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Tribute To HEROES

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While the dogtag is used to provide information on an individual serviceman,
I also believe that the chain which holds them represents a connection to all
servicemen, no matter where you served, how you served or when you served.

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The Minuteman in 1776 has a connection to the soldier fighting in Afghanistan today.
That connection is every individual who has ever served in the United States Military.

Each of us represents a link in the chain that connects that Minuteman of
over 200 years ago to the soldier in Afghanistan today.

SAMWolf

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Tribute to Vietnam Veterans

Please click on picture.

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The great intangible of America's wars beyond logistics,
beyond strategy, beyond wonder weapons and Generals,
is the spiritual force of its fighting men and women -
and that is the force that the USO so serves.

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Free Republic....Click for Donations

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Partners

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.To Jim Robinson,
Founder of FRee Republic and Navy Veteran

Thank you, from all those
who frequent the FReeper Canteen

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Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Detachment (AIMD) provides intermediate level maintenance support to 17 Norfolk Naval base tenent squadrons consisting of 13 Type/Model/Series aircraft as well as support to East Coast CV/CVN and L-Class ships.

AIMD Norfolk provides repair, manufacture, test and check of aircraft components and associated support equipment. AIMD Norfolk also provided 94 Sea Operational Detachment (SEAOPDET) personnel to all East Coast aircraft carriers for worldwide deployment and at-sea periods.

Good morning, Snow! Good morning, EVERYBODY!

Today's FEEBLE attempt at humor:

It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies:

The Japanese eat relatively little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Japanese drink relatively little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Italians drink generous amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and other fatty foods and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

At sea aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) Nov. 4, 2002 -- Damage Controlman 2nd Class Kyle Nordlund from Clearbrook, Minn., team leader during a General Quarters (GQ) drill, checks a space for fire using a hand held thermal Imager. Thermal imaging technology has a dramatically improved shipboard search and rescue efforts encountered in the tight spaces aboard ship. Navy firefighters, using thermal imagers, can quickly navigate and identify victims in smoke-filled compartments. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Jo Wilbourn.

At sea aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) Nov. 4, 2002 -- Damage Controlman 2nd Class Kyle Nordlund from Clearbrook, Minn., damage control leader during a General Quarters (GQ) drill, checks a space for potential reflash fires using a thermal imager while the #1 Nozzleman (kneeling), Hull Maintenance Technician Fireman Lloyd Dieckman from Oak Harbor, Wash., provides firefighting cover. Thermal imaging technology has a dramatically improved shipboard search and rescue efforts encountered in the tight spaces aboard ship. Navy firefighters, using thermal imagers, can quickly navigate and identify victims in smoke-filled compartments. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Jo Wilbourn.

At sea aboard USS Constellation (CV 64) Nov. 4, 2002 -- A weapons handler on the ship’s flight deck positions ordnance delivered by helicopter during an underway vertical replenishment (VERTREP). Constellation and its embarked Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2), recently departed its homeport of San Diego Calif., on a scheduled deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Felix Garza, Jr.

Norfolk Naval Station

Naval Station Norfolk occupies about 3,400 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. The Norfolk Naval Base (NNB) is located on 4,631 acres, directly northwest of the City of Norfolk, Virginia. The Naval Complex includes Norfolk Naval Base as well as other Naval Facilities of the Sewells Point Naval Complex.

When the 78 ships and 133 aircraft home ported here are not at sea, they are alongside 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, and a variety of supply and logistics ships. 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.

Naval Station's Nimitz Hall is a major stopping-off point for people destined for ships, aircraft squadrons, and stations overseas. Nearly 9,000 people are processed through the Transient Personnel Unit annually en route to their destinations.

It is uncommon for these ships to all be in port at one time. Naval Station Norfolk made history with the berthing of five (5) Nuclear Aircraft Carriers on 02 July 97 at 1730, when the Navy's newest Nimitz class carrier, USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN-74), returned to port, joining the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73), USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN-71), USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) and the USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69). The only other time five carriers were berthed at the Naval Station was in 1992, but they were not all nuclear carriers.

NAVSTA Norfolk lies on the eastern shore of Hampton Roads, immediately east of the north-south oriented Norfolk Harbor Reach. NAVSTA has 20 piers, ranging in age from 6 years (Pier 10) to 63 years (Pier 7). Eleven of the piers are 50 years old or older. During a March 1998 port visit, local harbor authorities described the pier quality at NAVSTA Norfolk as inadequate. Specific deficiencies include two piers that were in CASREP status because the deck of the piers was not thick enough for use and the fact that only two piers have good, as compared to excellent, electrical power vaults. The rest are worse. Most of the piers do not have reliable fuel service, none of the piers have dedicated fire mains, all pilings are reinforced concrete but are eroding at water level, etc., etc. Pier 2 will be demolished and replaced with an up-to-date double-deck facility, but a specific date for the work was not mentioned. Pier 11 (built 1984) was considered to be in the best condition of all NAVSTA piers, but it is more exposed to wind than many of the other piers.

Berths at NAVSTA are numbered from inshore to seaward with odd numbers on the north side and even numbers on the south side. (For example, Berth 5-6 represents Pier 5/Berth 6.) Piers 2, 3 and 4 are warehouse piers and are primarily used for ships taking on stores. Piers 5, 7 and 10 are primarily for the use of surface combatants. Piers 11 and 12 are primarily for the use of aircraft carriers and large surface combatants. Piers 20 through 25 are primarily for the use of destroyer/submarine forces.

The US Naval Station piers at Norfolk are located about 18 nmi west of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. To reach the piers, vessels from the ocean must transit Thimble Shoal Channel, which crosses the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay; pass through the bridge opening at the lower end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel; pass between Old Point Comfort on the north and Fort Wool on the south; transit the Entrance Reach Channel at Hampton Roads; and enter the Norfolk Harbor Reach Channel which is adjacent to the west side of the Naval Station. The channels are maintained at a minimum depth of 45 feet. Except for areas close to shore, the water is about 18 feet deep from the Atlantic Ocean to Hampton Roads. The channel boundaries are marked by numerous buoys along the route. The buoys are generally 1/4 nmi apart near turns to about 1 nmi apart along straight sections of a channel.

Port Services controls more than 3,100 ships' movements annually as they arrive and depart their berths. Port facilities extend more than four miles and include some seven miles of berthing space. Naval Station's Nimitz Hall is a major stopping-off point for people destined for ships and stations overseas. Nearly 30,000 people are processed through the Transient Personnel Unit annually en route to their destinations.

The Magnetic Silencing Facility maintains and operates degaussing ranges at the Sewells Point Degaussing Range and Lamberts Point Deperming Station and magnetic treatment and calibration services at Lamberts Point Deperming Station. The Station provides degaussing services, including ranging and deperming for US Navy, US Government and friendly nation ships. They also provide technical reports as required, maintain degaussing records of all US Navy ships, and provide on board technical and administrative training to both US Navy ships and friendly nation Navies.

In March 1946, the Chief of Naval Operations directed the Commandant 5th Naval District, who also had been Commandant U.S. Naval Station, to include Naval Station Norfolk and Naval Air Station Norfolk as separate components under the military command of Commandant Naval Base, whose title was changed to Commander Naval Base and then to Commander, Navy Region, Mid-Atlantic.

Postwar period developments underscored the capacity of the Naval Station to change. The station at first stored inactive aircraft carriers, other reserve vessels, and finally submarines and destroyers. Fire fighting and salvage control now became specialties. The Atlantic Fleet Command came ashore in 1948 and placed its headquarters with a staff of 165 officers and 315 enlisted in an abandoned hospital. At the same time, the station rendered service to military as well as scientific pursuits.

Known officially as Naval Operating Base until 31 December 1952, on 1 January 1953 the name of the installation was changed to Naval Station Norfolk.

Always seeking to provide the best service to its customers, the Naval Station has evolved and made necessary and/or convenient improvements such as the Navy Exchange Mall, which was opened at its present location in November 1989 and expanded again by another 189,000 sq. ft. in September 1998. Another momentous occasion in 1998 was the opening of Enterprise Hall, a new state-of-the-art bachelor housing building, centrally located in the heart of the Naval Station next to the Naval Station Galley.

As part of the Navy's response to the post-Cold War drawdown of the 1990's, many new initiatives were implemented at Navy shore installations to reduce their operating cost, improve their efficiency, and better match their capacity to the reduced size of the Navy. In 1998, the Navy began a major realignment of shore command organizations and processes throughout Hampton Roads in a process known as "regionalization". One of the biggest steps and efficiencies in this process was the merger of separate Naval Station and Naval Air Station (which were directly adjacent to each other) into a single installation to be called Naval Station Norfolk. This consolidation became official on February 5, 1999.

In November 2001 the piers at Naval Station Norfolk were renumbered to help eliminate some of the confusion caused by the current system. The new system will begin at the South end of the station (old pier No. 20) and will be numbered consecutively from No. 1 to No. 13. In instances where there is an existing pier (scheduled for demolition) and a new pier, the pier to be demolished will have an “alpha (A)” added after the pier number. Renumbering of the piers was scheduled in conjunction with the Nov. 19 ribbon cutting of the two new military construction piers on the naval station waterfront. Pier and directional signs will be changed over the weekend of Nov. 15-18. For people who haven’t worked on this base for 20 years, the old pier numbering system was confusing. Just imagine the sailor who is here for the first time standing at pier No. 10. They can see pier No. 7 to the south and pier No. 11 to the north but they are looking for Pier 24. One would assume it is north of pier No. 11 — previously, it was not. That’s because of how Naval Station Norfolk grew. The naval station is a very large old base that grew in pieces. They started out building piers and numbering them at what was then the south end of the base. However, the Navy obtained additional land to the south of these piers. If they had continued to use the numbering convention in place we would have piers with negative numbers. So, they started over again at the south end of the base, with pier No. 20. Now, with the new numbering system taking effect Nov. 15-19, the piers will be numbered in order. This will allow personnel new to naval station to find the pier they need to be at easier.

The USO Canteen Post Office

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WoooooHOOOOOOOOOOO!! Howzit goin', MizBunny?! Great night last night, wasn't it?!

As for the Norfolk Naval Base, while I was an undergrad in the early 80's, I worked Summers and Christmas breaks at the Naval Base in Norfolk, ripping out then reinstalling tile flooring on the ships as they came into port. Met a lotta really good folks aboard those ships, and we were all proud of our Commander-in-Chief atthat time.

I feel that way now, too...MUD

Air Power

Boeing B-52D 'Stratofortress'

Since it became operational in 1955, the B-52 has been the main long-range heavy bomber of the Strategic Air Command. It first flew on Apr. 15, 1952. Nearly 750 B-52s were built when production ended in Oct. 1963, of which 170 were -Ds. The -Ds were modified to carry conventional bombs and Quail decoy missiles.

The B-52 has set many records in its 25-plus years of service. On Jan. 18, 1957, three B-52Bs completed the world's first non-stop round-the-world flight by jet aircraft, lasting 45 hours and 19 minutes with only three aerial refuelings en route. It was also a B-52 that made the first airborne hydrogen bomb drop over Bikini Atoll on May 21, 1956. In June 1965, B-52s entered combat when they began flying missions in Southeast Asia (SEA). By Aug. 1973, they had flown 126,615 combat sorties with 17 B-52s lost to enemy action.

The aircraft on display saw extensive service in SEA and was severely damaged by an enemy surface-to-air missile (SAM) on April 9, 1972. In Dec. 1972, after being repaired, it flew four additional missions over North Vietnam. Transferred from the 97th Bomb Wing, Blytheville AFB, Ark., this aircraft was flown to the USAF Museum in Nov. 1978.

SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 185 ft.
Length: 156 ft. 6 in.
Height: 48 ft. 4 in.
Weight: 450,000 lbs. max.
Armament: Four .50-cal. machine guns in tail plus bombs--nuclear or 43,000 lbs. of conventional
Engines: Eight Pratt & Whitney J57’s of 12,100 lbs. thrust ea. with water-alcohol injection
Cost: $7,000,000

PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 638 mph.
Cruising speed: 526 mph.
Range: 8,338 miles unrefueled
Service Ceiling: 49,400 ft.

Photos/Information courtesy of the US Air Force Museum

BUMP for Norfolk!

Bad roads, but good folks... Last time I moseyed on over there, and I do mean mosey, was for the Little Creek Amphibious Base Annual Mud Run 8k back in August... Got muddy, haha, and had a BLAST... Good times.

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OFF THE PRESS!

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Yesterday, MoJo was telling you about the French.
Well, it seems that they are finally going to sign on to the
resolution that the United Nations has regarding Iraq.
So? Finally someone is awake over there in Paris and they are
going to get in step with the actual winners this time around.
Isn't that sweet of them? NOT! So? Bravo for those pastry
puffs finally signing on to something they should have done to
begin with. (MoJo realizes that it was too much to expect
from our dear friends the French)

DUH ALERT!! Here's a new study by the Highway
Traffic Safety Administration. (Yes, you pay for this)
Anyways, they spent your money to come up with this
absolutely stunning results from their "lengthy and
tedious studies. It seems that DRIVERS DO NOT STOP
FOR PEDESTRIANS AT CROSSWALKS!! Whoa!
(Before you pass out at this stunning news) Keep in mind,
that you could ask any average American whether or not this
was true or not. As a matter of fact, you could have called MoJo.
Yet, they determined this after "months of studying".
Why doesn't this surprise you? Do you think they could
actually do any studies for the government in less time??

You think you are having a bad day?
A man in Germany got out of his car to go take a whiz
and he came back to find his car at the bottom of the
river after he forgot to apply his brakes. Hmmm....
Can you imagine explaining that to the insurance company?

Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the biggest losers last night.
It just wouldn't be right to gloat at their despair, but what the hell!
Anyways, these four people deserve the Jackass Award and
they deserve our thanks. Thank you Barbra, Tom, Bill, and Terry.
Thanks to your meddling, we now have the majority!! WOOHOO!!
There are so many ways we could do a "character assessment" on how
vile each and every one of you are, but we don't have the time and I'm
limited on space at this moment. However, thank you! Thank you!!
THE JACKASS AWARD WINNERS FOR TODAY!!

Darth Vader and Janet Reno!!
Seperated At Birth??

I TOLD YOU SO!!
One week after a group of idiots tried to kidnap
Posh Spice, from the Spice Girls, it seems that she will
be "overcoming her stress" by going back to the studio
to bring us her talents again in music. Yes, that's right!
It wasn't bad enough to have the Spice Girls. Nope,
now we have to endure their solo careers. We don't get punished
enough in this world, do we? So? Posh Spice, real name is
Victoria Beckham, can now concentrate on clogging our airwaves
with her moaning and groaning. Lucky us!

Speaking of singing, Anna now wants to sing.
Well, she wants to sing on her boyfriend, Enrique's
next album. She's been taking "singing" lessons to help
"strengthen her voice". Hey Anna! How about practicing
a little more tennis??

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Since we've had to endure looking at Janet Reno, I say
OOH RAH!! What a good looking bunch of men!!
God Bless their service and all of you out there reading this.
(MoJo is disturbed that you have that much time on your hands
although, my hubby does as well. LOL)

Here's President Bush!! He says what he means,
and means what he says!! The Dumbass Party didn't understand.
THEY KNOW NOW!!! WOOHOO!!
Last night was a big victory for President Bush, America,
and especially for our troops!! God Bless all of you!!

Thank You
and
GOD BLESS YOU!!

Good topic today - having been homeported in Nofuc>>>> err Norfolk, and was actually even there once or twice (tee hee) I appreciate it... :0)

U.S. Identifies Remains of Three Soldiers Killed in Vietnam

They’re home.