Submarine hazing centered on homosexuality

Associated Press/Fox News ^ | 23 June 2012 | Staff

[moonshot925]

NORFOLK, Va. -- A Navy hazing case that led to the firing of the top enlisted officer aboard a nuclear submarine was sparked by gay jokes about a sailor who said another man tried to rape him while in a foreign port, according to an investigative report obtained by The Associated Press.

The report sheds light on a hazing case that led to the reassignment of Master Chief Machinist's Mate Charles Berry, who had been serving as "chief of the boat" on the Kings Bay, Ga.-based USS Florida. The Navy announced March 30 that Capt. Stephen Gillespie had relieved Berry as chief, due to dereliction of duty. Aboard a submarine, the chief of the boat advises the commanding officer of issues involving enlisted sailors. The Navy's announcement said the case involved allegations of hazing aboard Florida, but gave no details. It said Berry was not involved in the hazing, but had knowledge of it and failed to inform his chain of command.

Lt. Brian Wierzbicki, spokesman for Kings Bay's submarine force, said Saturday he did not immediately have a contact number for Berry. The AP left a voice mail message at a phone listed for a Charles Berry in St. Marys, Ga.

An investigative report obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act says the hazing was directed at a sailor who had reported that another man pulled a knife and tried to rape him while in the port at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

[RaceBannon]

I heard Diego is FAr from what I saw in 1981

it is a full fleged base, fresh water and all

packed with people, NSA, too

[moonshot925]

The Ohio class SSGNs are homeported at Bangor, Washington and Kings Bay, Georgia but they also operate out of other bases like Guam.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

You forgot sending a noob to get x number of feet of waterline. :-)

[rottndog]

Our mail buoy noob had to put on a complete foul weather suit, equipped with spot lights strapped on to each side of his head, THEN he was told to go to every crew member on watch and ask if they had any mail to send.

OH THE HORRORS....

[LonePalm]

What boat was she? LA class? Seawolf? Virginia?

USS Florida (SSGN-728) is a converted Ohio-class Submarine.

Instead of Trident C-4 missiles, she now carries 145 Tomahawk missiles in 22 groups of 7. She is home ported about 4 miles from me.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

Oh, and sending a noob to get some relative bearing grease.

[edcoil]

Never saw an E-4 petty officer driving a boat. Job sucked - was boring -

What the heck was a Master Chief doing as a COB? They long stopped ship/shore rotations.

[edcoil]

We had them get upper relative bearing grease and water hammers.

[moonshot925]

She fired a whole bunch of Tomahawks at Libya last year.

[workerbee]

We’ll lose good men and our forces will be weaker because of it.

No offense, but.. duh!!!!

That was pretty much the entire point of ... uh... thrusting gays into the military, yes?

[cva66snipe]

Unless they come from a Navy family most of them will fall for at least one of the tricks. It's simply the fact you are so far out of your element LOL. Sky Hooks was another one.

I went through almost the same problem when I went from the Navy to Army Guards. The words Fire Mission meant nothing to me LOL.

[Dick Vomer]

Diego is in the middle of nowhere. I know a guy that said his first duty station was at Diego Garcia and he was looking for it in California. bwahahahahahaha...
Funniest story I heard in a long time.

[rwa265]

Here’s a Navy Times article that gives more information.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/06/navy-florida-submarine-culture-hazing-062312w/

[JimC214]

When I was with the 3rd Marines back in the 70’s, all the boots who reported in were given the treatment. The most popular one was to tell the new boot when he asked why did some of the other Marines have a red stripe on there utility uniform. So we told them that it was for volunteering to pull butts for the Flame thrower. Told them that they would get hazardous duty pay. A few wanted to know how to volunteer, so we would tell them to go over to the HQ and see the Sgt Major. As the Sgt. Major was a former Drill Instructor, well you can imagine what that was like for the new boot.

[central_va]

You must have been on the nuclear-powered Shipjack class boat USS Snook (SSN-592). Correct?

I did a week's training the sonar gang on the attack boat at Andros Island. I think it was either the Shark or the Snook. Can't remember which one.

[cva66snipe]

When I was on the ship the MARDET still had ships security due to our nuclear cargo. Nobody could understand a word they said when they were drilling up on the hander bay. Nobody but I reckon except a MM2 I knew who had joined the Navy after a Marine hitch. I don’t think they ever figured out where the rouge commands were coming from LOL.

[rottndog]

Read that article...still don’t see any hazing. Harassment above and beyond, yes.

[faucetman]

I was in the Navy a long time ago, but isn't Master Chief almost always a desk job? If you wanted to actually continue doing your job, you would not accept promotion to Master Chief. I could be wrong, but that's how I remember it.

[stbdside]

Or bulkhead remover, stanchion jacks, or squeegee sharpeners.

[stbdside]

Or bulkhead remover, stanchion jacks, or squeegee sharpeners.