News from the "Big Stick"

E-Mail | Nov 25, 2001 | CAPT Rich O'Hanlon, USN

[oldsalt]

============================================ From: Captain Richard J. O'Hanlon, USN, Commanding Officer, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)

Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2001 4:58 PM

Subject: 11/17 letter

Hello all,

I know it has been a while since I updated you but it has been busy out here as the ship continues to pound away at the remnants of the Taliban and the Afghani section of the Al Qaida network. The headlines pretty much speak for themselves. The relentless pressure provided by airpower destroyed their air defenses, command and control networks, supply lines and eroded their will to resist. There are still a number of hard liners that are holding out but the majority of these are non-Afghanis.

We will continue to support the Northern Alliance ground forces and attack Al Qaida strongholds. We are making some great progress in the latter.

More coalition partners are arriving daily. The amount of naval power headed this way is staggering. Great Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, and Japan have ships here or they are enroute. Many more countries are pledging ground or air forces. This is truly an international fight. It is sad in way that it took the 9/11 tragedy to bring the world together like this.

The men and women of my crew continue to amaze me. We have been at sea for 60 days. Of those 60 days, only two have been days off (days without conducting flight operations). Despite all the above, the crew gathers around me whenever I walk around and want to know how we are doing and if we are making a difference. They cheer with every bomb on target and our success spurs them on to greater accomplishments.

I do a weekly talk show on the ship's TV system. It is a chance for me to chat with the crew as they phone in to ask questions. Move over Larry King. As part of the show I roll a weekly "greatest hits" video. The best of the bombing from the last week. Very popular. Even the studio crew looks away from their cameras to study each hit. I emphasize that every mission we execute is a total team effort from the propulsion plant operators to the bomb assemblers to the administrative support personnel to the flight deck aircraft maintainers.

We have had some fun though. Two weeks ago we paused for a "steel beach" picnic. We set up barbeques on the flight deck and cooked up steak, chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. The morale and welfare division set up volleyball and basketball matches. We have these oversize tricycles that people race on the flight deck. There were golfers, fishers, bands and, for the first time on an aircraft carrier in quite a while, a swim call. The Air Department lowered one of the aircraft elevators to the hangar deck level and crewmembers were given the opportunity to jump the 26 feet from the elevator to the water. Two thousand people literally jumped ship. Not all at once, of course. Life boats in the water, safety swimmers, etc. We even had sharpshooters looking out for sharks (none were seen).

There is another no fly tomorrow. We are using this as a maintenance day so there are no big events with one exception. Navy regulations say that if you are at sea for 45 consecutive days the captain can authorize a special ration of two cans of beer per crewmember. I guess I have to remind you that US Navy ships are dry i.e. no alcohol allowed except as noted above. So tonight as we recover the last aircraft we are going to serve pizza and BEER to the crew. It may seem like no big deal to most of you but this is huge out here.

In the biggest surprise of the cruise to date, several members of the NY Yankees phoned me after Game 7 as they were flying home. I spoke to Willie Randolph and Paul O'Neill. I was told that Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Joe Torre were standing by to talk but the connection was severed as Jeter was handed the phone. They sent along their best wishes and gratitude to the crew who were thrilled to hear that the Yankees took time out to think of us.

We continue to fly 14 hours a day 7 days a week but the ship's activities don't end at the end of flight operations. We are constantly gathering intelligence, fixing aircraft and ship's equipment, preparing more of our 20,000 meals a day, navigating the ship to our next launch point. The list goes on. TR is literally the city that never sleeps. We train constantly to keep the crew ready to respond to any contingency and go to battle stations for drill often shoot our guns and train our missiles. We even impose simulated damage to provide training in firefighting and damage control.

As many of you know the human spirit is an formidable force. It is the only fighting reserve the evildoers in Afghanistan have left. All of us on TR and throughout this coalition have spirit and resolve that exceeds any quantity the enemy ashore has. But, unlike our adversary, we have some really cool weaponry left with which to carry out our orders. The reason I started on this spirit angle was to segue into a discussion on keeping morale high on the ship; my primary job.

The support we have received from our families back in Norfolk has been spectacular. We on TR are blessed to have such strong, devoted spouses. The ship has also received messages and pledges of support from many parts of the country. I thank you all deeply. A small gift from home whether it be in the form of a video, a CD, a snack pack, a card, a letter, an email or a photograph means more than you know. It makes the difference between a Sailor who can give a little more for the nth consecutive day and a Sailor who can not. We could not do our job without the unflagging support of our family, friends and the American people.

To all, you have my gratitude. I have rambled on enough. There are some images of life on the ship at the bottom of this email. Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. We are pulling all the stops out here for a spectacular turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Please stay in touch as our deployment progresses.

Best wishes, Rich

CAPT Rich O'Hanlon

Commanding Officer

USS Theodore Roosevelt

[oldsalt]

I received this via E-mail tonight and thought my fellow Freepers might find it interesting and informative.

I hope it posts OK because I'm computer challenged and have never posted before, have only sent replies to others.

[halley]

Great Post! Does the ship have an email address to send along a thank you?

[xp38]

They deserve 100% support from the people they serve.

[Enlightiator]

Great read, oldsalt, thanks for sharing the news update from the TR!

[oldsalt]

Great Post! Does the ship have an email address to send along a thank you?

I don't have the ships' address.This was forwarded to me by an old shipmate who received it from the TR. I'll try and contact him to get the address.....maybe some Freeper out there knows it?

[Miss Marple]

Thank you so much for posting this! I am going to flag some more people to take a look!

I like the "best of the weel's bombing" thing on his show! LOL!

Thanks again...and your post came out just great!

[SAMWolf]

Contacting Sailors Aboard TR

E-Mail

Every TR crewmember has the capability to receive personal E-mail. However, not all crewmembers have signed-up for their accounts yet. Until you receive confirmation from your Sailors, we ask that you continue to use the methods listed below to stay in touch with them.

Phone number for the ship

TR Quarterdeck: (757) 444-8651

US Mail

Send your letters and packages (especially care packages) using the following address:

Rate/Rank Full Name of Crewmember
Department/Division
USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71)
FPO AE 09599-2871
Sailor Phone

The Sailor Phone is a commercial satellite telephone system installed onboard TR for the morale and welfare of the crew. The system can only be used to call out, but is usable worldwide. To utilize Sailor Phone, the service member purchases an AT&T Global Prepaid Card from the Ship's Store at a cost of $20 for 20 minutes, and uses this card from one of the 30 special phones installed throughout the ship. The phone system is part of a commercial satellite system and has proven to be very reliable thus far.

[Miss Marple]

Here is a neat letter from the captain of "The Big Stick!"

[Miss Marple]

I thought you would enjoy this!

[SAMWolf]

There is something tangible we can all do - make sure that the young men and women on board know how much we all support them. One way of doing that is by corresponding with them. I have gotten an address from the Captain where people can write to "Any Sailor" (see below) and then those letters will be distributed to individuals on board. They are also setting up an e-mail address for the same purpose - so that everyone on board will get mail from home with messages of support and encouragement. This way, the sailors will know we are behind them, and people here at home can begin a correspondence with "their" sailor.

The e-mail address is:

PAO@roosevelt.navy.mil

The subject line should read "To Any Sailor"

Please pass this e-mail around to as many people as possible.

I thank you and those on board thank you.

[F16Fighter]

To: Capt. O'Hanlon and the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt

In the immortal words of general George S. Patton --You magnificent sons of bitches!! :-)

Your Captain has filled us in on the daily rituals, goings on and the tremendous job you've been doing and continue to do for our God, our country and our families.

Your brothers and sisters in the United States of America truly appreciate the sacrifices you all have made in fullfilling the legacies of Washington, Adams, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt -- that which is liberty.

May God bless you all and keep up the good work...

[deport]

Captain
Richard J. O’Hanlon, USN
Commanding Officer
USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT  

Capt. O’Hanlon became the eighth commanding officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) on March 22, 2001.

A native of New York City, he is a 1976 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and was designated a Naval Aviator in September 1977.

Seagoing assignments include service in Attack Squadron Four Six onboard USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) flying the A-7E Corsair II and Strike Fighter Squadron One Three Two onboard USS Coral Sea (CV 43) flying the F/A-18 Hornet. Capt. O’Hanlon also served as the Staff Strike Operations Officer with Carrier Group Three aboard USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). He commanded Strike Fighter Squadron Three Seven onboard USS John F. Kennedy with a follow-on assignment as USS Carl Vinson’s Executive Officer. Capt. O’Hanlon also commanded the fast combat support ship USS Sacramento (AOE 1) homeported at Bremerton, Washington. Under his leadership the ship completed a deployment to the Arabian Gulf and won the Battle Efficiency Award as well as the CNO Safety and Golden Anchor Awards.

Capt. O’Hanlon served ashore at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland conducting developmental and engineering test projects on the A-7 and the FA-18. He was also assigned as the Executive Assistant to the Chief of Legislative Affairs, Washington, D.C. Prior to reporting to USS Theodore Roosevelt, Capt. O’Hanlon served as Chief of Staff to Commander, Naval Air Force, U. S. Atlantic Fleet.

He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (Class 81) and completed the rigorous nuclear power training program in 1995.

Capt. O’Hanlon has flown over 3,800 flight hours in 30 different military aircraft and has logged over 750 carrier-arrested landings. He is the recipient of two Legions of Merit, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy Commendation Medals as well as numerous unit commendations and awards.

 

[Miss Marple]

A native of New York City, no less. Thanks for the info, deport!

[A Navy Vet]

Thanks for the update and the memories, Skipper. I remember the importance of those two beers. Most people have absolutely NO idea of the incredible amount of work to be done on a US Navy ship, especially aviation navy. Regular sailors may not be as tough in ground combat as Marines and Army, but I guarantee you they are the hardest working when underway. Around the clock air operations is an awesome sight! Fair seas to you, shipmates.

Rodger Hunter
Aviation Boatswains Mate
U.S. Navy '75 - '86

[Snow Bunny]

Hi Miss Marple, I REALLY appreciate this more then I can say. Thank you so much.

I see my friend SAMWolf has posted the addy information for the TR this is fantastic.

Thank you again soooooo much.

[Snow Bunny]

I cannot thank you enough for posting the information for the TR. I am going to post it at the Canteen too. Thank you dear friend. I have been waiting so long to have something like this at the Canteen so FReepers can send letters etc.

Thank you my friend.(( hug ))

[World'sGoneInsane]

Thank you both for the ping and the post! I am bumping this for letters and emails for those who proudly serve us and for prayers for them and their families. They all deserve and need our support each day, but especially through the holiday season.

[stlnative]

Bump - Thank you for sharing!

[quietolong]

USN AO Bump

[pt17]

Many thanks! God bless America and these fine men and women who are serving it. We'll let em know!