USO Canteen FReeper Style....Gunnery Mates....Thank You....June 26,2002

FRiends of the USO Canteen FReeper Style and Snow Bunny

[Snow Bunny]

USS Bulkeley

The primary job of the Gunnery Division is to maintain and operate all shipboard weapons systems.

Normal day to day tasks include ensuring all weapons systems are functioning properly and prepared for such evolutions as surface and air combat and exercises, as well as ensuring that the weapons are available for any law enforcement need. Gunnery Division is also responsible for providing small arms training to all Boarding Team Members.

Within Gunnery Division there are two different rates...Gunner's Mates (GM) and Fire Control Technicians (FT). Gunner's Mates primarily deal with the actual firing weapons and their associated ordnance while FT's primarily work with radar systems specifically designed for targeting and firing long range weapons.

Chief Gunner's Mate (SW) Virgil Kilpatrick, an instructor at Fleet Combat Training Center (FCTCLANT) Atlantic, has spent the last three years providing Sailors with skills he hoped they would never truly need -- operating and maintaining shipboard weapons systems in war.

Gunner's mates work in almost every kind of Navy environment: ship, shore, in the United States or overseas. Their work and specialties may involve indoor or outdoor situations, clean or dirty work, deck or shop, and any kind of climate or temperature. They work alone or with others, independently or closely supervised. Their work can be both mental and physical.

River Boat Gunnery Mate.......Vietnam

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the campaign against terrorism, training commands like FCTCLANT are at the ground floor of the battle.

Veteran Sailors like Kilpatrick are in classrooms, laboratories and simulators, arming their students with the tools to fight terror.

According to GM1(SW) George Cumings, careless safety procedure can be a gunner's mate's deadliest enemy.

"It is important to take your time and go through all your steps, whether you're operating the gun or performing maintenance," Cumings said. "If you don't, you can get yourself -- and your shipmates -- killed."

Technology has changed the face of naval training during the past two decades. For gunner's mates, computer literacy has become nearly as important as skill with a weapon.

"Gunner's mates do a lot more than just fire guns," said Kilpatrick, a 17-year Navy veteran. "It may not seem like a technical rating, but it is."

Battleship Iowa firing its guns on the starboard side. You can see it shoving the ship sideways thru the water. What power unleashed! For those who don't know about these guns (the 16 inchers) they can fire a shell weighing as much as a VW Beetle 30 miles thru the air with some accuracy. That is awesome! Of course, we no longer have these ships in our naval service. They have all been decommissioned and mothballed or disposed of in some other manner.

What They Do:

The duties performed by GMs include:
operating and maintaining guided missile launching systems, rocket launchers, gun mounts and other ordnance systems and equipment;

training and supervising crews in the use of all types of ordnance equipment, from large caliber guns and missile systems to small arms;

stowing, securing, requisitioning and reclassifying explosives:
operating and maintaining magazine flooding and sprinkling systems;

making mechanical, electrical and electronic casualty analysis using technical publications, circuit diagrams and blueprints;

repairing, maintaining, testing and calibrating ordnance equipment;
servicing hydraulic and pneumatic systems;

repairing, maintaining, testing and calibrating microprocessing equipment;
repairing damaged hydraulic sealing surfaces, mating areas and threads;

performing mechanical wire connections including soldering; operating and maintaining night optical devices;

operating optical scanning and marking devices to label, identify and report explosives' utilization/expenditure.

This 5"/62 caliber gun can be used to defend against ships or planes.

And this big ship has all the latest in weapons technology: Using the MK 41 Vertical Launching System, the ship's crew can launch up to 96 missiles, including Standard surface-to-air missiles, Tomahawk surface-to-surface missiles and VLA antisubmarine missiles--64 from the back of the ship or 32 from the front. USS Bulkeley is also equipped with two MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems and a 5"/62 caliber deck-mounted gun, which uses Extended Range Guided Munitions projectiles and looks like a machine gun on steroids. According to one crewman, the 5"/62 is so powerful that once when it was fired from the front of the ship, he could feel his pant legs shaking, even though he was standing at the stern.

USS Bulkeley's MK 41 Vertical Launching System fires a combination of Standard surface-to-air and Tomahawk surface-to-surface missiles.

There's a story about John Paul Jones' chief gunners mate. It was during the gore and thunder of that most historic battle. He was loading and firing cannon and carrying the wounded to the medical officer, cutting away the tangled rigging. And apparently in the midst of that first fight, John Paul Jones went below momentarily and changed into a new uniform. And as he emerged on deck a voice rang out through the smoke and fire -- it was the British captain asking, ``Have you struck your colors?'' And the gunners mate, sweat and blood dripping from his body, turned and saw Jones now in his fresh uniform reply: ``I have not yet begun to fight.'' And the gunners mate said, ``There's always somebody who didn't get the word.''

The challenge is great. Our Navy is meeting a heavier responsibility than we had in the sixties and meeting it with fewer ships. And that means the officers and crew of every vessel must work harder, carry a heavier load, and endure longer, more strenuous cruises.

Men and women on these and other ships are under great stress, handling advanced weapons systems and sophisticated equipment. And that's all the more reason to salute them after setting a new record for aircraft safety last year. Many who served could easily have better paying civilian jobs. Sailors on the carriers are away from their families 70 percent of the time; yet 60 percent of these fine young people reenlist.

In today's Navy, as with the other services, the Reserves are playing an increasingly important role. Who are they? Citizens concerned about the future of this country and determined to do their part. They share their time, energy, and talent to keep America strong, safe, and free.

[SAMWolf]

[Diver Dave]

Facts of Naval History

Every sailing ship had to have cannon for protection.
Cannon of the times required round iron cannon balls. The master wanted to
store the cannonballs such that they could be of instant use when needed, yet
not roll around the fun deck. The solution was to stack them up in a square-
based pyramid next to the cannon. The top level of the stack had one ball, the
next level down had four, the next had nine, the next had sixteen and so on.
Four levels would provide a stack of 30 cannonballs.
The only real problem was how to keep the bottom level from sliding out
from under the weight of the highter levels. To do this, they devised a small
brass plate ("brass monkey") with one rounded indentation for each cannon-
ball in the botom layer. Brass was used because the cannonballs wouldn't
rust to the "brass monkey," but would rust to an iron one.
When temperture falls, brass contracts in size faster than iron. As it got
cold on the gun decks, the indentations in the brass monkey would get smaller
than the iron cannonballs they were holding. If the temperature got cold enough,
the bottom layer would pop out of the indentations spilling the entire pyramid
over the deck. Thus it was, quite literally,
"cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey."

World War II fighter planes had 50 caliber machine guns. The ammunition belts used were 27 feet long. In a dog fight it was not uncommon to use the entire belt of ammo. Back in the ready room the pilots on the carriers would describe such
an engagement as getting on an enemy and giving him "the whole nine yards."
After that the aircraft was useless for further attacks and just became a high
speed transport.
Many people today use the term of "giving the whole nine yards" with no
idea of its source.

[SAMWolf]

Captain Matt Phares, gets a hug from his true wingman, his son, Tyler, 3, moments after Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251 returned to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., March 26. The Thunderbolts of VMFA-251 were deployed aboard the USS Theododore Roosevelt for six moinths in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Photo by: Staff Sgt. Will Price

Captain Branden Bailey gets a warrior's welcome from his wife, Kendra, as his son, Jonah, 5, watches on, moments after Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251 returned to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., March 26. The Thunderbolts of VMFA-251 were deployed aboard the USS Theododore Roosevelt for six moinths in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Photo by: Staff Sgt. Will Price

[SAMWolf]

[larryjohnson]

Welcome to retirement.Well Done!

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

Greggo,

Attached are the photos of your bombs .. we actually got your message on two different types of bombs, a 750 and a 2000 pounder .. the pics you see are of the 2000 pounder (2000 pounder .. is that a bomb or rhyner's manhood) with a couple from the 750 ... anyway, I only have information on the 2000 pounder ... the pic you see is when it was inscribed on a Mk-82... this is an unguided munition .. it was later converted to a GBU-31 .. the GBU-31 is a guided munition .. the conversion is accomplished by putting components on to the iron bomb itself .. we do not have pictures of that or while it is on the plane as their are mission requirements and time constraints during this period ... However, here is the info for your bombing mission:

PLATFORM: F-16CJ
MUNITION: GBU-31 (2000 pound guided munition)
CALLSIGN: BLANC-11
TIME ON TARGET: 14 DEC 2001 2130(zulu); 1530 (CST)
TARGET: TROOPS IN THE OPEN
AREA OF TARGET: TORA BORA AREA; SOUTH OF JALALABAD

The 750 pounder is normally put on B52s and would have been transported to Diego Garcia .. I have no confirmation of whether it has been used yet. Hope one of the pics I sent can be used ... they look ok to me ...

A couple of the pics have an emblem from the Pennsylvania State Police ... they were the guys who investigated the air crash in Pennsylvania on Sep 11 .. we have some people here with ties to them .. so we try to put that emblem on bombs about to be dropped .. hope you don't mind if they piggy-backed.

Michael King
Staff Seregant, United States Army
JTF-SWA J2
Operation Enduring Freedom

[Pippin]

Thank You, Amy!

[WVNan]

Psssttt (whisper) SAM, aren't you supposed to be working?

[Pippin]

Nan? That you?

[Light Speed]

Eagles patroling their Dominion
U.S 15's of the 11th Airforce based in Elmendorf Alaska

[WVNan]

Yeah, hi Clara. I'm not supposed to be here. I sat down to drink a cup of coffee before going to the laundramat to wash some big rugs, and the next thing I knew I'm involved in reading about artillery gunners. Go figure.

[Pippin]

That's all right, You deserve to have a break from time to time.

[JustAmy]

I'm sorry that I missed pinging you to the flowers, so these are for you.

[WVNan]

I was laughing because SAM is posting pictures like crazy and he's supposed to be working. We are all hopelessly addicted to the Canteen. But, I really have to go get some work done. I only have until the 3rd to get this house in shape for company. A BIG job. Have a great day Clara.

[Pippin]

You have a blessed day too, Nan. Hope to see you tonight.

[SAMWolf]

Yes, But I had some "down time" while I wait for someone else so I snuck in some posts real quick in case I get stuck late again.

How you doing this morning?

[JustAmy]

Hey Sam: Are you coming to Fresno in July?
DD: Hope you are still planning to attend!!!