This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Navy

  • Navy Divers Thomas Parhiala and John McLeod, Saving the World

    Navy Divers

    Navy Times is reporting a pair of Navy divers were in the right place at the right time on March 23 when they witnessed a Jeep Cherokee careen off the road near Rockport, Maine, and into Chickawaukie Lake.

    Navy Diver Third Class Thomas Parhiala, of Salem, New Hampshire, and Navy Diver Third Class John McLeod, of Wiscasset, Maine, were on a quick trip to McLeod’s hometown to pick up his motorcycle when they saw the Jeep suddenly swerve off the highway.

    “It was getting dark and it was one of those surreal experiences as we both saw the Cherokee go into the water about 400 yards in front of us,” Parhiala, who was driving, told Navy Times. “We both kind of looked at each other and said ‘did you see that?’”

    Nothing more needed to be said. The men stopped the vehicle, ran down the sharp 20-foot embankment and went headfirst into the water, swimming out to the vehicle.

    “The vehicle was in the water and sinking, but the passenger window was either open or gone and the driver was just floating between the front seat and back seat,” Parhiala said

    While pulling the man from the vehicle, the sailors looked around to make sure there weren’t others who needed help.

    “He started to come to, so I started screaming at him asking if anyone else was in there,” McLeod said. Both recalled the driver, Jonathan Marr, 35, of Thomaston, Maine, saying “no.”

    But to be sure, Parhiala stayed to look around. McLeod, meanwhile, swam Marr to shore.

    The rescue only took a few minutes from start to finish, but by the time they were back on shore, additional motorists had stopped, and some had called for help.

    Neither have met or talked to Mann since the incident, and the divers say they don’t believe they did anything special. Their first priority was taking care of the driver, they said, then getting themselves warm.

    “We just did what had to be done,” Parhiala said. “It wasn’t anything special, we just happened to be the first ones on the scene.”

    Well done, gentlemen, damn well done! This old helo rescue swimmer is proud of you both.

  • USS Ralph Johnson to be commissioned Saturday

    USS Ralph Johnson to be commissioned Saturday

    Clay sends us the news that USS Ralph Johnson. an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, has arrived in Charleston, South Carolina for it’s commissioning ceremony on Saturday. The destroyer is named for Charleston native Marine Private First Class Ralph Johnson who sacrificed his life for those of his Marine Corps brothers when he shielded them from a grenade blast with his body;

    In the early morning hours of Mar. 5, 1968 during Operation ROCK, Private First Class Johnson and his 15-man reconnaissance patrol manned an observation post on Hill 146 overlooking the Quan Duc Duc Valley deep in enemy controlled territory. They were attacked by a platoon-size hostile force employing automatic weapons, satchel charges and hand grenades.

    As the enemy raced up the hill, a hand grenade landed in the three-man fighting hole occupied by Pfc. Johnson and two fellow Marines. Realizing the danger to his comrades, Pfc. Johnson shouted a warning and willingly hurled himself upon the explosive device.

    When the grenade exploded, Pfc. Johnson absorbed the impact of the blast and was killed instantly. His heroic act saved the life of a fellow Marine at the cost of his own and prevented the enemy from penetrating his sector of the patrol’s perimeter.

    Pfc. Johnson was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously.

    The VA hospital in Charleston also bears his most honorable name.

  • Navy boots Marquie Little

    Navy boots Marquie Little

    Late last year we wrote about Marquie Little, a Black sailor who tore his rack up aboard the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier and claimed in social media that he was the victim of a racist attack. The Navy said that they determined that Little had staged the incident for some reason.

    AW1Ed sends us a link to the news that the sailor was kicked to the curb recently;

    The 27-year-old sailor was kicked out of the Navy in recent weeks in connection to the incident, yet he still maintains he did nothing wrong. Little told Navy Times this week he felt “a proper investigation wasn’t conducted.”

    Little agreed at one point to take a lie detector test, which investigators did not actually conduct, and provide a handwriting sample to compare to the racist scrawls, according to the investigation.

    “As for the handwriting analysis, an informal review of writing samples was conducted by investigators from the ship and NCIS,” said Cmdr. Dave Hecht, spokesman for Naval Air Force Atlantic, or AIRLANT. “That review found there were similarities between the graffiti and the handwriting sample provided by the Sailor.”

    Little said this week that officials told him they did not have the manpower to give him a lie detector test and full handwriting analysis.

    He was separated from the Navy recently on charges of making a false statement, destruction of government property and disorderly conduct in connection to the vandalism, Hecht said.

  • Two killed in Super Hornet crash

    Two killed in Super Hornet crash

    The Virginian-Pilot reports that two Navy aviators were killed in a crash near the Florida Keys;

    Two Navy aviators from the Naval Air Station Oceana-based Strike Fighter Squadron 213 died Wednesday after their F/A-18 Super Hornet crashed off the coast of Florida, Naval Air Force Atlantic spokesman Cmdr. Dave Hecht said.

    The fighter jet crashed about a mile off the coast around 4:30 p.m. as it was returning from a training mission, Hecht said. Both crew members ejected and were recovered from the water and taken by ambulance to Lower Keys Medical Center. Hecht did not know if the crew members, a pilot and a weapons systems officer, died at the scene or later.

    The Navy made the recovery before civilian first responders could get on the scene, according to NBC News;

    The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office told NBC Miami that it dispatched units but that the Navy said it had the situation under control and didn’t need assistance.

    Witnesses to the crash told the Florida Keys News that they saw what looked like an explosion.

    “I saw the fire and then it just dropped,” said Barbie Wilson, who described the jet bursting into flames. “In the air, I saw fire.”

  • Corpsmen get pre-deployment training in Chicago

    According to the Wall Street Journal, Navy corpsmen training for deployment with Marine Corps units are getting that training in Chicago hospitals;

    For so long “the first time a corpsman got any trauma experience was when they were deployed, and some would just freeze up,” said Captain Paul Roach, a U.S. Navy surgeon at the Lovell Federal Health Care Center north of Chicago. “We don’t want that to happen anymore,” said Capt. Roach, who heads the program in the Great Lakes region.

    The Navy is working to formalize a pilot program that has been tested here for three years, rotating newly enlisted hospital corpsmen—the combat medics for the Navy and Marines—and those needing a refresher while they are back home, for six to eight weeks through Stroger Hospital’s trauma center. The 14-bed unit treats over 6,000 trauma patients yearly, many of them with penetrating, life-threatening wounds akin to those on the battlefield.

    In fact, more Americans have been shot in Chicago, that stellar example of Draconian gun control laws, than on all of the battlefields worldwide combined. According to the Chicago Tribune, as of March 12th there have been 414 shooting victims in Chicago so far this year.

    For Corpsman Poplawski, who grew up in suburban Michigan, it was his first time seeing anyone with a gunshot wound.

    The experience “has prepared me to deal with worse things out in the field,” he said. “I’ll be the only one out there, so I’ll have to learn from this.”

  • Navy cancels “green destroyer” program

    Navy cancels “green destroyer” program

    Bobo sends a link to Defense News which reports that the latest defense budget cuts the program that the Obama Administration to create hybrid destroyers. USS Truxton (DDG-103) will remain the sole “green” destroyer for testing purposes to see if the system becomes viable;

    Citing “department priorities,” the service requested $6.3 million for 2018 to finish the installation on the destroyer Truxtun, but has zeroed out funding in 2019 and in the out years. The service has spent about $52 million on the program to date. The whole program was expected to cost $356.25 million, according to the Navy’s FY2017 budget submission.

    “Based on the Department’s priorities, President’s Budget 2019 removes funding from Hybrid Electric Drive program in FY 2019,” said Lt. Lauren Chatmas in a statement. “There are no further procurements or installations planned beyond DDG-103 in the Future Years Defense Program.”

    Apparently, the system wasn’t saving much energy as it was envisioned by the previous administration.

    If you listen carefully, you can actually hear the oceans rising.

  • Kristian Saucier pardoned

    Bobo sends us the news that President Trump has pardoned Kristian Saucier, the sailor who had violated his security clearance agreements and took pictures of the interior of USS Alexandria submarine.

    Saucier, now 31, was 22 years old when he took the cellphone photos in 2009. He pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized possession and retention of national defense information and his attorneys unsuccessfully requested the “Clinton deal,” meaning little if any punishment.

    The six photos found on a cellphone Saucier discarded were deemed “confidential,” meaning the lowest level of classification, even though some depicted the vessel’s nuclear reactor. Clinton, by contrast, sent and received more highly classified information on a private and insecure email server. In pleading guilty, Saucier admitted to destroying evidence after being questioned.

    Saucier got the news in a text message from his wife while he was driving his garbage truck in Vermont – the only job he could find with his felony conviction on his record. Saucier completed his year-long sentence last year.

    Right or wrong, the “Clinton deal” defense probably carried more weight with the president than it did with the jury.

  • Two more plead guilty in “Fat Leonard” case

    Two more plead guilty in “Fat Leonard” case

    Two more Navy officers pleaded guilty in the scandal known as the Fat Leonard case according to Stars & Stripes;

    Cmdr. Jason Starmer pleaded guilty to willful dereliction of duty, patronizing a prostitute and adultery. He was sentenced to 60 days restriction at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, fined $3,000 and will receive a punitive letter of reprimand. Military judge Navy Capt. Robert Monahan also sentenced Starmer to forfeit a total $3,000 in pay, but he will not face that as part of a pre-trial agreement. Starmer will be administratively separated from the service as part of that agreement.

    Capt. John Steinberger pleaded guilty to willful dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Navy Capt. Charles Purnell sentenced him to receive a punitive letter of reprimand and a $10,000 fine. Steinberger also will be administratively separated as part of a pre-trial agreement.

    Starmer and Steinberger’s characterizations of service and retirement grades will be determined later by the secretary of the Navy.

    Jeez, I hope their wrists aren’t bruised after that terrible slapping.

    Starmer and Steinberger are the two latest officers to plead guilty in military court. During a non-judicial punishment hearing, or admiral’s mast, on Feb. 27, Lt. Peter Vapor admitted to violating a lawful order, conduct unbecoming an officer and making a false official statement, according to U.S. Fleet Forces Command spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Allen. Vapor received a punitive letter of reprimand and a $2,000 forfeiture of one month’s pay in exchange for the Navy dismissing charges against him.

    Slapped wrists everywhere. That’ll teach ’em /s