Just a few thoughts in the aftermath of the VA Tech shootings this morning:

• The phone call could have been different. Thankfully, it was “I’m fine.”
• The press wants to know how we can prevent this from happening AGAIN. So would the rest of us, but I’m not about to go to a police state society
• Someone is gonna have to answer some hard questions about why the warning email too about 2 hours to be sent out
• Someone else will have harder questions to answer as to why a shooting could occur (even if just random shots at the wall) in a dorm and it took so long for the law enforcement to show up
• Some will ask: Could a law abiding citizen properly authorized to carry a concealed weapon have diminished the carnage?
• Some will ask: Why is anyone allowed to have weapons?

We remain a reactionary society. Regardless of the questioning voices, we will most likely not be able to prevent every single scenario to come down the pike. Some will demand it, but they are not living in a real world, nor would they actually accept the response to their demands to make all people safe from all things at all times….

In case you missed it in your paper today:

Click on the picture for a larger version

Note: Welcome to the blog! If you’re here on 5/5/2007, check out the live feed to the MilBlogging Conference in Arlington, VA via this link! Thanks…

---

Navy – Together We Served Portal.

Maybe not brand new, but I’ve been there a few months after a shipmates invited me there. The is also a USMC versionI have already been connected with several people I was on ships with and look forward to finding more. The organization of the site lends itself to easily posting your assignments, but dates and ranks for those commands, and then has search tools that allow you to slice and dice the query to see who else is there.Update 4/18/2007: There’s hope for you Air Force and Army vets…Update 4/21/2007: The Admin at TWS says the set up for the sites for the USAF and Army will take time to get the databases together. Yep, that sounds right, but says the sites should be up this year. He said they would be getting the addresses to the sites up soon, at least with a banner to welcome you and let you know those other two services will be around.Keep checking for an airforce.togetherweserved.com and army.togetherweserved.com to arrive on the net!

While you’re visiting, check out my post on the rescue of the USS BONEFISH on 4/24/1988.

Tracked back @: Yankee Sailor

Link chasing…see what comes up?

Update 4/13/2007: There is history on this issue and a MilBlogger, Yankee Sailor began working on this sort of issue to introduce civility and OPSEC self-policing concepts in place. He has a new post up here, but the “long version” of the, showing his proposal is here. Join the MilBlogs ROE Project at this post. As far as staking a claim to a good idea, he had had this in the works before the 2006 MilBlogs Conference (link to the 2007 Conference Site), held April 2006.
End of update.

Tim O’Reilly of Reilly’s Radar is working on a bloggers Code of Conduct.

Given the nature of interactions these days, might be worth looking into….

Here’s the first draft:

We celebrate the blogosphere because it embraces frank and open conversation. But frankness does not have to mean lack of civility. We present this Blogger Code of Conduct in hopes that it helps create a culture that encourages both personal expression and constructive conversation.

1. We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog.

We are committed to the “Civility Enforced” standard: we will not post unacceptable content, and we’ll delete comments that contain it.

We define unacceptable content as anything included or linked to that:
– is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
– is libelous, knowingly false, ad-hominem, or misrepresents another person,
– infringes upon a copyright or trademark
– violates an obligation of confidentiality
– violates the privacy of others

We define and determine what is “unacceptable content” on a case-by-case basis, and our definitions are not limited to this list. If we delete a comment or link, we will say so and explain why. [We reserve the right to change these standards at any time with no notice.]

2. We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person.

3. We connect privately before we respond publicly.

When we encounter conflicts and misrepresentation in the blogosphere, we make every effort to talk privately and directly to the person(s) involved–or find an intermediary who can do so–before we publish any posts or comments about the issue.

4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.

When someone who is publishing comments or blog postings that are offensive, we’ll tell them so (privately, if possible–see above) and ask them to publicly make amends.
If those published comments could be construed as a threat, and the perpetrator doesn’t withdraw them and apologize, we will cooperate with law enforcement to protect the target of the threat.

5. We do not allow anonymous comments.

We require commenters to supply a valid email address before they can post, though we allow commenters to identify themselves with an alias, rather than their real name.

6. We ignore the trolls.

We prefer not to respond to nasty comments about us or our blog, as long as they don’t veer into abuse or libel. We believe that feeding the trolls only encourages them–“Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it.” Ignoring public attacks is often the best way to contain them.

More in his post. Looks like a “bloggingcode.org” exists as the planned resting place for this initiative. Even more in the trackbacks/comments. Not like its going to be easy sledding, but then it’s all about debate, isn’t it?

The tensions finally rose to the point of exchanging cannon shot on this day in 1861, when artillery batteries on Morris Island (which is not much more than a sandbar, manned by Cadets from The Citadel, led by Cadets Hainesworth and Pickens, fired on a supply ship, the Star of the West, that was entering Charleston Harbor to bring supplies to the Union troops at Ft Sumter.

The troops had all consolidated into Ft Sumter, having abandoned both Ft Johnson (on the SW entrance of the harbor) and Ft Moultrie (on the NE side). More info on this “opening day” is posted at Eagle Speak.

Star of the West Monument at The CitadelThere is plenty of history in the epic struggle our country faced so many years ago, yet as I checked the Citadel’s for some history, one of the first links came up as the Star of the West Monument, and a listing of the cadets who have won the Star of the West award for the Corps best drilled cadet each academic year.The competition an elimination of hundreds who try out and the winners are truly excellent at drilling with a weapon, in those days, it was the M-14 rifle that was the standard issue weapon for us. To see the concentration and precision of these men was remarkable.Besides my classmate being there, the 1972 award went to “A.D. Griffin.” Who was this man? “Dave” Griffin, ’74, graduated with a commission as an Ensign in the US Navy. He left Charleston and headed to Basic Underwater Demolition School (BUDS), he became a SEAL, later commanding the East Coast Parachute Demonstration Team, the “Chuting Stars,” before transferring to Naval Aviation and becoming an F-14 Tomcat pilot. Dave is no longer with us, as he died in a crash while returning from a night exercise over North Carolina. I understand they thought it was a case of vertigo, and the plane crashed in Back Bay, Virginia Beach, making recovery of the airframe from the boggy area exceptionally difficult.While at The Citadel, Dave was a larger than life character, tough as nails, with an air of terminal seriousness about him. He had been a member of the Junior Sword Drill, the Summerall Guards, and ran from the campus out to the Citadel beach house on Isle of Palms when he was bored (about 20 miles). I heard he was also the first person to max out the score on the pre-BUDS test for any colleges in the South East part of the country.

The Junior Sword Drill team was one that you didn’t get on without 14 nights of running, push ups, sweating out most of the liquid in your body, but having to keep showing you were learning the drill routine and ignoring the sore muscles and sheer exhaustion. That process of qualifying is now long gone, due to a few who took advantage of the trying out the following year by some serious hazing incidents. Like so many other things, the few ruined it for the many. Summerall Guards tryouts were tough, but didn’t approach the level of those who were on the Sword Drill team.

He was on Regimental Staff his senior year and had the reputation of never striking anyone, but if you needed some correction, he PTed you to exhaustion, with him doing it with you most of the time. I don’t recall which company he had come up from, but I believe it was one from 3rd Battalion, which had a reputation for being very military minded companies. 1st and 4th Battalions is where many of the athletes ended up, so there was a distinct difference in philosophies at times on how to do things, but that’s a another long discussion.

So, I thought I’d take a moment and document some history of Dave Griffin, who had a reputation that he could back up. I’ll also say I was disappointed when he got command of the Chuting Stars, with 7 jumps (all static line military) behind him to run a freefall exhibition team. I had over 200 freefalls at the time, but he had a qualification I could not achieve: Special Warfare. He broke his leg on his first jump with his new team, trying out his “square” canopy, and had a cast on for four months of his 12 month assignment

Citadel Cadets have had the history of the opening battle of the Civil War drilled deep within them by using the threat of not getting anything to eat if you didn’t know your “mess facts.” Maybe that’s why it has stuck with me all these years, but I will say I missed few meals for a Cadet dating my sister gave me a few bits of wisdom to chew on the summer before my arrival at the North Sally Port of Padgett-Thomas Barracks.

As far as my knowledge of Dave the upperclassman: I knew to stay out of his field of view, and obviously, he was well known on Campus.

Tracked back @: Eagle Speak

It’s the 11th of the month. Do you know how the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have been wounded and can’t type are doing?

You don’t have to specifically know, but you know what the news is saying and this post is to remind you that the V(oice)A(ctivated)L(aptops) for OUR-I(njured)T(roops) program surely can use a few dollars to get laptops into the major military medical facilities for their use. The laptops help bring them back into communicating with family, friends and their units. It’s a blessing all around.

Here’s the link No excuses, huh? Get to it!

Tracked back @: Yankee Sailor

Sea stories? You want “sea stories?”

Once upon a midwatch clear….(to be continued later today). The topic? VERY large formations doing “TIC TACs.”

In the meantime, link your best, current, or currently best posts!

There we were, the leadership of the ship massed on the bridge, late in the evening, on a clear (on the surface), but moonless night. A Carrier Battle Group (CVBG) comprised of us and escorts and the USS SARATOGA (CV-60), if memory serves me well, had “joined up” with the Standing Naval Forces, Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT), consisting of several frigates and destroyers from the Continent, and one of our ships so assigned as her deployment) and their supporting oiler, in this cycle, courtesy of the Royal Navy.

For what ever reason, the British Admiral of STANAVFORLANT was in tactical command of us all and had ordered us into a large circular formation, of three concentric circular ranges. We, being a Fat Ship (USS MILWAUKEE (AOR-2)), in company with one carrier and at least one other oiler (the Brit) were assigned a “point” station (a fixed bearing and range from the guide ship of the formation) and were on our way through traffic to get there.

Shortly before arriving on station, the, as we called it back the, PRITAC (primary tactical) radio crackled to life and a very long coded signal was clearly sounded out in all its phonetic glory from ATP-1, a standard signal book used by we and our allied nations. I can’t tell you what it was, but it had a change of station component, followed by the alteration of the axis of the formation, followed by a course change. The signal was passed as a “delayed executive” type, meaning a separate command would be sent to execute the directions at a future time.

As Officer of the Deck (OOD), I diligently plotted the new changes on a Maneuvering Board, calculated our course and speed to the new station assignment and showed it to the CO. He concurred and I briefed my Junior Officer of the Deck (who was conning the ship, too) on what to do when the signal was executed.

I recall we arrived in our station on that moonless night, nestled among the combatants, who would patrol the seas to keep us and the CV safe from enemy attacks, and we reported “Alfa Station” smartly as we ordered speed reduced to match the guide’s speed. Within moments, PRITAC came to life once more and, spewing forth a fairly long string or letters and numbers, followed by “Standby, EXECUTE!”

The JOOD clearly announced the the Helmsman and Lee Helmsman the rudder and engine orders for us to slip, ever so relatively to our new station, with a new axis on the formation (I think it was almost a 180 degree axis change to match the reversal of the formation’s course. And the 40,000 tons of steel and people and liquid cargo commenced to swing crisply (well, as best we could imitate a destroyer with less HP per ton). Now consider this “M” with new “A” in both the forward speed and the rudder standard (15 degrees) input, while traveling about 15 kts. As we smiled in the dim red glow of the low level illumination of the bridge equipment, several of us, the CO and XO and OPS, as well as I on the bridge wing, noted the relative movement of the running lights of the other ships of the formation would indicate they were not in a bold course change to the right, they were more like, well, to put it plainly essentially still headed the same direction they had been going before the long, but…you guessed it, not wholly ordered signal.

A new voice was heard over PRITAC, with a distinctly English (the Queen’s not American), sending a new communication and, but the “call up” portion of the message, only addressed to our call sign. The “we’re real Surface Warfare experts” aura fading. No, evaporated, as the words sunk in “(MILWAUKEE), Your movements are not understood.” Being the practiced crisis management experts we are resulted in the almost instantaneously blurted out comment by several of us “KEEP THE RUDDER ON!” We then realized of the extensive signal sent, only a portion of it was directed to be carried out, and there were other portions yet to be executed. Those parts are pretty obvious.

The speed increase and right standard remained on, as we cut a 360 degree wake into the black water, before resuming the station we were not supposed to have left yet. The CO said to keep the speed on, but to report “Alfa Station” to the Officer in Tactical Command (OTC), we did and after “Roger,” the remaining portions of the long signal, to include the new course change, so all we had do was put the rudder back on and head for our new station.

At least it was a dark and windy night….

Welcome, LGF readers! Enjoy and feel free to comment…

I heard this morning that the DA’s Office in North Carolina has dismissed all charges against the three Lacrosse players. Two new prosecuters who took over the case after Michael Nifong recused himself (under threat of disbarment), said there was many, many discrepancies with the allegations and dismissed all legal charges.

In the heat of the current affairs regarding Don Imus, one of the players said in the news conference yesterday “he stole our joy.”

Don Imus went on Al Sharpton’s show to apologize. Good move. Don also is going to meet with the Rutger’s basketball team. Better move.

Not to dismiss anything as “not important” or proclaim it’s OK, consider the acrimony over the three lacrosse players, some of it lead by Al Sharpton:

[…]
REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I think that there are certainly a lot of racial factors. Whether it is directly in the case, we’ll see, because some reports said that there was racial language used. But I think that when you look at the racial atmosphere, when you look at the fact that there again were the allegations of racial statements, when you look at a lot of people feeling that they have been treated differently, where this girl has basically had a character charged in the media, there is a lot of racism that’s in the air. Having said that, I commend a lot of the blacks and whites who stood vigil and to come together in that community to stand up for this girl. So I think in the midst of this, there is some good.
[…]

(from an interview with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News 4/19/2006)

If it was bad for Don Imus to steal someone’s joy, is it also bad to steal someone’s life, future and education, in addition to making their families put out thousands of dollars. More than joy was stolen, not only from the 3 young men, but of an entire team, the coach included, and the reputation of the very school who had 88 faculty members condemn before evidence was looked at with the quality we expect from our legal system.

This issue will follow these three young men for many years to come. Check out an employment application and note that most likely they will have to disclose they have been charged with felonies, regardless of the outcome, the question usually lists “been charged with, convicted of, plead no contest to a felony” as conditions of filling out the response to a criminal history. It will show up on background checks, also. Hopefully the NC legal system will drop everything and expunge the charges immediately, due to the long term nature of this case and the high level of interest it generated.

So…I’m just waiting for Al Sharpton, who has positioned himself as a voice for his community, and had strong opinions on the subject, to invite the entire Duke Lacrosse Team to his show and apologize. I think it would do well for many people, in the media and at the school to seek some private meetings as well. All in the name of what Martin Luther King was after for us all.

Would that be expecting too much?

Update: In response to the so far two comments left, I don’t have a category for “Satire” in my database yet, but this is some politics and then, you guessed it a “Walking in a Wishful Wonderland” type of moment. I’m sure not blue in the face yet, nor do I expect to get there.

Tracked back@: stik N stein

T-Shirt siting:

“Born Without the Motivation Gene”

Sad, but at least he was motivated enough to walk from his car into the Starbucks, where I was waiting in line to get a caffeine fix.

My brain color? I thought gray, but that’s the science in me…

And thanks to another take a moment quiz on the net:

Your Brain is Orange

Of all the brain types, yours is the quickest. You are usually thinking a mile a minute, and you could be thinking about anything at all. Your thoughts are often scattered and random – but they’re also a lot of fun!You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about esoteric subjects, the meaning of life, and pop culture.

What Color Is Your Brain?

Heh! It said “random.”

I like to think that’s me, but then it was only a few questions…