Sam Fellman

Vice Admirals Shoemaker, Tyson and Rowden filmed a spirit spot hyping the upcoming Army-Navy game.

3-star admirals spoof silent film in spirit video

By Sam Fellman on December 10, 2015 Uncategorized

Three buddies in San Diego want to road trip to the Army-Navy game Saturday, along with a few of their choice possessions. Cooler? Banjo? Bike rack? Check. But things get a little tight with their golf clubs – in a two-door coupe. That’s the premise of a hilarious new spirit spot from a trio of San Diego-based admirals, much of which is sped up like a silent film. It stars Vice Adms. Tom Rowden, Mike Shoemaker and Nora Tyson. Rowden and Shoemaker are 1982 Naval Academy grads who sport their affiliation with the blue-rim PT shirts worn by mids. Tyson, a Vanderbilt University…

Reserve sailors re-enlist on The Tonight Show

By Sam Fellman on March 5, 2015 Reserve Component

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndtqm2L_AR4] Fifty sailors and recruits took the enlistment oath Wednesday on late night TV’s coolest stage: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The blue curtains swept open to reveal Chief of Navy Reserve Vice Adm. Robin Braun, who led the oath for the recruits and sailors as part of the festivities for the Navy Reserve’s 100th anniversary. They also were featured with NBC’s Today Show and with Fox News’ Fox & Friends. The sailors and enlistees weren’t the only ones with a reason to celebrate. Fallon became an honorary member of the U.S. Navy Reserve – with a stenciled ball cap,…

Video: SNL’s hilarious Navy commercial parody — from 1979

By Sam Fellman on February 16, 2015 Humor, Recruiting, Uncategorized

Sure, Bruce Willis played a Navy SEAL in 2013 who wants to bring some “Die Hard”-like bravado to a mission. But our pick for the best Saturday Night Live segment that has featured the U.S. Navy is from the early days. Datelined in Bayonne, New Jersey, this 1979 parody of the Navy’s commercial – “It’s not just a job. It’s an adventure.” — features sailors at work. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhioeOeOHsA] Some thoughts from our staff writer Mark D. Faram, who at the time it aired was a photographer’s mate airman aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy: Was on the ship this…

VIDEO: Top Coast Guardsman on push for new museum

By Sam Fellman on June 4, 2014 Coast Guard

Adm. Bob Papp, who recently retired as the Coast Guard’s top officer, has made it his “pet project” to open a National Coast Guard Museum to highlight the service’s history in New London, Connecticut — near the Coast Guard Academy. Papp sat down for an exclusive interview with Navy Times at the groundbreaking ceremony there in May. Check it out: [HTML1]

Corpsman who shielded wounded Marine to receive Silver Star

By Sam Fellman on March 13, 2014 Navy

His squad had come under heavy fire – and was likely to face it again. On June 22, 2012, Hospitalman Zackery Penner had risked life and limb to rush to care for a Marine shot during an patrol in Afghanistan with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. The Marine died due to the severity of his wound, a toll that hung heavy on the company. On June 23, the squad was helping Afghan soldiers clear a compound when they came under sniper fire. Two men were hit: a Marine and an Afghan soldier. Insurgent machine guns roared. What Penner…

Season's greetings from the CNO

By Sam Fellman on December 19, 2013 Chief of naval operations

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfScv0dJp3Y[/youtube] It’s the time of year for caroling and season’s greetings emanating from the hearth of the Navy’s top officer’s house. “Hello, shipmates. It’s been a challenging year but it’s been a great year, and Darleen and I want to thank you for all that you do,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert in his third holiday video, posted online Wednesday — a possible to reference to the variety of crises Greenert confronted in 2013, from extended deployments to budget woes to a minesweeper shipwreck. Greenert, along with his wife, Darleen, sounded a warm tone to the backdrop…

Navy Times preview: Unisex uniforms moving forward

By Sam Fellman on November 8, 2013 Navy, Uniforms

The push for unisex uniforms is moving forward and led from the top — Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. Mabus believes it’s time for female sailors — and Marines — to wear the same uniforms as their shipmates so as to better blend into today’s Navy, where women serve in fleet units and shouldn’t wear different covers and uniforms in formation. “When we look out, we shouldn’t see male sailors or female sailors,” Mabus told Navy Times. “We ought to see sailors.” Intended as a step to reduce discrimination against females in the Navy, the effort could also spell big changes…

First supercarrier goes for cheap

By Sam Fellman on October 22, 2013 Carriers, Historical

The Navy unloaded its first supercarrier Tuesday for 1 cent. Texas shipbreakers earned a penny from the Navy to dismantle and recycle the remaining hulk that was formerly the aircraft carrier Forrestal, a ship that sailed to wars and crises over 38 years and which suffered one of the Navy’s worst tragedies: a 1967 fire that killed 134 sailors. Despite its service over 21 deployments, the ship’s legacy is forever tied to the flight deck conflagration that raged for hours after a rocket mounted under wing accidentally fired, slamming into another jet and unleashing a fuel blaze that cooked off…

Washington's woes worry senior war-fighters about America's might

By Sam Fellman on October 16, 2013 Budget, Washington

Sailors and their families have grown accustomed to Washington, D.C., showdowns. But this latest one may be the gravest, as the shuttered American government lurches closer to a possible default on its national debt – now about 12 hours away. A default imperils the government’s ability to pay its bills, including military pay and veterans’ benefits. Economists believe it will throw the world economy into a crisis, as the U.S. is the world’s largest economy and holds the largest debt. And long term it would likely diminish the military’s size and power, as the nation would no longer be able…

Fix this! A hull tech gets a special re-up cake

By Sam Fellman on September 10, 2013 Chow, Humor, Navy

It was a cake made to order for a hull technician: porcelain white icing and a sculpted toilet that appears to have had some flow issues worthy of a trouble-call. It was the re-enlistment cake for Hull Technician 3rd Class Don Smallcanyon, a sailor aboard the destroyer Stout, which left Norfolk, Va., on deployment three weeks ago and is now one of the four destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean, ready to launch Tomahawk strikes into Syria if called upon. The cake photo was posted early Tuesday on Stout’s official Facebook page and garnered 105 likes. We can only hope the brown icing…

Author Sam Fellman