USS BOXER DEPLOYS FOR IRAQ

KFMB -TV ^ | 1/14/04 | Unknown

[bkwells]

(01-14-2004) - The amphibious helicopter carrier USS Boxer sails from San Diego Wednesday morning filled with Marine choppers and tons of supplies being sent to support a force rotation in Iraq.

The Pentagon is in the process of pulling about 120,000 personnel involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom out of the Persian Gulf region and replacing them with a more mobile force.

As part of the force rotation, the Boxer is moving equipment and personnel from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force stationed at Camp Pendleton and 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The majority of Marines deploying from Camp Pendleton will depart by air in the spring.

The Boxer, with more than 200 Marines and 900 sailors embarked, will carry 16 CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466, two CH-46D Sea Knight helicopters from Combat Support Squadron 11 at Naval Air Station North Island. Three air-cushioned landing craft will also be transported by the ship.

The Boxer is making the trip barely six months after returning from the northern Persian Gulf, where the ship was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

During the deployment, sailors aboard the Boxer were involved in the night rescue of former POW Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, according to the Navy. The ship's intelligence specialists provided satellite imagery of the hospital and surrounding areas to Marine pilots who staged the rescue mission from the Boxer.

The ship is expected to return to San Diego in late April.

[bkwells]

They just got back from OIF last July and now they are off again. Godspeed and fair winds and following seas.

[OPS4]

God surround these brave men with your Angels and Grace.

Ops4 God bLess America!

[bkwells]

Military Support PING!

[The KG9 Kid]

I've been on that ship.

Semper Fi!

[GOPyouth]

When I first visited San Diego summer before last before I moved out there I saw that ship leave, then got to see it come back after I had moved out there. I miss seeing those ships now that I'm back in Texas.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks for the notification. God go with them and keep them safe on their mission. FReepmail shortly.

[tongue-tied]

Thanks for the info Senior...

and God bless those Marines

[Petronski]

At least scrape the barnacles from the bow first!

Any word on total seamman capacity?

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Thanks heads up!
Thanks for your service to our country!

[Guyin4Os]

I've been on the USS Boxer LHD-4 with my son as part of a Navy League event. We took a day trip on the ship, met the man who was the captain at that time, ate lunch with the crew and about 400 other civilians. We watched a Harrier land and take off ... Also we were able to watch an L-CAC amphibious craft come from camp Pendleton to rendevous with the ship. As large as the ship is, it is hard to imagine what it would be like to be couped up on it for several months. I have respect for the sailors and marines that are aboard.

[The KG9 Kid]

Imagine running up and down the ramp from the welldeck to topside with all of your combat gear until you've run about three miles.

I think it's about twenty five laps, but I stopped counting after I puked.

[bkwells]

Ping!

[mlmr]

The service did not name that ship after THAT WOMAN? Did they??

[Mr. Lucky]

Were they the least bit intelligent, the remaining islamoterrorists in Iraq would spend the next few weeks studying the history of the 1st Marine Division contemplating just how much they want to engage the most lethal air-ground-sea combat unit in all of God's Creation.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the ping, bkwells. GodSpeed to the crew and Marines on the USS BOXER.

[Little Ray]

The amphibious helicopter carrier USS Boxer...

Does this mean that the USS Boxer is ampibious, or that that it carries amphibious helicopters?

They really ought to be more specific like "amphibious warfare ship" or something like that.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for the ping BKW. Mail me if anyone I know is going out on her. :-)

God Bless and care for the USS Boxer Sailors and Marines.

[onedoug]

USS OGDEN LPD 5 AMPHIBIOUS READY GROUP bump!

(Operation Bold Mariner, RVN FEB 68. And she's still out there!)

[bkwells]

The service did not name that ship after THAT WOMAN? Did they??

Hell no....
This is from the ship's homepage at boxer.navy.mil :

Boxer's Heritage:
Ships of the Wasp Class multipurpose amphibious assault ship program are named for famous U.S. Navy warships. In naming LHD 4 "BOXER," the Navy honors five previous ships with this illustrious name.
The first USS BOXER was a 14-gun brig, commissioned in 1815; the second was a 10-gun schooner commissioned in 1832; the third was an English-built side-wheel steamer captured as a blockade runner during the Civil War; and the fourth was a training brigantine commissioned in 1905. The fifth BOXER was an aircraft carrier (CV/CVA/CVS 21, LPH 4), commissioned in April 1945, too late for World War II duty. However, the ship earned eight battle stars for gallant service off Korea. In 1957, the "Busy Bee" recorded its 79,000th arrested aircraft landing - then a record for active carriers in the Pacific Fleet. The ship was converted to an amphibious assault ship (LPH) in 1958, and was decommissioned in 1969.

[Rightone]

I believe the ship is named after this gentleman...

Former Pug 'Kid Odell' Reflects On Navy Career

By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April X, 2000 -- Former boxer and trainer Odell Williams was a realistic young man. "Kid Odell" knew he would never win many bouts, much less be a contender for the welterweight title.

Other than the fight game, "Kid Odell" said he was like a lot of young people in Depression-era 1936, "just out there not knowing what to do with themselves." He made his amateur boxing debut at 14 and had won only nine professional fights when he quit at age 23.

"I tried hard, but I wasn’t good enough," said Williams, an 87-year-old resident of the Naval Home in Gulfport, Miss. "I joined the Navy after I discovered I’d just be an average fighter, maybe end up being punch drunk." He opted for another living -- in the U.S. Navy.

Williams became interested in becoming a sailor at an exposition in San Diego when he saw three petty officers, two African Americans and one white, decked out in crisp Navy uniforms with gold chevrons, "hash marks" and buttons. He was mesmerized by their appearance and wanted to be just like them.

"I asked them about the Navy, and they said, 'You can't get into the Navy now; you can't be like us," Williams said. But he was so intrigued by them that he ignored their discouraging comments and started searching for ways to get into the Navy. The young pugilist didn't understand racism -- he'd grown up in a Los Angeles neighborhood where his was one of only two African American families, but everybody got along well and looked out for each other.

"Everybody went to school and played together -- Italian, Jewish, whites and blacks," he noted. "If you were out on the streets after nine o’clock, an adult would want to know why you were out there that time of night."

Williams was told the Navy only accepted African Americans for its steward service. That didn’t deter him. He joined the Navy on May_7, 1936, as one of 12 African Americans from the Los Angeles area selected for an integrated boot camp training program.