Tailhook Daily Briefing

Pearl Harbor... Not One of Our Better Days

68 Years ago today...

 

Caught napping... We vowed to never allow that to happen again... in a post 9-11-2001 world, most would say we forgot that lesson a bit.  Unfortunately our memories may be fading again.

Head over to SteelJaw Scribe's joint for a refresher in December 7, 1941 history.

On this Veterans Day…

We all would like to thank our noblest of men and women, our veterans!  These are those among us who have all answered the “Call of Duty.” 

The sacrifices you make so that we may be free, to live a life of our own choosing, our own making, go unrecognized all too often by many caught up in the daily trivialities of life.  Yet, specifically on this day, we call attention where attention is needed.  On those of you who have not shirked the responsibilities of Duty over Self.  And on this day… We Thank You!

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. – Lt.-Col. John McCrae

And… if you have not taken the time to listen to one of the greatest speeches in the annals of American Rhetoric, I highly recommend listening once again to the immortal words of General Douglas McArthur as he addressed the Corps of Cadets at West Point in his acceptance of the Thayer Award and his farewell to the Long Gray Line.  It does not matter what uniform we wear or have worn, his words ring true for all that serve this great country.

Listen here: [link]

…Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.

The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.

But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid. They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. They give you a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.

And what sort of soldiers are those you are to lead? Are they reliable? Are they brave? Are they capable of victory? Their story is known to all of you. It is the story of the American man-at-arms. My estimate of him was formed on the battlefield many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then as I regard him now -- as one of the world's noblest figures, not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless. His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give.

He needs no eulogy from me or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy's breast. But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements. In 20 campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts of his people. From one end of the world to the other he has drained deep the chalice of courage.

As I listened to those songs [of the glee club], in memory's eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs, on many a weary march from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle-deep through the mire of shell-shocked roads, to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of  God.

I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always, for them: Duty, Honor, Country; always their blood and sweat and tears, as we sought the way and the light and the truth.

More…

To all veterans, the Tailhook Daily Briefing thanks you for your service and sacrifice, we here do not need a day set aside every year to remind us, but we are glad their is a day, to remind the rest!

At Tun Tavern

Stars were born…

Semper Fi!!!  Devil Dogs!

Ghosts of Naval Air

I thought I dedicate this Halloween post to a little paranormal in our Aviation Navy.  Most Tailhookers are not too concerned with ‘Things that go bump in the night”… cuz usually it’s us!

However there are a number of haunting tales told about sightings of strange humanesque shapes walking the passageways of long retired flattops like the Oriskany, the Midway and many others.  However probably the most famous Ghost of an Aircraft Carrier is “Charly” the well mannered, well dressed former sailor of the USS Lexington who perished in a Kamikaze attack on Halloween night 1944 off the coast of the Philippines   .

[Charly]  - a white-uniformed, blue-eyed young seaman who has been known to tell the tales of the ship to museum visitors who have come to tour her. Only this tour guide is a ghost.

Staff of the floating museum call him "Charly". Visitors have often called him helpful. But whatever you call him, the neatly-dressed sailor in white is not part of the museum staff, but reportedly  a former crew member that simply failed to depart the ship after giving up his life…

On a Corpus Christi Caller-Times web site, as many as 200 visitors to the museum have reported encounters with Charly. Without exception, the reports indicate the ghostly seaman is a "polite young man" that seems to share a great deal of information about the Lexington's engine room far below deck.

[More here]

Charly is rumored to primarily frequent the engine spaces and the lower decks of the ship known to the Japanese as “The Gray Ghost” (due to the Japanese, having mistakenly thought they had sunk her no fewer than four times, yet she kept returning).

Charly has become so much of an accepted part of the Lexington’s lore that even a web cam has been installed in the engine spaces.  In one now infamous image taken by this camera, one can possibly make out what appears to be a crewman standing in space.

 

Many visitors to the ship claim to this day feeling the presence of numerous spirits as they tour the decks.

Visitors say they feel a cold chill when they pass the room and one claimed to have seen something moving around in the darkness of the empty engine room. Another said he saw the engineer’s ghost looking intently at the engine as though trying to fix something.

Others have told stories of feeling something hurriedly push past them, hearing footsteps in the halls, being in the bathroom when the lights turned on and off by themselves and being in bed and feeling the covers beging tugged off them.

Recently, some cadets were staying overnight on the USS Lexington. They got up during the night and ran around the ship on a dare. Running through the engine room, they came face to face with the ghost of the dead crewman.

I’ll leave you all with that image, wishing you all a fun, safe, and Happy Halloween!

If you have any navy ghost stories you’d like to share please feel free to add them to the comments, just click “Comment” below and have at it.

Photos From the Fleet… NAS Fallon Airshow

Hard to believe it was already a week ago that many of us Tailhookers were under the searing sunshine in Churchill County watching the fine folks at NAS Fallon demonstrate their capabilities.  But for this week’s Photos from the Fleet, I present you with a few select images from the show. (Clicking the image will deliver you to a larger image and the gallery of more relating to the airshow). Enjoy… –JC

Above is a time lapse panoramic of the Blue Angels Solos Departure.  The original image is approximately 32” tall by 187” wide!  Anyone have a wall you want covered?!

 

There you have it… All of these images are under my copyright, If for any reason you would like larger versions or permission to use any of these images, simply e-mail me, and I’ll see what I can do. ;-)

The invite to contribute is, as always, extended to all readers of the Tailhook Daily Briefing.  Anyone… amateur, professional, hobbyist, Active Duty, Retired, Civilian… you name it all can contribute!  It can be of current operations in the fleet, or of our valued history.  All I ask is that it is yours to distribute (or that you have been granted permission to send it to me for purposes of publication) here on The Daily Briefing.  Simply send me an email with your attached .jpg (or pretty much any other photo file format, I do have Photoshop CS3 to convert to a web image if need be.)  Please provide the story behind the image (if there is one) and details about the individuals in the images.  And be sure to include your name to receive proper credit for the image.  Providing photo data, ie. what type of camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture etc is not necessary but welcomed as many of us are fellow photographers and would love to know how specific compelling images are captured.

Please send your pictures and stories directly to me by clicking this e-mail link [ JC’s E-Mail ] and be sure to attach the image and include an appropriate subject in the e-mail so you don’t get spam filtered out.

Sorry for the EMCON of late…

Recently returned from a trip to the great up north… you know… that state that if you cut it in half would make Texas the third largest state in the Union.

Then upon my return had to process through the… no joke here… 497 e-mails (all despite my out of office message and to please contact my associates) and 64 voice mails.  Popularity can be good… in this case… not!

So I now return to you yon gentle readers with little to tell (navy related anyway) other than I did get the chance to swing by Bremerton for a spell, actually joining forces with Seattle Tailhooker Ken Schoeni, for a couple of happy hour aperitifs there at Anthony’s at the ferry landing.  We sat enjoying the late afternoon August sun and staring across the bay as the Kitty Hawk continues though her decommissioned paces.

As for the rest of the Alaska Vacation all I can tell you here is if you have not enjoyed the sights, smells, tastes… especially the tastes, of an Alaskan Cruise I highly recommend you book yourself on an Alaskan Cruise (one you get to take the Mrs. with you (or Mr’s for our fairer Tailhookers)) and guess what? You don’t have to serve the Mid-watch! Or the ready tanker.

Shameless plug here, but many have asked… If you would like to see and read the details in text and imagery feel free to cross deck on over to my personal blog “Carmichael’s Position” where all the cool ice, salmon, whales, mountains, trains, seaplanes and big white boats live.  You may even get a taste of some of the Seattle Sea Fair Air Show departures from Boeing Field… assuming you like a little plane prOn.  Oh and yes,  for some of you who may have recognized him, the elder statesman in a few of the photos is indeed RADM(ret) E.I.‘Hoagy’ Carmichael, so if you all ever wondered “Where is he now?” I can tell you where he was a couple of weeks ago!

Now on the some house keeping items:

Tailhook 2009 is just around the corner… September 10-13 in Reno to be precise!  You procrastinators, the time is nigh!  This year promises to be a good one…  “Ain’t they all?”… with an Air Show out at Fallon with our Ambassadors in Blue, The obligatory Bug Roach Mixer where catching up and outlasting your compatriots has become sport, the RADM “Jig Dog” Ramage Recognition Luncheon, and of course the Saturday Evening Semi-Formal Banquet (that means NO Flip Flops to you E-2 guys!). All this and more…  I’m going to be there this year as well, probably hanging our near the Ready Room Booth most of the time, so please feel free to swing by and introduce yourself, and let me know what we can do to improve your reading experience here on TDB.  Rumor has it there may be other reasons, far more attractive than YHS to swing by the booth as well.  See ya there!

More details can always be found over at the Home Site http://www.tailhook.org/ 

 

I’ll try to get back to a little more reasonable delivery schedule, and you can certainly expect updates from the front, as the reunion gets underway in a couple of weeks.

Scott Speicher’s Remains Found!

And according to sources positively identified!

From AP…

WASHINGTON — The remains of the first American lost in the Gulf War have been found in Iraq, the military said Sunday, a sorrowful resolution of a nearly two-decade old question about the fate of Navy pilot Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher.

The Pentagon said the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology on Saturday positively identified the remains, buried in the desert and located after officials received new information from an Iraqi citizen about a crash.

Speicher's disappearance has bedeviled investigators since his fighter was shot down over the Iraq desert on the first night of the 1991 war.

The top Navy officer said the discovery is evidence of the military's commitment to bring its troops home. "Our Navy will never give up looking for a shipmate, regardless of how long or how difficult that search may be," said Adm. Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations.

In January 1991, Navy pilot, (then) Lieutenant Commander Michael “Scott” Speicher, was shot down while flying a combat mission over western Iraq on the first night of Operation Desert Storm. The next morning, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney told the news media that the United States had suffered one combat loss. When questioned whether or not it had been a death, he confirmed that the service member had been killed.

Four months later, Scott Speicher was declared KIA/BNR—Killed In Action, Body Not Recovered—by the United States Navy. 

In the ensuing years, Scott’s status had me changed from KIA to MIA to even Captured as multiple sources of information began to suggest that Scott had ejected and quite possibly survived the shoot down.

Leads were continually followed by DOD and other agencies, however all kept leading to no definitive conclusions.

Officials said Sunday that they got new information last month from an Iraqi citizen, prompting Marines stationed in the western province of Anbar to visit a location in the desert which was believed to be the crash site of Speicher's FA-18 Hornet.

The Iraqi said he knew of two other Iraqis who recalled an American jet crashing and the remains of the pilot being buried in the desert, the Pentagon said.

"One of these Iraqi citizens stated that they were present when Captain Speicher was found dead at the crash site by Bedouins and his remains buried," the Defense Department said in a statement.

The military recovered bones and multiple skeletal fragments and Speicher was positively identified by matching a jawbone and dental records, said Rear Adm. Frank Thorp.

He said the Iraqis told investigators that the Bedouins had buried Speicher. It was unclear whether the military had information on how soon Speicher died after the crash.

It is with mixed emotion that we at Tailhook great this news.  But at last we can bring our fallen sailor home.

Naming the Enterprise!

As regular contributor SteelJaw Scribe mentioned in his recent post “CVN Naming - Enough With the Politics Already” there is a plan afoot to name our future CVN after yet another politician, in this case USS Barry Goldwater!

Look, no matter how much you may like or not like a politician’s views regarding their treatment of the US Navy, naming the primary ship of the line after them has become tiresome!  It is time we who know the Navy and its traditions put our collective foot down!

Let’s return to naming our carriers in a more traditional fashion.  As for the Next yet to be named CVN (CVN-79) there is now a just and proper petition available online to christen this mighty vessel with the most traditional name in our Naval History, USS Enterprise!

 

Go Here! And allow your voice to be heard!  [ LINK ]

 

1. The first Enterprise, a British supply sloop, was captured 18 May 1775 at St. Johns, Quebec, Canada, by Col B. Arnold, named Enterprise, and armed for use on Lake Champlain.
2. The second Enterprise, a schooner, was a successful letter-of-marque before she was purchased on 20 December 1776 for the Continental Navy. Commanded by Captain Joseph Campbell, Enterprise operated principally in Chesapeake Bay. She convoyed transports, carried out reconnaissance, and guarded the shores against foraging raids by the British.
3. The third Enterprise, a schooner, was built by Henry Spencer at Baltimore, Md., in 1799, and placed under the command of Lieutenant John Shaw. On 17 December 1799, Enterprise departed the Delaware Capes for the Caribbean to protect United States merchantmen from the depredations of French privateers during the Quasi-War with France. Within the following year, Enterprise captured 8 privateers and liberated 11 American vessels from captivity, achievements which assured her inclusion in the 14 ships retained in the Navy after the Quasi-War.
4. The fourth Enterprise, a schooner, was launched by the New York Navy Yard on 26 October 1831, and commissioned 15 December 1831, Lieutenant S. W. Downing in command.
5. The fifth Enterprise, a bark-rigged screw sloop-of-war, was launched 13 June 1874 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, by John W. Griffith, a private contractor; and commissioned 16 March 1877, Commander G. C. Remey in command. Enterprise's first duty after fitting out at Norfolk, Va., took her to the mouth of the Mississippi River for surveying operations. Returning to Norfolk in April 1878, she remained there only briefly, sailing 27 May for surveying duty up the Amazon and Madeira Rivers. This completed, she repaired at New York, then (December 1878) joined U.S. naval forces in European waters, calling at numerous ports in northern Europe and in the Mediterranean. She returned to the Washington Navy Yard on 9 May 1880 and was placed out of commission. Recommissioned on 12 January 1882, she cruised the east coast until 1 January 1883 when she sailed on a 3-year hydrographic survey that took her completely around the world. Her findings on this cruise added materially to the knowledge of the oceans, their currents, and their bottoms. Enterprise was decommissioned at New York on 21 March 1886. Placed back in commission on 4 October 1887, Enterprise sailed from Boston in January 1888 for 2 years in the waters of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the east coast of Africa, where she showed the flag and looked out for United States interests. She returned to New York in March 1890 and was decommissioned on 20 May.
6. Arguably the Airship Enterprise L-5
7. The seventh Enterprise (CV-6) was launched 3 October 1936 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Va.; sponsored by Mrs. Claude A. Swanson, wife of the Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned 12 May 1938, Captain N. H. White in command.  The hiostory of this ship is WAY to long to post here, recommend going here to read more.
8. The eighth Enterprise (CVA(N)-65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched 24 September 1960 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Va., sponsored by Mrs. W. B. Franke, wife of the Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned 26 November 1961, Captain V. P. de Poix, in command.

The Next?

You Decide!  Again the petition to congress is here.  [ LINK ]

CVN Naming - Enough With the Politics Already

It's time to return some sanity to the way ships are named. Why? Because the silliness is upon us once again:

111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 83 Expressing the sense of Congress that a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the Navy, either the aircraft carrier designated as CVN-79 or the aircraft carrier designated as CVN-80, should be named the U.S.S. Barry M. Goldwater.

Bill information and status here

It began with CVN-70 ( Nimitz - ok, Ike, yes; but Vinson???) and reached the height of historical blindness with the Truman (honestly, naming a carrier for a president who tried his hardest to kill naval aviation and oversaw the death of the United States (CVA-58) in favor of the B-36). Why not Enterprise (CVN-65 isn't long for this world)? Coral Sea? Yorktown? Hornet? Midway?  (Note - this is not/not a slam on the great crews of those ships - its the process of naming that we have a bone to pick with...)

Enough with the politicians - these ships are going to last to the middle of the century and outlive many of us reading these words. Why not go back to naming the carriers after famous battles and reclaim some of our heritage and linkage with notable CVs from the past? And, BTW, what better way to celebrate naval aviation's upcoming centenary?

Leave it to a Chief to put it succintly:

"One man’s hero is another man’s goat. Carriers should be named for things we all have in common, not the party in power’s favorite politician. I vote we go back to the traditional carrier names as a reminder of the great ships and men who held the line when the chips were down and the odds were against us. Those names are a tribute to America’s greatness. Politicians? Not so much."

And yes, I'm familiar with Rickover's quote - how about standing firm this time anyway?

(h/t: SB)

UPDATE: A petition to SECNAV and Congress is in the works - stay tuned...

(cross posted at steeljawscribe.com)

Solving the Fighter Gap will Create a… uh… Fighter Gap!

No seriously…  This is not a joke.  There is a storm on the horizon…

(Image: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Elliott Fabrizio)

The continued failure of Congress and the Pentagon to properly procure US Navy Strike Fighters is coming to a head!  Of course this is merely preaching to the choir for many of you.

Because of the high operational tempo in Iraq and Afghanistan, the F/A-18 C/Ds “are overutilized” and wearing out, which is causing “constant turbulence among the air wings” as air crews and service crews are transferred from squadron to squadron “to get the deploying ships up to where they should be,” Each of the 10 carrier air wings is expected to have four squadrons for a total of 40, but there are only 37 active squadrons, including 36 Navy and one Marine Corps. – Vice Adm (Ret.) Robert Dunn, Pres. ANA

Over at Aviation Leak Week, they are reporting how the plan to SLEP more legacy Hornets will in effect create an increased shortfall in deployable strike fighters.

Extending the service life of F/A-18C/D Hornets to close a U.S. Navy fighter gap could still lead to a tactical air shortage because of the amount of time the Hornets will be out of service pending their upgrade, naval aviation analysts said July 21.

Ronald O’Rourke, a naval affairs expert with the Congressional Research Service (CRS), said the service life extension program for Hornets, aimed at allowing them to fly an additional 1,400 hours, is one way to solve the expected shortfall in carrier-based fighters. Officials have testified before Congress that the Navy and Marine Corps could be short between 125 and 243 aircraft by the mid- to late-2010s (Aerospace DAILY, May 21).

…The Hornet upgrade could take an estimated 1,100-2,200 man-hours per aircraft, removing them from the active force and creating a different kind of gap, according to the president of the Association of Naval Aviation, Vice Adm. Robert Dunn (ret.). Speeding up F-35 production is unlikely to happen soon, Dunn added.

Super Hornets to the rescue???… Not so fast…

Congressional committees have yet to agree on how to acquire more Super Hornets. The Senate Armed Services Committee wants to buy nine more aircraft but won’t approve a multiyear procurement plan. The House Armed Services Committee took the opposite approach, while the defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee favors doing both.

Simply put, the needle is stuck in the groove of a never ending record (there’s a hair on your Compact disc to you Generation Y-ers).  Fighter aircraft shortfalls and ever increasing maintenance requirements are not new to NAVAIR.  Ever since the end of WWII equipment supply levels of our tactical aviation has been behind the curve (maybe with the exception of the Regan years when a 600 ship navy was a goal).  Making sure the Civilian Leadership in Washington is aware of the consequences of these shortfalls has not been the strength of the US Navy.  Increased op tempos are always to be expected and planned for, yet we all know the US Congress does not possess a wealth of foresight. 

So the question is, who do we write to, talk to, yell at? 

To start here is a list of the Armed Services Committee members:

• House Armed Services Committee Members [List]
• Senate Armed Services Committee Members [List]

As Tailhookers, interested in the Security of our Nation, but more importantly the SAFETY or our Aviators, we can do some good if we let our voice be heard.  Don’t be shy.

(Stacked F/A-18s image:U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John P. Curtis)