Sad News Today

IA sub officer killed in Afghanistan

Staff report
Posted : Friday May 23, 2008 13:55:53 EDT

A 37-year-old Navy individual augmentee from Utah was killed Tuesday by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Friday.

Lt. Jeffrey Ammon, of Orem, Utah, was attached to Provincial Reconstruction Team Ghazni. He was assigned to Navy Region Northwest in Bangor, Wash. There were no further details about his death.

Ammon enlisted in the Navy in 1988, according to his official record, and spent his career in the submarine force. His assignments included the fast-attack submarine Permit and the ballistic-missile submarine Ohio. He graduated from Oregon State University, was commissioned in 2001, and then served aboard the ballistic-missile submarine Alabama.

Guess what came in!

Americans fighting for what Americans believe in

All the military services met or exceeded their recruiting goals. Here is the breakdown:

* The Army hit 101 percent of its goal of 6,000 accessions with 6,066.
* The Navy hit 100 percent of its goal of 2,909 accessions with 2,909.
* The Marine Corps hit 137 percent of its goal of 1,632 accessions with 2,234.
* The Air Force hit 100 percent of its goal of 2,093 accessions with 2,093.
* The Army National Guard hit 100 percent of its goal of 6,040 accessions with 6,048.
* The Army Reserve hit 121 percent of its goal of 3,543 accessions with 4,304.
* The Navy Reserve hit 100 percent of its goal of 865 accessions with 865.
* The Marine Corps Reserve hit 100 percent of its goal of 553 accessions with 553.
* The Air National Guard hit 121 percent of its goal of 784 accessions with 946.
* The Air Force Reserve hit 100 percent of its goal of 719 accessions with 720.

If the war was as unpopular as the traditional media in this country would have you believe, would a total of 26,136 people sign up to go fight the terrorist (this is just one month)? Seriously people...

MoH awarded to MA2(SEAL) Michael Monsoor

The parents of Master-At-Arms 2nd Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor, a 25-year-old SEAL machine-gunner killed when he dove on a grenade to save his shipmates, accepted their son’s posthumous Medal of Honor on Tuesday from a tearful President Bush at the White House.
George and Sally Monsoor received their son’s framed medal in an East Room ceremony attended by hundreds of sailors, living Medal of Honor recipients and top White House and Navy officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead. Bush also unveiled Monsoor’s formal citation, which was read aloud.
"The Medal of Honor is awarded for an act of such courage that no one could rightly be expected to undertake it. Yet those who knew Michael Monsoor were not surprised when he did." Bush said.
Monsoor was one of about 32s SEALs fighting with U.S. Army, Marine Corps and Iraqi troops to take the insurgent-controlled city of Ramadi, said Dick Couch, author of “The Sheriff of Ramadi,” a forthcoming book about the battle that features Monsoor’s picture on its cover. Rather than make a traditional invasion sweep through the dangerous capital of Anbar province, as U.S. forces had done in the battle of Fallujah, regular and special forces troops advanced piecemeal through neighborhoods in the city, cleared out enemies and then held the territory in an “ink-blot strategy,” Couch said.
Monsoor and his SEAL teammates provided reconnaissance and over-watch for the other troops as they fought in the city, and as such often bore the brunt of intense enemy attacks, Couch said. The day he died, Monsoor was stationed with his machine gun on a rooftop between two SEAL snipers providing cover for an Army unit working in a rail yard. The two men were lying prone, aiming their rifles through holes blasted in the wall, when a grenade sailed onto the rooftop and hit Monsoor in the chest. According to the official Navy biography, there was no way either of the teammates could have escaped, and even after Monsoor dove on the grenade, both SEALs suffered shrapnel wounds.
But they survived, Bush said, because Monsoor made a conscious decision to sacrifice his life for them.
“He had a clear chance to escape, but in his mind, it was not a choice at all,” Bush said.
Monsoor is the first SEAL to receive the Medal of Honor for service in Iraq; another special operator, Lt. Michael Murphy, was posthumously given the award last year after he was killed in Afghanistan making a last radio call to save his four-man squad after an ambush. Monsoor is the fourth service member to receive the Medal of Honor for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the 747th sailor to receive the award and the 3,447th person overall.
Monsoor’s other decorations included the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with combat “V” and the Purple Heart.

- http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/0...medal_040808w/

Video memorial for MA2 Monsoor: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CfK2BQCIIes

What a great American.

"We do not approve of the rebel who is driven by his desires and passions to infringements upon law and order; we find all the more worthy of our reverence the memory of those who tragically sacrificed themselves for the greater whole."
- Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi)

PO Monsoor gave his life so that his teammates survived; not only his teammtes, but the soldiers on the ground for whom PO Monsoor's team was providing cover fire. All Americans should feel the loss of PO Monsoor as heavily as the President, but his burden is especially heartfelt, I believe, as he was the one who made the hard but necessary call to commit troops to this combat action.

Dolphins in the Desert II

Continuing to share stories of submariners assigned as IAs or otherwise in the Global War on Terror, today's story focuses on the former CO of the New Hampshire initial manning crew, now the commanding officer of Camp Bucca:

Camp Bucca, Iraq -- Navy Capt. Bruce A. Derenski unrolls a poster-size photo of Camp Bucca that was taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle and spreads it out on the trailer floor.

He uses his cribbage board to hold down a corner. The game, popular among East Coast submarine officers, is one of the few reminders of his background in his new office.

Derenski, of Preston, has submarine magazine ads from World War II and the seal for the New Hampshire, a Virginia-class submarine under construction at Electric Boat in Groton, on the wall. He drinks out of a coffee mug from a submarine birthday ball.

Other than that, it could be an Army officer working here.

A large Camp Bucca flag is in the corner, body armor rests in front of the desk and a dusty copy of Arabic for beginners is on the table. Clocks tell local time, Zulu time and Eastern Standard Time. A map on the wall shows the routes to Basra.

At Camp Bucca, Derenski wears a 9mm handgun strapped to his thigh and his dog tags around his neck. The only thing that separates his appearance from that of an Army officer is the tan desert-camouflage uniform. The Army's are green.

Soldiers and airmen occasionally call him “Colonel” — the eagle-rank insignia he wears is the same as that worn by an Army or Air Force colonel.

Before he came to Iraq, Derenski was the commanding officer of the New Hampshire. He is now an “individual augmentee” serving since January as commander of Forward Operating Base Camp Bucca, the area of the detainee facility where the service members live.

Navy officers and sailors are aiding the Army and Marines by temporarily leaving their regular roles on ships and with shore commands to serve on the ground in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. About 12,000 are currently doing so.

On a recent day, Derenski dealt with everything from broken equipment to briefing an incoming National Guard unit and planning for serious security problems, like a suicide bomber at the gate.

“There's been a spate of suicide bombings in Baghdad in public places and we need to look at contingency planning in case that activity works its way south,” he says.

Four Army officers enter his office and surround the UAV photo. They figure out where to treat the injured. They determine which roads to close and which areas to cordon off. And they end the meeting knowing what to do if there is an attack.

Derenski is responsible for logistics, support and base defense at Camp Bucca, an Army-run facility that houses 20,000 detainees in southern Iraq.

About 60 percent of the 5,000 service members at Camp Bucca are in the Army or National Guard. The remaining 40 percent are two-thirds Air Force and one-third Navy, plus a few Marines and Coast Guardsmen.

“We're all Type A's here and Navy guys, more than most, are used to being 'the man,' ” Derenski said. “Then you have the built-in culture barrier and language barrier. What I thought was my job was others' and they get mad when I try to do it for them.”

“I still run up on the rocks sometimes,” he added, “but not as often anymore.”

•••••

The bottoms of Derenski's boots are worn down, even though they're only a month old.

He goes to his office to check e-mail — on average about 250 to 300 messages a day—because that is the most effective way to communicate when everyone works different shifts. But he prefers to walk the dusty paths around the facility, checking to see if the situation on the ground matches the reports he is getting.

There is only one paved road at Camp Bucca; the rest are covered with small rocks that pass for gravel. The land is flat. There is no grass, no trees, no permanent buildings — just tents and trailers surrounded by fine, clay sand.

Piles of dirt topped with concertina wire enclose the one-mile-by-two-mile area, and a concrete barrier known as the “great wall” separates the detainees' living area from that of the service members. Beige is the predominant color. Flies, in search of moisture, are everywhere, often aiming for the eyes, nose and mouth.

Temperatures are in the 80s and 90s and are considered cool for this part of the world. In the summer months, it often reaches 130 and 140 degrees.

“There are so many dark corners around here with activities. Most of the time they're doing what they're supposed to do, but things break and decay,” Derenski says on his way to drop in, unannounced, on another unit. “People suffer in silence because they can't get the things they need to put it back to the way it belongs.”

He carries a scrap piece of paper and makes a list of all the problems he encounters — malfunctioning air-conditioning, jammed cabinet door, broken light fixture, computer trouble, stuck warehouse doors.

When he goes back to the office at night, he will send out e-mails to get everything fixed. He normally works until 9 or 10 p.m., seven days a week.

“It's long days, but when you get to the end of your day here, you know you did something,” Derenski says. “It's not something abstract, like a plan or a strategy. It's something you can point to and say, 'I did that, and it made things better.' ”

Derenski volunteered to serve in Iraq for personal reasons. His other options for his next assignment mostly involved moving his family, which he was reluctant to do with two sons in high school. His family has stayed in Preston, and the boys are enrolled at Norwich Free Academy.

By volunteering, he also has more say in where his next assignment will be. He has already picked out the perfect place: Groton.

Even if he could not return to the Naval Submarine Base in the fall, he says, going to Iraq still would have been the right decision. He likes dealing with a lot of moving parts and large-scale complexity.

“I couldn't have hand-picked a better job,” he says.

The Day runs this series from their paper. Here is a link to the main page.

April 8 in Submarine History

USS Snook scorecard
1945 - USS SNOOK (SS-279) was lost with 82 men. She was to patrol Luzon Strait, the south coast of China, and the east coast of Hainan, and to perform lifeguard duties if so directed by dispatch. SNOOK returned to Guam for emergency repairs on March 27th and departed on March 28th to rejoin her group. TIGRONE was in contact with her until April 8th. The patrol was SNOOK’s ninth. The actual whereabouts of SNOOK may have been discovered during a deep sea dive in 1995. The possibility exists that a U.S. submarine lies in about 350 meters of water off the coast of Iriomote Island, the far southwest island in the Okinawa chain. During operations with an Okinawan company using a U.S. made "SCORPIO" ROV in 1995, a group of divers encountered a sonar contact with what appeared to be a metal structure about 6 meters in girth and about 35 meters in length (exposed) at roughly an angle of 20-30 degrees. The sonar image of a large unexpected obstruction to the operations prompted the divers to take evasive maneuvers and avoid the area for the safety of the ROV. The divers, thinking they would have another opportunity to work in the area at a later date, left the area and never returned to that site. Their ROV was lost in 1997 off Yonaguni island, the last island belonging to Okinawa off the east coast of Taiwan. They were fairly certain that the object was a submarine, and quite possibly SNOOK (SS-279). No further dives in the area were ever attempted.
She was the forty-ninth U.S. submarine loss of World War II.

1998 - PCU MICHIGAN (SSBN-727) (GOLD) returned to homeport at Naval Submarine Base Bangor, WA, after completing the 500th patrol for the Pacific and Atlantic Trident fleets.

2005 - the crew of USS LOUISVILLE (SSN-724) received the Meritorious Unit Commendation award for their participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) at Pearl Harbor, HI.
The nuclear-powered attack submarine returned home from OIF on May 13, 2003 as one of four Pearl Harbor-based submarines that shot Tomahawk missiles into Iraq during the war.
According to Cmdr. David Kirk, commanding officer of LOUISVILLE, at the time LOUISVILLE was outfitted with one of the oldest fire control and communications systems in the submarine fleet. Kirk said the boat deployed expecting to conduct one type of mission and was tasked to move into OIF area of operating to fire Tomahawks.
Kirk said the the multi-mission capabilities of our modern submarines was demonstrated by LOUISVILLE when she shifted gears from operations vital to national security to going on a high speed run into the OIF and shooting missiles on time.

Disturbing News

Venezuela is approaching Russia for help in building 4 Kilo class diesel submarines (RIA Novosti). The deal, negotiated on the Russian side by Putin, should be seen as an increase in Russian hostility towards the West, and reactionary return to Cold War tactics that Putin is famous for in recent times as his presidency draws to a close.

Hugo Chavez, a hard core socialist, has embarked upon a campaign of nationalizing the industries of Venezuela and has seized control of the media and television stations in his home country, repressing the most basic rights of the people to know what their government is doing (Reuters). He is famous for calling President Bush the Devil at a meeting of the UN, on US soil. Mr. Chavez also has dubious links to Iran.

Mr. Putin seems to be constructing a new, more distributed, Iron Curtain wih his deals with China, Cuba, Venzuela, and direct and indirect support of Ahmadinejd in Iran. Russia is being positioned as a direct opponent of the US, a cornerstone in a containment policy against us through these various maneuvers.KAL's Cartoon

Submarine Man?

A new stage production, Submarine Man, portrays the life of the Irish born emigrant who modernized the submarine.

The life story of an Irish inventor who became the father of the modern submarine is about to be staged.

'Submarine Man' captures the tale of John P Holland, one of Ireland’s lesser-known heroes.

Holland, from Liscannor in Co Clare, was a teacher with the Christian Brothers until he emigrated to the USA in 1872.

He continued to teach for another seven years until he eventually built a small submarine.

The success of the machine, which could travel 800km on the surface of the sea and 40km submerged, led Holland to form a company which secured a contract to build a submarine for the US Navy.

Submarine Man is described as an hilarious, yet at times incredibly moving account of one of Ireland’s greatest unsung heroes.

It portrays the inventor captivated by the allure of the sea and obsessed with his design for a bizarre, submergible craft.

Throughout the production, the scientist is fiercely courted by the fractured Fenian movement, hoping to turn his ingenious submarine on the British, while the US Naval department sees the potential to gain a powerful upper hand in warfare.

Holland, a dreamer and a pacifist, bobs and weaves his way through duplicity and threats on his life in 1890s New York, but ultimately this humble Irish school-teacher faces a terrible choice: integrity versus intellectual sell-out.

Written by Dundalk man Aidan Harney, 'Submarine Man' will premiere at the Drogheda Arts Festival on April 29, where it will run for three nights.

The production will then tour Dundalk, Ennis, Navan and Ballymun.

Sounds interesting, though probably not Broadway material.

April 7, 1942

The Navy accepts African Americans for general service, with the following announcement:
Navy Department Press Release: Navy to Accept Negroes for General Service
For release following Secretary of the Navy's press conference, Tuesday, April 7, 1942

The Navy Department today announced that Negro volunteers will be accepted for enlistment for general service in the reserve components of the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

All ratings in those three branches of the Naval Service will be opened to them, and recruiting is to be begun as soon as a suitable training station is established. A public announcement will be made when actual recruiting gets under way.

In making this announcement officials stated that the same physical and mental entrance standards required of all Navy personnel is to be required of Negroes.

It was added when Negro sailors are to be utilized for duty in District craft of various kind, in maritime activities around shore establishments, in Navy Yards, and in the Navy's new construction crews and companies which will be employed in developing bases outside the United States' continental limits.

Recruiting of Negroes for service in the Messman Branch is to continue without change or interruption.

The Battleship Missouri in History

Off Istanbul, Turkey, 5-9 April 1946. She had brought the body of the Late Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Mehmet Munir Ertegun, home for burial, on a mission that was also made to influence Soviet Middle East policy. Power (DD-839) is at left, and the Turkish Battlecruiser Yavuz (formerly the German (Goeben) is at right. Dolmabahce Mosque is in the foreground.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Sexual Assault vs. Rape

Sexual assault is a broader category that the Justice Department uses to classify rape, attempted rape, and other violent felonies that fall short of rape. Rape is defined as forced vaginal, oral, or anal penetration.

First some stats on this horrible set of crimes:
1 out of every 6 American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape).

17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.

9 of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003.

While about 80% of all victims are white, minorities are somewhat more likely to be attacked.

Lifetime rate of rape /attempted rape for women by race:
All women: 17.6%
White women: 17.7%
Black women: 18.8%
Asian Pacific Islander women: 6.8%
American Indian/Alaskan women: 34.1%
Mixed race women: 24.4%

Men
About 3% of American men — or 1 in 33 — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.

In 2003, 1 in every ten rape victims were male.
2.78 million men in the U.S. have been victims of sexual assault or rape.
Children
15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under age 12.

29% are age 12-17.
44% are under age 18.
80% are under age 30.
12-34 are the highest risk years.
Girls ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.
7% of girls in grades 5-8 and 12% of girls in grades 9-12 said they had been sexually abused.

3% of boys grades 5-8 and 5% of boys in grades 9-12 said they had been sexually abused.
In 1995, local child protection service agencies identified 126,000 children who were victims of either substantiated or indicated sexual abuse.

Of these, 75% were girls.
Nearly 30% of child victims were between the age of 4 and 7.
93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker.

34.2% of attackers were family members.
58.7% were acquaintances.
Only 7% of the perpetrators were strangers to the victim.

Effects of Rape
Victims of sexual assault are:
3 times more likely to suffer from depression.

6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.

26 times more likely to abuse drugs.

4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

How often does sexual assault occur?
In 2006, there were 272,350 victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. (These figures do not include victims 12 years old or younger.)

Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
Here's the math. According to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey — the country's largest and most reliable crime study — there were 272,350 sexual assaults in 2006 (the most recent data available).

There are 525,600 minutes in a non-leap year. That makes 31,536,000 seconds/year. So, 31,536,00 divided by 272,350 comes out to 1 sexual assault every 116 seconds, or about 1 every 2 minutes.

Reporting Rates
Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes, with 60% still being left unreported.

Males are the least likely to report a sexual assault, though they make up about 10% of all victims.

What happens to Rapists When They are Caught and Prosecuted?
60% of rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to the police. Those rapists, of course, never spend a day in prison according to a statistical average of the past 5 years. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 6% of rapists ever serve a day in jail.

Almost 2/3 of rapes were committed by someone known to the victim.
73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger.
38% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance.
28% are an intimate.
7% are a relative.


He's not Hiding in the Bushes
More than 50% of all rape/sexual assault incidents were reported by victims to have occured within 1 mile of their home or at their home.

4 in 10 take place at the victim's home.
2 in 10 take place at the home of a friend, neighbor, or relative.
1 in 12 take place in a parking garage.

43% of rapes occur between 6:00pm and midnight.

24% occur between midnight and 6:00am.
The other 33% take place between 6:00am and 6:00pm.
The Criminal
The average age of a rapist is 31 years old.
52% are white.
22% of imprisoned rapists report that they are married.
Juveniles accounted for 16% of forcible rape arrestees in 1995 and 17% of those arrested for other sex offenses.
In 1 in 3 sexual assaults, the perpetrator was intoxicated — 30% with alcohol, 4% with drugs.
In 2001, 11% of rapes involved the use of a weapon — 3% used a gun, 6% used a knife, and 2 % used another form of weapon.
84% of victims reported the use of physical force only.
Rapists are more likely to be a serial criminal than a serial rapist.
46% of rapists who were released from prison were re-arrested within 3 years of their release for another crime.

18.6% for a violent offense.
14.8% for a property offense.
11.2% for a drug offense.
20.5% for a public-order offense.

Those are some scary statistics folks. Here is an interesting publication on sexuall assault in the military. Here are the FY 2007 Sexual assault stats for the military:
- Total sexual assaults reported: 2688 of those:
- 2085 unrestricted reports of sexual assault
- 72% were service members, the rest were DoD civilians or service member dependents
- the remaining 705 reports of sexual assault were made as restricted reports. 102 of those service members opting for a restricted report, later changed their report to unrestricted and participated in the criminal investigation.
- On the investigative side of the house: there were 1,955 investigations in FY 2007 (some were still open from previous years). Of those, 28% will be reported on in the 2008 report (still open cases). Of the completed ones:
- 1172 were referred for CO action
- action was taken on 600 of those cases including 181 Courts martial. 572 cases are awaiting disposition by the CO.

Dolphins in the Desert Update

Dolphins in the Desert, as I affectionately refer to submarine sailors assigned to the individual augment program, made the front page of the local Groton newspaper (the Day). Seems the brethren are doing well at representing us over there, in this duty that is indeed very strange and different from their core training:

Here is the article:

ONE SAILOR HAS A SHOTGUN LOADED with rubber pellets slung over his shoulder. The other carries a baton. They travel a dusty sand path between tall fences covered in coils of concertina wire, looking for signs of trouble.

The detainees on “Navy Row” are secured inside their dwellings. Each 10-person unit is made of two shipping containers welded together and air-conditioned. Metal is the building material of choice — it can't be set afire.

Inside each unit are two toilets and a sink. Grates cover the windows. The empty sand courtyards used for recreation separate the rows.

At Camp Bucca, this is where the worst offenders live — extremist leaders capable of rallying the more moderate. And this is where the majority of the 550 U.S. Navy officers and sailors at the detainee facility work.

They are serving as “individual augmentees,” aiding the Army and Marines by temporarily leaving their regular roles on ships or in shore commands to serve on the ground in Iraq.

The number of suspected insurgents in U.S. custody has rapidly increased because the ongoing troop surge is resulting in more captures. Camp Bucca, a plot one mile wide by two miles long, now holds 20,000 detainees. Five thousand service members guard them.

The U.S. military is trying to prevent detention camps like this one from becoming recruiting centers for insurgents.

“We absolutely cannot allow this to become a jihadist university,” said Navy Capt. Bruce A. Derenski, commander of the area at Camp Bucca where the U.S. service members live. “At some point, we go home and they go home. We would be releasing that plague on Iraq, and there is no way in good conscience we can do that.”

Last September, military officials intensified efforts to identify members of radical militant groups and separate them from the general population, said Derenski, who previously commanded the New Hampshire, a Virginia-class submarine under construction at Electric Boat in Groton.

The extremists live in a restrictive environment, while the more moderate live in tents and wooden buildings and are allowed to move freely within their fenced-in compounds.

The strategy at Camp Bucca is to rehabilitate detainees through education and vocational programs so they will be employable when they are released.

The military measures the success of its educational programs by the number of people who don't offend again. Six thousand have been released to date, with fewer than 100 recaptured.

Those who work at the Navy compound, known as the “waterfront,” say their goal is to control their group of detainees so the strategy can work on the rest of the population.

“These people, I don't think they'll change anytime soon,” said Seaman Jordan Westall, who was just finishing his shift Thursday afternoon. “They don't care. They tell us that September 11 was the best day in American history, and that Osama bin Laden is great.”

Westall, who was previously assigned to the Groton-based USS Toledo, and other Navy guards patrol the paths on foot and keep watch from above in guard towers. They move the detainees around by unlocking and locking a series of doors in the fences when it's time for showers, recreation or a trip to the visitation center to see relatives.

On Thursday afternoon, the detainees walked in groups of two or three around the courtyard or sat in the shade cast by a guard tower reading and talking, all under the careful watch of the sailors.

Machinists Mate First Class Sean McCarthy compares guard duty to “baby-sitting dangerous children.”

“You've got to feed them, send them to the bathroom, watch them, make sure they don't run off, take them to the hospital,” he said. “Most are well-behaved. But a few of them are going to fight the system as much as they can.”

The Day has two journalist, Jennifer Grogan (staff writer) and Tim Cooke (photographer)embedded in Iraq with sailors from New London SUBASE.

To the State of Florida: There Is No Need to Apologize for Slavery

Ref: Tampa Bay News

Admitting the nation's mistakes is an honorable deed, true. However, at this point apologizing would just create more problems than it would heal. As much as I think Jesse Jackson abuses the racial issue to remain in the limelight, to maintain his fame, and because the end of racial issues in this country would mean he was out of a job, when President Clinton was asked to apologize for slavery in 1997, Jesse called such an apology "a meaningless gesture with no meaningful commitment to deal with the impact of something as serious as slavery."

USA Today recently wrote an article with the following observations in it:

"The success of the Obama candidacy underscores the irrelevance of an apology" because it shows "enormous progress" in race relations, says Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative group that describes itself as opposed to racial preferences. "Haven't we already moved beyond it?" ....

"A mere apology doesn't do anything for me," says state Rep. Talibdin El-Amin, a Democrat who is lobbying for such a resolution in Missouri.

Furthermore, a Nightline poll of the American people in 1997 found 56% of the people against it (not that popularism is all it is cracked up to be).

There can be no doubt that slavery was wrong, but some things you can't apologize for - you have to show your sincere regret through your actions. With the recent elevation of such notables as Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, and others to national recognition, positions of both power and trust, and recognized their capable performance in those duties, with Obama's success at making a campaign without the race issue rearing its ugly head (except in the specific case of Reverend Wright's divisive remarks and Bill Clinton's heinous remarks about Obama's wins in the South), we as a nation have shown ourselves elevated above our history. There is no need to apologize, our actions speak for themselves.

An apology, words, cannot make up for this:

Only the actions of the nation at large can. The USA has done so, we have elevated ourselves above our history, again.

Racial incidents in this country have become anecdotal. The continuous discussion of the topic, the occasional anecdotal evidence (there will always be some ignorant dumb@$$ out there, no matter how enlightened society becomes), and the few who make their fortunes and fame on the subject are the only reason there is still a debate in this country. IF we let it die, it will go away - two toddlers who meet will play innocently and cutely no matter if their skin is black, white, red, yellow, or green. It doesn't even occur to them to care.

Slavery is our history, not our legacy. Our legacy, rather, is the spirit of freedom that allowed us to rise above our history.

Geeks in the News

Have to propagate this. This may qualify for a Stupid Crooks award somewhere:

How the assailant may have looked.

A Star Wars fan got closer to his idols than he would perhaps have liked when he was attacked in his garden by Darth Vader.

Jedi Master Jonba Hehol - known to family and friends as Barney Jones, 36, of Holyhead - was giving a TV interview in his back garden for a documentary when a man, dressed in a black bin-bag and wearing Darth Vader's trademark shiny black helmet, leapt over his garden fence.

Wielding a metal crutch - his lightsaber presumably being in for repairs - the Sith Lord proceeded to lay about his opponent, whose Jedi powers proved inadequate for the task of defending himself.
After besting Master Hehol in single combat, Vader, who The Sun reports was under the influence of alcohol, went on to assault the camera crew and a hairdresser.

Master Hehol, a hairdresser, who founded the first-ever British Jedi Church in loving homage to the world-famous science fiction franchise with his brother Daniel, was unimpressed by the revenge of the Sith.

"This wasn't a joke. This was serious," he said.
Police are investigating a claim of assault.
The Jedi "religion" was born as a joke in the 2001 census, when almost 400,000 people claimed to believe in the Jedi faith.

Based on the teachings of Yoda, the crinkly green dwarf of the films, the "church" has a branch in Florida and plans to open another in the Philippines.

Telegraph.co.uk

McCain Blunders (minor ooops here)

March 31, 2008
A Mispronunciation in McCain's Reach Toward His Submarine Lineage
Sen. John McCain has released a new campaign video that mentions his family background in the military, specifically his high-ranked father and grandfather. The campaign video mentions McCain's dad, John S. "Jack" McCain, Jr., who was a four-star admiral in the Navy. The part that's going to cause cringing among those watching from the basement bar at the submarine veterans club in Groton is that the announcer says the elder McCain was a "sub-mariner" and not "submarine-er," which is the way the submarine community pronounces it.

I know. It sounds silly, right? But just try pronouncing it that way in Groton. You'll receive some swift instruction.

If McCain hopes to impress the military loyalists in Southeastern Connecticut, he might want to send that announcer back to the sound booth.

Hartford Courant

I don't believe the age old discussion has ever definitively been solved but I prefer "submarine-er" as when referring to people who wear the dolphins.

Pronouncing it as "sub-mariner" makes me think of a comic book character. (as well, pronouncing it this way will earn you the wrath of Mrs. Whizzer, my dear lovely wife.)

So, "sub-mariner" or "submarine-er," which do you find more correct?

SSGN Complete

The return of the USS Georgia to service on 28 MAR 2008 marks the completion of the Navy's project to convert the first four ballistic missile submarines (commonly called boomers by Sailors) to guided missile boats.



Remember the old adage: there is a reason the first four boomers were named the way they were - the initials are OMFG (Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Georgia).

Vote

Vote for Patti Patton Bader in America's Favorite Mom contest.

America's Favorite Mom Contest

Patti is the founder of Soldier's Angels. In 5 years Ms. Bader's charity has grown to over 200,000 angels is currently helping tens of thousands of service members whereever the flag of the USA is raised. Ms. Bader has two sons one deployed to Iraq in 2003 and returned safely, the other is currently serving our nation there.


The winner of the contests can get up to $25,000 for their charity.

Voting ends Mar 31.

USS Missouri (SSN 780) in the News

News from my boat:

Rep. Ike Skelton visited the EB shipyard and toured the Missouri, named for his home state. While touring the yard with junior Rep Courtney from CT, Mr. Skelton held a press conference confirming his support for building submarines and the submarine forces continued importance to national security.

Rep. Ike Skelton

Some Gave All 2:

Here is a very moving video memorial of Michael Monsoor, including some footage of his actual memorial service:

Memorial Video footage.

What A Great Gift

Since my wife currently suffers through 4 hours of dialysis every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while she is waiting acceptance to the transplant list for a kidney, this is the kind of story that raises my spirits:

Miracle Kidney Donor

More information on organ donation is available at: Organ Donor information site.

Some Gave All

Upcoming Medal of Honor award:
MA2(SEAL) Michael Monsoor to be awarded MoH.

Photo Tribute to Michael Monsoor

USS John F. Kennedy

A friend of mine shared these photos they took of the JFK being towed to the Philly Naval Yard to be scrapped after being decommissioned Aug. 1, 2007.








Thanks natsy.

The USS JOHN F. KENNEDY was the last conventionally-powered aircraft carrier built by the US Navy. Originally scheduled to become the fourth KITTY HAWK class carrier, the JFK received so many modifications during construction that she formed her own class. Named in honor of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy who was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, TX., the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY was the first ship in the Navy to bear the name. Transfered to the Naval Reserve Force in 1995, the KENNEDY returned to the active fleet again in October 2000. The Navy initially wanted to decommission the KENNEDY in mid-2005 because the carrier was in bad shape and was in need of expensive repairs that just did not seem to be cost-effective. However, the Congress decided to keep the KENNEDY in service to have a total of 12 active aircraft carriers. The JOHN F. KENNEDY was subsequently berthed at the Mayport Naval Station for several months. Her flight deck was not certified for aircraft operations and the Navy was just waiting to finally decommission the ship. In late 2006, the decision was finally made to retire the KENNEDY. The KENNEDY made a final voyage up the east coast for a final port visit to Boston, Mass., in early March 2007. The decommissioning ceremony for the JOHN F. KENNEDY was on March 23, 2007, at Mayport, Fla. The official decommissioning date for the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY was August 1, 2007.

General Characteristics: Awarded: April 30, 1964
Keel laid: October 22, 1964
Launched: May 27, 1967
Commissioned: September 7, 1968
Decommissioned: August 1, 2007
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va.
Propulsion system: eight boilers
Propellers: four
Blades on each Propeller: five
Aircraft elevators: four
Catapults: four
Arresting gear cables: four
Length, overall: 1,050 feet (320 meters)
Flight Deck Width: 267 feet (81.4 meters)
Beam: 128 feet (39.2 meters)
Draft: 36,7 feet (11.2 meters)
Displacement: approx. 80,950 tons full load
Speed: 30+ knots
Planes: approx. 78
Crew: Ship: 3,117 Air Wing: 2,480
Armament: two Mk 29 NATO Sea Sparrow launchers, two 20mm Phalanx CIWS Mk 15, two Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Systems

The ship's seal was designed by KENNEDY's first Commanding Officer, Rear Admiral (Ret.) Earl P. Yates.

The ship's seal is based on the coat of arms of the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families. These ancient symbols represent the stability that stems from tradition. Modern symbols have been incorporated to show the progress that stems from innovations. Both stability and progress were notable characteristics of the policies of President John F. Kennedy, and are essential to the continued accomplishment of our mission.

The black shield with three gold helmets is the traditional coat of arms of the O'Kennedy of the Ormonde. The helmets represent the original Gaelic word from Kennedy, Ceinneide, which means, "helmeted head." The red and white borders are the colors of Fitzgerald of Desmond. Above the shield is the single helmet crowned with a wreath of the Kennedy colors: black, gold, and flanked by the red and white mantel in Fitzgerald colors, symbolic of courage.

The crest of the coat of arms is a mailed forearm, holding a sheaf of arrows and framed by olive branches, symbolizing power and peace, as do the eagle's claws in the Presidential Seal.

The bottlenose dolphins holding the banner at the bottom are traditional symbols of the sea and seaman. They represent our freedom to roam the seas, freedom essential to progress in the world community. Dolphins are friends of man, but deadly enemies of aggressors and attack only when provoked.

The shamrock-shaped banner symbolizes good luck, President Kennedy's Irish ancestry, and our ties with Ireland. Written on the banner in Latin is the ship's motto, Date Nolite Rogare, which means Give, be unwilling to ask. The phrase represents the spirit of President Kennedy's inaugural address and specifically the famous line: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country..."

The wings are symbols not only of KENNEDY's air power, but also of progress and the freedom to roam the skies. Stars representing the 50 states surround the shield. A 51st star, the topmost in the seal, represents the high state of readiness sought by KENNEDY. In years that she earns the coveted Navy "E" for efficiency, this top star will gold in color.

WWII Submarine Warrior Passes On

Capt. Benjamin C. Jarvis, awarded the Navy Cross, passed on today.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/22/MN4LVNG3H.DTL

Change of Command, A Note of Humility

At one time or another, every submariner (probably every Sailor and most military people in general) has quipped "why does he get the medal? I was the one who did all the work!" I know I have personally uttered it on occasion, and heard it muttered much more than that. This morning as I was reading the news I chanced upon a story that went the other way. A Rear Admiral that is truly deserving of the award he received, but deferred to his Sailors and his submarines as the truly deserving.

During the ceremony, Donnelly recited Haney's achievements at Submarine Group Two since October 2006, then pinned the Legion of Merit medal on him for outstanding service.

Haney does not like to say much about his own accomplishments. When asked, he usually changes the topic to the successes of his submarines and his sailors.

On Friday, he accepted the medal on behalf of the sailors of Submarine Group Two.

“It is their efforts that we applaud, and clearly those lists of achievements weren't done by me,” Haney said. “They were done by the sailors of our submarine force.”

- http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=ce95a1d4-f20a-4fbe-b221-9b46a21fce60

Adm Donnelly pins the Legion of Merit on Rear Adm Haney at the Change of Command ceremony for COMSUBGRP TWO in Groton. Rear Admiral Grooms, right, relieved Adm. Haney.

Congratulations to the Sailors of Group Two, as well as the efforts of Adm. Haney who truly deserves the medal he is awarded.

Criteria for awarding of the Legion of Merit: awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States without degree for exceptionally outstanding conduct in the performance of meritorious service to the United States. The performance must merit recognition by individuals in a key position which was performed in a clearly exceptional manner. The performance of duties normal to the grade branch, specialty or assignment and experience of an individual is not an adequate basis for this award.

For service rendered in peacetime, the term "key individual" applies to a narrower range of positions than would be the case in time of war and requires evidence of significant achievement. In peacetime, service should be in the nature of a special requirement or of an extremely difficult duty performed in an unprecedented and clearly exceptional manner. However, justification of the award may accrue by virtue of exceptionally meritorious service in a succession of important positions.

Rear Admiral Cecil Haney bio: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=317

Signs and Portents

In a new contract modification with Electric Boat, the Navy paid $325 million for the procurement of materials for construction of SSN 784 and SSN 787.
http://frontierindia.net/325-million-contract-for-virginia-class-submarine-advance-procurement
http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2008/03/17/daily45.html

This is a significant development pointing to the Navy's Commitment to increasing the pace of delivery for the Virginia class submarines.

Of course the sailors going to the next several of these boats also should expect some degree of pain in the building and testing process because of the Navy's push to lower the cost of these boats. Anyone who has ever been in a shipyard, will know that there are two ways to lower costs like this: lower quality and shorted the yard period. The two go hand-in-hand.

A Hero For All of Us

Lt. Mark Dyer, whose efforts to save the lives of our front line troops placed him well outside his normal comfort zone and on the front lines himself, serves as an inspiration of true leadership to the rest of the Navy. A well deserved Bronze Star in my opinion.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i20v-t-7KTRmwFrYRLazM_UkifTAD8VH116G0

An excerpt:

In some cases, the soldiers took the jamming devices on patrols thinking that it was working when it was not because it had not been properly maintained. In other cases, they left the equipment behind because they didn't want to hassle with complicated technology, Thomas said.

"The biggest battle I faced was they didn't understand how it worked," he said. "We conducted the training on how to properly utilize it and made it a way of life."

Thomas said the technology works by "basically providing a protective bubble around a vehicle," jamming incoming signals and blocking the remote detonation of bombs.

To convince the soldiers and Marines the equipment could work, Thomas and Dye had to leave the relative safety of their bases and go on regular patrols with the troops into surrounding towns.

"I'm not used to being that close to the bad guy," Thomas said.

On Dye's first night outside of the base, his convoy hit a cluster of IEDs and the jamming technology stopped the chain-reaction explosion. Part of the first vehicle was hit, but no one was injured.

It was the first in a series of successes that led the troops to rely on the technology.

Keep up the good work, Lt.

This Could be a New Horror Movie

CNN reports a woman died today from being attacked by a flying ray: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/20/eagleray/index.html.

Of course this story causes reminences about the Croc Hunter, Steve Irwin, and other completely unrelated events, still I can see some completely idiotic horror movie in the vein of the Pirhanna trilogy (you are revealing yourage if you remember those movies) being spawned by this "string" of attacks.

A Step Toward A Possible Solution of the Best Known Open Mathematical Question

A new class of functions may lead to advances in proving Riemann's Hypothesis(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080313124415.htm).

Riemann's Hypothesis is important because it predicts the frequency with which prime numbers occur in the number. A proof of the hypothesis should give mathematicians insight into new algorithms for factoring very large prime numbers, a significant breakthrough in the area of cryptography and the search for a way to break RSA encryption.

For those interested, a good basic description of the hypothesis is found at http://primes.utm.edu/notes/rh.html and on Wolfram's MathWorld (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RiemannHypothesis.html).

This site also has some interesting information and a plotter for the Riemann Zeta Function:
http://web.mala.bc.ca/pughg/RiemannZeta/RiemannZetaLong.html#ZetaFunction

USS North Carolina Set To Visit Her Namesake

Virginia class submarine USS North Carolina is setting sail for the Florida, making a stop in Wilmington, in its namesake state for the ship's commissioning ceremony. So far the local community seems to be showing a great deal of support for the submarine and the upcoming visit is getting some good publicity as seen by the stories and videos, especially from WECT (http://www.wect.com/Global/category.asp?C=129197).

There is also this story and accompanying video from WRAL (http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2590493/).