Tailhook Daily Briefing

Tailhook Association Supports Project Valour IT

Project Valour IT needs your help!  Your NAVY help!

Valour is not misspelled... like everything military related, "Valour IT" is an acronym for: Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops)...

Here's the scoop on what they are and who they serve.  But before you read below, it is important to know that their goal is to raise $240,000 with competition between the services.  Each service has an individual goal of $60,000 dollars to raise in competition with the other service branches. Navy and Coast Guard are Clumped together this year... And why not, both wear the same Wings of Gold!  Marines are separated from their Parent Service this year for unknown reasons other than to give Army a chance.  HA!!!!  I say we not let that happen!  Join the NAVY team and please donate to a MORE than worthy cause.  Challenge your Bus Driver friends! (Like our buddy Steel Jaw Scribe did here!)  And most importantly click here and donate by November 11th!  We'll be leaving the Image up in the left pane for the duration to see how we're doing and making it easy to donate. 

All I can say is:

GO NAVY!

BEAT ARMY!

and the Air Force and the Marines....

Click the "Make a Donation" button to do just that!

More on Project Valour-IT

Every cent raised for Project Valour-IT goes directly to the purchase and shipment of laptops for severely wounded service members. As of October 2007, Valour-IT has distributed over 1500 laptops to severely wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines across the country.

Valour-IT accepts donations in any amount to support the purchase and distribution of laptops, but also offers a sponsorship option.  An individual or organization may sponsor a wounded soldier by completely funding the cost of a laptop and continuing to provide that soldier with personal support and encouragement throughout recovery. This has proved to be an excellent project for churches, groups of coworkers or friends, and members of community organizations such Boy Scouts.

Originally Valour-IT provided the voice-controlled software, but now works closely with the Department of Defense Computer/electronic Accommodations Program (CAP): CAP supplies the adaptive software and Valour-IT provides the laptop.  In addition, DoD caseworkers serve as Valour-IT’s “eyes and ears” at several medical centers, identifying possible laptop recipients.  Wounded military personnel can also directly request a laptop through the sign-up form or through the Valour-IT/Soldiers' Angels representatives at the following medical centers:

* Balboa Naval Hospital

* Brooke Army Medical Center

* Madigan Regional Medical Center

* National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda Naval Hospital)

* Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton

* Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital (29 Palms)

* Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Thanks to the efforts of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Valour-IT is also able to reach patients in VA hospitals who would benefit from a Valour-IT laptop.

I'm sure this will help the argument to keep the Navy at Oceana!

Whoops!

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Navy said a small, inert training bomb fell Tuesday from an fighter jet that was heading to Oceana Naval Air Station. No one was hurt.

And from WRAL.com

The 10-pound bomb scraped a warehouse's concrete exterior wall in the resort city of Virginia Beach, causing "extremely minimal damage," Navy spokesman Mike Maus said.

The F/A-18C Hornet was returning to Oceana Naval Air Station after a training mission at the Navy's bombing range in Dare County, North Carolina, when it dropped the bomb as it was landing, Maus said. He did not know the jet's altitude.

The jet was undamaged and landed safely, Maus said.

A Navy board will investigate and determine whether the pilot should be punished, Maus said. The Navy did not release the pilot's name.

The bomb was a BDU-48, which carries an explosive charge that emits smoke upon impact, Maus said. Air crews practice air-to-ground bombing using such "bomb dumb units" as a low-cost alternative to live ordnance, he said.

So Easy an NFO Can Do It!

 

Oof! (Video May Not be visible due to heavy traffic in the YouTube Pattern!)

Link to it is here too! [Video]

Situational Awareness

A little SA poster I cobbled together... On my mind thanks to Denver Drivers!

Come up with your own Motivational Posters at... http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php

E-1B Vietnam Crew MIA since 1967... Now Home!

From the Conservative Voice:

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of five U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been accounted-for and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are all U.S. Navy.

• Lt. j.g. Norman L. Roggow, of Aurelia, Iowa;
• Lt. j.g. Donald F. Wolfe, of Hardin, Mont.;
• Lt. j.g. Andrew G. Zissu, of Bronx, N.Y.;
• Chief Petty Officer Roland R. Pineau, of Berkley, Mich.;
• Petty Officer 3rd Class Raul A. Guerra, of Los Angeles, Calif.;

Pineau was buried on Oct. 8 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. The dates and locations of the funerals for the other servicemen are being set by their families.

On Oct. 8, 1967, Zissu and Roggow were the pilots of an E-1B Tracer en route from Chu Lai Air Base, Vietnam, back to the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. Also on board were Wolfe, Pineau and Guerra. Radar contact with the aircraft was lost approximately 10 miles northwest of Da Nang, Vietnam. Adverse weather hampered immediate search efforts, but three days later, a search helicopter spotted the wreckage of the aircraft on the face of a steep mountain in Da Nang Province. The location, terrain and hostile forces in the area precluded a ground recovery.

[More here]

And Much MUCH more over at SteelJaw Scribe's Place... As always!  [ed.]

Blue Suiter in Training...

A little fun for a Monday.

Well, not sure what to say about this... But I certainly cannot pass the opportunity to have a little fun at the Junior Service's account.  I give you an Air Force Cadet... um Dancing. [Vid Link]

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

HT Jeff

Tailhook HQ and the Fires in San Diego

From JR Davis:

Dateline 10/24/2007

Tailhookers,

The fires in San Diego passed to the north and south of the HQ building.  We were evacuated Monday afternoon and this morning we are back in the office.  All is well here.

Vr,

JR Davis

Executive Director

The Tailhook Association

 Photo Courtesy of NASA

An Impact Study for a Third Carrier in San Diego... Why?

As reported here,

"The Navy is planning to conduct an impact study to make sure that having three carriers in the San Diego area won't strain city resources."

I'm trying to determine the need for said "Impact Study"  when historically San Diego has facilitated three home ported carriers.  Though the 80's in Ronald Reagan's "600 ship Navy" the USS Ranger (CV-61), USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) and USS Constellation (CV-64) were all Home Ported in San Diego and on numerous occasions all three were in port even. 

Remembering back to those days the biggest impact was commuter traffic getting across the Coronado Bay Bridge in the morning and evening rush.

Granted, considering that there will be three "Nuclear" carriers based there, it may require some facilities modifications, but I'm pretty sure NASNI can already accommodate three Nukes at a time.  

So again... tell me why an "Impact Study" is required other than to satisfy bureaucratic red tape? 

[Thanks to John Doughty Jr. for the image]

Admiral William Crowe Passes

WASHINGTON (AP) — William Crowe, an Annapolis-trained submarine officer who rose to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and served as ambassador to Britain, has died at age 82.

The retired admiral died early Thursday at Bethesda Naval Hospital, the Navy announced. No cause of death was released immediately.

"We lost a true hero last night ... a distinguished naval officer, diplomat, leader, mentor (who) served both Presidents Reagan and Bush," Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference.

However Admiral Crowe's Naval History was not without controversy.  In a submarine era dominated by the iron fist of Adm. Hyman Rickover, early in the 60's, Crowe bucked the system choosing to pursue a more academic path and turning down an opportunity to transition from Diesels to Nukes.  Instead he chose to study for a doctorate in politics and international affairs at Princeton.

"As I studied political science at Princeton, I began to learn that things aren't black and white, they're usually gray,"

These views were not readily received in the upper echelons of the Navy in his era. A unnamed superior officer in the Puzzle Palace Pentagon once chastened Crowe... 

`We didn't send you to graduate school to come back here with a lot of ideas on how to run the Navy. What we sent you to graduate school for is to come back here and help us perfect and articulate what we want better. But we're not interested in your original thinking.'

Crowe entertained leaving the Navy right then... however he continued eventually becoming CincPac.  It was during his stint at CincPac that he had an opportunity to brief then President Ronald Reagan. 

"Reagan had stopped in Hawaii en route to China for a briefing from Crowe on the military situation in the Far East. As Crowe spoke for 90 minutes without notes, charts or maps, Reagan was reported to have whispered to his defense secretary, Caspar Weinberger: "If we're ever going to need a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs, here's our man."

Despite being the nominee of one of the most well regarded Republicans, Crowe's loyalty was not specific to the GOP, in 1992 Crowe endorsed Bill Clinton for President, expressing a distaste for the attacks on Clinton for not having served in Vietnam. 

It was in the Clinton Administration that Admiral Crowe was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, where he served until 1997.

One of Admiral Crowe's most publicly memorable moments was an appearance on the much loved TV show Cheers.  Ken Levine, one of the writers, recalls an episode about "Who Stole Rebecca's Earrings":

Admiral William J. Crowe Jr., the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ...turned out to be a great guy. And yes, he was always trailed by an aide with a box handcuffed to his wrist – putting the Admiral in direct satellite communication with the President, day or night. Every twenty minutes this aide had to unlock the box and place a test call. I badgered him into letting me watch this once. He opened the box. I was expecting this real high tech Star Wars equipment. It looked like used Radio Shack shit, with a black phone worthy of Maxwell Smart.

Admiral Crowe did every joke we wrote for him…except one, presented here for the first time.

He’s sitting at the bar with Norm and Cliff. Norm says, “So you got the black box, huh?” Admiral: “That’s right.” Cliff: “And you can make one call and nuclear missiles are in the air on their way to Russia?” Admiral: “Yes, sir.” Norm then slaps a bill on the counter and says, “Fifty bucks says you can’t.”

Fair Winds and Following Seas Admiral...

"These are yours... Not Mine!"

And this is leadership! 

Lex has the story over at his place! [link]