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

Category: Navy

  • Geez – Not Another One

    Details are scarce, but apparently there’s been another incident at sea.

    The USS Guardian, an Avenger-class minesweeper, apparently has run aground in the Sulu Sea.  Initial reports are that the ship hit a coral reef at 2:25AM (local) today.

    The ship does not appear to be leaking fuel or taking water, and there were no casualties among the crew.  At least, there were no physical casualties.  Not sure you can say the same about  careers.

    The ship’s crew are reportedly presently trying to determine the best way to free the ship.

     

  • Target to military widow: Park somewhere else

    In May of 2012 Navy Master-at-Arms Sean Brazas was killed in action while serving in Afghanistan. Earlier today his widow Allie Brazas, also a Navy Petty Officer, attended a ceremony on a public street corner where a banner, sponsored by the Chief Petty Officers of Naval Base Kitsap, was put up in his honor. She called ahead as a courtesy to the Target in Silverdale, WA to let them know that some people might be parking in the far corner of the their lot for about 30 minutes and explained what the ceremony was for. The store management’s response?

    No.

    According to Petty Officer Allie Brazas when some people parked in the lot anyway two Target employees walked across the nearly empty lot to tell them they had to park somewhere else. It took the Kitsap County Sheriff, who was on site for the ceremony, to intervene. From her Facebook page:

    Target,
    I am stationed in Washington State and shop often at the Target Store on Silverdale Way in Silverdale, WA as do most of my Brothers and sisters in arms. On May 30, 2012 my husband, MA2 (EXW) Sean E. Brazas was Killed in Action while serving in Afghanistan. Today, we hung a Gold Star Banner in his honor on the street light on the corner of your store. We called weeks ahead of time to let the store manager know that we would be having this ceremony. The street light is on city property so we were just doing it as a courtesy call to let the store know there would be a lot of traffic on the corner infront of the store. We also informed the manager that the parking lot may have additional cars parked in it due to the ceremony. The ceremony was from 1030 am to 1100 am. The manager told us we were absolutely NOT aloud to use there parking lot for any part of our ceremony, to include parking our vehicles. We politely reminded her he was KILLED IN ACTION protecting our freedoms. She once again denied the request and told us it was “Target Policy”. We went ahead and used the parking lot to park our cars anyway. We had several mayors, county commissioners, and service members in attendance along with myself, Seans wife. We utilized the very very BACK of the parking lot to park our cars then gathered near the street corner. While people were pulling up and gathering 2 target employees approached me and asked me what was going on. I explained to them that we were having a public ceremony on the street corner for my husband and we were simply parking our cars and gathering on city property. The gentleman told me this required written permission. I explained that I had asked for permission and was denied.. But this was city property where we were gathering and as far as parking was concerned I did not see any “No Trespassing” signs. I also explained it was 1030 in the morning and there were tons of open parking spaces available for customers. They continued to give me a lecture about how we could not utilize the parking lot. By this time the sheriff had arrived to attend the ceremony and said he’d take Care of it and said we were in no way violating any laws. Thankfully, the rest of the ceremony went flawlessly, no thanks to Target.

    I was VERY disappointed in the way things were handled. It’s unfortunate that your company is not more supportive of the military, especially of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. I hope someone somewhere reads this and fixes this so called “policy” you guys have in place. Its truly Unacceptable

    Thank you for your time

    Very Respectfully,
    Allie Brazas

    You see, when you use an almost empty Target parking lot for a half hour to honor a fallen sailor you get treated like a junkie trying to use the customer only restroom to shoot up. Maybe if they’d bought a pack of gum they would’ve been okay. Not that I’m not one to tell people what to do with their private property but this falls somewhere between outrageous and stupid. Not only does this Target serve a military town but, having grown up in this town myself, I spent years having to drive by anti-war protesters, Occupy types, LaRouchies and other assorted shit bags on that corner. Can you guess where they parked?

    Needless to say Target’s Facebook page is currently getting shit all over. I for one will be letting Target know that until an official apology is issued I won’t be shopping at Target. I’ll also be waiting on an update on the manager who made the decision.

  • Somebody’s Got Some ‘Splainin’ to Do . . . Again

    This time, it’s be the captain and some of the crew of the USS Jacksonville, an SSN (nuclear attack sub) who need to do a bit of ” ‘splainin’ “.  Seems the USS Jacksonville ran into something in the Persian Gulf the other day, sustaining minor damage.

    Thankfully the collision was apparently a minor “brush”.  The other vessel – believed to have been a fishing trawler – did not stop, did not indicate distress, and indeed did not even indicate it even realized there had been a mishap.  The USS Jacksonville, however, lost one of its periscopes – which was sheared off during the collision.

    The collision occurred at 5AM local, just after the USS Jacksonville had passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

    There were no reported deaths or injuries.  But I’d guess several careers may well end up casualties.

    If you’re thinking this sounds kinda familiar, it should.  This is the second collision in the Persian Gulf between a US warship and a merchant vessel in the last five months.

  • Longer floats

    The Washington Times reports that the Navy says that their sailors and Marines are going to be on longer sea duty tours because the USS Enterprise has been retired and the USS Lincoln is undergoing four years of refitting and maintenance bringing the number of carrier groups to nine;

    “We need 11 carriers to do the job. That’s been pretty clearly written, and that’s underwritten in our defense strategic guidance,” Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, said recently.

    Carrier deployments have lengthened gradually over the past decade, from six months to as long as nine months.

    Adm. Greenert said it will be at least two or three years before carriers return to six-month deployments, as the Navy strains to keep operational its flattop fleet and the battle groups of combat and supply vessels that support their missions.

    Well, I don’t know how the wetter services feel about these types of deployments, but I’m guessing it won’t help retention much.

  • Warning: Service in the Navy causes unintended pregnancy

    The Stars & Stripes reports that nearly 3/4 of pregnancies in the Navy are unintended. I don’t understand that. Don’t people in the Navy understand that sex leads to pregnancy? I mean seriously.

    Facing a staggering 74 percent unintended pregnancy rate, the Navy has launched a family planning awareness and information campaign.

    The Navy’s peer-mentoring program Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions is holding informational sessions on family planning throughout January covering topics that include parental leave, operational deferment and the best forms of birth control.

    Unintended pregnancy is a significant problem across the general population, but the Navy’s rate is higher.

    Do we need to have the “birds and the bees” talk? I’m glad that the Navy thinks it can handle the problem with more slide shows – it’s still the same military that I left behind.

  • The New Navy?

    Admittedly I’m 40+ years out of the USN. Also admittedly I actually LIKED the chambray shirts and bell bottoms as work duds. Countless fire training exercises, and other Damage Control drills leaves me wondering what the hell is going on just now.
    Navy uniform ‘will burn robustly until it is consumed’

    The Navy removed its requirement in 1996 that uniforms had to be flame retardant, and have been providing special uniforms to engine room, flight-related, firefighters and damage control personnel since then. But this means other personnel working in spaces with fuel lines, oil, steam, heat and tons of combustibles overhead, underneath, and in nearby passageways are ready to be robustly barbecued.

    Sooo…. in 40 years our Navy has yet to figure out how to utilize self-extinguishing fabrics? AND I still think that this particular color pattern makes it harder to locate a “man overboard”.

    H/T H Lucien Gauthier III

  • Robert Hoffman; Submariner spy wannabe

    Ex-PH2 sends us a link to an NBC video report about Robert Hoffman, a former member of the Navy who was arrested yesterday for trying to pass information about our submarine technology to people he thought were representing the Russian Federation, but I’m guessing that they were US Federal agents instead.

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    It should make the submarine folks on this blog happy to finally have one of their own to hate on for a change.

  • Pearl Harbor speech.

    This was suppose to be the speech that I was going to give at the Unit Ball tomorrow. My original plan was to have it videoed so everyone of you can hear how awful I sound in person. But long story short, is that I will have a speaking role and my speech was voted of the island for a altered version. But I wanted to offer something now since there is a very good chance that I will not have time to post tomorrow. Also that this is the only way that my speech will see the light of day outside a few people in my unit. Oh and I take full credit for any and all grammatical mistakes found.

    AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR. (STOP) THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

    That was the message that was received on this the seventy first anniversary of the day of infamy. On this day the Naval base of Pearl Harbor and other military facilities on the territory of Hawaii were attacked by an aviation strike force of Imperial Navy of Japan. In less than six hours the Island of Hawaii was hit by a coordinated attack of over three hundred Dive bombers, Torpedo bombers and escorting fighters. The attack crippled or sank the majority of the warships moored at Pearl Harbor. The USS Arizona and the USS Oklahoma sustained the heaviest losses of the twenty four hundred that perished in the attack. Many of you may have seen these images. The photo of the explosion of the main powder magazine of the USS Arizona. The image of the USS Oklahoma capsized among the flaming wreckage that used to be battleship row. The attack gave us bitter suffering and loss. It also gave us heroes to light this dark hour. Heroes such as such as Doris Miller, John William Finn and many others whose actions saved many more lives that day. Perhaps the bravest of that day were the group of three survivors who were trapped in a water tight compartment of the USS West Virginia during the attack. The Sailors survived by living off of emergency rations, flash lights, and any freshwater that could be found in the compartment. After sixteen days trapped in the sealed compartment, the three Sailors died from suffocation due to the depletion of the remaining oxygen. Their bodies were recovered by salvage crews months later. The room was littered with spent batteries and ration cans. There was also a calendar with red Xs marking of the days with the last one being December 23rd 1941. Their names were Clifford Olds age twenty, Ronald Endicott age eighteen, and Louis “Buddy” Costin age twenty one. On that infamous day, importantly not all was lost. The vital fuel and dry docks remained largely undamaged. These facilities allowed the Pacific fleet to restore damaged warships to fighting condition. Second, even more important, was that the Japanese Navy failed to destroy the Pacific Carrier Fleet. US carriers USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown would would later play lead roles at the battle of Midway the naval battle that decisively and irreversibly changed the tide of war in the Pacific in favor of the United States and Allies. Now as the 71st anniversary of Pearl Harbor comes to a close, will everyone please rise and offer a moment of silence in remembrance of the fallen and the survivors who are no longer with us today.

    The brief description about the fate these three that were trapped in the West Virgina can be found here. It is a short but hard at times to read about the aftermath of the attacks. But also it has a rare view of America before the winds of war blew in.

    Jack Miller and his shipmate, Clifford Olds joined fellow sailor Frank Kosa for a night at the “Monkey Bar”. It was December 6, 1941 in Pearl City, Oahu, and Miller and Olds were on liberty from the USS West Virginia. A barmaid snapped their picture and offered it for sale. “What a scam” they thought-keep it. Within 10 hours, this photo was to be the last reminder of peace and the terrifying beginning of Clifford Olds demise.

    Jack Miller volunteered aboard the USS Lexington and was at sea for two weeks following the attack, looking for the Japanese fleet. When he returned to Hawaii, he made a bee-line for the “Monkey Bar” and located the girl who had snapped their photo “light years” before. She found the negative and gave it to him for free out of respect. This photograph shows from left to right: Jack Miller, Frank Kosa and Clifford Olds-Camel cigarette dangling from his care-free fingers. Shipmates, and our Country are represented in this amazing picture of the last hours of peace.

    Anyways I should have some photo of me and my better half dressed up from the ball later for a healthy dose of ego inflated narcissism. Oh and just to make it interesting to day, lets play a game of “lets see how many people know why we remember what happened on this date in 1941 without hints or google”. Let me know how it goes.