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

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….

I know some around the net, including some of my professional serving peers indicated we should sit back and listen for the truth behind the Iranian-British hostage situation before passing judgment on behavior, but this takes the cake:

“Fury as the Hostages Sell Stories” from the UK based Times Online.

It seems the MoD has authorized an exception to the ban against military members making money off their service experiences.

The 15 British military captives who were released by the Iranians have been authorised by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to sell their stories.

MoD officials claimed that the move to lift the ban on military personnel selling their stories while in service was justified because of the “exceptional circumstances” of the case. The hostages are expected to earn as much as £250,000 between them.

The story of Faye Turney, 26, the only female among them, is expected to be the most lucrative. She could profit by as much as £150,000 from a joint deal with a newspaper and ITV.

The MoD bracketed the hostages’ 13-day captivity in Iran — including appearances on state television by some to admit straying into Iranian waters — with winners of the Victoria Cross.
[…]

What can I saw but I think I’m not going to think the best of these 15 members of the Queen’s Own any longer. Even the one who “didn’t break,” for he think he should get more than the others, except he knows the female angle will take the largest purse.

I’m sure two retired Colonels will have more to say about this shameful money grab.

I’m glad we had our Adm Stockdale’s, Senator McCain’s and Captain Lance Sijan’s in our history, and those three names are but a few of the many who have honored us with their resolve recently and in the past conflicts we have had.

But this story of greed begs the question: Will the President of Iran get personalized, signed copies of each book for his collection? Oh, and I wonder how big the promotion will be for the Middle Eastern book signing tour? will the MoD grant them extra leave, or make them wait until they have completed their service time?

I’m a little steamed about it all myself.

Oh, and don’t forget to check eBay regularly in the next few days for your chance to win the auctions on the items from the goodie bags they received as a “thank you” for stopping by present.

Besides being a sad statement of military good order and discipline, it sure lends itself to a range of comedic scripts…more on that later.

H/T: Little Green Footballs – “British Hostages Sell Stories for Big Cash”

Tracked back@: Third World County, 123beta, Stuck on Stupid, Blue Star Chronicles

I found the .pdf files for one of my commands, courtesy of the taxpayers dollars!

Naval Ship Histories has the CNO mandated monthly history reports scanned in for some ships. I got the see some of the formal submissions I wrote!

There isn’t every ship, but your’s just might be one of them.

Also, as a bonus for reading this post, thanks to Eagle Speak, I found out the DoD publishes a “Bloggers Roundtable”, where there is material to address some of the issues and news in the blogs:

Welcome to the archives of the “Bloggers’ Roundtable.” Here you will find source material for recent stories in the blogosphere concerning the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Global War on Terrorism by bloggers and online journalists. Where available, this includes transcripts, biographies, related fact sheets and video.

I was scrolling through the channels last night and settled on a documentary on the History Channel: “The First World War: Jihad”

It was about the British/ANZAC battles in the Mediterranean in WWI and it backtracked some of the ramp up situations.

It seems the Germans, with a “little” problem on their eastern border realized the Turks to the south, and Muslim in nature, also had a problem with the Russians. Solution to a really big nation? Gather overt allies, or….study the neighboring culture and fine a leverage point. They did. Guess what it was? “Jihad.” Heard of it?

To be brief, the show talked through the campaigns of the early days of WWI and also included some of the effect after the war, to include the problems the Brits had in the empire in the Middle East. It seems the jihad “reminder” placed by the Kaiser led to an emboldened Turkey and Muslim world, and it was on with the jihad even before WWII.

What a legacy. On the other hand, for some time, I thought this was a more recent phenomena, but it seems the Soviets got more than German rocket scientists at the end of WWII….

(it shows again 4/7-11-12-14. The link takes you to the schedule)

I went back and did some more work at the end of the posting on the topic of the captured British service members, based on the announcement from Iran today saying they were “pardoned.”

In the background, I’m doing an email discussion with someone who has questions on shipboard operations, and I suspect he has some detailed knowledge. I’m looking forward to reading some details, but it already sounds like letting your small boats operate in the open waters of the Gulf 4 NM away is a recipe for disaster, or this kind, and possibly a physical one from the elements in “normal” circumstances.

More when that comes through. I did spend a few months patrolling the “NPG” (Northern Persian Gulf) in an FFG, but spent more time in the “SOHEPA” (Strait of Homuz/Eastern Patrol Area) doing tanker escort on that cruise. All that while filling the Navigator billet, too.

Update: Here’s the post from Red State’s blog. He’s done some good homework and has some good graphics/charts and info to links on the ROE….

EU Referendum has more (found in the comments section at Red State).

It seems the USS CHINOOK (PC-9) and WHIRLWIND (PC-11) were in the flotilla. CYCLONE Class patrol boats that could have dashed in a put a hurting on any Iranians eyeing the Brits with evil intent….

Tracked back @; Yankee Sailor (who is back up and posting after a majority of a year layoff)

It’s “that” day again. Post your posts if you have them!

“Sea Story” of the day:

On Monday, I blogged that it had been 30 years to the day since I reported aboard my first command for work, rather than school. It, however, was a Saturday night, so it doesn’t count as much as today, which was a Monday 30 years ago, and my first work day in the Fleet.

The routine when arriving at any command is to be noted in the Ship’s Deck Log and the taken to the Executive Officer to commence your check in. And so it was, early that day on USS MILWAUKEE (AOR-2), still moored at Pier 2 in Norfolk. It was that time when I met CDR David Martin, a Surface Line Officer, and second in command. Tall and reasonably thin for a man in his middle age period of life, it was then when he looked in my service record and made a comment discussed here.

I had been dropped from the skies on short notice aboard MILWAUKEE. I had visions of being a Diving and Salvage Officer, but a small issue of claustrophobia manged to help redetermine my career path. Just a few weeks before this day, I had sat with the Traing Officer at the Naval Diving and Salvage School, Anacostia Navy Yard, and told him I thought I would just decline to continue for fear of hazarding not only myself, but any diving buddies int he water. I was dispatched, not to a sleek “Greyhound of the Sea,” but to what, in my limited knowledge, was a dead end job for a young man with a desire to command a ship with many weapons, with a hope of playing a strong second to the legend of Lord Nelson, John Paul Jones and many others who had gone down to the sea before me.

On the advice of a family friend, who was responsible for advising one very well known and powerful senator, I had taken the orders. This man, who had served under Chester Nimitz, provide what was very sage advice: “I can get your orders changed, but just remember, there will be a very large stamp, unseen, but well known across the outside of your service record, saying “Political Influence. Take the orders, and if in a year you feel it’s not to your liking, call me and we’ll see what we can do.” I never picked up the phone, as I found I was enjoying my job far too much….

But, there I was, a whirlwind of a morning, taken to Admin, shuttled to the Captain’s cabin, introduced to my Department Head, LCDR Frank Mueller, and all sorts of other things, but, the one detail I remember clearly was shortly after lunch, I was in my newly assigned stateroom and there was a knock at the door. I tentatively opened the door and there stood two second class petty officers. Before I could say anything, the one with black curly hair, Navy “BC” glasses and a full beard shoved a manila folder in my direction and said “You’re our new Division Officer, sign this!”

Taken aback for a moment, I said: “No, I haven’t relieved ENS Ralston yet.” “Sir, he’s on leave and we need this signed. You’re our new Division Officer.” So I took the pen and signed the casualty report.

And so went my first meeting with ETR2 Mike Krutsch and ETN2 Craig Johnson, for I was, as they so clearly stated, their Division Officer….

And that is what I distinctly recall of my first real work day in the service of the taxpayers.

It shouldn’t have hit me out of the blue as it did, but yesterday I realized I first “went to work” 30 years ago today.

It was a saturday that year, and, having arrived in Norfolk from the DC area, I knew I needed to report in. It’s not like I hadn’t stepped on a Quarterdeck before and handed over a very think manila envelope to and Officer of the Deck, but this time was different. It was my first permanent duty assignment. After several schools (4 to be exact, over a 10 month period), it was time to earn my pay.

It was early evening, and after dinner. It was dark and the USS MILWAUKEE (AOR-2) was berthed starboard side to to Pier 2 at the Norfolk Operating Base (NOB). LTJG George Parrish, the Ship’s Navigator, was the Command Duty Officer. Tall and thin, sporting a mustache, he sat down with the spouse and I in the sitting area of the Wardroom and told me what time to be at work on Monday morning. I can still recall the scene, but not the words spoken. anyhow, it was done, I had just begun an assigned three year division officer tour, which ended up lasting two years, before I was assigned to a pre-commissioning unit.

I was assigned as the Combat Information Center Officer, with additional duty as the Electronic Material Officer (CIC/EMO), leading the OI and OE divisions in the Operations Department under LCDR Frank Mueller, the Operations Officer.

The Commanding Officer was CAPT Wright, a submariner, with about one month of his command tour left. CDR David Martin was the Executive Officer. The Engineer Officer was LCDR Carl Klein, who was not a Surface Line Officer, but and Engineering Duty Officer who had convinced the Navy that large plants needed the expert attention of those who had chosen a profession of being engineers above commanding warships. The 1st Lieutenant was LCDR Leo “Mike” Pivonka. LTJG Pat Wall was the 2nd Division Officer and ENS Harry Watkins III was the 3rd Division Officer. LT Randy Rice was the Communications Officer, with LTJG Clifford Barnes aboard as the Damage Control Assistant. Bos’n Eddie Watson was in Deck Department, and in Engineering, there was one CWO4 as the Main Propulsion Assistant and a CWO3 as the Electrical Officer. The assigned Medical Officer was an OB/GYN by professional background, but our “Doc” nonetheless. He and the Supply Officer once had had a contest to see who could stay “in the rack” the longest and they were both golfers. I don’t recall who won, but I know it was the call of nature, and not the will to win that was the tiebreaker in the situation. I think they both put up a good fight….

Aboard the “Old Mil,” I began an education that taught you about seamanship, engineering and logistics, unencumbered by the flashiness of modern (or just about any) weaponry.

More to come on this topic this coming Wednesday in the Ropeyarn Sunday and Open Trackbacks series, for 4/4/1977 was my first actual working day in the Navy.

But we still need an ERA…

CDR Sara Joyner, Commanding Officer of VFA-105 Credit: US Navy Photo

We have females who have quite successfully attained roles of traditional male leadership, and in this case, in some of the “macho-est” hallways. But there is still the “GLASS CEILING!”â„¢ There are those women who just get it done, like the one flying with the Thunderbirds, and many others, yet there is a faction of women who desire to sit on the sidelines and carp about how they can’t get what they want. I knew men like this during my career. More often than not, the real reason they didn’t get the so desired promotion/duty/assignment was simple: They weren’t qualified.

Sometimes they we’re qualified because of things like physical limitations, other times education requirements they could not attain, and in too many other situations, they didn’t get off their cans and do the ground work to be eligible (meaning “it” had been within their reach, but they were the ones limiting their own upward mobility).

Neptunus Lex and his commenters are on it. I added my two cents to the basic post titled Code of Conduct. Go over there and read the good words from a man who had the possibility, but never the “pleasure,” of being the guest of the military of a not so friendly to us nation to help frame some of the issues surrounding the incident of hostage taking by the Iranians that takes “above the fold” status in our media right now.

Here were my thoughts which I posted in his comments section:

Several issues come to mind with this incident:

While the “West” will realize that much of her statement most likely was coerced in one way or another, the “show” is not just to us. It was like Khadaffi launching 2 SA-5s in March ‘86 at our planes patrolling over the Gulf of Sidra: They were launched without benefit of the tracking radars being energized (which, by ROE, would have allowed the SEAD guys to ask no more questions before expending ordnance) so from a practical standpoint, they had no chance of striking a target (it being a semi-active homing weapon), unless a Naval Aviator decided to consciously fly into the ballistically projected path…No, it was about an Arab showing his great defiance of the Great Satan to his Arab brothers. They did have footage of the SA-5s rocketing off their launchers, so, he “saved face” and was a hero for a bit.

In that case, it certainly also gave leadership pause: Was it a hostile act if the weapon had an almost zero probability of hitting one of our units? Yes, we were scratching our heads for a while, but not long before the A-7s with HARM were granted permission to launch on any RADAR emissions (which they got to do). But, I digress…

The video of her speaking is to show the Arab world that Iran can take on the Western world, and despite the threats that got her to talk, which that culture most certainly knows all too well, that point will be dismissed and Iranian leadership has once more shown how weak the “West” is, as they can make us “talk” and we even have women to defend us. Big brownie points over there for the leadership.

Another thought come to mind about some letter or article in Proceedings I read many, many years ago, from a Naval Officer stationed in a mostly USAF joint command. He commented that everyone came to him to get naval questions answered and his admonition was to not think too much of your not so broad based naval experiences. He said he was (I believe, but old age my have caused the loss of detail) an aviator, so he said it was incumbent upon him to call old shipmates/classmates/other commands more clued in if he got questions about things like submarine capabilities. Good counsel, especially when you understand people make decisions based on what your respond with.

How does this play in? An Ordinary Seaman telling the world they most certainly had entered Iranian territorial waters? I don’t think she may have been privy to the exact positional data to make sure an assessment, particularly with the international relations implications. But, back to the first point: The rest of the world, except some of us, don’t realize that ordinary seaman, as good sailors as they may be, are not involved in the navigation operations of a vessel. All the world knows is it’s a “professional,” and therefore, the statement is valid….

I saw the scarf yesterday and it just made me think of dogs peeing on the fence post. Sorry about the base reference, but it’s about “marking” territory, which is really about stating who’s more powerful and she got to be the analogous fence post in this larger international affairs flap.

Anyhow, we live in interesting times…

The reference to the Gulf of Sidra operations in 1986 are provided in more detail in my serial posting A Journey into History, where I discuss the cruise that culminated in the bombing of Libya. I was there. The link is to Part I.

Update 3/31/2007: What did I tell you? It’s not about anything other than showing how great “they” are to their Islamic brothers (not mentioning sisters here, because those are just property to them).
Update 4/1/2007: Rich Lowry says the “move” has bigger implications than I imagined.

And a final new thought: Are the Brits being given Bibles and meals prepared especially for them, based on the diet they are used to in the UK, or are they being held without such luxuries? I’m sure no MSM reporter will consider finding out, for they may have to rethink their positions on GTMO.

Update 4/4/2007: Iran to release the Britons held in Iran. Nice move. And the President of Iran is “pardoning” them for their trespasses. Another poker chip on the table in the Middle East.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says 15 British naval personnel captured in the Gulf will be freed.
He repeated allegations that the British sailors and marines “invaded” Iranian waters, but said they would be freed as a “gift” to Britain.
[…]

Interesting turn of events. Leave your own territorial waters, enter those of another sovereign nation, take, by force military members of a third nation, lie about navigational data to the World, then “pardon” military members for a non-incursion into your sovereign nation’s territorial waters. Can someone explain why the rest of the world bows and scrapes and and thinks the Iranian Government is acting in some compassionate manner towards Her Majesty’s 15 sailors and marines?

In another time, the incursion of one nation’s military forces into the territory of another nation, with a specific, pre-planned operation to capture hostages (I’m not afraid of that word) from an allied, supporting nation’s military would have evoked a swift, and brutal military engagement. Yes, That’s right. One military attacked another. This isn’t diplomacy, it’s war, in accordance with the internationally recognized Laws of War. But that time seems to be past.

In another time, it was claimed that the use of force was the failure of diplomacy (I don’t agree with that view – military force is but one of the tools of diplomacy, used when it’s appropriate, not the diplomatic move of last resort), but as of recently reported news, it seems some would say the use of diplomacy is the failure of military force. That also is not true, but it will be preceived this way.

This buys Mahmoud Ahmadinejad points with his Islamic/Arab brothers (no sisters) for future propaganda to feed to the US/western world’s media outlets showing how he is a big enough man to solve a potential military face off by forgiving the trespassers (he might want to watch out, it’s beginning to sound pretty New Testament like to me). And, I predict, as the next election gets closer, we may even see the DNC use this as a model for how presidents should respond to aggression.

Remarkable! Cause the incident by design, let the tensions mount, then at the last moment, stand up and tell the world you’re the bigger man and forgetting it…

Score another win for the actors on the World’s stage. I’m not missing anything, am I?

Tracked back @: Thrid World County, stikNstein