July 4th. I don’t have a specific sea story relating to a 4th of July I was somewhere where something profoundly patriotic was done for me. I was pretty lucky, with all my deployments, I was home most summers. Cruises generally happened in Oct-Apr time frame it seemed, so even when on sea duty, I was stateside. Dennis Prager, in his column yesterday, suggests that America needs a 4th of July Seder. Having once attended a Passover seder, I agree.The purpose of the seder is to recount the history of the people, including playing out certain skits and conducting some set rituals in remembrance of the moment.Dennis begins his editorial thusly:

Perhaps the major reason Jews have been able to keep their national identity alive for 3,000 years, the last 2,000 of which were nearly all spent dispersed among other nations, is ritual. No national or cultural identity can survive without ritual, even if the group remains in its own country.

Americans knew this until the era of anti-wisdom was ushered in by the baby boomer generation in the 1960s and ’70s. We always had national holidays that celebrated something meaningful.

When I was in elementary school, every year we would put on a play about Abraham Lincoln to commemorate Lincoln’s Birthday and a play about George Washington to commemorate Washington’s Birthday. Unfortunately, Congress made a particularly foolish decision to abolish the two greatest presidents’ birthdays as national holidays and substituted the meaningless Presidents Day. Beyond having a three-day weekend and department store sales, the day means nothing.

Columbus Day is rarely celebrated since the European founding of European civilization on American soil is not politically correct.
[…]

He goes on to discuss how holidays such as Christmas have been plowed under, not to be named or discussed in public, by the plowshares of the brain washingpolitically correct thought process. It is detrimental to lose this memory, of how our Nation grew from small settlements along the shore, experimented for one year in what later became to be called “Communism,” and was rejected because it almost killed them, of how the right to be equal, laid out on this day in 1776, has become far closer to universal for all our citizens, that it every has been in any country in history. How only the rich, landed men used to determine our fate and course in history, and now we all have that right to voice out opinion at the ballot box. How the error of slavery was understood, and rectified, without foreign powers coming across our shores to tell us how to become more civilized. How millions of young men have left their families and gone overseas, never to see their homeland alive again, because there was something bigger at stake than their lives.

We all know it, but how long, now with only about 1% of our men and women and their families comprise the military that hands our food, candy, soccer balls and encouragement to the oppressed around the world?

Yes, a seder in the name of Freedom is something worth looking into. Dennis ends with a challenge:

[..]
But someone — or many someones — must come up with a July Fourth Seder. A generation of Americans with little American identity — emanating from little American memory — has already grown into adulthood. The nation whose founders regarded itself as the Second Israel must now learn how to survive from the First.

Could you be one of those “someones?”

My suggestion: It all begins with family and friends gathered in the presence of ,a href=”http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2007/07/04/the_stars_and_stripes_forever”>Old Glory, standing if they are able, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the reading of two documents; The Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address.

I urge you to consider this effort by Dennis Prager, and forward your suggestions.

Army Civil Affairs at work.

Army Sgt. Valetin DeLeon, a civil affairs specialist with 351st CACOM, opens up a soccer pump to inflate a soccer ball for a child at the Kapisa Orphanage in the Mahmud Raqi district of Afghanistan during a humanitarian aid drop on June 27. Photo by Melissa Escobar.Servicemembers supply aid to orphanage

3 July 07
By Pfc. Melissa M. Escobar
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan— Backpacks jammed full with school supplies, soccer balls, teddy bears, toys, hygiene kits, sandals and shoes were delivered to an Afghan orphanage in Mahmud Raqi district by members of the Bagram Provincial Reconstruction Team June 27.

National Guard Soldiers with the 351st Civil Affairs Command from Mountain View, Calif., along with the 1175th Military Police Company, 205th MP Battalion from Mississippi geared up and armed themselves with humanitarian supplies.

Army Sgt. Valetin DeLeon, a civil affairs specialist with 351st CACOM, opens up a soccer pump to inflate a soccer ball for a child at the Kapisa Orphanage in the Mahmud Raqi district of Afghanistan during a humanitarian aid drop on June 27. Photo by Melissa Escobar. In the three months that the team has been in country, this was the first time they visited the orphanage.

“The governor of the province asked us to visit the orphanage,” explained Army Capt. Jordan J. Berry, team leader with 351st CACOM. “The mission was a good-will gesture to strengthen ties with the community.”
[…]

Read it all.

From the news feed from CENTCOM, it seems the Iraqi populace is stepping up to the plate? To be on the winning side or to have a stake in getting their country back on their feet? Encouraging? Certainly. In the MSM? Nope. Multi-National Force-Iraq has it, Fort Drum (10th Mountain Division Base) PAO released it….but Dogpile doesn’t show any other significant releases.

27 Jun 07
Courtesy Story

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Over 1,200 Iraqi men came to Joint Security Station in Yusufiyah during a three-day police recruitment drive that ended June 25.

The drive, orchestrated by the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) from Fort Drum, N.Y., the 23rd Military Police Company, 503rd MP Battalion, 16th MP Brigade, from Fort Bragg, N.C., and the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, began June 23 to increase Iraqi police manning in the 4-31 “Polar Bears’” area of operations.

Capt. Brent Dittenber, commander, Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), from Fort Drum, N.Y., checks the names of applicants for the Iraqi police force with Iraqi army staff officers. The recruitment drive was June 23-25. Photo courtesy of Joint Combat Camera Center.The goal was to find 200 qualified Iraqi police officers. When the drive began at 8 a.m., there were almost 200 men waiting in line to apply.

Gen. David Petraeus, the Multi-National Force-Iraq commander, visited the recruitment efforts the first day and spoke to several potential recruits and encouraged them to serve their country.

Five hundred seventy-seven applicants were processed the first day. Another 150 were waiting in line the second day and by mid-afternoon 361 had filled out applications and spoken with the troops.

Officials accepted 252 applications on June 25.
[..]

Need photographic evidence?

Working Together (Click the pic for larger image) Working TogetherBoston native Staff Sgt. Robin Johnson (left), with Company C, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, and an Iraqi army soldier from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division, work together during Operation Tiger Hammer, a combined cordon and search mission in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah District June 7.Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael Pryor.

Linked to open post at: Little Green Footballs

There was always a delicate balance, sometimes unspoken, between “ETs” (Electronic Technicians) and “users,” which came in all sorts of types: Officers, operations specialists, radiomen comprised most of that category. On a number of occasions, when something wasn’t performing to the expectations of the user, it was not caused by a malfunctioning of the equipment, but rather than from a misunderstanding of the function, or that the operator in question had wrong, leading to the often made remarks, in a derogatory manner, and sprinkled with “salty” language, about some dumb user. And, as luck would have it, once in a while a very frustrated, but knowledgeable petty officer found themselves making not so delicate responses to the tidal wave of derision heaped upon them when a mere mis-positioning of a switch may have been the only problem.I began my Naval career supervising a shop full of ETs, in addition to the OSs, I was the nexus, in good times and bad in the interaction of those two groups, and also the “screen” from the stuff coming down from above when RADAR and radio systems weren’t cutting it at any given moment. I appreciate it all the more because of those 18 months.

With that explanation, the new ET logo makes so much more sense, doesn’t it?

I know you stop by to read the blog once in a while, and I’m working up the email list for ValOUR-IT. I lost your email address in the hosting service move, so please help me update my records. Comment or email works for me.

(Oh, and put some contact info on the carrier page!)

For those of you who haven’t seen it, William has built and maintains The Carrier Page, a history of the US Navy’s aircraft carriers. He was a supporter of ValOUR-IT last year. Stop by his site and see what he has compiled.

Update 6/27/2007: First off, Bill tells me the email info is on his page. Second, so you don’t have to jump to the comments, Rusty Bill reports about “current ops” on his historical website:

Warning to prospective visitors: The Carrier Project is currently undergoing a massive refit – a total reformat and rewrite, in fact.

Many of the general information pages are up and running, but carrier history data has only been entered for CV-1 USS Langley through CV-9 USS Essex. I’m currently rebuilding the Origins of Carrier Names section, which should be posted in a couple of weeks. See the Refit Page for details.

Thanks, Bill!

The author of “I Accuse: Jimmy Carter and the Rise of Militant Islam”, Philip Pilevsky, was on Laura Ingraham’s radio show today. The thesis on his book is by Jimmy Carter failing to support the Shah, the fringe elements of jihadis, which had been around for hundreds of years as just that: Fringe groups, all of a sudden had a “State’ to operate out of and therefore made what the world is dealing with today possible.

Damning at best, horrifying at its worst.

Last week, I discussed the first Naval Ship Constructor for the United States Navy, Joshua Humphreys.

This week, another name from the beginnings of our naval history: John Rodgers (1772-1838).The reason to distinguish this man by date is because his son and great-grandson also distinguished themselves in the Naval Service. John Rodgers entered our naval history as a Second Lieutenant assigned to the commissioning crew, commanded by CAPT Thomas Truxton. LT Rodgers was responsible for recruiting a crew to man the 38 gun vessel from an office at Cloney’s tavern in the maritime district of Fell’s Point near Baltimore, MD. It was a difficult time to recruit for the Navy, as merchant wages were better, but LT Rodgers managed to fill about half the ship’s compliment with his effort.The USS CONSELLATION sailed south to the Caribbean and began to hunt for French warships, and on February 9th, 1799, a lookout sighted the French Frigate L’Insurgente. CAPT Truxton gave chase and, after a brutal, well fought battle, including vicious broadsides fired at close range and boarding parties engaged in bloody hand to hand combat on the deck of the French frigate, the first US Navy victory at sea was in hand. John Rodgers, having commanded a merchant vessel at the age of 25 before joining the navy, was promoted to the rank of Acting Captain of the captured vessel and was responsible to repair and outfit L’Insurgente.Much controversy was eventually raised when the issue of paying, as was the tradition, the crew of the USS CONSTELLATION for their share of the value of the captured vessel. Detailed in “Six Frigates” by Ian Toll, were influence and maneuvering were done to try and show more value (placed at $120K) for the ship than it may have been worth. In the long run, it is a tale where a showdown between the politicians and the crew who would benefit from the payout faced off. In the long run, the final value of $84,500 was settled upon, and further possibilities of cashiering out officers suspected of inflating values was avoided.John Rodgers next appears in history as the Captain of the USS JOHN ADAMS, a light frigate, sailing with the squadron of CAPT Preble, of the USS CONSTITUTION in 1803 in the Mediterranean. From there, he rose to command USS CONGRESS, which was directed to be activated and put to sea by oder of th President Jefferson after the USS PHILADELPHIA had been captured at Tripoli. CONGRESS was assigned to the squadron of Samuel Barron. By 1810, John Rodgers was assigned as a commodore a position he held into the beginning of the War of 1812.In honor of Commodore John Rodgers, the Navy has named three ships (directly) for him. The first USS JOHN RODGERS was a lighthouse tender (1917-1919). The second USS JOHN RODGERS (DD-574), a FLETCHER Class Destroyer, was commissioned on Feb 9, 1943 and saw action at Marcus Island, Tawara and Wake Island in 1943, Kwajalein Atoll and later the Mariannas Island campaigns, then was at Leyte Gulf in Oct, 1944. After a refit stateside, RODGERS joined ADMIRAL Spruance’s Task Force 58 and participated in the assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and was one of the first ships to enter Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremonies. Decommissioned in 1946, the USS JOHN RODGERS (DD-574) won 12 battle stars for combat action. The third USS JOHN RODGERS was a SPRUANCE Class Destroyer, hull DD-983, in honor of all three famous John Rodgers. Commissioned Sep 4th, 1979, RODGERS conducted Naval Gunfire Support (NGFS) operations off Beruit in Sep, 1983. Decommissioned Sep 4th, 1998, she has been broken up for scrap.Three vessels of the US Navy have also been named to honor John Rodgers, but also included honoring his son and great grandson, each bearing the name USS RODGERS.But by a small twist of fate, I would have served aboard the USS JOHN RODGERS (DD-983). I was in the list for orders to one of the pre-commissioning SPRUANCE Class crews, with RODGERS at the top of the list for myself and the Navy. There was difficulty in getting my relief through Communications Officer School and to the ship in the Mediterranean on time for me to join training for the Combat Systems team at Fleet Combat Training Center, Atlantic. As a result, I was assigned to USS LEFTWICH (DD-984).

Around the world, winning hearts and minds
11-Jun-07
by U.S. Navy Builder Construction Apprentice Nick Emanuele
CJTF-HOA

ADDIS, Ethiopia – The American Ambassador to Ethiopia, Honorable Donald Yamamoto paid a visit to the Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 (NMCB 133), Detachment Horn of Africa (HOA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Seabees in Addis Ababa have been tasked by the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) to construct three concrete masonry unit (CMU) block structures for the Abiot Emerja Primary School. One structure will house the school’s library, the second structure will become an administrative building, and the third structure will be a latrine facility.
[…]
Builder Second Class (Seabee Combat Warfare) Scott Anderson, Addis Ababa Crew Leader remarked, “The Ambassador was surprised to see how much the project was impacting the surrounding communities. He [Ambassador Yamamoto] also said he never seen a project get so much attention as this one.”

The SEABEES: Building to make a difference. Read it all and see.

Open trackbacks.

I don’t feel much like pontificating today, this day being related to two major WWII battles of significance.

Consider for a moment the men who went towards the sounds of the guns over the Pacific in 1942, and across and over the beaches of Normandy in 1944.  Did they calculate the risk, take a poll, or “test the water?”  Nope, it was the throttle to the firewall into the wind and past the bow into history, as well as out the door, or down the ramp.  Orders.  Following orders of the President of the United States and the officers appointed above them.

Some still are here to maybe tell the tale.  Many are not.  Some left 65 years ago, a legacy of courage, others 63 years ago.  No offspring, no telling stories around the fireplace in response to “What did you do in the war, Grandpa?”  Just silence, echoing into the future of things not done, of families not raised, but the sound of freedom is the outcome of their deaths.

D-Day Order – June 6, 1944
by Dwight D. Eisenhower

You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41.

The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeat in open battle man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground.

Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.

The tide has turned.

The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.

We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.