H/T: Military.Com News

Project Excelsior. 102,800 feet. Basically freefalling from space. You have a pressure suit on. You ride up in an open gondola. You begin the experiment with only 6 parachute jumps in your logbook. You have been raised to believe no one wants to get out of a “perfectly good airplane.” “Passing a baton” between two freefallers is still a skill to master in the sport (stability required). Olav Zipser and company haven’t been born yet, let alone developing head down freeflying. Who’d want to jump a “square” parachute? Space: Back then it really was a final frontier. One the way “back,” you lose your glove and your hand begins to 1) freeze and 2) swell from the pressure differential.

Col Kittinger still holds the record for altitude for a freefall set Aug 16th, 1960.

Take a few moments to read about Col Joseph Kittinger. Not only did he do this project, he also was involved in testing observations of space from balloons, flew 483 combat missions in Vietnam in A-26s Invaders and F-4 Phantoms, was shot down over North Vietnam and spent 11 months as a POW. Quite a ride, I’d say. Oh, and I guess he still ribs Chuck Yeager about beating him to being the first man to go supersonic….

It’s that time again! Post ’em if you got ’em…

Now…the “Sea Story” for the week: “The Original ‘Nickel Back'” or: “How to make civil servant cringe.”

Besides building a lot of FFG-7 Class frigates for us, we also made two for the Aussies; Two w/o LAMPS MK III helicopter capable and two with. Being the officer in charge of training for our non-LAMPS MK III vessels, my office had the pleasure of hosting the crews of the FFG-01 and -02. -01 was there before I reported, but the crew of the ADELAIDE (FFG-02) arrived during my “watch.”

There are funds set aside to show some hospitality to long term foreign visitors (in this case the course was 4 weeks long) and I was informed I could arrange for a visit to the Williamsburg Busch Gardens facility for our Australians. I was also tasked to provide “chaperones” from my staff, and this could include their spouses/girl friends. I forget the ratio, but it was enough for a few of us to tag along on the taxpayers kindness.

Anyhow, I was supplied with the cash to purchase the tickets and pay for some other minor approved charges. We went, we had a great time. The guests of the taxpayer being “english” speaking didn’t require a lot of close supervision, so it certainly wasn’t a strenuous day by any means.

So, on Monday morning, I dutifully added up the receipts for the visit and balanced it against the cash provided. I had a expended all but 5 cents…..I went to Disbursing in the Administrative building at lunch and handed my records and the nickel to the lady civil servant responsible for accounting. She looked at me and said “loose the nickel.” I looked back at her and said “I only have receipts for all but the nickel. Here it is.” Her reply was something like “do you know how much trouble it is to put that 5 cents back into the systems?” and I responded something to the effect that it was a less effort than us both getting hammered for loosing Government money.” and I left.

I know a nickel isn’t much, but it sure wasn’t mine and I had no paperwork to chase it away with, so she got to do the paperwork to put the nickel back in the taxpayers’ account.

Interesting day in military history….“Broken Arrow:” Not the words you want to hear when you’re have the watch…

In 1966, over the Mediterranean Ocean, a B-52 collided with a KC-135 tanker and crashed into the sea, losing it’s nukes…

From the History Channel site:

On this day, a B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 jet tanker over Spain’s Mediterranean coast, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and one in the sea. It was not the first or last accident involving American nuclear bombs.

As a means of maintaining first-strike capability during the Cold War, U.S. bombers laden with nuclear weapons circled the earth ceaselessly for decades. In a military operation of this magnitude, it was inevitable that accidents would occur. The Pentagon admits to more than three-dozen accidents in which bombers either crashed or caught fire on the runway, resulting in nuclear contamination from a damaged or destroyed bomb and/or the loss of a nuclear weapon. One of the only “Broken Arrows” to receive widespread publicity occurred on January 17, 1966, when a B-52 bomber crashed into a KC-135 jet tanker over Spain.

Besides showing some of what we did during the Cold War to ensure we were ready to respond to support “MAD,”, this story also involved a man who recently passed away. BMCM(DV) Carl Brashear, USN lost his leg while conducting the salvage operation for the bomb sitting underwater.

In January 1966, a hydrogen bomb was lost off the coast of Palomares, Spain after two U.S. Air Force planes collided during a refueling attempt. The Navy was called in to find and recover the bomb; and after 2-1/2 months of searching, the bomb was found. On March 23, 1966, during recovery operations, a line used for towing broke lose, causing a pipe to strike Brashear’s left leg below the knee, nearly shearing it off. He was evacuated to Torrejon Air Base in Spain, then to Wiesbaden, Germany; and finally to the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. After persistent infections and necrosis, and facing years of recovery, Brashear convinced his doctors to amputate the lower portion of his leg.

Brashear remained at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth from May 1966 until March 1967 recovering and rehabilitating from the amputations. From March 1967 to March 1968, Senior Chief Brashear was assigned to the Harbor Clearance Unit Two, Diving School, preparing for return to full active duty and diving. In April 1968, after a long struggle, he became the first amputee to be certified as a diver. In 1970, he became the first African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver, and served 10 more years beyond that, eventually achieving the rate of Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate in 1971.

Carl’s life story, mostly centered on his struggle in a recently integrated Navy to become a Navy Diver, was dramatically told in the movie “Men of Honor.” Master Chief Brashear passed away last year, after living an inspiring life.

I had the pleasure of reading and interview with the Master Chief, available from the U.S. Naval Institute, and he was a quite a man. He certainly saw everyone as a person and made a point to treat everyone fairly, and on top of that, he regularly deflected praise from his interviewer. It’s a good read.

From the Submarine Force Museum NAUTILUS history page:

On the morning of January 17, 1955, at 11 am EST, NAUTILUS’ first Commanding Officer, Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson, USN, ordered all lines cast off and signaled the memorable and historic message, “Underway On Nuclear Power.” Over the next several years, NAUTILUS shattered all submerged speed and distance records.

She is now resting as at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, CT. Was a “Class Ship,” set a lot of records and steamed over 513K miles during her service….

I can’t believe I scooped Chap and Bubblehead on this submarine force history story….

So get to clicking! The VA Mortgage Center is sponsoring a contest for the best Military Blogger…$3000 to the winner, and $250 to each of the next ten runner’s up.

From Fuzzilicious Thinking:

Yup. You can donate $3,000 to Valour-IT without giving up a cent.

As part of its marketing campaign, a new website is having people vote for their favorite milblogger. Any milblogger who finishes in the “Top 10” of voting will receive $250…. but the winner will receive $3,000!

FbL is pushing Black Five’s blog. Matt has already stated he will directly pass through all prize money to Valour-IT.

So…we can pile on Matt’s blog and propel him through the finish line at the top and for nothing but a little time to go HERE and click on Black Five.

Also, Neptunus Lex has also committed to send winnings to those who have helped us, too. Maybe we can leverage the total for Valour-IT into $3250!

Get on it!

Update: Sgt Hook sez he’ll use the money he wins to get to the 2007 MilBlogger’s Conference (MARK YOUR CALENDERS NOW! 5/5/2007 – DC AREA!), so I’m torn as to who to vote for. I’d love to meet Hook in real life…Matt, well, I shook his hand last year….so…go forth and help a worthy cause of your choice.

Trackbacked at:

Cao’s Blog

I marvel at those who can create. I’m good at “constructive plagiarism.”

I guess it helps if you’re “dope rope” qualified to take this service.

For you Apple fans, some “ideas” about the new iPhone:

There is still 8 hours left right now in this contest, if you have a better idea….

I have been posting at The Wide Awakes for a few weeks, and I cross posted an old post of mine contrasting leadership styles…Well, it has blossomed into a full blown debate, with some ad hominum attacks, but not many, considering the “sides” represented.

The post is here. If you have anything to add (but read the discussion in the comments section, for it has transmogrified (H/T: Calvin and Hobbes) to a discussion of the current strategy for the Iraq War.

For the record, I don’t think the President has carried out the war as I have. Also for the record, I’m not the President….

I do, however, think there has been an overall strategic emphasis on a “forward defense,” which is quite offensive to some. Amazingly, to those who would call us to withdraw and huddle within our borders, staying quiet, so no one might notice us, are the very same people who refuse to support sealing our borders from illegal immigration.

I find that most interesting…pull out and pull back from an attack by a determined enemy, who makes no bones about wanting to destroy us, and, in criticizing the President, from both sides of the aisle, the comment is often made about how terrorists can slip across our border….

The prevailing mood appears to be that we will grant amnesty to the estimated 12 millions illegal immigrants, and the discussion about securing the border by physical and electronic means is pretty much discouraged.

I would ask: How do we leave a war, yet refuse to secure borders? Somehow the two strategies don’t match up to me. If you aren’t going to go forward to combat a threat, then you need to build a protected area to survive in.

So, I’m rambling, but, the two issues are connected and while some would try to keep them separated in the “grand scheme of things,” they are also the ones who drag out the “the President hasn’t made us safer, because the terrorists are coming across the borders” remark when it suits the purpose to derail the war strategy discussion.

I’m working through the mental hoops on my thoughts (remember: I’m not the President) on the plan to send more troops into Iraq in order to get a handle on the conflict. Between some books I read about a 20 years ago, one that was written about 100 years ago, and another I’m waiting to receive in the mail, I think we are headed on a good track, so long as the message is not the military might is the supreme force to employ.

Received from the author. Besides getting your personalized autographed copy, the book is the foundation of a documentary for next fall!

All,

It’s my pleasure to invite you to a discussion of my book, “No Higher Honor: Saving the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf” (Naval Institute Press, 2006, http://www.nohigherhonor.com) at 7 p.m. this Friday, Jan. 19, at the Borders Books in Springfield, Va (6701 Frontier Drive, Springfield, Va). The store is located near the Springfield Mall, just south of I-495.)

The book (now in its second printing) tells the story of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, a small U.S. warship dispatched to the Persian Gulf in 1988. Well-led and well-trained, its crew shepherded oil tankers through the chaos of the Iran-Iraq War — until disaster struck. On 14 April, an Iranian mine ripped open the Roberts’ engineroom, ignited fires on four decks, and plunged the ship into darkness. With seawater rising around their boots, the crew fought fire and flooding into the night. Four days later, the U.S. retaliated, sinking a half-dozen Iranian warships and boats in the biggest surface battle since World War II.

The book has received good reviews; it has also inspired a History Channel documentary that is slated to air this fall.

Hope to see you on Friday!

Brad Peniston

My book report is here.

Oh, yes, and Brad chipped in two copies for the Valour-IT Fund Raiser this past November. Just in case you wanted to support him, too.

Season 6 ripped out of the gates last night and I had to sit and watch it.

Plenty of blogs, including the Blogs 4 Bauer will be commenting, but….

I would invite you to consider the presentation of a man who just spent two years being tortured by the Chinese for causing the death of some Consulate personnel…..

Jack certainly didn’t look underfed….and….he seems to be in excellent physical condition.

I know, in his 6’x6′ cell, he paced two marathons a day and did 7800 (more of less, but none on Sunday) pushups, which would explain his endurance and strength.

But…on with the show!

Oh..and don’t forget the 15th (today) is Talk Like Jack Bauer Day…”GET DOWN!”

So, here we are, 53 years later and it didn’t happen…Thank God.

So, don’t worry, be happy, until we find out “Who’s Next?”…