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!

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I've got JUST the song for you in my mind, but I'm having trouble finding it...

[tomkow6]

...now get in the tub.

OK. Then what?

[tomkow6]

A telephone man joined the Army. As part of his basic training, he went
out on the rifle range. He fired 99 shots at the target, and missed the
target with every shot. His Drill Instructor tried to find out why.

"What’s the matter with you?" asked the DI. "Why can’t you hit the
target? What were you in civilian life?" "I was a telephone man,"
replied the new recruit, "and I don’t know why I can’t hit the target.
Let me see..."

The telephone man checked his rifle, checked his rifle again, and
checked his rifle a third time. He then put his finger in front of the
muzzle, pulled the trigger, and blew the end of his finger off.

"Well," the phone man said, writhing in pain, "the bullets are leaving
here fine. The trouble must be on the other end."

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

...now get in the tub.

OK. Then what?

82 posted on 11/06/2002 11:04 AM PST by tomkow6

Been that long, huh? Wow.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Check it out girls! We have a destroyer for transportation today. Duchess, make sure your Captain's uniform is pressed and ready. Radu and Jen, break out the Dramamine. Bunny, you can bounce all you want. LaDiva, snacks are in order and crumbs are ok. Bentfeather, plenty of room for any entertainment. This is Tonkin's (GMG3) ship! Today is Coast Guard Friday night, but maybe Tonk can give us a guided tour and learn us how to fire the big guns. This should be fun.

.....

Displacement: 2,616 tons (3,460 tons full load)

Length: 390 feet 6 inches

Beam: 40 feet 10 inches

Draught: 14 feet 4 inches (mean)

Machinery: 4- Babcock & Wilcox boilers; 2-shaft G.E.C. geared turbines

Performance: 60,000 shp for 36.8 knots

Bunkerage: 740 tons

Range: 4,500 nautical miles at 20 knots

Torpedoes: Ten 21 inch in two mounts

Guns: Six 5 inch DP; Twelve 40 mm; Eleven 20 mm

[Kathy in Alaska]

Huge hooray! Yes, Sir! Now, let's get back to conservatism. Thanks for the flyover of protection today in the shuttle, Aeronaut!

[Kathy in Alaska]

ROTFLMAO! Excellent Mr_Magoo, thanks. I'm off to email the office.

[Soaring Feather]

Hi Duchess, I have to bundle up it's very nasty, windy and cold here today.

I'm sad, I don't have a uniform to wear this evening. An evening gown is going to look stupid on this ship. BTW, I love big yatchs such as this!!

You know, I left my red gown in Canada yesterday. Coteblanche thinks it's not warm enough for me to wear in Canada, she is probably correct. It's called the Great White North for a reason. LOL

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Mash the Majority Leader.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I am READY, Kathy!! (You forgot to salute me. LOL)

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Hmmmm...well, I can't do a uniform (those are custom made you know, and well, I'm an officer, after all! LOL) - but if you're into shopping for a new civvy outfit, I think I can talk Jinxie into giving up the plastic. (Cote is right...brrrrrrrr!!)

[SAMWolf]

Good find Cote. Now let's see if they do anythnig with their control.

Senate Minority Leader, Daschle

I like the sound of that!

[SAMWolf]

B-52 Stratofortress! Bump



"Linebacker In The Buff"

B-52D 55-0094 surging east from Thailand to its target in Hanoi, to deliver a payload which helped end that difficult war. When the North Vietnamese were delaying the peace talks in 1972, President Nixon ordered the bombing of North Vietnam to start again, and, this time they were going to use B-52s. The code name for that operation was Linebacker. The "Buff" in the title? B-52 crews in S.E. Asia called the plane BUF, standing for Big Ugly ......



"Fill Up for the Cadillac"

A B-52H prepares for a mid air re-fueling.



"High Road to Hanoi"

B-52s on a "Linebacker II" raid over Hanoi, 1972.



"B-52s: They Keep On Ticking"

An early big-tailed B-52B side by side with a more contemporary B-52G which saw service during Operation Desert Storm.



"The Lone Star Lady"

Led by The Lone Star Lady, B-52 Stratofortresses based at Anderson AFB on the island of Guam, head for Hanoi, North Vietnam, during the Strategic Air Command's Operation Linebacker II during the Winter of 1972.

[SAMWolf]

U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Connie Holen, a KC-10 Extender pilot from the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, speaks to several of the Girl Scouts in Troop 004 at an overseas location about flying refueling missions over some of the world's wartorn countries. Her information helped the 16 girls in the troop earn their Global Awareness badges. U.S. Air Force Photo by Capt. Jim Fuchs

[Kathy in Alaska]

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

That's better! LOL

Captain Duchess

[tomkow6]