True to the nature of the sailors and officers who comprise the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, the fourth annual Naval Expeditionary Forces Symposium and Expo opened Tuesday morning in Virginia Beach with the announcement that two key speakers would be absent. They had been called away to meet emerging tasks – but two replacements were prepped and ready before attendees ever knew there was an issue. Discussions were somewhat bitter sweet. While speakers noted how current operations in the war zone and humanitarian missions such as the one in Haiti have validated the need for NECC, there remained an undercurrent…
Author Lance Bacon
Lance Bacon
A Navy brat who spent eight years in the Marines (two years aboard the carrier Independence). Worked in journalism in Eastern North Carolina through the latter part of the 90s, then became editor of Air Force Times in 2000. Stayed there five years, then took a break to finish some school. Now back in the game with Navy Times.
Scoop Deck just spent an awesome week with the hard-working staff at Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tenn. You’ll be seeing the fruit of this visit in coming editions of Navy Times. In the meantime, here are a few comments that really caught our attention: “We receive and process 7 million record updates annually.” – Dwight Stanton, deputy, Personnel Info Management Department. (For the record, that’s more than 19,000 letters every day. The personnel bubbas told me this mail alone weighs in at 130,000 pounds annually. That weight is equal to 356 links of anchor chain, 52 Humvees, three pre-boneyard…
It seems Navy Exchange Service Command uniform centers have been selling a blue T-shirt that is not authorized for wear with the blue-and-gray camouflage Navy Working Uniform. The T-shirt in question is the 50/50 cotton/polyester version identified by “Soffe” in red letters on the collar label. Only the cotton version is authorized. NEXCom has pulled the 50/50s from the shelf and is offering refunds (with receipt) or store credit (without receipt) for unworn shirts. Interestingly, Navadmin 015/10 encourages sailors to retain (but not wear) the 50/50s “and await the outcome of a study to determine if it is suitable for…
It’s no secret the naval fleet has more gaps than O.J.’s alibi. The Navy is lacking surface vessels, especially amphibs. Submarine and aviation gaps are on the horizon. Even the carrier fleet will drop below requirements for at least three years beginning in 2012. Adding the crushing blow on this already sizable dog pile is the fact that SSBN(X) will cost $80 billion — which the Navy doesn’t have. Unless Congress coughs up the cash, the shipbuilding budget will be cut by half for a whopping 14 years. Ouch. Since it’s very unlikely the Navy will get everything it needs,…
Thanks to Joel “Bubblehead” Kennedy, who reminds us of the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of USS George Washington (SSBN 598), the first ballistic missile submarine. What must it have been like to be there July 20 1960, when the skipper sent a burner 1,100 miles downrange, then sent President Eisenhower the message: POLARIS — FROM OUT OF THE DEEP TO TARGET. PERFECT. I think Bubblehead says it best: Service in SSBNs might not be as glamorous and exciting as being on an attack boat, but the bottom line is that our strategic capability is the cornerstone of our national…
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., is continuing with his decade-long effort to rename the Department of the Navy. And this time, he may pull it off. The resolution, H.R. 24, would redesignate the Department of the Navy as “Department of the Navy and Marine Corps” and change the title of Secretary of the Navy to “Secretary of the Navy and Marine Corps.” Jones says the effort is to ensure the Marine Corps receives equal recognition as a military branch. The measure has died in committee in previous years. But Jones said Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee,…
If it seems like U.S. ship builders are spitting out subs at breakneck speed, it is with good reason. They are. Lawmakers put the Navy on a 60-month construction span by the end of the Block II contract, which calls for two $2 billion submarines each year starting in 2011. Basically, they want subs better and cheaper … and delivered yesterday. India seems to be taking a slightly different approach. The country is planning a 10-year lease of a Russian nuke, the Nerpa. Not sure if that lease has an option to buy. For the crew’s sake, I hope not.…
While perusing the Safety Center’s Website, I stumbled upon AlSafe message 077/09. It’s called a “summary of mishaps,” but reads like the nomination entries for the Darwin Award finalists. The collection of a “year of knuckleheadedness and numbskullosity” is further proof that we have plenty of youth – what we need to find is the Fountain of Smart. Kudos to the Safety Center staff, which has provided these examples of lessons learned in 2009: I will not find a stray snake, carry it home as a pet, and then try to play with it. I will not remove a .45…
