that Fleet Week is most cities are a recruiting tool as well, but it is an awesome thing to be in town and get up close to people that only see the military on TV news shows or via some other media. Even better is to walk up to some child and get asked questions like, "Are you a real Sailor?". Shy girls that are still in high school come up steal your white hat to get a picture of themselves in it or want to model the closing scene of "An Officer and a Gentleman.". One also get a chance to meet old grizzled vets who where in places that aren't known about anymore. It is a good time. I have only personally done it once when we pulled in to Miami. It was fun.

Though some cities have felt pressures from some of the extreme groups in the US that feel all we need to do is hug the world and apologize. So as a way to protest they push to ban Fleet Week when that backfires they tone down the rhetoric to ban military performance teams such as the Blue Angels, Leapfrogs, or Thunderbirds. So they do like three peace groups in San Francisco does petition the City Council to end the fly over as a step to end Fleet Week in the city.

I see this and it upsets me from time to time. Mainly because people associate us in the military with what is wrong in the world and abuse us because either they don't agree with politicos in the White House or they don't agree with US foreign policy.

I have thought about it for a while and talked with friends of mine over either a pint of beer or cup of coffee, while have a civilized debate about this. One of my friends sent on a copy of Rudyard Kipling's Poem titled "Tommy". It is Kipling's attack on the British Empire's civilians forgetting that it was on the backs of its soldiers and sailors that made it the empire for which the sun didn't set on for the better part of 2 centuries. Basically the populace shows hate, yelled at, jokes made of, and in general discontent of having soldiers walking around in uniform of the character that is until the solider is needed to defend them. Then it is the solider who basically says that they are a proud bunch and they see the population's reaction when they are not needed.

This is very much not unlike what I have seen from a number of friends about the police. They are hated and yelled at, that is until someone is in trouble.
So with out further ado here is the poem "Tommy":

Tommy

by Rudyard Kipling:

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,

The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";

But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,

The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,

O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,

They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;

They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,

But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";

But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,

The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,

O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep

Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;

An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit

Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"

But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,

The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,

O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,

But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;

An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,

Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,

There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,

O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:

We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.

Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face

The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"

But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;

An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;

An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Think about this the next time you see people putting down the military or an individual solider. That most of us see this and at times it makes us angry, but we don't always express it out right. Why? Because at times it is like talking to a brick wall, or it just isn't worth it because some people have their minds set in concrete and are completely unwilling to change their minds. That is their lost.

My own connection to the 6th of June

2007-06-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

As I write this it is the 6th of June. This date is pretty historic for a number of reasons, just historical items that occurred today:

1862- The Battle of Memphis occurs in the American Civil War.
1918- The Battle of Belleau Wood begins during the First World War. It was during this day that the USMC was award the name "Teufelshunde" from their German opponents. "Teufelshunde" roughly translates into Devil Dog.
1942- The second day of operations during the Battle of Midway. The Japanese fleet is trying to retire and Spruance and Fletcher are conducting searches to make sure that another part of the Japanese fleet is not sneaking up on the two carriers left following the strikes on the 4th and 5th of June. Meanwhile the USS Yorktown is taken under tow by a fleet tug and they are attempting to make either Midway lagoon or Pearl Harbor to make repairs.
1944-Operation Overlord or the Invasion of Normandy, France begins.

It is with moment in history that I have my own connection to this historic event. On my mother's side of the family, both my grandfather and his brother (my uncle) joined the Navy during World War 2. My grandfather served as a Aviation Machinist Mate in a training squadron in at NAS Corpus Christ, TX. Meanwhile my uncle went to pharmacists mate and went to serve in the Atlantic. In as far as I have been able to track he was assigned in 1943 to a pre-commissioning crew for LST-280. Sailed with LST-280 to England and in 1944 loaded up for the big invasion. He was the Pharmacists Mate on duty that morning when the LST made her run into one of the American beaches on day. Though they didn't deliver their cargo until well after the beachhead was secured that day. After that they were part of the run to deliver more troops and supplies to the beach head over the next few weeks. It on one of the return trips to England that his ship was attacked by a German U-boat. According to the the family story as my aunt has told me, my uncle's ship was part of a convoy of transports and supply ships heading back to the English coast on the night of 15JUN44. His ship was transporting some wounded men from the fighting on the Normandy coast back to better hospitals in England. He has just assumed the watch in the LST's sick bay when a torpedo struck the side of the ship. The torpedo hit the compartment that my uncle slept in and his relief just laid down in. Killed him and according to the family story, along with some of the other men asleep in their bunks that night in the compartment. A couple hours of fire-fighting and damage control efforts later the fire was out, the hole in the ship of the ship patched enough for the ship to continue on back to England and made port. The dead were taken ashore to be buried and life continued on for the crew of this LST. Near the end of 1944 he went home to the east coast and was transferred to a Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Virginia for the rest of the war.

Unfortunately for me, my uncle passed on due to a heart attack a few years before I was born. So the most I have to run on is family stories from my grandparents and my aunt. Those along with some stories from some of my great-cousins are about all I know of the man. We have pictures as well, that though just isn't the same. The thing I would love to do when I get the time is file a request with the US National Archives and Records Administration for his service jacket and create a shadow box of all his awards, duty stations, ranks, and put in one corner a folded up American Flag and in another corner a picture of him that she has in his dress blues as a PH1. Give that to her for a birthday or Christmas. Now I just need to dig up his original service number and his full name, to do all of that.

Anyhow, that is my little connection to the 6th of June and the invasion of Normandy.

Some cool movies to watch

2007-06-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

I cruise YouTube every so often for interesting videos and ran across these little time wasters and decided to pass them on to you all to keep you entertained, while I craft my next deep thought about the world.

Scooters return to aircraft carriers.
First up is a video from the Brazilian Navy and VF-1 "Falcons". The Brazilian Navy has an aircraft carrier the ex-French Carrier Foch now renamed Sao Paulo and they operate from her some SH-3G Sea King anti-submarine helicopters and a number of A-4Ku Skyhawks, aka "Scooters".

The Mighty Grumman Prowler
This is a video shot by VAQ-141 of the Might Grumman EA-6B Prowler in flight and in action.

The same thing no matter what navy you are in.
This is a video from the French carrier Charles de Gaulle. It shows that the same scenes are repeated no matter where you are. Dawn patrol, plane captains up prepping jets for launch, FOD walk down, launch and recovery cycles.

A Big and Beautiful Plane
This is a shot of an North American A-5B Vigilante. This was a large and powerful aircraft designed in the 60's to deliver a nuclear weapon on to the Soviets. It had a novel way of doing it as well. As the plane executed what was called the "Idiot Loop" or a also known as an Half Cuban Eight to deliver the weapon on the target, the nuclear weapon would be ejected out the tail in between the exhausts. However, one minor issue was that the airplane was so clean when flying that she use to keep the bomb in her slipstream and actually drag it along with the tail cone and the two extra fuel tanks they put inside the bomb bay a little bit until the bomb fell out of the slip stream. That along with some other issues pulled the A-5 away from the nuclear strike role, rather she was modified with cameras and was used to cross the beach alone and unafraid at twice the speed of sound to take before and after pictures of US carrier air wings targets in Vietnam. The Viggie was a big beast as well. She weight in at well over 48 thousand pounds taking off or coming in to land on an aircraft carrier, the heaviest to date airplane to do so constantly. She was 76ft from the point on the nose to the blunt end of the tail. I don't know but for some reason this plane just looks cool in the air and on the ground. It looks and was fast. In general it looks cool.

Well I hope you get a kick out of these little time wasters. Stay tuned more coming up soon about the 6th of June.

General Quarters, General Quarters

2007-06-05T00:27:00.000-07:00

After a morning in which 3 US carriers centered around the USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Hornet (CV-8), and the slightly battered USS Yorktown (CV-5) and their respective air wings had found three of the four Japanese carriers that were part of an invasion force. It was just minutes before noon on the 4th of June, 1942 when strike force from IJMS Hiryu's (the last of the four and one of the six that bombed Pearl Harbor) air wing found the Yorktown. In quick succession three bombs were landed on her and that is when the real fun begun. Sailors trying to fight off the enemy, repair the ship, and return her to the fight. This historical photo from the US National Archives shows the sailors on the flight deck trying their darnedest to repair the flight deck and get the ship ready for flight operations again. Because an aircraft carrier with out a flight deck and an air wing is just a target.

Cruise reading

2007-06-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

Cruising on an Aircraft Carrier for 6+ months can get pretty boring at times. One of the ways that I find to bide my time is either bring a portable electronic gamebox, get in on a card game, or read a good book.

I am a person that a times has 3 or 4 books sitting on their bed side table for night time reading. It can get interesting when I am doing that with some fiction books. You lose track of who is who. When I was in middle school or high school I use to keep a spiral bound notebook by my bedside and create a scorecard of what was going on in each book. I have gotten past that now. Most of the time I have them stacked up on by bed side table for future reading. When I deploy though I am only able to carry a few things here and there. On top of that limited space and it becomes and issue of what books to bring. I have learned to bring thick, heavy, paperback books. I usually bring about 3-4 books that run in the thousand page plus, mainly because I read so fast and I usually try to read every place that I am at. After work sitting in my little sleeping cube with some music in my ears, waiting for a plane to land in the shop, going to lunch or dinner if I am going to eat alone, waiting for shift change, it really doesn't matter sometimes.

It also doesn't matter what I read either just something help me try and escape the ship for a while. I have read, "The Lord of the Rings", "The Fleet the Gods Forgot", "Red Storm Rising", "Introduction to Writings of Machiavelli", "Introduction to Airborne Radar Systems", "Short Stories of O.Henry", etc. I have read classics (or what most people consider classics), deep thought books, fun fiction, history, and job related educational books. Sometimes I get what I am reading, other times I don't understand some of what the author is trying to say. When that happens I put that book down and pick up another from my collection. The books that I don't understand I usually pick back up and try again. I don't ever try to admit that a book is above my intelligence. What I will usually turn around and do is again pick up a spiral bound notebook from my local supply clerk; and then create a mini-book club between me, myself, and I. At times the meetings can get very interesting because myself and I want to read fun things and me forces them to sit through the boring parts and really understand the chapter or pages that I have just read. Other times there are outright arguments when me falls asleep and then myself and I jumps ahead to an exciting portion in the book.

Anyhow, I am slowly gathering the books for this upcoming cruise I will be going on to keep myself entertained. So far my selections are as follows:

Democracy in America-Alexis De Tocqueville, This is the classic book by a Frenchman on how democracy was working the then new United States of America in the 1830's. Tocqueville traveled all through out the new republic and talked to people living in big cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City. He also traveled to some of the little towns up and down the major roads at the time and talked to the common man to understand their beliefs of democracy and American government at time. This will be an interesting read for me, because this book is always talked about by politicos and history professors of how democracy was allowed to flourish in Europe and elsewhere.

The Federalist Papers-Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, This is the collection of basically letters to the editor by some of the framers (Hamilton, Jay, Madison ) of the US Constitution on how the Constitution was supposed to work. These men were basically the lobbyist for ratification of the Constitution. They were also retorts to my other book choice. Most historians and political professors are able to guess who wrote which letters. At the time Hamilton, Jay, and Madison didn't want to be recognize so they used name Publius for signing off on all of the letters.

The Anti-Federalist Papers and Constitutional Convention Debates-Cato and Brutus. These were a series of letters to the editor that asked what sort of individual rights would of been granted under the New US Constitution when compared to the then Articles of Confederation. The people that wrote these letters maintained their anonymity as well, so well in fact that few modern historian actually know who wrote which letters. However, this book and its companion above give wonderful insight on how the constitutional debates and ratification process went. From what I have read in other places, the ratification debates make some of our current political debates (such as the war in Iraq, abortion, religion and government) pale in fire and passion.

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy - Ian W. Toll, this is the short history of the building of the United States Navy. From nothing but a naval militia in the places like New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts; to have 6 fast and powerful frigates that gave the dominate navy at the time (the Royal Navy) a run for their money, did some oversea adventuring and helped to replace a government in the Mid-east with a more US-friendly one, challenged the French Navy (Quasi-Naval War), and basically held the line to protect Yankee merchant vessels until Congress would get around to authorizing a real navy later on in the century. A book about men that are now part of the mythos of the USN. Petty Officer Reuben James, Captain Thomas Truxtun, Captain Edward Preble, Captain William Bainbridge, Lt Stephen Decatur, Captain Issac Hull, etc.

Raymond Chandler:Collected Stories- Raymond Chandler, Raymond Chandler created the hard-boiled detective story with a detective name Philip Marlowe. He did it along with Dashiell Hammiett and in turn created a whole new genre of mystery. The one that shows the slightly decaying underside of a big city. The one where the detective isn't a Mrs. Marple or a Sherlock Holmes, but rather a jaded human being that feels the same way as nearly all of us. They aren't always able to spot the obvious and solve the puzzle in a few steps, rather it takes them down a few blind alleys and trying to figure all the angles. The one where the pretty damsel in may not be the in distress and may actually be looking for a patsy. I didn't think I would of enjoy this type of book, but after reading The Big Sleep I really got a kick out the book and the writing. This is a collection of the short stories he wrote for detective magazines in the 1930's and '40's. It interesting to see him develop his writing styling.

Black Shoe Carrier Admiral:Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway & Guadalcanal - John B. Lundstrom, This was passed on to me by my father. John Lundstrom is a historian of some note inside Naval History. Most of his books that I have read are real well written and have plenty of fresh and new source material to prove his point. This one talks about Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, a man trained in how to run battleship fleets who was in command of carrier task forces at all the major battles and engagements of when the US Navy was up against the ropes. It was this black shoe who lead replenishment convoy in company of Adm. Brown and Lexington to Wake Island following Pearl Harbor only to be turned back by CINCPAC HQ. It was this black shoe was was in charge of Yorktown battle group and was there for Coral Sea. He was there with the Yorktown during Midway. He was there when the 1st Marine Division landed at the 'Canal. In turn because of choices he made in the heat of battle people have considered him an ineffective leader. Instead Lundstrom shows that he did the best that he could have and made the right decisions at the time when the massive fleet following 1943 wouldn't of begin to shown up. This looks interesting.

There are a few others, but these are going in the box of books I am going to mail my self just before heading to the ship on cruise. That way I don't have to lug them any place on my back or try and maneuver a big bulky box through the passage ways of the ship to where I sleep.

Scenes from the Flight Deck

2007-06-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

Returning after being restructured is the famous show "Scenes from the Flight Deck" to the Southern Air Pirate channel. Previous Episodes are now available here:
Pilot episode
Second episode
______________________
Scenes from the second episode
"That may have been what it was like in the old Navy senior, but I am part of the new Navy. You have to be ready to jump quickly and quick to draw. That being said, we are caught up for right now and since we just cross the Chesapeake Bridge-tunnel complex, Burger doodle is too far away now. The AT shop is heading to lunch and grabbing a bite to eat before the mess decks close."
"Okay, just remember that the man-over board is at 1300."
"Right-O"

So he and AT1 stumbled down the passageway remembering to try and pick up their feet over the knee knockers and carry on a conversation behind his back with the Uno.
"So where do you want to eat?"
"What do they have?"
"Dunno, usually they have sliders and fries up forward and back aft is the full meal. I would bet that since we just pulled out there might now be a line at either. So, we could..."
"Sliders sounds like a plan."
"Okay follow me."
They start to jink around the passageways up on the third deck above the hangar bay. For some reason only known to some one older them him, the hangar deck on a carrier is referred to as the main deck and everything above it is in the "oh" deck levels. They were on the oh-three (03) deck which is right below the flight deck (the 04 level) and where 99% of the staterooms and ready rooms were. Finally after moving through a couple of knee-knockers and turning through a couple of non-tight doors they came upon the ladder well that would take them right down to the line for the burgers and fries.
"We call them water burgers since they are nearly always sitting in a pan of liquid grease and look constantly wet. Sometimes we get lucky and they have fry season packets sitting out for us.", he said describing the menu to the uno.
"Gotcha."
Just as he was getting ready to say something else, the click of the general announcing system came on and three quick whistles
"THIS IS A DRILL, THIS IS A DRILL. MAN OVER BOARD PORT SIDE, MAN OVERBOARD PORT SIDE. ALL HANDS TO YOUR MUSTERING STATIONS. THIS WILL BE A BOAT RECOVERY."
"MUSTERING ROUTES ARE AS FOLLOWS, UP AND FORWARD ON THE STARBOARD SIDE. DOWN AND AFT ON THE PORT SIDE."
"THIS IS A DRILL, THIS IS A DRILL. MAN OVER BOARD PORT SIDE, MAN OVERBOARD PORT SIDE. ALL HANDS TO YOUR MUSTERING STATIONS. THIS WILL BE A BOAT RECOVERY."
"MUSTERING ROUTES ARE AS FOLLOWS, UP AND FORWARD ON THE STARBOARD SIDE. DOWN AND AFT ON THE PORT SIDE."
"Son of a..." they both said in unison as the turned and jumped up the ladder to head back to the shop.
At that instant some one was trying to come down the ladder. He thought about it for 5 seconds before realizing they were on the starboard side.
"Out of the way asshole you are going the wrong fucking way." As he shoved this person in coveralls which were neatly pressed with military creases and realized after a cursory examination was an non-petty officer with dual warfare pins.
"Obviously an admin punk who had nothing better to do then blow off real workers. While he got his pins gun-decked. "
They made it back to the shop in about 6 minutes and nearly everyone else was there. The night checkers were very unhappy and chief looked like he just woke up himself from a combat nap in the mess. AT1 took out his shift list and looked over.
"Anyone seen Airman Sanso?"
"Yea he is on his way, stupid bastard sleeps nude. That wasn't cool to roll out to." one of the night checkers that lived near him said.
"Okay."
30 seconds later in came the one missing man for the shop.
"South you want to dial maintenance and report AT's have everyone."
"TIME PLUS 10, MAN BEARS 075. MAKE MUSTER REPORTS TO DECK HOUSE ONE."
"Yea, Senior. AT's are here. All are accounted for. I know a few personnel issues need to still be resolved. Okay."
"Can we go now?" some one in the group pleaded.
"Nope not till they secure from Man Overboard." Chief said
"TIME PLUS 15, MAN BEARS 075. THE FOLLOWING DIVISIONS EXPEDITE MAKING MUSTER REPORTS TO DECK HOUSE ONE: X-1, V-1, OS, MEDICAL, VFA-99, CVW-19, DESRON100."
For the next five minutes it went like that until at the 20 minute mark the constant screech of the 1mc changed yet again.
"TIME PLUS 21, MAN BEARS 075. THE FOLLOWING PERSONNEL REPORT TO DECK HOUSE ONE WITH THIER ID CARDS: AN SMITH, V-1 DIVISION; AN BEGANI, V-1 DIVISION; HN CHOCKER, MEDICAL; LT JOHNSON CVW-19; MR. ROBERT BONES CVW-19."
"Well at least Cobra's made it. We are usually lucky like that." he said to no one in general.
At 28 minutes later everyone was accounted for, the last one to be found was the AN Smith. After which the XO of the ship came on and went on for another 5 minutes about the need to do better and team Neverdocd.
"Okay night check can roll back to their racks." AT1 said
Grumbling and groaning they all staggered out.
"Well that was interesting. Do they always take that long?" AT1 asked
"Not really, but the boat chucks are pretty new." ,he said while looking at his watch, "Goddamit, we missed lunch and now the only thing worthwhile to eat is the taco bar."
"I don't feel like tacos."
"Good cause they aren't very good. Dried out meat or over spiced chicken and usually broken shells or ripped up soft shells."
"Hang on, I will get you two some burgers from the mess" Chief said for the first time after the start of the man overboard.
"Alright, lets go get the skids and the rest of the crap."
"Okay just follow me."
So for the next hour they went all over the hangar bay getting the gear together just in case they had to drop pods.
When they came back up to the shop there was one of the ITs and a pair of civilians standing outside the shop door.
"We are here to hook up your computers to the LAN and give you email and NALCOMIS access." the IT said
"Okay"
For the next 10 minutes of screwing around with the IT, a boat IT, and the civilians find out that of the three drops in the shop all but 1 didn't work and the one that did work was in a bad position to get to because it was behind the workbench. Yet, after it all it they finally got the two NMCI computers they brought out hooked up and email running.
They both separated and started to check their email on the separate computers.
After logging in he immediately clicked the icon for MS Outlook and waited for that to load.
The first thing message was from the AZ2 in charge of NALCOMIS, basically a link to the server while out to sea.
He skipped that one and looked through the 15 or 20 messages that had been stacking up since he forwarded he email the Friday when he got off from work before the flights out. When he finally found the two with the name he was looking for.
The romantic interest had written him twice. Once asking how the flight some general life subjects, the other email was some questions about himself. They had just barely known each other for a few days before he had to ship out. So it was perfectly natural to sit back and start to answer these questions.

About as funny as a Don Imus joke

2007-06-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

So my folks sent me an article about an incident over at a cemetery on Orcas Island which is part of the San Juan Islands in Washington state. I am from Washington state and my folks still live in the state. At times it can be very liberal and "progressive", yet this just takes the cake.

For those of you that haven't jumped to the link just yet here is the long of the short. Just before Memorial day a cemetery on Orcas Island was vandalized. Small little American flags that were placed in front of veterans graves were burned up and a number of them were replaced with hand drawn swastikas. So the local American Legion replaced those and it happened again the next night. Talking to my parents this hasn't caused much hand wringing in Seattle or some of the other big cities surrounding Seattle. Heck on the Tuesday edition of one of the papers and the local news stations this story was below the fold inside the local news section and after the 25 minute mark at the 5pm news.

That really hasn't caused me to hand wring that much either, because I see it every so often where I am living. Some of the hate and discontent directed at myself or my shipmates because of foreign policy decisions made by the White House or Congress. Even more interesting to see is the people take up how we are overpaid bloated and in general useless. I have become use to not letting it get to me.

I do get burned up at this desecration of some one's grave. It annoys me just the same as if the perps hadn't done it to vets graves but damaged some one's dear loved one headstone or stone angel or whatever memorial marker. This isn't being funny or trying to make a statement. This is outright dis-respect and at least in my humble opinion turn people off of your statement. If you can't reasonable debate your position and at least be open to hear the other side then I really think you don't deserve to be part of the conversation with the adults. There are plenty of people out there that I feel are like this some of them are the politicos ranging up from city council members to Congress members, selected teachers at the levels of US education system, and some people in general who base their stereotypes on Hollysleeze movies and those books/print journalism that supports their opinion. The most that these people can do is scream and shout and when you don't agree with them then insult you or your belief systems.

Now don't get me wrong I love people that have contrary ideas or positions. I am also pretty open about listening to what people have to say, because it challenges me to think hard and fast about my own position. I am also a person that believes that as long as you and me can agree to disagree and still shake hands at the end of the bottle of beer or cup of coffee, then that has been a good debate. I just wish more people were that tolerant. Oh, well to those the most I can say is this:

"Thank you for your support."

Seconds after recieving the frocking letter

2007-05-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

So today I receiving the frocking letter from Rocket 1, my life changes literally seconds after the frocking ceremony ends. I am told that for the weekend duty I am the section leader, not a problem been there and done that when I was a second class in another command. Then everyone else in the section mobs me like little birds chirping for their food.

"I can't stand this watch AT1."

"I need to switch because my wife/girlfriend/mother-in-law needs..."

"I would like to switch because I am standing watch the night before or..."

Same old excuses I have heard all the time. Got to love being in large and in charge. So two large asprin later I think I have a handle on things.

The best piece of advice that I heard was from one of my LCDR's today and that this:

"What I wouldn't give to be a Lieutenant or Second Class Petty Officer again. Why? Because I was old enough to be in charge, but still sort of young enough to shrug my shoulders and admit that I didn't know better when I made a mistake. I will give you 24hours after which the light at the end of the tunnel is in reality the oncoming train of more responsibility."

Yours truly after reciving his letter of frocking.

Oh and for those of you that don't know.

Frocking is what we in the US Navy do to the enlisted personnel about thier promotion. They are authorized to wear the uniform of the next higher pay grade and recieve some of the bennies but aren't allowed to actually get paid for it until the actual promotion warrant comes through. Sort of like being a college graduate. You have this piece of paper telling you that you have a degree in underwater basket weaving from U of State. It doesn't mean anything till you actually get a job paying for underwater basket weavers.

Honoring those that have come before us and those still at peril

2007-05-31T01:58:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite bloggers to read is Neptunus Lex. Interesting points about his life, politics, and going back to school. Anyhow, in his post titled "Remembering" he talks about doing more on Memorial day then hanging around the house and watching either your favorite John Wayne war movie or catching the Indy 500. Rather look at either giving your time or some money to groups that are trying to help the injured get back on their feet, help the active duty have a sense of home, and in general help those out that are in the uniform.

I would make the suggestion to do the same thing. More then that though I would urge you gentle reader to take time and head to your local cemetery or if you live close enough to one head to a National Cemetery with your family. Take a couple of flags and some flowers, go and introduce yourself to some of those men and women who served to make sure "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth". That is something my grandfather, my father, and my uncle use to do with me and my younger sister. I saw people that survived the horrors of war to die of old age after earning their life; I saw people who were in the prime of life cut down in places such as the green fields of Lexington, outside the halls of Montezuma, some place called Belleau Wood, Cavitie, Kassarine, Lebanon, or some foreign port; I saw people who on some lazy Sunday morning didn't even have a sporting chance. It puts it all in to perspective with me when I did that. For every John Wayne and Audie Murphy, there were people like Joe Sailor, Joe Airman, Gung Ho Marine, Hey Joe solider. Some of these people did it because they were honorable people. Others joined because it gave them a chance to improve their lives. Some people I have meet joined because a women thought men in uniform looked cute. Finally others did it not because they believed in the politics of the cause or the politics of the person in the White House, rather they did it because their friends joined and to leave their friends in the lurch goes against what they were taught to be a decent and honorable human being.

Anyhow, as I re-write this for the billionth time I just think that you dear readers take the time to visit your local cemetery and put a simple flower at the marker at the grave of some service member. Take your family there and talk to them about it, teach your children to honor those that gave their lives to protect them. Teach them to be respectful to those in the uniform of the military. That is what I ask the most of each and every one of you.

First round is on me

2007-05-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

Advancement results are out and this poor pirate has advanced from an second class petty officer to a first class petty officer. Time to celebrate and whoop it up, on top of that pay day came early cause of the holiday.

So I am going out with some family and friends to buy the first round as is tradition. Not driving, so first round may turn into many rounds and a good long sleep. So it may take a while to post some thoughts about this up coming weekend.

Long days, longer nights, and magical drinks

2007-05-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

So it has come to be that I am in the wonderful state of Nevada with my squadron and air wing doing our part to fully integrate ourselves into a successful team that nearly every carrier air wing becomes. Flying hard against nimble little F-5E's or F-16N's. Dropping live ordnance in near real world conditions against real targets. Practicing pumping electrons into the air to screw over the bad guys abilities. Dropping in SEAL teams to practice rescue of down aviators, then slipping back in to pick them up before the bad guys know what happened. What we are doing is very similar to the summer training camp of pro-football (or American football for my readers who live overseas). Everyone is pretty good at their part of the play book. Now it is time to bring together the offensive tackles, running backs, wide receivers, and quarterbacks and operate as a team. The only downside with what we are doing right now is the aircrew are flying hard and at least to a few of my people seem as though they are actively trying to break the jets. So after the last flight secures for the night it is work hard to get the downing discrepancies up again and get the jet ready for the next day. I am part of that team, working hard at night to get my jet the might EA-6B ready to fly again. So every day I show up at 1630 (or 4:30pm for you military types), get the debrief from the day checkers about what is going on and then either start to work or launch the night strikes. Why night strikes? Cause we own the night!
Anyhow, 10-12 hours later we secure. Head back to our BEQ rooms for either a shower, food and sleep. At least that is what I had planned one night after we were lucky to get out early (like midnight early, instead of the usual 0330-0400) on night checks weekend which is a Thursday night.
One of the wonderful things about being in Nevada is how nearly every town has a casino. Well right in Navy town, Nevada there are a few casinos but the tables close early. If you want the all day and all night experience you either need to head to Sin City or head to Casino Town. Sin City is about 18hrs away from Navy Town, so that is out. Casino Town on the flip side is only about an hour and half away (or less depending on how fast you drive on US 50).
So this one Thursday, things wrap up pretty early and most of us are amazed about what is going on and as part of the talk on the way back to our rooms. Some one gets the bright idea that since pay day is that Saturday, we don't need to be back until Sunday night, and there are a couple of vans ready for use a road trip is called for. The minute I heard that I just rolled my eyes and told myself that it isn't worth the effort, let alone trying to keep a few of these guys wrangled together. So as we walk down the hall way in the BEQ the plan becomes firmer and firmer, I walk into my room and don't pay attention to the rest of the talk. Bad move on Southern's part. Why? Well the plan hung up on this one fact, who could duty drive back to Navy Town from Casino Town. The first name to pop into most of their heads all with in about 30 nanoseconds of each other was Southern's. Meanwhile I am changing and getting ready for a hot shower and bed, when a knock at the door beckons. Who is that my mind wonders? None other then the ring leader of the Bachelor Pad. The Bachelor Pad is the name we have assigned a huge house in a nice neighborhood back home where the a number of guys are all splitting rent and crashing at. I have been invited over a couple of times and the most that I can say is this, the fridge is stock full of either Bud light or Coors and the only food to be found is Top Raman. Other then that, it is our version of Animal House.
"What do you want?" I asked in a semi-annoyed tone
"Will you drive us over the hill?"
"How many...No forget it. I am going to try and get some sleep early on tonight."
"Oh come on, we are only going to be there for a few hours, just long enough to get our gambling on and our drink on."
"No!"
"Southern, come on most of us have pre-flighted already and none of us can agree on who should drive and we will behave ourselves. You won't have to baby-sit."
I should of shut the door, but my devil got the better of me. So I agreed but only after I had a chance to get a quick shower. Which worked out since most of this crew were doing the same thing.
About 30minutes later I am sitting out in the lounge waiting for the crew, when they all come up. I am tossed the keys and we pile outside into a mini-van.
The only rule that I stipulated was that when 3/4's of us were ready to bounce, we were going. If you don't make it to the van on time, well it looks like you are walking back. Agreed on by all parties.
Negotiate the gate obstacles and we are out in the desert listening to some one's Ipod and cruising down the road. Through Navy Town to US 50 and to the west we go. It amazed how once we got up on highway 50 most of the people past out or kept to themselves as they tried to pick out various objects to look at. The only thing that caused a serious topic of discussion was when we past the Ranch just outside Casino Town. Some of the guys wanted to stop in and say hi to the girls there.. I put a quick stop to that one, we already had a plan and I didn't feel like deviating from it. Besides I told most of them, if they were really into it if they started to win big at the tables plenty of girls would hang on to them and they might be able to get it on for free.
Tempers calmed we came over the last hill crest and saw the big lights of Casino Town. Lights announcing that the Nugget has a players program and one could get a free lobster dinner if you joined, Harrahs had a new Keno room, so on and so forth. I quickly asked which casino was the choice and most everyone agreed to Harrahs. Simply because a couple of the guys belonged to the one from back home and we could get a discounted late night meal. So off of 50 and into down town Casino. Up a couple of streets and into the parking lot of the Harrahs. As the doors opened up, I held everyone up and asked for an agreed upon muster time. After yet another discussion/argument the group think came up with noon. I rolled my eyes and agreed to that one.
Walking into the casino, the first thing that I went to look for was the buffet room and see if I could grab a bite to eat. I was lucky in that I got in there just as they closed the doors to the last customers. So I was able to pay ten dollars for the left overs, some over done prime rib (which was still good) some decent steam veggies and a soda.
After enjoying a warm meal, I walked out and decided to try my hand at some gambling.
Now, I have been to casinos before and have found that I enjoy playing the table games such as black jack, poker, baccarat, and every so often craps more then I do the slots. So there it was that I walked up to a black jack table and cashed in a hundred dollars.
One of my tricks to not get caught up in gambling fever is to take out how much I am willing to risk and then put my ATM card in either my room or the car. That way if I need cash I have to walk out and calm down on the way to restock my funds.
So there I was sitting down with a hundred dollars worth of chips in front of me and started to play. It was about that time the magical drinks started. I had a waitress come by and ask me what I wanted. I told her that I was the D.D. and only wanted a soda. A couple of plays later, I am up by about 75 dollars and a small glass appears in front of me with a soda in it. I drink that down while in the process of losing 45 dollars. I polish off my drink and get up to plus hundred dollars. It was then that some how my drink changed from just soda to a liquor and soda. I remember just ordering soda. That is when my night started to go down hill. I don't remember after the first few whether my drink ever emptied. It seemed as though the glass was always topped off. I also don't remember paying for any of it. The only thing I do remember is realizing that I had a buzz on and it was something close to 0600. I remember sitting down at 0200 at the table and just having a soda. The only good thing was that I was up by 425 dollars when I walked away. Basically I had in my pocket 525 dollars scattered between bills and fifty cent pieces in my pocket.
Bathroom time and then my stomach told me that it was also food time. I walk out the casino and down the street. Find an all night diner, so I turned walked in. Sat down and then seem to fit the bill all the way around for me. Because they sold newspapers behind the counter and had a wonderful western omelette special for something like six dollars. While I am sitting there reading the paper and waiting on my meal, my mind all of a sudden comes free of the booze haze. It tells me that I am an old dog and can't hang like I use to with the young pups. Because it is also craving a warm, soft, bed to lay down in; along with the food that is supposed to be coming up. Scarf down the omelette and hash browns with a large glass of OJ. Decided that my best course of action is to hang out in the van and crash there. Walk back to the parking lot, get in lock the doors and turn my cellphone to vibrate and loud next to my neck.
Some how I am not disturbed for the next eight hours, because it wasn't noon rather about 1300 (or 1pm for you military types) that I get a phone call asking me where I am.
"In the van waiting."
"Right we are on the way."
Everyone piles in and most of them look just as bad as I do, except they are drunk and haven't slept a wink. The drive back was peaceful because the minute we hit the highway everyone passed out. I rocked out to the oldies station the whole way back and crossed the gate by 3pm and was crawling back into my bed when the romantic interest called my room, she was asking how the day went. "Uhhhh!" is all I was up to saying. What we talked about is for another story for another time dear readers.

I just relearned a lesson that I already knew, but forgot. What was that?
Trying to hang with the pro-am drinkers isn't good for me
Long work weeks means longer weekends to recover
Don't drink the casino drinks because they never seem to empty out.
Stick with water or soda at the table, helps you think clearly
Finally just say no to road trips with the know party animals.

For Every Flight Hour.....

2007-05-24T05:52:00.000-07:00

One of the bloggers that I love to read every so often is Neptunus Lex. He is an ex-F18 jockey, Top Gun student, Top Gun instructor, and XO of a carrier. Now he is living the life of luxury in San Dog, trying to finish off a masters in something that is way above my head. One of his the subjects he blogs about every so often is something he calls "Plane p0rn". An example of which is here.
I will admit that I love airplanes too, but also hate them. Simply because I am now in the business of maintaining them. So for every flight hour some one like Lex, Jake Grafton, Harry Brubaker, "Spig" Wead, Buzz Sawyer, and Steve Canyon are up there living the dream. There is someone turning wrenches well into the early dawn trying to give them the best airplane out there. Whether that is a Sopwith Camel, Boeing F4B, Douglas SBD Dauntless, Douglas A-1 Skyraider, Mcdonnell F2H Banshee, Grumman A-6 Intruder, Grumman EA-6B Prowler, or even the MacAir F-18 Hornet. Why do we do it? Well beyond the job, for some of us there is some job satisfaction to see an airplane you poured sweat, blood, curse words, angry punches, and tears into leave the pointy end of a carrier deck. Then an hour and forty-five minutes later it comes back home over the broad end. The aircrew get out, come down to maintenance and tell the maintainer that the plane was 5.0 and the only gripe was the relief tube was too short or the seat cushion might need to be washed. So here are some shots that I have gathered over my life time or taken myself of those framers, tweaks, light bulb changers, stitch bitch, mech, or line rat doing thier part to ready an airplane for the next day's dawn patrol, close air support, combat air patrol, tanker package, or early warning mission.

Oh and bonus points to those of you old enough to know who Jake Grafton, Harry Brubaker, Steve Canyon, Buzz Sawyer, and "Spig" Wead are. Also I know that it is now Boeing F-18, but I am old and remember when Boeing made bombers and the F-18 was a MacAir product.

Random thoughts

2007-05-15T04:45:00.000-07:00

Been busy on a rescue det for one of my airplanes and then having to roll down to a training base in Nevada a couple of weeks ago, which I am still at. I have been busier then a one-legged man at a butt kicking contest. When I get back home and things slow down for me may give me a chance to get caught up on some of my postings.

Just some quick notes to pass on to some of my military readers:

It takes a high school education to fix what a college education breaks.
Even without a degree I have seen some kids show up Rocket 1 cause they took it upon themselves to learn how a system worked inside and out. I have also seen Rocket 1 get humble and thank one of my kids for showing him more then he forgot about said system. It is all about tact, now if some of the LCDR's and senior LT's learn that fact. Just because you graduated top 10% of the top 10% of U of Ivy League doesn't make you smart. Respect needs to go both ways.

Losing people put a serious bummer on a training det
Not any of mine and that is all I am going to say about that.

Shift wars suck
Those of you in some sort of maintenance department anywhere in the world understand that statement.

Repeat after me. I am an old dog and trying to keep up with the young pups only leads to butt drag at work.
Long nights at work and after getting off, going over the the hill to Casino town and staying in town till shift change cause everyone is doing well at the Blackjack or Poker tables isn't good on a body. Even harder when every time you put a sniffer full of brandy or a bottle of beer it magically refills itself on the table. I wish I could find out how the casino's do that magic trick, cause I really need it back home.

The 750,000th time is lucky charm
This humble scribe may have found happiness in a blind date. If you consider only a few quick dates before flying out to Training town and long phone calls where she says "I miss you" good. Honestly, I don't care what you think, cause I am happy for right now and as the song goes I will probably be obvlious to everything else in the world cause I am falling in love with a woman.

4hrs on the phone isn't long is it? What if it is with a beautiful, smart, and wonderful woman?
Enough said

Last random thought for the day is this one:

Cameras are verbotene at command gatherings where one's choice of drink is Jose, Jack, Jim, James, Bud, Mich, and jungle juice.
Unless you got pics of Rocket 1 picking his nose, the new ensign showing how he put himself through college, and finally how the one of the aircrew earned that call sign full of innuendo . It isn't blackmail. Rather an insurance policy...that's it. My....I mean... an insurance policy. Oh and don't ask what is in jungle juice, just know that it can either calm the savage beast or turn them into a screaming banshee.

Scenes from the Flight Deck

2007-04-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

On the last episode the following scenes occurred:
"Where is the coffee?" He growled looking worse for wear then the other two in the space.
"So chief went out with the rest of the mess and tied one on. I wonder how bad he is hung over or was yesterday a special occasion because we are away from home and chief operates on a separate set of rules versus home?"

Before anyone else had a chance to say something the phone rang, startling everyone in the little space not much bigger then the walk-in closet that her home had. As that though cross his mind, a smirk crossed his lips as his hand grabbed the receiver.
"Cobra Avionics, AT2 Southern, how may I help you sir/ma'am?"
"South, Maintenance meeting has been moved back to 0715." A female voice called to him over the phone.
"0715 meeting, rog."
He hung up the receiver.
"That was AZ2, as you heard maintenance meeting has been pushed back to 0715. Josh why don't you go and grab some breakfast up forward. I think they were still serving as I came up. Or at least you can grab some cereal. Chief, this isn't like back at the beach. We haven't drawn our coffee issue yet. Technically the pot" ,and as he said that his arm pointed out to the percolators pot that was sitting on top of the large gray safe in the space, "is illegal since there are a number of hoops you need to jump through while on board, USS Neverdocd to run a coffee mess."
"Oh right I forgot. Looks like I will have to stumble back down the mess and get coffee from one of their pots. See you guys in a few."
"S, I will take you up on your offer. Go ahead and take the meeting. I am going to try and grab some food."
"Hey, where is maintenance? I know it moved."
"03-60-1. Just down the way from the HS bubbas."
"Ahh, I know where you are talking about now. Thanks.
Both of them walked out and he was left to his thoughts for a few moments. He looked around and realized he was an old hand at this now. After doing a six and half month cruise in this space it hadn't changed much from two years previously. The only thing missing was the scrawny little 13in TV that was on the workbench. at the one end of the space.
"Hmm, that is interesting. I guess no more Roger Ball show for a while. Got to remember to ask about that at maintenance. Which reminds me where is the pass down log"
He looked around for a couple of minutes and found the pea green book which was the size of the standard spiral notebooks he use to have in school. Picking it up and flipping till he found an blank page and started to put down the standard lines for notes and info. He then went and wrote down the fact that a TV was missing from the space. Looking at the few meager toolboxes they brought out. Nearly all of which still had the tape from when they were packed up back at home. The ring of the bells across the announcing system and a quick check of his watch told him that it was 0700 and time to find the maintenance desk and a good place to sit.
Down the passageway and around the corner to find the maintenance desk. This was a bigger maintenance control then they had during cruise, but it was in a worst space. Just up the way was the starboard side entrance to the 03 wardroom. Nearly all the air wing and to an extent the ship's airdale officers would stomp their way past the desk on the way to get some food from there. Opening the bottom of the dutch door he walked into maintenance.
"Morning Domitila. Do we have a workloads?"
"Yea, about that. Robyn just unpacked the server and we are awaiting the IT's to come by and set the sucker up."
"Right, welcome to the boat. Oh joy." he said a little sarcastically
"Yea, welcome to the boat." she answered and a smile crossed her face.
"You seen the controllers or the brain?" he asked wondering why the none of the maintenance chiefs were in nor was the Maintenance Master chief was in. It was a real surprise to not see the MMCPO in since back at the rock he was an early riser and usually in before everyone screening his own copy of the full squadron workload.
"Last time I saw any of them was last night when I came staggering on board from grabbing dinner and some drinks. They were pretty wild, crazy, and very drunk."
"I know my new chief just came in and looked like some form of death warmed over."
Just as he said that the door opened again and a tall, blond hair man with some small glasses on his mousy looking face walked in. He looked pretty rested and wide awake, standing there in front of both him and AZ2 in his khakis.
"A few of your guys stay out too late at Green's last night Southern?"
"No, Senior. I was just asking about a few of the other people that we know about."
"Okay. AZ2 where is my FBI and why aren't the workloads in the baskets ready to be passed out."
Southern looked back at the AZ2 while this was being said and watched her mouth something, roll her eyes, and then say the same thing to the Senior Chief that Southern heard just seconds before.
The rest of the maintenance supervisors checked in and a slight rise in things as people started to trade stories on what they did in town.
"Okay people, lets get this thing started." Senior started to say and with that things quieted down.
"All of them but 502 are up and on the beach. 502 has a slow to indicate gripe. 120, we have the contact info for the beach det. Lets get ahold of them before the brow goes up and find out what they need. "
"Right Senior"
"Other then that a few gripes from the cross country that the beach det was able to settle. We are expecting to start CQing tomorrow. Get the shops squared away today and get what SE you all need now. CAG has also stated that the man overboard should be going down around 1300. The rule for us is muster the shop and call Maintenance. Also get a list together of things wrong or missing in the shops and spaces owned by us. Final thing is shift lists folks! We don't all have inputs as to who is playing on first. So get an updated list to maintenance admin."
Everyone started to file out. AT2 staggered out with the rest of them and walked back to his shop.
As he punched the combo into the lock to enter, the 1MC spoke again with bells announcing it was 0800.
"That didn't seem like a 30min meeting, but we probably didn't have much so I just zoned the rest of it out. Oh well."
He walked in thinking that. Looking around he noticed just AT1 in the shop.
"Where is Chief?"
"Went down to the mess to see if he couldn't wrangle breakfast and coffee."
"Okay. Big things from maintenance is get ready for underway. CQ starts tomorrow, knock out the SE draw today. Possible MOB at 1300, typical for the squadron is face to face in the shop and then a phone call or runner to maintenance to announce full muster. 502 is down with a gear issue. No workloads yet, nowcommunist is being a pain to set up through the ships network. Oh yea! As per the norm, maintenance admin has lost the shift lists that we submitted before coming out on this pleasure cruise. So before shift change today, we need to give them a new one. Email it or drop it off in person, doesn't matter."
"Right, so what else do we need to get?"
"Skids, Hoists, SHOLS, Pulleys; that is about it"
"Gotcha"
"So what first?"
"We can get the Hoists down in GSE and the SHOLS and Pulleys from AIMD. Both of those shops are right next to each other."
"Okay show me where these are and lets get ready to catch jets."
For the next two hours it was up and down ladders as he lead his new boss around the ship showing him the important spots on the ship.
Showing back up in the shop, his stomach started to growl. Taking a peek at his watch he realized that it was 30 minutes past noon. The ship had shift colors and gotten underway, or at least as underway as a modern super carrier could have about an hour earlier.
"Hey Josh, Do you want to go and grab some lunch." he stated to the AT1.
"Why what time is it."
"Noon-thirty or 1230 for you non-military types."
"Damn is it that late?"
"Yep and if we don't hurry we will be forced to grab a bite in the taco line. Considering that it is a Monday and the Neverdocd always has tacos and fake-Mexican food for eats on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. I would say lets head down to the forward galley for a water-burger."
"Sounds like a plan."
So they both walked out of the shop and on the way past maintenance, he stuck his head in real quick.
"Hey Senior, AT shop is unmanned. We are grabbing a bite to eat."
"Did you...."
"Yea we got skids, pulleys, shols, and all the rest of the stuff. Everything is tied down for heavy seas. 210 is ready to head back to the boat and back out to sea. Any other dumb questions?"
The senior chief got a quick smile across his face
"AT2 in my days long ago.."
"What when you were the first mate on the Ark?"
"Don't question my age son! Didn't your folks teach you proper respect for your elders? As I was saying in my days long ago as a blue shirt, I would wait until the chief, senior chief, or master chief had finished his statement before answering questions."
"That may have been what it was like in the old Navy senior, but I am part of the new Navy. You have to be ready to jump quickly and quick to draw. That being said, we are caught up for right now and since we just cross the Chesapeake Bridge-tunnel complex, Burger doodle is too far away now. The AT shop is heading to lunch and grabbing a bite to eat before the mess decks close."
"Okay, just remember that the man-over board is at 1300."
"Right-O"

Scenes from the Flight Deck

2007-04-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

He saw her face. That beautiful brunette with that cute smile, little twinkle in her eyes as she laughed, and those beautiful lips that were great to kiss. Her lips where moving and he could hear her voice say, "I love you and write you as you are gone. Give me one last kiss before you go."
He was confused and tried to say that he was right here and wasn't going any place. Yet just as he opened his mouth to say something instead a constant buzzing started to go off behind him. As he turned around to find the buzz it just go louder and louder. He tried to turn back to tell her to hold on, but she had disappeared from in front of him. Instead the world got very black and started to grope for light switch when a sharp pain came to his legs and a voice called out to him....

"Owww, god damn it."
His eyes popped open to the voice and to the feeling of a foot on his lower leg.
"Huh, Whaaa, where the hell am I?"
Sit up the little voice at the back of his mind called out.
"Okay" Another part of his mind said in return.
He sat up right when a sharp pain came to his forehead which caused him to slam his head back to the pillow. He then realized where the hell he was. Once more back on the boat and because the plane he was on was late he was on the bottom rack on one side of a six man cube. More thoughts started to come to his head and his mind started to spin up to speed. It was then that he realized the pain came from guy on the rack above him who was big footed and couldn't just swing out and fall out of the middle rack. His hand found the rack light and turned it on, that was when bright light startled him part of his mind said to turn it back off. The buzzing came back to his ears and he looked around. That was when he noticed his alarm clock up near the pillow on a little shelf that some one decided this rack was lucky enough to have. As more people stirred around him he felt for the little flip-flops that he wore to the shower and threw those out. He then pulled the little curtains that gave him some measure of privacy.
After pulling back the curtains he looked out and realized that no one else was stirring in his cube, so he picked up his clock and pushed the little button to shine light on the time.
"0500, What time did chief say we had to be in?"
"0630" came from some other part of his brain.
"Good if I can move fast enough there might be time to get breakfast in."
He rolled out of his rack and put his feet into the flip-flops. Stood up and stretch the stiffness out of his arms and legs. "Gosh those racks are never long enough to stretch out completely."
He then bent back down and took a chain off his neck. This chain held his dog tags and the key to his locker. Popping the lock off his rack and pop-up the cover which he was just sleeping on just minutes ago. Digging around he found the leather kit bag, his father had given him after checking into his first sea command. After closing the locker and lock, then pulling on the lock to make sure it actually locked he stumbled out of the compartment past others coming back from showering or just getting dressed.
The area was bathed in a red glow from the red lights in the passageway. The didn't hurt his eyes as much the white light that was his rack light. Into the head and finding the first empty sink. Put the kit bag down opening it up and pulling out the toothbrush and tooth paste.
About 10 minutes later after brushing his teeth and get a shave in he was back in front of his open rack this time feeling for a white t-shirt, pair of skivies, black socks, and the coveralls that were standard wear for in port. Stripping out of the t-shirt and Bahama shorts he wore to bed last night, then down to nothing as he pulled off the skivies he had worn since yesterday morning getting on the big C-40A that took him from the west coast to the east coast. 10 minutes later he was finishing up adjusting his boot laces when he picked up his clock and saw that the total morning ritual took about 40minutes. "15 minutes longer then normal. Can't let that happen too often." On out of the berthing compartment and down to the mess decks. Walking about 40 or 50 feet till he arrived at the outboard passageway he remembered from cruise two years ago and went out and down the ladder well that took him from the 03 level down to the second deck and the mess decks. All the way to the bottom he noticed there wasn't a line at all.
"What luck, I might actually be able to get some eggs and bacon in me before work instead of cereal."
Grabbing a tray and plate he walked down the line and scooped some scrambled eggs and bacon and healthy scoop of grits on to the plate. Walking past the grill with a cook that had a bored expression on his face, then past all the donuts and other breakfast pastries that the bake shop had made the night before. He arrived in another space which had various juice and soda machines set up. Grabbing a couple of plastic cups from the dispenser at the start of this line he walked past the fresh fruit.
"Oh joy they have oranges and they look pretty fresh and ripe. I think I will have two right now and save one for later in the day."
Grabbing 3 oranges off the pile that sat in the refrigerated tray, he went further down to one of the juice machines. Pushing the button for the fruit punch into both cups he went past everything else and went into the seating area. Finding a seat he sat down and started to shovel the breakfast down and was left to his own thoughts for a few moments. Those thoughts keep returning to her.
It was a few moments later and the ring of a bell and the ship's announcing system that told him the time.
"Reveille, Reveille, All hands heave up and trice too."
"0600, oh joy." He said to no one.
Going around to another part of the seating area he got in line to turn in his dishes. Dumping the scraps into the trash and handing off the pieces of his dishes to the various windows in the scullery. He got out of the line and started to walk further to find the ladderwell that would take him right up near his shop. But first he had to put the extra orange into his pocket, because technically taking food off the mess decks is bad juju.
"I might need it for later if I miss lunch, cause I don't know when the main ships store will open and it is healthier then the candy bars in the vending machines down here."
Getting up to the shop he realized that the door was shut and he didn't know the code to the cypher lock. Knocking on the door lead it to be opened by the new first class that had checked in a couple of months ago.
"Whats going on? How was the flight? Did you guys get any liberty time?" where the first few questions out of the PO1's mouth as both of them walked back into the shop and got settled.
"Not much, the usual, no we got in about midnight way past liberty expiration for all hands. I see the shop is set up. Beach det and early det do that?"
"Yea, Maintenance meeting is at 0645."PO1 said and guessing what the next question was. "What is that in your pocket?"
"Oh it is an orange I took off the mess decks for later. Do you want it?"
"Yeah, I didn't make it down to breakfast."
"You taking it or me? Or do you want to rock paper scissors for it and lose like you always do?" He asked. Basically wondering who was going to the maintenance meeting
The door swung open again startling both of them. The new shop chief that had checked in only 24hours prior to coming out on this adventure walked in.
"Where is the coffee?" He growled looking worse for wear then the other two in the space.
"So chief went out with the rest of the mess and tied one on. I wonder how bad he is hung over or was yesterday a special occasion because we are away from home and chief operates on a separate set of rules versus home?"
_______________________________________________
Well that is it for right now. More will be written over the next few days. Just trying something different if you don't like this please feel free to comment in the comments box or via the email. Thanks for sticking around here folks.

Returned from underway

2007-04-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

So yet another underway period on the ship has ended for me this past Friday. Yet, it is only the start of the process of many 30-45 day underway period prior to starting a 6-month cruise. Some new stories to talk about and share. Just some observations to share real quickly that I will elaborate on this week.

New aircraft in our air wing and new problems. We use to have an F-14 Tomcat squadron and a USMC F-18A+ Hornet squadron. Both of those squadrons were replaced with two F-18F Super Hornet squadrons. The F-18F is the dual seat version of the F-18E Super Hornet. The other big problem is that the engines in the F-18F's are more powerful then what I have experience before beyond the J52 engines in my plane. We had a couple of guys injured pretty badly up on the flight deck due to inexperience of both the ground crew and the aviators while taxiing around.

Boat chucks will always be boat chucks.

Being out of the limelight for the maintenance desk is a good thing.

The food is still iffy, the racks are still too small, and there is still no space for anything but work.

Stay tuned I am going to try and share some of these observations via a new method.

Quiet Time

2007-03-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well dear readers, I am leaving on a jet airliner and heading on out to a ship out to sea for some training exercise. This is supposed to only be for 30 days. So I will be out of communication for that long. When I get back I hope to have some new adventures or notes to post. You all just settle back and check out some of the summer re-runs via the archives links further on down the page.

I warned you all that this would get worse

2007-03-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

Watching the news this morning I saw this report talking about how 8 people were killed and 350 were injured in various degrees when the insurgents detonated 2 separate bombs attached to Chlorine tanks. Which in turn released chlorine gas that harmed women and children along with some Iraqi Police forces.

I have warned you about this before and it only needs to be reemphasized about this dangerous escalation in combat.

To date no one has been able to answer me nor has anyone in the United States of America mainstream media seems to be paying attention more then announcing it as another insurgent attack.
Again my questions are this:

1. How should the United States respond if some of our troops are injured or killed by a chemical weapon?
2. Should the US escalate themselves and use lethal chemical weapons on insurgents because of this escalation?
3. What is the US doing to prevent this from escalating from more then just Chlorine gas to something like the Mustard Gas or a nerve agent such as Sarin or GB?
4.What would we do if the insurgents escalate to lacing their IED with nuclear materials?
5. Why isn't the mainstream media in the US paying attention to this?

I am afraid for this war in Iraq if we have completely given up on paying attention to the changes in the warfare that the insurgents are doing. Let alone the media asking what some of the possible responses would be if they manage to kill our troops with such things as chemical weapons or God forbid a nuclear weapon in any degree.

Walter Reed fallout and who should blame

2007-03-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

So people have been talking all over the place about the issues with Walter Reed Military Hospital. It has gotten so bad that the Congress is doing investigations, and at a variety of places were there is a major military hospital various main stream media have begun to report at problems of Vets and active duty in trying to get help at the hospitals.
I have paid some attention to the fiasco at Walter Reed and though the General in charge of the Hospital is to blame for the problems that have occurred. The people that I really think should stand up and say that they are at fault is the Staff Sergeants and above. These are the people that form the back bone of the enlisted leadership in the US Army. These are the people who should have been tactfully complaining to the officers in their chain of command about these issues. Heck these are the people that should of known about these problems long before it came to the light of the Washington Post.
To give you civilians who read this post an idea of the power of these people. They are similar to Tony Soprano or a union shop steward. These are the representatives to management about how the workers are doing. They are also the ones that are to put the discipline in the junior folks and offer wise sage like advise to junior officers. Basically, they what is actually holds up most military forces.
So how is it that senior non-commissioned folks let things like this happen? I don't know. I am not talking about the patients, rather I am talking about the staff members. These are the people that should of been reporting, correcting, and in general kicking butt to get things in order. How or why this didn't happen I don't know.
I am a second class petty officer in the United States Navy, pay grade is E-5 and comparable to being Sargent in the rest of the military. I was taught from day one of being an NCO that my job from day one was to take care of junior people around me. If I couldn't do it right then I would find out ways to help my people. I would try and stand up for them and find for them the answers to some of thier problems are the people to start the road of help. I was taught to read the rules, instructions, notices, etc and then go take the people that go "it is not my job" to task for not doing thier job as outlined by those written words.
Yet, that did not happen here. I believe that there was too much "its not my job" going on at Walter Reed and a number of the VA hospitals in the US. That drives me nuts and very angry. I just can't contain my angry about this and I am so angry that I can't even express myself very well. I will sit and read the papers and keep my ear to the grapevine to see what will happen with the further fall out from this.

Been down for a few days

2007-03-09T04:29:00.000-08:00

To all you readers the reason that I have not been posting recently is because I have been laid out with a batch of the flu that is running around where I have been. This has been a bad case for me. I was sick in quarter for the past three days and after coming back to work not being able to do much more then sit in the office with my peacoat on a scarf and do paperwork. All while sucking on a soup in a thermos.
On top of that I am getting ready to head back out to sea for a month sometime near the end this month. We are going back out for a training exercises and some carrier quals. I have been pretty busy this past week.
I hope to get caught up this weekend with a few wild and crazy thoughts that I have in my mind.

A day out sea.

2007-03-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

Recently I have gotten a few emails from people asking what it is really like to live and work on board a modern US Aircraft carrier as an Enlisted man. It is interesting and not anything like what is shown by Hollywood on shows like "JAG" or in movies like "Top Gun". So here it is a typical day for myself out to sea while I was on a 6 month cruise.
To begin with the only thing that you could really claim as your own space is where you sleep, but even that it at a premium. This shot here shows some elementary kids in a berthing compartment on board the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). As one can see, all you have is the bed and if you are lucky and have a locker underneath the bed. Like what the Asian girl on the right side of the picture is looking out of. Then someplace else in this compartment, which can range in about 200-500 square feet in space, is another pair of lockers not much bigger then the ones most people have at their local gyms. That really isn't that much place to store things. So most of us only pack our uniforms, about 2-3 days worth of civilian clothes. Entertainment wise, a few people will stick a CD player and a small CD case in their locker or a portable game system. A few more people will bring their laptops with themselves. Just to keep yourself entertained. Myself, I usually brought a Game boy and a few large books to read while on cruise. Now I am 5ft 9in (or about 1.75 meters for you readers that use metric measurements) tall and I have to sleep sort of crunched up to fit myself in one of these beds or racks as we call them. There is just a pair of blue curtains to block yourself off from the rest of the world and a small reading light to use. At the foot of this little rack attached to the bulkhead someplace is a compartment for a rescue breathing device so if there is a fire you can escape from the space and either get to the flight deck or to the hangar bay. This is where I will begin my day. I am a heavy sleep so I have two alarm clocks to wake me up. One is an old fashioned windup the other is a battery powered electric one.
One I wake up, it is usually a fight to either get out without stepping on someone else or with out being stepped on. Then trying to get dressed. Most people on a carrier will work a typical 12-hour day, either 0700 in the morning or 1900 at night will be the start of their shift. If you are lucky then you will be the only one in your little cubical getting up. If not then either you are fighting with 5 other people or at the most one other person.

Some people will stagger off to what we call a head or the bathroom and do the three "S's". The three S's are shower, shave, and sh*t. The hope is that by doing this you will have given a few other people a chance to have gotten dress and out of your way. After getting dressed then it is a decision based on what the time is. Do I forgo breakfast and head to work or stand in line forever and try to put something in my stomach. The really hard part about making this decision is how close you actually are to needing to be at work. Most supervisors like everyone to show up between 45-30 minutes prior to the shift starting. If you want to grab breakfast then it is stumble either forward or aft from where you live and down (or up ) a few decks to the end of the line for the mess decks.

When you get down to the start of the Mess decks, you are served cafeteria style. That is pick up a tray and go down the line picking what you want for food. In the morning if there are fresh eggs on board then you can get eggs made to order, if not then you have a choice of omelettes or scrambled eggs. The omelette really isn't that complex when they make it up; either a cheese, ham, or a Denver style. From there you have the choice of either pancakes or waffles, sausage or bacon, grits or home fried potatoes, topped off with either white bread or a donut.

Once you have gotten all of your food then you need to look for a place to sit. Some carriers that I have been on have fixed tables in selected spots and then you have long tables with small attached stools that can be fold up out of the way to go and eat on. Eat real fast and then head off to work.

Once at work it is 12 hours of fun either working on the flight deck or down below in a shop. All spaces usually have a TV. Most of us in a squadron will have the great TV show called "Roger Ball. ". "Roger Ball" is the PLAT broadcast being played on one of the screens, this is especially important to us maintainers because we can know which catapults are operating, when our aircraft are coming in, heck a smart salty sailor can even use it to figure out the weather on the flight deck. Some of the administration spaces will have one of the movie channels running or one of the other channels from satellite TV.

Sometime in the middle of the day is lunch when one can repeat the experience from breakfast, except this time will be some sort of meat, veggies, starch product. Again shovel the food into you in 30mins. Head back to work and keep working until shift change comes around. Oh and repeat again heading to the mess deck either before shift change or after shift change.

From there it is head back to your rack and either change out to some gym clothes and head to one of the gyms to exercise. Or head off to one of the stores on the ship and do some basic restocking of your shower kit. Other people will stay up and play cards or watch cruise movies on the TV in one of the crews lounges spread through out the ship. From there then go grab a shower and head off to bed. Repeat again for 190 days.

The only variations in this schedule will either be a drill day, when the powers to be decided to have a GQ drill or man over board drill. Then there is the need to extend your day because you have to head off to medical or dental for a check up or head some admin space and fill out paperwork for something or other. Laundry return day is another fun variation when everyone will pass out the clothes in your berthing compartment or you can need to head down to self service laundry to clean your civilian clothes. Self-Service is another fun line to stand in forever. There have been times that I have gotten done with work at 1900, skipped dinner and headed back to grab my laundry bag went down with a my CD player and a book, waited in line for ever, got a washer, compete for a dryer, and then back up top after it is all said and done only to look at my watch and realize that it is 0100 in the morning.

The whole thing really turns into groundhog day until the end of cruise. It seems the only days when things are brightened up is when you get regular postal mail from family. It is amazing how you come in to work one day and find out that mail call went down that day. Then here is a letter or care package from someone that cares about you.

That it my opinions about a typical day out to sea. The good thing about being out to sea is knowing that your day is going to be similar day in and day out. It really isn't that stressful, because you don't need try and get off early that day to go grocery store or pick up the dry-cleaning. If you do it right as well and set up your bills for autopay, then that is even less stress. All you need to do is worry about whether the food on the mess decks is worth eating, if you mailed off the latest letter to your family and whether the shower is going to be Arctic Ocean cold or hot springs scalding hot.

Someone you should know

2007-03-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

This past week I attended a lunch function with my local Navy League and they were talking about diversity in the US Navy. One of the people that they brought during this lunch was an Ensign named Jesse L. Brown.
Jesse L. Brown was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1926. He went to Ohio State University and joined the US Naval Reserve as an enlisted man in 1946. In 1947, his enlistment was terminated and the US Navy accepted him as Midshipman, upon graduation from Aviation Officer Candidate School in 1948, Midshipman Brown was accepted to VF-32, "The Swordsmen" on board the USS Leyte (CV-32). On the 15th of April, 1949, Brown was promoted to Ensign and had complete flight training in the F4U-4 Corsair with the Swordsmen.

From my understanding although Ens. Brown did face trouble from some officers in the Navy. Inside his squadron once he proved himself as a capable pilot, he disappeared to become another Ensign in the ship.

In June of 1950, North Korea went south of the 38th Parallel. In October of 1950, the USS Leyte joined Carrier Task Force 77 off the coast of North Korea. Ensign Brown rose to be a section leader, was awarded an Air Medal during their first line period. On December 4th 1950, while flying in support of the Tenth Corps fight in and around the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. Ensign Brown's plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. His aircraft crashed landed behind enemy lines up near the reservoir. His wingman, then Ltg J.G. Thomas J. Hudner observed that Ensign Brown's plane crashed and that Ensign Brown was still alive. Lt. J.G. Hudner crash landed his own plane in an attempt to get Ens. Brown out of his plane. In a period of a few hours Lt. JG Hudner tried in vain to get Ensign Brown out of his plane. the cockpit had collapsed around Ens. Brown's lower body and trapped him inside. Hudner tried to radio for salvage equipment by the helicopter at the time couldn't lift both the heavy equipment up the altitude that the planes had crashed at. Nor was there enough daylight left for the helicopter to make the trip out to its ship, get the equipment and return before night time set in. Ens. Brown told Hudner to get out on the helicopter and thanked him for attempting to save him. Hudner got out and the next day when VF-32 aircraft over flew Brown's position the plane was still there, but there was no movement from Brown nor was there an answer on the radio.

At the end of the day the first Black Naval Aviator died, but not for the lack of his fellow shipmates to save him. Ensign Brown was awarded the DFC for his actions up to his crash. Lt. JG Hudner was awarded the Medal of Honor for his attempt as rescue of Brown.

A ship was later named in honor of Jesse L. Brown. FF-1089, a Knox class frigate.

To go succeed you will be tested

2007-03-02T20:28:00.000-08:00

To advance as an enlisted man in the US Navy there are two hoops you have to go through. The first is a performance evaluation by your supervisors. The next step and the favorite of everyone in the Navy is the a 200 question multiple guess test. At all levels from those trying to advance to E-4 (3rd Class Petty Officer) all the way up to the Chief Petty Officer Level (E-7), a test is taken.
What usually happens on test day is similar to taking the SAT's when one was in High school. The test starts promptly at 0700 in the morning and you are given 3 hours to complete the test. When you show up the only thing allowed for use is either a calculator. Then set up on the test table is usually two #2 pencils, two sheets of scratch paper, and usually the advancement worksheet. The advancement worksheet has all of your personal and professional information on it. Such information as how many awards you have, the average score of your performance evals, and time in pay grade and time in active service. Nothing else is allowed on the table or in the testing room.
From there at 0700 you begin the test and for the next three hours you rack your brain and try to data dump everything you should have study or had study the previous 5 months from when the bibliography of books that the test will be based on was published. The really interesting thing about the test is how they will use unusually complex words and sentences to ask a simple thing. For example the test writers might think of a simple question such as "Who tall is a tree in the forest?". So to ask a question like that they will write it similar to this, "While standing next to a tree in a forest and you see the sun is going near its highest peak and your shadow is cast to your starboard side for a total distance of 8ft. What is the total height of the tree?"
There are 200 different questions about about half of them will be written like those above. At the end of it all following the data dump from ones mind you feel incredibly stupid. There have been a few times that I have finished and had to look at my uniform to remember what my name was.
After the test is turned in, you have 3 months to wait for the results and there is the typical results following the grading of a test. Either plenty of teeth gnashing because one passed the test but didn't do it well enough to advance or the jumping for joy happiness because one passes the test and gets the promotion with the more money and more responsibilities.
If you don't make it then you in turn start to go begin studying again and hope that the dice roll right for you.

Advancement Test Day

2007-03-01T17:23:00.000-08:00

Today was Advancement Test Taking day. I don't really know how I did, but I do feel stupider after taking the damn thing. After I have recovered my intelligence. I will post more about this joy of that comes to an enlisted sailor every 6 months.

Hi-jinks and adventures ashore-Foreign style Part Duex

2007-02-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

So the second day of liberty in the wonderful city of Cannes comes along. This time though the launches start moving around at 10am. So myself and a two good buddies all decide to go grab some brunch in town and walk around take in the sites. We had heard that there is a tour boat which for about 15 francs one could take and go visit the island that Alexander Dumas wrote his classic story "The Count of Monte Cristo" about. Then somewhere else in town was the hotel that Mr. Dumas stayed while writing a couple more of his books. We discussed trying to get all of this in as we rode the liberty launch into town.
It was still pretty early in the morning by the time we put feet down on the solid ground again. We stopped over at the little food tent that the mess cooks had set up, grab a bottle of water between the two of us and grab some fresh fruit. Walked out the security compound and headed into town. Because it was a typical summer day in the south of France we decided to find an open air restaurant to grab a bite to eat at.
Walking along the main street at the water front, we just taking it all in. I happen across a simple convenience store and stopped in real quick to grab a pack of chewing gum and grab see if I could grab the a newspaper that was written in English. I had known that in a variety of places the "Times of London" and the "New York Times" were sold overseas. I got lucky and had actually found a copy of both the "New York Times" and the "Times of London" at this convenience store along with a pack of gum. After walking out of there we found the little restaurant to grab brunch at. It was primarily outside and gave a pretty good view of the harbor and the beaches.
We sat down and ordered up some grub, both of my friends are devouring the sports page from the NYT because they are baseball nuts. I was sitting there reading the sports page from the "Times of London" when I came across a section talking about the starting grid for the Monaco Grand Prix. After skimming the grid and then reading a couple of article about the race for that weekend, I realized that I wanted to go. Over lunch I finally conned both of my buddies into wanting to go. I used the classic, "Since we are already this close...." and "May not get another chance on the government dime...." debates. After about 2 hours of talking, I finally won them over.
So after seeing a few of the sights we wanted to in town, we walked around and found a European version of Ticketmaster and tried to get tickets for the race, only to find out that they had sold out weeks ago. Then all of us did the collective thought at the same second and shouted "MWR! They got to have bought some tickets". So we went back to fleet landing and just happen to run across the Fun Boss. The Fun Boss is a civilian who is brought on board a ship to help organize tours, trips, and other fun things to keep sailors entertained while out to sea. So we cornered the Fun Boss and asked what if they had scored or could score us some tickets to the race. The Fun Boss answered up that nope, there was to be no tickets for USS Oldboat to send anyone to the race. All of us were pretty well bummed out.
We started to walk away from Fleet Landing, looking for someplace to go and drown our sorrows. As we walked along the harbor front again, we noticed that a number of the shops that were opened were starting to bring everything inside. A couple comments about that and wondering why, when my friend Jason looked at his watched.
"Well guys it is only 1730. Lets go and find some nice restaurant that is squid free or close to squid free.", he said.
All of us agreed. So we staggered back down around the harbor front and at a turn we walked up an alleyway. Found just a few streets back a nice little restaurant that again had a nice view of the harbor, a nice jazz band playing, and outdoor seating. We sat around talking about how bummed we were about not going to race and what we were all going to do the next day. All of us were lucky in that we didn't draw duty until the final day in port.
The more we talked about how cool it would of been to seen a race, the more we got annoyed. That was until a gentleman a couple tables across from us got up and walked over. He came over and said that he couldn't help but overheard our conversation. He then mentioned that he was a member of the garage crew for BMW.

He invited us to join him and a couple other members of his crew at a few tables over from ours. We had already eaten and were just enjoying some beers, so we picked up and sat in. Greetings and intros all the way around, he introduced himself as Steve. He was an ex-pat American, was in the US Army as a tanker stationed with a unit in Germany. He got out after Desert Storm and pinged around in the European racing circuits. Finally got picked up by BMW just as they were starting their Formula 1 racing career. He did the basic garage things to a car or to tweak an engine or body before it goes on a practice run or the night before the big race. He then mentioned that he could get us pit passes if we wanted them. All he wanted was a Zippo and a command ballcap from USS Oldboat. It seemed that his father was on Oldboat when she was younger and he just wanted some memorabilia. We said deal and agreed on where to meet him over at Monaco, he then said nuts to that and told us to give him a call and he would send a company car to pick us up.

The next with our gear in tow, we made the phone call and had a chance to be behind pit row watching the Monaco Grand Prix. It was awesome and the only thing that I wish I had remember to have done was brought my camera to have gotten some photos. After the race all 3 of us went off with Steve and his crew to a nice restaurant in a casino and enjoy dinner on the companies dime. Even though all of the teams cars did not finish the race, it was still cool to be there and watch the race.