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.

[RadioAstronomer]

Hey, I'm a business major and I'm a party animal (some of the time).

:-)

[4TheFlag]

Oh noooooooooooo! You have to go back??

YEP....:(

[RadioAstronomer]

Damn, sorry to hear you got called back in. Be safe!! Ok?

[andysandmikesmom]

We get frequent rain....but our summers generally are just beautiful...almost no rain, blue skies, wonderful gardens, and lots of mountains to look at...

Usually in fall, sometime in October, the rains move back in...by Halloween, the rainy season is here, and remain so for the rest of the fall, all winter, and early spring...come late spring, in general the rains begin to taper off...

Now the popular image of Western Washington state, is that it does nothing but pour rain, for days, weeks and months on end...thats not exactly how it works...

We probably have more days, that have rain in them, than most other places...however, often a day which is considered rainy, might only have a 20 minute shower...Actually the rainfall amt per year, here, actually is not greater than say, Chicago, or NYC...its just that we get a frequently, but may be for only a few minutes a day...

However, being as we really dont want lots of folks moving here, we do like to allow the rest of the country to actually believe that we are all water logged here, and dying of rust...

There is actually a place in Western Washington, called the 'Banana Belt', where they actually get much less rainfall than most of the country...a nice town of Sequim, is located in this 'Banana Belt'...

And yet, not too far from the Banana Belt, is the temperate Rain forest, where the rainfall is tremendous in relation to the rest of the country...

And we have acres and acres of evergreen trees, so even in the winter, when the deciduous trees have lost their greenery, we still have tons of green trees...

Our lawns are green in the winter, because of more rain then..in the summer, unless you water, the lawns begin to brown, which they are doing already...

And we almost never get snow, altho this past winter we have had several snowy days, an exception here...if we want to see snow, or do snow sports, we just go up into the mountains...

Its really quite beautiful here...

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

hate that you just got home and called back in.

[GatorGirl]

I'm good. Sorry you have to go back to work. Have a shower and dinner and hurry back when your work is done! Love, GG

[4TheFlag]

Thanks SB2, I can't stand what is happening. These liberal bastards have GOT to be STOPPED, and I'll say it the way I see it.

They can cite me for contempt, screw em....

[4TheFlag]

We'll try not to have fun without you.

HEY!!! You guys have a BUNCH of FUN!!!!!! Don't even think of us, hell, we'll be fine!

[GatorGirl]

I'll freepmail you with more details...give me a few minutes.

Yeah, the business majors were a fun bunch too! (I married one!)

[GatorGirl]

I'll freepmail you with more details...give me a few minutes.

Yeah, the business majors were a fun bunch too! (I married one!)

[SpookBrat]

I hope to get up there some day. I have it on my list of places to visit. I know SAM, Snow Bunny, you and some other people. I'll be crashing at your place. LOL I've heard how beautiful it is there and seen pictures of my friends gardens.

[4TheFlag]

Will do RA,thank you for that

UGHHHH, humping 200 pound a/c's up the stairs in this heat.......sigh..and down again.

[homeschool mama]

UNDER GOD bump!!!!!

[RadioAstronomer]

BE SAFE!! We have rockets to launch buddy! :-)

[kneezles]

Be careful my friend, be sure to wear a back brace. We had a chiller go down at the plant today, luckily I was heading out the door when I heard about it. I have some major ventilation testing when I get back though. Take care.

[4TheFlag]

Have a shower and dinner and hurry back when your work is done! Love, GG

No time GG, heading in now, I know you are on a strict FR diet, if I don't see ya later sleep well and SAFE DEAR FRiend, Love Ya too.....J

I'm outta here, to the beast we go.....

[SpookBrat]

Hey girl!!! Don't you leave. You better stay in here.

Please?

[SpookBrat]

No shooting rockets without me...

[RadioAstronomer]

Nope, we all will! This includes Beep too! :-)

A Canteen rocket club! :-)! Love it.

[Pippin]

Good Evening, HSM! stay awhile! =^)