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

Category: Navy

  • Corpsman avoids duties with a grenade

    Someone dropped off this link on our Facebook page about Petty Officer 1st Class Omar Pescador-Montanez, a Navy Corpsman assigned to SEAL Team 10 who really didn’t want to treat an couple of Afghans;

    One of the men waiting worked for U.S. forces at the compound in southeastern Afghanistan. He escorted the other man — thought to be an Afghan soldier — complaining of leg pain.

    In actions at the heart of a criminal case against him, Pescador-Montanez suddenly ran into the room and told the men to take cover; he thought someone had thrown something into the building.

    Nothing happened. All three ran outside and didn’t see anything. Then Pescador-Montanez ran back into the building. There was an explosion.

    Pescador-Montanez claims that he was attacked by a grenade, but the Navy says otherwise;

    The Navy accuses the corpsman of creating the entire scene, exploding the grenade to get out of his duties, and then lying about it.

    I guess we’ll find out in May at his court martial.

  • Navy News

    Bobo sends us a Navy Times link about some more Navy guys losing their jobs. Capt. John Heatherington and his senior NCO Master Chief Missile Technician (SS) Eric Spindle of the Naval Ordnance Test Unit in Cape Canaveral, FL were relieved because they knew that their people were taking up collections for their 2014 Submarine Birthday Ball at strip clubs.

    The firings stem from the command’s fundraising for the 2014 Submarine Birthday Ball at Cape Canaveral, with NOTU members soliciting sponsors for a November golf tournament to raise funds for the ball, Daniels said, including local dry cleaners, restaurants and two local adult entertainment businesses.

    [SSP spokesman John] Daniels said Heatherington knew of the donations from the strip clubs but did not rectify the situation. The fund-raising team included active-duty, civilian and contract personnel, who are being handled administratively, Daniels added.

    Yeah, because when you think of sailors on land, you never think of strip clubs, do you?

    Speaking of running aground, Pinto Nag sends us a link to NBC News which reports that the U.S.S. Taylor, a guided missile frigate has run aground in the Black Sea while it was on duty for the Sochi Olympics. I guess they were going to port.

    The ship had been operating in the Black Sea for about a week when it went in for a standard port call in Samsun, Turkey last Wednesday. The vessel’s prop was damaged in the incident — and now, nearly a week later, it remains in port as inspectors continue to assess the damage.

    A senior U.S. military official says that there was an oil leak from the prop but that it was quickly contained.

    So they either ran aground or they are some part of a clever Joe Biden plan to establish a missile base in the Black Sea. I report, you decide.

  • Submarine Warfare’s First Success

    On the night of 17-18 February 1864, military history was made.

    On that date, the first ship was sunk by a submarine.

    During the blockade of Charleston during the US Civil War, the CSS Hunley – a small, human-powered submarine (literally; its propeller was powered via a hand-crank) submerged.  While submerged, it attacked the USS Housatonic with a spar torpedo.

    The attack sank the USS Housatonic.  However, the CSS Hunley also never returned to shore.  It also sank in the aftermath of the attack.

    The CSS Hunley’s sunken hull was located in 1995.  It was raised in 2000.

    Recent analysis indicates that the CSS Hunley may have been as close as approximately 20 feet away from their torpedo at time of detonation (they were originally thought to be much farther away).  That may have been close enough to allow the shock to have knocked the ship’s crew unconscious, making it impossible for them to either return to shore or escape from the disabled craft.

    May all 13 who lost their lives – 5 Union sailors from the USS Housatonic and entire 8-man crew of the CSS Hunley – in this historic event rest in peace.

  • “They Didn’t Just Talk to Him, They Listened”

    Marine_7002 posted this link in the comments to Jonn’s “Weekend Open Thread.”  I thought it was worth a mention here.

    I can’t add much.  The story speaks for itself – eloquently.  You might want a tissue handy when you read it.

    RIP, EM2 Bud Cloud.  When our times come, may we all be so lucky.

    Ya done good, USS Dewey.  Damn good.

  • Navy nukes cheat, too

    Ex-PH2 sends us a link to NBC News which reports that a bunch of Navy nukes in Charleston have been relieved from their positions as instructors for cheating. I guess they’re just trying to keep up with the Air Force;

    About 30 senior instructors at the Navy’s nuclear propulsion school in Charleston, S.C., have been suspended from duty for alleged cheating on exams, U.S. Navy officials said Tuesday.

    The instructors, the officials said, were stripped of their certification pending a Navy investigation.

    The senior enlisted sailors involved are all instructors involved in re-certification for those who train the Navy’s nuclear propulsion course.

    Navy officials say these sailors are involved in training for nuclear power plants on Navy ships and submarines and are not connected to any nuclear weapons program.

    This is starting to disappoint me. It just seems strange to me that all of these firings are coming on the heels of the Pentagon drawing down the military.

  • Congress to Pentagon; Stop the uniform madness

    Mark sends us a link to Military Times which reports that the new defense authorization bill for 2014 contains a paragraph which addresses the utility uniform differences between the services, that they should all stop wasting billions of dollars to design and then scrap their forays into martial fashion;

    The compromise defense authorization bill for 2014 includes a provision that directs the Defense Department to “to adopt and field a common combat and camouflage utility uniform, or family of uniforms, for specific combat environments, to be used by all members of the armed forces.”

    And if that becomes law, as appears likely, it would change the future image of the joint force.

    For years, lawmakers have been annoyed by the military services’ increasingly elaborate wardrobe of camouflage variants designed for the same forward-deployed environments. Over the past decade, the four services have developed at least seven new combat utility uniforms, each with its own unique design.

    Yeah, I don’t get it, either. Back in my day, sonny, the Ranger Battalions wore camouflaged jungle fatigues and the 82d had them for a field-only uniform. For that reason, seeing a clerk in camouflage is strange and out of sorts. Maternity BDUs had the same effect on me. So having the Navy and the Air Force in their completely worthless camouflage seems even more odd. And of course, there are the Marines and their MARPATs;

    This year, the Joint Staff’s top enlisted adviser, Marine Sgt. Maj. Bryan Battaglia, said the mix of uniforms makes the U.S. military look like a “Baskin-Robbins” and signaled his support for a common uniform.

    But Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos recently said preserving the Corps’ MARPAT pattern is a top priority and declared that his service will stick to it “like a hobo to a ham sandwich.”

    Yeah, that’s helpful. I’m glad that Amos finally found something he can get adamant about, but it’s unfortunate that the something is fashion.

  • Standoff in the South China Sea

    “Jon Not To Be Confused With Jonn” sends us a link to Fox News which reports that the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens was confronted by Chinese warships while it was in international waters of the South China Sea.

    On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision,” a Navy official said.

    “This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap.”

    A State Department official said the U.S. government issued protests to China in both Washington and Beijing in both diplomatic and military channels.

    The Cowpens was conducting surveillance of the Liaoning at the time. The carrier had recently sailed from the port of Qingdao on the northern Chinese coast into the South China Sea.

    Well, this administration wanted to shift their military focus from the Middle East to the Pacific Rim. Now they’ve got it.

  • Sailor cleared of drug charges

    Washington Post‘s Robert McCartney writes about Graciela Saraiva, who was an enlisted sailor a few years back when she popped hot on a piss test. Apparently, she was on prescription pain killers for some recent dental work and the Navy knew that when they booted her for the urinalysis results. After three years, the Navy has corrected her records and is willing to allow her back into the Navy;

    “I’m so excited. I’m really relieved that it’s finally over,” Saraiva said. She may try to rejoin the military, possibly as an officer, when she graduates from college in a year or two.

    The Navy kicked out Saraiva, a junior logistics specialist (E-3 rating), after her urine tested positive for codeine and morphine. It wouldn’t let her back, even after it conceded that she failed the test only because she was taking a prescription painkiller after oral surgery.

    Saraiva credits media attention, here and elsewhere, for reversing the decision — and the Navy memo admitted as much. It said the Navy didn’t look good barring her reenlistment while conceding that she hadn’t abused drugs.

    McCartney blames recent policy changes which make the services more eager to spit out military personnel than to retain their expertise using minor, or as in this case, nonexistent, offenses to meet DoD cuts in spending. Of course, this has happened before. I remember in the early 80s a DWI some time during a soldier’s last enlistment would earn him a bar to reenlistment, prior to that, a DWI was treated like a parking ticket. The overweight program, after six years of waiverable excuses was suddenly enforced – we lost a lot of Vietnam experience on that one.

    But, Ms. Saraiva’s situation is totally beyond the limits of common sense. Should troops avoid taking medication prescribed by their military doctors just to avoid popping hot? Apparently, the troops are guilty until they prove their innocence under the military’s administrative system. I’m glad that this worked out for Ms. Saraiva, but I have to think there are more cases out there like this who don’t have the benefit of the Washington Post’s megaphone.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.