Free Republic

CORONADO — The USS Ronald Reagan and three warships in its strike group returned to San Diego today following a five-month deployment that included air strikes in support of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and operations against pirates off Somalia. Thousands of family members lined the docks at Naval Air Station North Island to greet the arrival of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and at Naval Base San Diego to welcome home the crews of the guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville and the guided-missile destroyers USS Gridley and USS Howard. There are more than 5,000 sailors and aviators on the four ships, which...

AP) A group of Navy ships is under quarantine after several dozen sailors and Marines on board tested positive for swine flu. Health officials say at least 69 people had been confirmed with the virus, and all of them have since recovered. Navy officials say they are now quarantining an undetermined number of crew members with flulike symptoms on four ships that are part of the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which arrived in Hawaii on Friday. The ships are docked at or near Pearl Harbor. Thousands of sailors and Marines from the ships are currently on leave in Hawaii,...

Female sailors can broaden their role in the Navy by serving on submarines, an activity currently prohibited by the Armed Service, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has advised the Senate Armed Services Committee. According to Defensetech.org, a site run by Military.com, a group boasting a membership of 10 million veterans and active duty forces, Adm. Michael Mullen told senators in a recent survey that he's long been an advocate for improving diversity in the Armed Forces. "I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women. One policy I would like to see changed is the one...

A Marines Disquisition ~5 minutes into the Conversation Sailors Dying from the Flu Vaccinations!

Three men convicted in the rape and slaying of a fellow sailor's wife more than a decade ago will walk free to the outrage of the victim's family—who blamed the decision on political pressure from novelist John Grisham—and the men's supporters, who say it's not enough and want them declared innnocent. Gov. Tim Kaine on Thursday granted conditional pardons to ex-sailors Derek Tice, Danial Williams and Joseph Dick Jr. They along another ex-sailor Eric Wilson were known as "The Norfolk Four" and convicted in the 1997 slaying of 18-year-old Michelle Moore-Bosko. Tice, Williams and Dick were sentenced to life in...

MANAMA, Bahrain, July 27, 2009 – The head of U.S. Central Command visited the guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge while in port here today to thank sailors for their work while deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet, as well as for their role in the rescue of Richard Phillips, the Maersk Alabama cargo ship captain held captive by Somali pirates. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, addresses sailors aboard USS Bainbridge while the ship was in port in Manama, Bahrain, July 27, 2009. Petraeus thanked sailors for their hard work while deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet as well...

Enlisted sailors with more than 20 years of service may find themselves out of a job by June, according to a Navy message Monday. Performance-based continuation boards, the Navy’s latest end-strength shaping effort, are scheduled to kick off this September and will determine if a sailor is going to be recommended for continuation in service or forced to retire. The program is focusing on sailors in the ranks of E-7 to E-9 with more than 20 years of active service. According to the Navy Personnel Command Web site, high-year tenure is currently 24 years for chief petty officers (E-7), 26...

TWO people have been charged over an assault on a group of US sailors in which one was allegedly stabbed and slashed in the face with a pair of scissors. West Australian police allege a 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old woman approached the group, who were on shore leave, outside the Perth train station at about 1am on July 5. A fight erupted and a female sailor was left with facial injuries, while a male sailor required surgery for the wounds he received when he was attacked with the scissors. Police said a 17-year-old boy from the Perth suburb of...

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Petty Officer 3rd Class Chad Kahl never suffered from a lack of open space while growing up in North Dakota. When he told friends and family there that he had volunteered to live aboard a 350-foot-long metal tube underneath hundreds of feet of water, they thought he was crazy. Kahl had done his homework on the submarine lifestyle. But as he prepared to get under way for the first time, he wondered if his friends may have had a point. "I think everyone that goes doesn’t really know what they’re getting into," said Kahl of...

FOUR US sailors have been assaulted while on shore leave in Perth - with one slashed across the face with scissors. WA police said a group of sailors were walking through Perth train station about 1am (WST) this morning when they were confronted by six people. ` "Three males and three females have yelled abuse at the sailors and as they tried to walk past them, one sailor was punched in the face,'' said police spokeswoman Ros Weatherall ``An altercation occurred and four sailors were assaulted, with one male struck in the face with a pair of scissors.''

PERTH brothels are increasing staff to contend with the arrival of two US warships carrying more than 5400 sailors. Nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens docked off Fremantle yesterday. Prevalent in groups of five or six on the streets of Perth today, some sailors were asking locals: "Where do you go to party?". Business groups estimate the sailors' arrival will boost the local economy to the tune of $5 million during the ships' five-day stay. The owner of Perth brothel Langtrees, Beverly Clarke, said today she had put on five extra staff for...

PERTH brothels are increasing staff to contend with the arrival of two US warships carrying more than 5400 sailors. Nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens docked off Fremantle yesterday. Prevalent in groups of five or six on the streets of Perth today, some sailors were asking locals: "Where do you go to party?". Business groups estimate the sailors' arrival will boost the local economy to the tune of $5 million during the ships' five-day stay. The owner of Perth brothel Langtrees, Beverly Clarke, said today she had put on five extra staff for...

TOWNSVILLE has been forced to turn away a US warship and its 3600-strong crew, which would have brought more than $1 million a day to the port city. The USS Essex, a 258m-long amphibious assault vessel, has been diverted to Cairns for an eight-day shore leave, including the popular Fourth of July celebrations. Outraged Townsville tour operators are facing millions in losses, empty hotel rooms, cancelled tours and more than 400 seats booked for the North Queensland Cowboys home game as a result of the embarrassing backdown. Cairns officials yesterday welcomed the big-spending US seamen and the predicted $10 million...

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq, June 18, 2009 – For five brothers from a small town in Kentucky, serving in the military is a family tradition. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Roberts holds a photo of him, his four brothers and his son, a Marine, while taking a break from his duties in the battalion's steel shop at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, June 3, 2009. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Katesha Washington   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Chief Petty Officer Chad Roberts, Petty Officers 1st Class Jody and Dwayne Roberts, and Petty Officer...

More than most nations, America has been, from its start, a hero-loving place. Maybe part of the reason is that at our founding we were a Protestant nation and not a Catholic one, and so we made "saints" of civil and political figures. George Washington was our first national hero, known everywhere, famous to children. When he died, we had our first true national mourning, with cities and states re-enacting his funeral. There was the genius cluster that surrounded him, and invented us—Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton. Through much of the 20th century our famous heroes were in sports (Jack Dempsey,...

Navy Decommissions USS Kitty Hawk Story Number: NNS090512-08 Release Date: 5/12/2009 5:37:00 PM From Kitty Hawk Public Affairs BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) was decommissioned May 12 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Wash., after more than 48 years of service. Members of the final crew lowered the ship's commissioning pennant from the main mast and the U.S. Flag and First Navy Jack from their staffs after Kitty Hawk Commanding Officer Capt. Todd Zecchin closed out the ship's deck log. "It's hard to capture the feeling in words,"...

5/4/2009 - BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- Air Force and Navy servicemembers teamed up in April to support and train the newly formed Iraqi navy with maritime mission along the northern area of the Arabian Gulf where a large percentage of Iraq's oil is exported. The first intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flight took place April 12 as pilots from the Navy teamed up with ISR operators from the Air Force to provide Iraq's navy with a watchful eye over the waters of the Arabian Gulf. "We flew our first ISR mission in support of Combined Task Force-Iraqi Maritime, which we feel...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) returned to its homeport of Norfolk, Va., April 18 after a successful seven-month deployment supporting Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and maritime security and coalition operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility (AOR). TR and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 flew 3,105 sorties in support of OEF, with more than 61,000 pounds of ordnance dropped on target in support of coalition forces. "The dedication of the ship's crew and naval aviators enabled TR to successfully complete its mission supporting Sailors, soldiers, airmen and Marines on the ground in Afghanistan,"...

A survivor and a rescuer in one of the deadliest episodes in U.S. Navy history — the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in World War II — will be reunited Thursday at Lakeland Regional High School. The cruiser, which carried parts for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, was sunk by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945, four days after it delivered the parts to Tinian Island. After it was sunk, 900 crew members spent days in shark-infested waters; only 316 survived. One of the survivors, Don Blum of Scarsdale, N.Y., will attend the program Thursday, called...

TIJUANA, Mexico -- Two U.S. sailors have been charged with the murder of a prostitute and the attempted murder of another in this northern border city, Mexican state prosecutors said. Witnesses and a hotel camera place the two men at the same hotel where a 19-year-old prostitute was smothered to death on Jan. 17, the prosecutors said Tuesday. On Feb. 4, police found the men in a bloodstained hotel room with a prostitute and a hotel employee, both of whom had suffered stab wounds, prosecutors said. The sailors were taken into custody and charged with attempted murder. They later found...