USO Canteen FReeper Style Salutes Norfolk Naval Base .... November 6,2002

FRiends of the USO Canteen FReeper Style and Snow Bunny

[Snow Bunny]

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The USO Canteen FReeper Style
Delivering a Touch of Home

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A Touch of Home

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This is how I think of the USO Canteen 
Freeper Style. It is like a cottage down a road,
a place where a weary veteran can spend the night. 

Since it opened, it is magical how so many
Freepers who post here, feel it too. 
It has been so dear how the Freepers
kept making it a cottage - a home-type of 
place that had a huge living room
for them to visit in and a dance floor, 
a library, etc. 

Many Veterans have written to me, 
saying that the Canteen is like home
to them for the first time since they 
served. 

This is your Canteen -
a respite from our busy 
and sometimes troubling world. 
Make yourself at home.

Snow Bunny

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If you know a Veteran, someone in your family, 
friend of the family, neighbor, who served their  
country, take a brief moment of your day to thank 
them. 

Thank them for the sacrifice they made
for the better good of their country.

We at Free Republic, and the USO Canteen FReeper 
Style, are thankful for every service member 
in our military, who has served our great nation.

So, to the men and women who answered the call,
In both times of war and peace, thank you.

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Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. 

John McCrae 

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Norfolk Naval Base

Just a few miles down the James River
is the gigantic Norfolk Naval Station,
home of the Atlantic Fleet, whose ships,
including six aircraft carriers,are providing
firepower and logistics for Operation
Enduring Freedom in South Asia.

Nearby at Little Creek Amphibious Base,
Navy SEALS train for Afghan operations.
In Virginia Beach, Oceana Naval Air Station
is the base for many of the carrier aircraft striking al-Qaida.

The Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth
will be refitting city-busting Trident
submarines so they can attack terrorist camps
with highly accurate conventional missiles
rather than nuclear-tipped ones.

Naval Station Norfolk occupies about
4,300 acres of Hampton Roads real
estate in a peninsula known as Sewells
Point. It is the world`s largest Naval Station;
in fact, based on supported military population,
it is the largest military station in the world.

When the 76 ships and 138 aircraft homeported
here are not at sea, they are along side one of
the 14 piers or inside one of the 15 aircraft hangars
for repair, refit, training and to provide the ship`s or
squadron`s crew an opportunity to be with their
families. Naval Station is homeport to aircraft carriers,
cruisers, destroyers, large amphibious ships, submarines,
a variety of supply and logistics ships, C-2, C-9, C-12
and E-2 fixed wing aircraft, and H-3, H-46, H-53, and H-60 helicopters.

Port Services controls more than 3,100 ships
movements annually as they arrive and depart
their berths. Port facilities extend more than four
miles along the waterfront and include some
seven miles of pier and wharf space.

Air Operations conducts over 100,000 flight
operations each year, an average of 275 flights
per day or one every six minutes. Over 150,000
passengers and 264,000 tons of mail and cargo
depart annually on Air Mobility Command (AMC)
aircraft and other chartered flights from our airfield.
It is the hub for Navy logistics going to the European
and Central Command theaters of operations, and to the Caribbean.

NORFOLK NAVAL AIR STATION, Virginia --
President Bush on Tuesday praised the development
of high-technology weapons systems as part of his
plan to "keep the peace." The Commander-in-
message came in an address delivered to a crowd of mostly military personnel at the only NATO
military base in the United States, the headquarters
of the Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT) in Norfolk, Virginia.

021009-N-9964S-075 Norfolk, Va., aboard
USS Harry S. Turman (CVN 75) Oct. 9, 2002 –
Steven Tyler (2nd from right), lead singer of the
rock band “Aerosmith” along with Joey Kramer (right),
the band’s drummer, take a tour of flight deck control
where a crewmember explains how aircraft are moved
in the hanger bay and on the flight deck of Truman.
“Aerosmith” boarded and toured Truman while the carrier
was pier side at Norfolk Naval Station. The band had
returned to perform in the area, having cancelled their
original performance scheduled for September 11, 2001
U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class
Christopher B. Stoltz(RELEASED)

Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, VA. Apr. 16, 2002 -
An Electronics Technician 2nd Class heads home with
his daughter, at pier 6 after returning from deployment
aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61).

At sea aboard the cruiser USS Cape St. George
(CG 71) Apr. 19, 2002 - The Secretary of the Navy,
the Honorable Gordon R. England, addresses
crewmembers of the Norfolk, Va.- based cruiser,
thanking them for their dedicated service.

Naval Station Norfolk, Va., Apr. 20, 2002 —
A Navy wife greets her husband, an Interior
Communications Electrician 1st Class, as he returns
rom a deployment aboard the amphibious transport
dock ship USS Shreveport (LPD 12).

Norfolk Naval Station, Va., Apr. 25, 2002
U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67)
returns to her homeport.

Norfolk, Va., May 6, 2002 — Assisted by tugs,
the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)
glides up the Elizabeth River past downtown Norfolk's
waterfront on its way to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in
adjacent Portsmouth, Va.

Naval Station, Norfolk, Va., May 7, 2002 —
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, far right, along with
members of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic's Honor
Guard and Mr. Jon Clodfelter, second from left,
demonstrate the design of a new commemorative
Virginia license plate honoring those who lost their
lives during a terrorist attack the guided-missile
destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67).

This is why the USO Canteen FReeper Style is here,for our troops and their loved ones serving now! And to thank Veterans that have served!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Welcome Home and RIP!

Capt Briggs...Sgt 1st Class O'Hara...Major Padgett

[MoJo2001]

Click On A Classic Country Song

[Snow Bunny]

That is so much, he is so good. Love the song MOJO and the beautiful graphic and words too.Luv ya my friend.Thank you for all your help with the Canteen.And for your service to our country as a military wife. Pretty amazing if you ask me, and even if you don't. giggle.....(((( hug ))))

[MoJo2001]

[Kathy in Alaska]

Hi Cobby.

[Kathy in Alaska]

DRESS WARMLY!

It could get chilly.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Well, you always could go to emergency right?
Please don't say you can't get an appointment with a doctor if you are sick."

Nearest "emergency" care is 90 miles away.
Non-emergency does not get treatment unless an appointment has been made.
The VA system works on paper only.
The more they stall vets who are entitled to health care
the more they lower the vet population.
It's their answer to meeting the budget.
Please don't get my blood pressure going on the bill they
are trying to force me to pay from last year.

[southerngrit]

Re Post #268

See - this only proves what I meant in my post #237.

I enjoy your rants so much. They make me laugh out loud, and then you have to go post such a beautiful dedication.
I'm swallowing tears now.

I really have to take some computer classes!

Thank you for your service as a Navy wife, and thank your husband for his service to our country. I'm a Navy Veteran's Mom. Those guys are righteous!

[Kathy in Alaska]

"The Best Day Of My Life"

Wow, ms feather, that is a great poem. Thank you for sharing.

[Snow Bunny]

Thank you for your post about the USS Corry and it's home post being Norfolk.

[Jen]

Hi Miss Feather. Some kind of 'bug' got ahold of me, I suppose. I've been sick to my stomach for the last few days.

[Soaring Feather]

Hi radu,

Ok girlz, how are we dressing for tonight's voyage on Tonk's beautiful ship?

Warm, very warm, we are probably going to walking the plank before the night is done!

[MoJo2001]

Anything I post should prove to you that God has a great sense of humor. It was unfortunate that my father encouraged me to talk early in life. (He's been regretting it ever since..I'm sure of it)

If you ever need or want any help, just ask any of us. I am not that talented as far as graphics and dollz, but I'll help ya as much as I'm capable!! *HUGS*

NO CRYING ON THE BOAT!! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME FIND SOME WHALES!!(Um, besides Hillary Clinton and Rosie O'Donnell)

[Soaring Feather]

Glad you like it Kathy!

[Snow Bunny]

Hi Radu and Duchess and Bentfeather and and and Kathy and and Linda and and Mojo and and whew....everyone....hahaahhhaaa

[SAMWolf]

U.S. Atlantic Fleet

U.S. Atlantic Fleet, headquartered in Norfolk, Va., is the U.S. Navy component of U.S. Joint Forces Command.

U.S. Atlantic Fleet is responsible for the entire Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the waters around Central and South America extending in the Pacific to the Galapagos Island.

The U. S. Atlantic Fleet provides fully trained, combat ready forces to support United States and NATO commanders in regions of conflict throughout the world. From the Adriatic Sea to the Arabian Gulf, Atlantic Fleet units are called upon to support U.S. theater commanders in chief and joint task force commanders for unified operations anywhere in the world. Additionally, the U.S. Atlantic Fleet provides readiness training, and logistical and administrative support for its surface ships, submarines and aviation squadrons.

To maintain readiness and maximize capabilities, U.S. Atlantic Fleet units operate and train with units of the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard and Allied Forces around the world.

U.S. Atlantic Fleet is comprised of more than 125,000 sailors and civilians, 188 ships and submarines and over 1,200 aircraft. Operational support to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in the form internal training and logistics is provided by approximately 37 shore activities worldwide.

Routinely, over fifty percent of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet is either overseas, or conducting exercises in preparation for deployment as part of a phase of the Interdeployment Training Cycle (IDTC).

Recent joint initiatives between the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific Fleets have led to a major change in the way surface ships and aircraft squadrons are managed during the Interdeployment Training Cycle. Many inspections and administrative requirements have been streamlined or eliminated in order to provide increased flexibility and efficiency to unit commanders.

[MoJo2001]

Ma, how about cooking Jen some of your Chicken Noodle Soup?? Yummy!! *HUGS* Hope you feel better!

[Jen]

Hi gurlz. I feel a little better but not a whole lot.

About the furniture... I changed my mind about it. Hubby didn't like it and we decided to go shopping together and get what we both like. And to shop closer to home where they deliver! The table and 8 chairs would never fit in hubby's truck.

[SK1 Thurman]

Am right behind ya!!!!!!!!!! Tootles and will see all soon!!

Sandy