NAVAL STATION MAYPORT, Fla. -- After six months in the Middle East, more than 275 sailors have returned to Mayport aboard USS Gettysburg. The guided missile cruiser and crew were deployed with the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group in support of operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn, plus security efforts in the Mediterranean and Arabian seas. Vice President Joe Biden, in town to discuss college affordability with high school students, was with the waiting crowd as the ship docked. As USS Gettysburg was pulling in, Biden spoke to the families and friends of the sailors, quoting John Milton, who wrote, "They also serve who only stand and wait." He said the country is behind them as well as the sailors. "We only have one sacred obligation as a country. We have a lot of obligations, only one's sacred. That's to prepare those we send to war, and care for those and their families when they come home. That's an obligation we're going to meet; you've met all of your obligations." To the children, he had a special message as well. "It's going to be a be a very, very, very happy Christmas for all you kids." Biden then boarded the ship to greet the sailors. "Welcome home, sailor," Biden said as he shook hands and gave a vice presidential coin to everyone on the ship. Sailing into Mayport with USS Gettysburg were other ships in the group, including the carrier USS George H.W. Bush. The other ships will be picking up family members and friends for a "Tiger Cruise" from Mayport to the carrier's homeport in Norfolk, Virginia, according to a news release from Navy spokesman Bill Austin. First Coast NewsThis means the USS George HW Bush is one day closer to home.
Showing posts with label broken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label broken. Show all posts
Thursday, December 8, 2011
VP Biden visits sailors on the USS Gettysburg today
First Coast News reported
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Veteran's Day 2011
As noble as it can be to honor our fallen veterans, it's also honorable to protect and speak out for those who are actively serving our country today. The men and women of our armed forces sacrifice much so that we can enjoy the American Way of Life.
As children, we learn to follow the leader, become links the family chain of command and to do as we are told. We grow up and find jobs where we must do as requested by our supervisors, colleagues and associates. The orders trickle down from the boss and the boss receives instructions from shareholders or partners. In the military, the chain of command is a bit more literal. Officers and enlisted personnel all must adhere to the chain of command. There are certain ways to do things and protocol to follow. This chain of command is instilled in the service men and women early in their training. Their A schools, where they learn to do their military jobs ensures they understand completely what the chain of command is. Career soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen (and women) know more than anyone, the value of this chain.
As a Navy Mom, I know what civilians must give up when a loved one is deployed. We miss our sons, daughters, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, mothers, fathers and friends. We feel a void in our day-to-day lives when the one we counted on is no longer there. We write letters, mail cards, send emails, find jokes to lighten the day and we send care packages - because we do care. We miss our military men and women when they are not home.
They miss us more. We are still sleeping in our beds while they must deal with cots or the hard ground. We have the luxury of air conditioning and heat while our military are exposed to the elements. We eat fast food; they deal with MREs or cold food and don't mind crumbly cookies in our poorly packed boxes.
Every day, while we are complaining about our jobs or school, our deployed loved ones work without complaint in hostile environments - some are dealing with munitions and others are dealing with the indignity of having to search for a working toilet on a ship where the doors to toilets that do work are - - - locked!
The USS George H.W. Bush is on its maiden deployment and many things can go wrong the first time ships cruise. No one could have expected the technological marvels of the Vacuum Collection, Holding and Transfer system to have failed as miserably as it has. Toilets are clogged, overflowing, simply not working. Cipher locks have been installed on the ones that do work and sailors dare not relieve themselves into the ocean, for fear of serious repercussions. Sailors are afraid to eat or drink in an effort not to feel the urge to void - then have to search for up to an hour to find a useable toilet.
Unlike the family sedan, aircraft carriers cannot just pull off the road when mechanical failure sets in. There is no "seaside service" that can fix this problem. The only solution I see is to airlift to the ship, experts from the company that manufactured and installed the system. The sailors still have a long time at sea. Depending on the world political climate, the deployment can be extended, but even if they come home as scheduled, they will be there much too long without working toilets. The months they have already endured with this failed system is far too long.
Treat our military men and women like the heroes they are!
As children, we learn to follow the leader, become links the family chain of command and to do as we are told. We grow up and find jobs where we must do as requested by our supervisors, colleagues and associates. The orders trickle down from the boss and the boss receives instructions from shareholders or partners. In the military, the chain of command is a bit more literal. Officers and enlisted personnel all must adhere to the chain of command. There are certain ways to do things and protocol to follow. This chain of command is instilled in the service men and women early in their training. Their A schools, where they learn to do their military jobs ensures they understand completely what the chain of command is. Career soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen (and women) know more than anyone, the value of this chain.
As a Navy Mom, I know what civilians must give up when a loved one is deployed. We miss our sons, daughters, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, mothers, fathers and friends. We feel a void in our day-to-day lives when the one we counted on is no longer there. We write letters, mail cards, send emails, find jokes to lighten the day and we send care packages - because we do care. We miss our military men and women when they are not home.
They miss us more. We are still sleeping in our beds while they must deal with cots or the hard ground. We have the luxury of air conditioning and heat while our military are exposed to the elements. We eat fast food; they deal with MREs or cold food and don't mind crumbly cookies in our poorly packed boxes.
Every day, while we are complaining about our jobs or school, our deployed loved ones work without complaint in hostile environments - some are dealing with munitions and others are dealing with the indignity of having to search for a working toilet on a ship where the doors to toilets that do work are - - - locked!
The USS George H.W. Bush is on its maiden deployment and many things can go wrong the first time ships cruise. No one could have expected the technological marvels of the Vacuum Collection, Holding and Transfer system to have failed as miserably as it has. Toilets are clogged, overflowing, simply not working. Cipher locks have been installed on the ones that do work and sailors dare not relieve themselves into the ocean, for fear of serious repercussions. Sailors are afraid to eat or drink in an effort not to feel the urge to void - then have to search for up to an hour to find a useable toilet.
Unlike the family sedan, aircraft carriers cannot just pull off the road when mechanical failure sets in. There is no "seaside service" that can fix this problem. The only solution I see is to airlift to the ship, experts from the company that manufactured and installed the system. The sailors still have a long time at sea. Depending on the world political climate, the deployment can be extended, but even if they come home as scheduled, they will be there much too long without working toilets. The months they have already endured with this failed system is far too long.
Treat our military men and women like the heroes they are!
Chamber Pots and the Space Age
When the United States Navy was first formed, hundreds of years ago, sailors did not have space-age, vacuum toilets on their ships, but this is not then. Our nation boasts of the most modern military power on the planet. There are literally no countries that can rival our military might on the ground, in the air or on the seas. We have an elite, all-volunteer force of power that not only ensures our safety, but that of many weaker countries throughout the world. We ARE the United States of America and we stand united against our foes.
I stand united with my son, a career sailor currently deployed on the USS George H.W. Bush. His concerns are my concerns. His deployment is my deployment and it has been that way from the moment he left my home to become a sailor. His job for the Navy is that of an aviation mechanic. I can't name all the aircraft he has been involved in keeping in the air or all the pilots who became angry with him when they wanted to fly a bird that he knew was unsafe - even at the last minute, during the pre-flight walk-through. He knows his prop jobs, his helicopters and his jets. He knows how to keep them flying, how to keep the pilots safe and how to ensure the Navy does not lose any at sea.
So, when, after more than five months at sea, during a casual email exchange with him, I discover that the toilet-failure problem on board the ship has not yet been resolved, I reacted just like a mother bear whose cub is being poked with a stick. Some mornings are good for meditation - this was such a morning and then it occurred to me that I can still voice my opinion, even if my opinion may smell as bad as the clogged toilets on the USS George H.W. Bush.
On 13 October 1775, first ship of the United States Navy, then the Continental Navy, was named Alfred in honor of Alfred the Great. The sailors on board the Alfred likely had chamber pots that were probably simply dumped over the edge of the ship. I was not there, so I don't know. Email was not even a concept at that point. People wrote letters by hand, using feathers (quills) dipped in inkwells. Chances are the conscripted sailors on board the Alfred could not read or write. Whatever happened on board the Alfred most likely stayed right there if it wasn't written in the Captain's Log. That was 236 years ago.
Once we become accustomed to a modern convenience, we consider it a necessity. Many who grew up in large families with only one bathroom know how hard it can be to stand in the hall, shouting "Mom, she's hogging the bathroom and I gotta go!" I grew up in such a family and we scheduled our alarms to allow for adequate bathroom time before going to school each morning. When more than 5,000 sailors are on board one aircraft carrier, they also have to share the toilets - when 10% or more of those toilets are out of order, the integrity of this sharing is jeopardized. Even more so when locks are placed on some of the doors to the toilets that do work.
As children, we all learn to follow a chain of command and for years, that chain brings about the results we expect. As employees, we still follow chains of command in in the military, that chain is paramount. Enlisted personnel learn in boot camp that to try to circumvent that chain is not a good thing.
But when that chain no longer functions, we either call for help or find the crazy glue. Some people have called ME the crazy glue that holds my office together.
I stand united with my son, a career sailor currently deployed on the USS George H.W. Bush. His concerns are my concerns. His deployment is my deployment and it has been that way from the moment he left my home to become a sailor. His job for the Navy is that of an aviation mechanic. I can't name all the aircraft he has been involved in keeping in the air or all the pilots who became angry with him when they wanted to fly a bird that he knew was unsafe - even at the last minute, during the pre-flight walk-through. He knows his prop jobs, his helicopters and his jets. He knows how to keep them flying, how to keep the pilots safe and how to ensure the Navy does not lose any at sea.
So, when, after more than five months at sea, during a casual email exchange with him, I discover that the toilet-failure problem on board the ship has not yet been resolved, I reacted just like a mother bear whose cub is being poked with a stick. Some mornings are good for meditation - this was such a morning and then it occurred to me that I can still voice my opinion, even if my opinion may smell as bad as the clogged toilets on the USS George H.W. Bush.
On 13 October 1775, first ship of the United States Navy, then the Continental Navy, was named Alfred in honor of Alfred the Great. The sailors on board the Alfred likely had chamber pots that were probably simply dumped over the edge of the ship. I was not there, so I don't know. Email was not even a concept at that point. People wrote letters by hand, using feathers (quills) dipped in inkwells. Chances are the conscripted sailors on board the Alfred could not read or write. Whatever happened on board the Alfred most likely stayed right there if it wasn't written in the Captain's Log. That was 236 years ago.
Once we become accustomed to a modern convenience, we consider it a necessity. Many who grew up in large families with only one bathroom know how hard it can be to stand in the hall, shouting "Mom, she's hogging the bathroom and I gotta go!" I grew up in such a family and we scheduled our alarms to allow for adequate bathroom time before going to school each morning. When more than 5,000 sailors are on board one aircraft carrier, they also have to share the toilets - when 10% or more of those toilets are out of order, the integrity of this sharing is jeopardized. Even more so when locks are placed on some of the doors to the toilets that do work.
As children, we all learn to follow a chain of command and for years, that chain brings about the results we expect. As employees, we still follow chains of command in in the military, that chain is paramount. Enlisted personnel learn in boot camp that to try to circumvent that chain is not a good thing.
But when that chain no longer functions, we either call for help or find the crazy glue. Some people have called ME the crazy glue that holds my office together.
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