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.

[MistyCA]

I am not getting the picture in IE either. I have to go to sleep! See you guys tomorrow! :)))))) Glad we made it to 1200+!!! Good job! :))

[RadioAstronomer]

Night! Sleep well!!!

[MistyCA]

Thanks, Michael! See you tomorrow! :)))

[Light Speed]

I'm punchin out too...it has been a good day/night on the Canteen
Shalom

[RadioAstronomer]

Take care and sleep well also! :-)

[Pippin]

OH! NO! Don't get him to wearing THAT!!!!!BARF!!!!!

[JustAmy]

My grandfather and his brothers and sisters were born and raised in Jack County in a tiny place called Vineyard.

[tomkow6]

My uncle and dad used to pile me and my brother and my cousins into the car, and we would all go down to Maxwell Street for the day...my mom and aunt never wanted to go with, so the menfolk and the kids had a day at Maxwell Street...

That's TRUE! It was always a "guy" thing to go down to Maxwell St.

[redhead]

#2 Son had a 6' rocket he set of straight up. In Valdez, lots of time, there was no breeze at all, so what went up, came down. This time, it came down right on his dad, who was planting the garden! I STILL have rocket engines from those days! He used to keep me broke buying all sizes. (Those were the days...)

[archy]

Was off trying to locate a screen cap from the Star Trek original series..the program.."The Gamesters of Triskelion". That bald headed guy whose eyes glow like red rubys...anyway..its a cool pick.

The little blonde gladiatorial combat instructor from that *Gamesters* episode would certainly do as an acceptable alternate, if you know where any pics of here are about....

-archy-/-

[archy]

The Military is under oath to defend the nation's shores, borders, air space and national interests elsewhere, paid by private taxpaying Citizens and under the command of a Civilian president.

Not precisely. The oath I took, first as an enlisted man, later as a DOD civilian employee and most recently as an officer, reads as follows:

"I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME; AND THAT I WILL OBEY THE ORDERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE ORDERS OF THE OFFICERS APPOINTED OVER ME, ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS AND THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE. SO HELP ME GOD."

My oath is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, first and foremost of my duties. All else, to include such border or airspace defense as lawfully ordered by my commander-in-chief or others to whom he has delegated his constitutional authority, derive from that constitutional contract and its promises, and from the duties of the government of which I am a small part that it describes in Article IV, Section 4:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion...

[Eastbound]

Thanks for the reply, archy. A reply that all branches of government would do well to memorize and adhere to.

I am compelled to ask in all sincerity, what role would the active military play in defending the Constitution against domestic enemies? There is a difference between defending the nation/states, defending the federal government and defending the Constitution itself. As active militiary, it would be a little risky to start naming the domestic enemies of the Constitution and intitiating actions against them, wouldn't it? Especially if many of them (maybe all of them) were not prosecutable under the USCMJ, as the continual and long-term attacks on our Constitution are of a politcal nature and would, of necessity, have to be resolved politically.

Can you give me a scenario where the active military would be involved in protecting the Constitution against domestic enemies? As ex-military, I am still under oath and am doing what one man can do to protect our Constitution from domestic enemies -- and I need a lot more help. Thanks!

In any case, I appreciate your attitude and am grateful to you for your service to our country.

Best -- Dave