Uncommon Sense - CG23Sailor's Blog - Victoria Advocate

Uncommon Sense - CG23Sailor's Blog - Victoria Advocate http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor I joined the Navt to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water. I joined the Navt to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water. en-us Memorial Day Weekend http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7517 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7517 <div>As I went around my business on Friday I asked people I saw in drive thru's, or checkout lines, a question;</div> <div>"What are you going to do for Memorial Day Weekend?"</div> <div>The answers I got are typical and to be expected. </div> <div> </div> <div>Bar-b-Que</div> <div>Drinking</div> <div>Hang out with Friends</div> <div>Wash the Car</div> <div>Mow the Lawn</div> <div> </div> <div>I then asked them, "Can you name me a hero?"</div> <div>I got a lot of responses from that. the two biggest heroes of our time apparently are;</div> <div>Iron Man</div> <div>and Indiana Jones</div> <div>Go figure!</div> <div> </div> <div>I then asked a final question, "Name me one Medal of Honor recipient from the last 20 years."</div> <div>[crickets]</div> <div> </div> <div>"Just one" I asked.</div> <div>[blank stares]</div> <div> </div> <div>"How about Michael Monsoor? heard of him?"</div> <div>[lights on, nobody home]</div> <div> </div> <div>"Gary Gordon", I prompt, "Randy Shughart?"</div> <div>[BINGO, a look of recognition]</div> <div> </div> <div>"Hey! wasn't that first guy a  comic strip hero way back in the 30's or something?"</div> <div>{{{sigh}}} No that would be FLASH Gordon.</div> <div> </div> <div>SFC Randy Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon were Delta Team Snipers assigned to Operation Gothic Serpent (Battle of Mogadishu, AKA Black Hawk Down)</div> <div> </div> <div>Both has repeatedly asked for permission to be inserted at the second crash site to protect the crew from the mobs that were about to overrun them. Command had denied them, stating that it was too dangerous and there was no telling when their backup would get there. Both men explicitly understood the dangers and again requested permission to be inserted. Command reluctantly allowed it.</div> <div>Randy and Gary were both killed in action. Their actions however saved the one surviving crewman, the Pilot, Michael Durant.</div> <div> </div> <div>A few years later Michael Durant was to be a speaker at the Medal Of Honor Ceremony for Gary Gordon, in Gary's hometown. Mike Durant stopped by the local Library to find some information on Medal Of Honor recipients. There he found a book that listed those who had been awarded the Medal Of Honor.</div> <div> </div> <div>According to the Checkout sleeve attached to the book, it had not been checked out in nearly 20 years. The last person to have checked it out...</div> <div>Was the nations newest recipient...</div> <div>one teen-aged Gary Gordon.</div> <div> </div> <div><font size="+0">Petty Officer Second Class</font> Michael Anthony Monsoor was a <font size="+0">U.S. Navy SEAL</font> killed during the <font size="+0">Iraq War</font> and posthumously awarded the <font size="+0">Medal of Honor</font>.</div> <div>Monsoor was sent to Ramadi, Iraq in 2006 and assigned to train and mentor Iraqi army troops. As a communicator and machine-gunner on patrols, Monsoor carried 100 pounds of gear in temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees. He took a lead position to protect the platoon from frontal assault. The team was involved in frequent engagements with insurgent fighters. </div> <div> </div> <div>During an engagement on May 9, 2006, Monsoor ran into a street while under continuous insurgent gunfire to rescue an injured comrade. Monsoor was awarded the Silver Star for this action. He was also awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq.</div> <div> </div> <div>On September 29, 2006, the platoon engaged four insurgents in a firefight, killing one and injuring another. Anticipating further attacks, Monsoor and three SEAL snipers and three Iraqi soldiers took up a rooftop position. Civilians aiding the insurgents blocked off the streets, and a nearby mosque broadcast a message for people to fight against the Americans and the Iraqi soldiers. Monsoor was protecting his SEAL comrades, two of whom were 15 feet away. His position made him the only SEAL on the rooftop with quick access to an escape route.</div> <div>A grenade was thrown onto the rooftop by an insurgent in the street below. The grenade hit Monsoor in the chest and fell onto the floor. Immediately, Monsoor fell onto and covered the grenade with his body, saving the lives of his three comrades. Monsoor was critically wounded and, although evacuated immediately, died 30 minutes later. Two SEALs next to him were injured by the blast but lived.</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div>To all who read this blog, your mission should you chose to accept, Is to respond with a Name, A Medal Of Honor Recipient. And what they did to earn forever our gratitude.</div> <div>Here is the catch: You can quote the details off of the net, but the Name has to be someone you have heard of, a Name you know. You cannot look up a name off the net. </div> <div>I know of Gordon, Shughart, and Monsoor</div> <div>I did quote some passages that told what happened to them to save time typing it all out  and to get the details like dates and such, but the Names I knew.</div> On piddle packs, and stowing for sea http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7450 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7450 <font size="3"> <p><font size="3">How does one go to the bathroom when you are strapped into a single seat jet fighter? </font></p> <p><font size="3">A: Piddle Packs.</font></p> </font> <p><font size="3">One of my favorite sites to visit is a Military Blogger called </font><a href="http://www.neptunuslex.com/"><font size="3">Neptunus Lex</font></a><font size="3">.</font></p> <p><font size="3">Often he will write entries he categorizes as "Tales of the Sea Service" and they are stories mostly true, sometimes anecdotal, about himself or others</font></p> <p><font size="3">Often these stories are referred to as "Sea Stories"</font></p> <p><font size="3">This is one such story that I absolutely died laughing when I read it.</font></p> <p><font size="3">Lex has already had to go twice during a long mission, now he has to go again and he is all out of piddle packs. It should be noted for the sake of this excerpt that flying formation with him is a FEMALE pilot he refers to as 'Dangergirl"</font></p> <p><font size="3">From neptunuslex.com:</font></p> <blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <p align="justify"><em>Tanking complete, I took the lead to bring my cohort back to the ship. We had forty-five minutes to go before the ship was ready for us, so we held up high, well overhead the ship, saving gas. When that damn over-pressure light came on for the third time.</em></p> <p align="justify"><em>Which was one more time than I had piddle packs. I will spare you the tale of how I tried to balance the load of my third attempt between the two packs. I will not share with you the discovery that the chemical-laden piddle pack had ZERO excess capacity once it had been used. Nothing at all will I say about the ship turning into the wind twenty minutes early to catch us, necessitating a hasty, agitated descent from high holding. I will not try to describe the challenge of trying to put away two over-full piddle packs while flying in a spiraling descent down towards the ship, holding the stick between your knees, and using your elbow to bump the throttles back and forth.</em></p> <p align="justify"><em>No. You don’t need to hear about any of that.</em></p> <p align="justify"><em>Nor do you need to know about how Danger Girl, wondering what the hell was going on, closed in and stepped up in formation in order to look into my cockpit, to see what was going on. You just don’t need to know about that either. Nor how, my hands being full, I tried to wave her away with my shoulder. You won’t find that hand signal in NATOPS.</em></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="3">For the whole story, check it out <a href="http://www.neptunuslex.com/2005/02/09/on-piddle-packs/#more-4126">here</a>.</font></p> <p><font size="3">It is rather long before you get to the meat of it but is well worth the read. It will have you in stitches.</font></p> <p><font size="3">especially the SHOCKING ENDING.</font></p> Rare thanks from Across the Seas http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7440 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7440 <p><font size="4">Janet Albrechtsen is a young, conservative Australian female journalist with a doctoral degree in law </font></p> <p><font size="4">She can also pen quite the column. Writing in the <em>Australian</em>, Albrechtsen </font><a target="_blank" modo="false" href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23693121-7583,00.html"><font size="4">points out </font></a><font size="4">a tediously familiar brand of anti-American tub-thumping:</font></p> <p><font size="4">Here is the Article she wrote, Highlights are mine to empathize points I'd like to make</font></p> <p class="intro"><em>THERE is a certain familiarity to the concomitant series of actions and reactions when disaster strikes in the world. The US stands ready, willing and able to offer assistance. It is often the first country to send in millions of dollars, navy strike groups loaded with food and medical supplies, and transport planes, helicopters and floating hospitals to help those devastated by natural disaster.</em></p> <p><em>Then, just as swift and with equal predictability, those wedded to the Great Satan view of the US begin to carp, drawing on a potent mixture of cynicism and conspiracy theories to criticise the last remaining superpower. When the US keeps doing so much of the heavy lifting to alleviate suffering, you'd figure that the anti-Americans might eventually revise their view of the US. But they never do. And coming under constant attack even when helping others, you'd figure that Americans would eventually draw the curtains on world crises. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">But they haven't. At least not yet. </font></em></p> <p><em>So it was last week. The US stood ready to help the cyclone-ravaged Burmese people. It did not matter that Burma's ruling junta was no friend of the Americans. With more than 100,000 people feared dead and many more hundreds of thousands left destitute, US Air Force cargo planes loaded with supplies and personnel started arriving in nearby Thailand to begin humanitarian operations in Burma. </em></p> <p><em>A US Navy strike group in the Gulf of Thailand sent helicopters ashore, ready to arrive in Burma within hours. Alas, Burma's military leaders left their people to die for 10 days before finally accepting help from the evil empire. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Even if the Yanks are allowed to boost their assistance to Burma, they can expect a groundswell of criticism. </font></em></p> <p><em>Back in 2004, the Americans - along with the Australians - arrived within hours to help the hundreds of thousands of people left devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami in Asia. A US carrier group steamed towards Indonesia's Aceh province. A second US Marine Corps strike force made its way to Sri Lanka with water, food and medical supplies. </em></p> <p><em>The Pentagon spent millions of dollars sending C-130 transport planes from Dubai to Indonesia with tents, blankets, food and water. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">A navy chief in charge of co-ordination efforts said the US would deliver "as much help as soon as we can, as long as we're needed". </font></em></p> <p><em>The resentment that comes from needing the military and economic might of the US translated into the most absurd criticism. Jan Egeland, the former UN boss of humanitarian affairs, cavilled about the stinginess of certain Western nations. His eye was on the US. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Former British minister Claire Short was equally miffed, describing the initiative by the US and other countries as "yet another attempt to undermine the UN", which was, according to her, the "only body that has the moral authority" to help. </font></em></p> <p><em>I love moral authority as much as the next guy, but the UN's moral authority is a mighty hard sell given that the UN club includes the most odious regimes in the world, such as Burma. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">And notice how the UN's moral authority did not quickly translate into helicopters laden with food and water? </font></em></p> <p><em><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">When the UN finally does anything of use, it's propelled in large part by US dollars, with the US contributing more than any other country. Those other giants, China and Russia, are not filling the coffers of the UN's moral authority.</font> </em></p> <p><em>Then came the even more toxic comparisons between Iraq and US humanitarian assistance in Asia. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">In the anti-American mind, opposition to one US policy means blasting everything the Americans do. Of course, Egypt's Al Akhbar newspaper said the US was helping tsunami victims to "consolidate its hegemony" and had nothing to do with humanitarian and moral principles.</font> But similarly rank reasoning was common. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">London's The Guardian newspaper columnist George Monbiot was not alone in sneering at US marines who, just a few weeks before saving lives in Sri Lanka, were "murdering civilians, smashing the homes and evicting the entire population of the Iraqi city of Fallujah".</font> </em></p> <p><em><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">The need to paint Americans as a greedy, selfish, war-mongering superpower cannot be disturbed by facts. It matters not that, in the year before the tsunami, the US provided $2.4 billion in humanitarian relief: 40per cent of all the relief aid given to the world in 2003.</font><u><strong> </strong></u>Never mind that development and emergency relief rose from $10 billion during the last year of Bill Clinton's administration to $24 billion under George W. Bush in 2003. Or that, according to a German study, Americans contribute to charities nearly seven times as much a head as Germans do. Or that, adjusted for population, American philanthropy is more than two-thirds more than British giving. </em></p> <p><em><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">There is a teenaged immaturity about the rest of the world's relationship with the US. Whenever a serious crisis erupts somewhere, our dependence on the US becomes obvious, and many hate the US because of it. That the hatred is irrational is beside the point. </font></em></p> <p><em>We can denounce the Yanks for being Muslim-hating flouters of international law while demanding the US rescue Bosnian Muslims from Serbia without UN authority. We can be disgusted by crass American materialism and ridiculous stockpiling of worldly goods yet also be the first to demand material help from the US when disaster strikes. </em></p> <p><em>The really unfortunate part about this adolescent love-hate relationship with the US is that, unlike most teenagers, many never seem to grow out of it. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Within each new generation is a vicious strain of irrational anti-Americanism. But unlike a parent, the US could just get sick of it all and walk away. </font></em></p> <p><em>The US has had isolationist periods in the past <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">and it must be enormously tempted sometimes to have another one soon. The consequences of that possibility deserve some serious thought.</font> If the neighbours worry about Russian bullying over oil and gas, just imagine a Russia unfettered by a US military presence in Europe. How long would South Korea, Israel or Taiwan last if the US decided it wanted to spend on itself the money it presently devotes to military spending in the Middle East and Asia? </em></p> <p><em>None of this is to say the US does not deserve loud and frequent criticism. No country has as many or as strident critics - internally and externally - as the US. <font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">The US actually promotes such debate.</font> But just occasionally we should moderate that criticism when circumstances demand a dose of fairness. </em></p> <p><em><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Indeed, why not break into a standing ovation every now and again? As more US C-130s and helicopters stand waiting on Burma's doorstep, desperate to help a shattered populace and stymied only by an appalling anti-US regime, this is one of those times. </font></em></p> <p><em><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Let's hear it for America. </font></em></p> <p><em></em></p> <p><font size="4">She points out correctly that when disaster strikes, The USA has boots on the ground passing out aid before the UN can even lace up their fancy dress shoes. Yet still they hate us.</font></p> <p><font size="4">Fancy dress shoes paid for with US Dollars, not Euros.</font></p> <p> </p> Revenge on Telemarketers http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7173 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7173 <p><strong>Do you hate those annoying telemarketers as much as I do? Well Tom Mabe does. He is a standup comedian and prankster who has a strong dislike of those who call you at all unconvenient hours. Here is his revenge as heard on the Bob and Tom radio show.</strong></p> District Attorney Steve Tyler violates his own requested mediation agreement. http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7092 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/7092 <br /> <br /> Not so long ago, Steven Tyler sat down with Victoria Police Chief, Bruce Ure, and Victoria County Sheriff, T. Michael O’Connor, to hash out several areas of dispute. <br /> <br /> Long story short, an agreement was reached that all sides agreed to abide by. One of several areas of contention was Tyler’s use of subpoenas to harass and cause hardship on officers. <br /> <br /> Prior to Tyler’s taking umbrage at a perceived slight on his honor (he has some?) Law Enforcement officers received adequate advanced notice of dates and times that they would be required to appear in Grand Jury or in Trial Court for cases that they were involved in. Anywhere from one to three months in advance. This is so that Officers and their department can make adjustments to the work schedule and or scheduled training, Days Off, Off Duty Jobs, and personal vacation, to insure the officer was available to appear in court or Grand Jury hearing. After Tyler went out to smear the good name of VPD and to a lesser extent the VCSO as well, Tyler started waiting to the last minute to inform the departments of when Officers were needed to appear. He would also subpoena multiple officers (up to and including an ENTIRE SHIFTS worth of officers) to appear on the same day at the same time to wait all day to give their testimony on various cases. This was and IS unacceptable. <br /> <br /> During the mediation it was agreed upon that Tyler’s office would give at least a 14 day (two week) notice of court appearances when practical. To this day, Tyler has not found one practical moment it appears. <br /> <br /> From the very moment the agreement was reached Tyler has still been doing the same tactics of subpoenaing officers with little to no warning. Multiple officers have been receiving notice from 7 days prior to as little as less than 24 hours. Also he has still been requesting multiple officers to appear and await his pleasure and will when they have better things to do. <br /> <br /> Back before the mediation Tyler has made the claim that he has to do this because officers were not showing up to their hearings, etc… This simply is not true. Only one officer in all that time did not show and that was because the request was sent on the officer’s day off and could not be reached in time. <br /> <br /> Despite all of this, despite the hardship it is placing on the department to cover last minute schedule changes to insure officers on the street. <br /> <br /> Despite the burden it places on officers to delay or cancel their personal time with family. <br /> <br /> Despite the fact that officers have scheduled schools and extra training that is set well in advance and now must get canceled because of Tyler’s whim. <br /> <br /> Despite all this, The Victoria PD is doing everything they can to insure officers are there when needed for court cases. <br /> <br /> And here is the real kicker. <br /> <br /> THEY DON’T HAVE TO! <br /> <br /> That’s right. They don’t have to. <br /> Why? <br /> <br /> Because Tyler is not following procedures. It’s inappropriate to say right now that Tyler is subpoenaing officers; He is telling them when they need to be in court, but NOT via an official subpoena. Tyler simply sends an Email telling when a particular officer must appear. <br /> <br /> No Subpoena <br /> No official document <br /> No official receipt <br /> No official acknowledgment. <br /> <br /> So in truth, an Officer has no legal compulsion to have to show up <br /> Not by Tyler’s method <br /> <br /> But show up they do despite all this <br /> <br /> My hats off to the Victoria PD and ALL local and state Law Enforcement agencies for the jobs they do <br /> <br /> And a big thumbs down for Tyler and his petty Sycophantic ways Final Call http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/6988 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/6988 <p>When an Officer is killed in the line of duty, there is a special ceremony done at the funeral. It is very moving and cannot but touch everyone who hears it.</p> <p> </p> <p>It is called Final Call.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is the ceremony which retires an Officers Badge number permanently, never to be used again by that department.</p> <p>Over the police radio net, Dispatch will attempt to contact the fallen Officer three times. Then the supervisor will ask for a time check. Then Direct Dispatch to retire the officers number for the last time.</p> <p> </p> <p>Remember folks. Every day. Every night. 24/7 There are men and women out there who will go to final call willingly so that you may live.</p> <p> </p> Having your Cake and Eating it too... http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/6978 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/6978 <p>You ever hear the old saying, "You can't have you cake and eat it too"? Well when I hear people complaining about cops speeding or harrassing them with tickets, rather than catching REAL criminals, I think about this letter that reflects a cops point of view.</p> <p> </p> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Well, Mr. Citizen, it seems you've figured me out. I seem to fit neatly into the category where you've placed me. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I'm stereotyped, standardized, characterized, classified, grouped, and always typical. Unfortunately, the reverse is true. I can never figure you out. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">From birth you teach your children that I'm the bogeyman, then you're shocked when they identify with my traditional enemy, the criminal! </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You accuse me of coddling criminals: until I catch your kids doing wrong. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You may take an hour for lunch and several coffee breaks each day, but point me out as a loafer for having one cup. You pride yourself on your manners, but think nothing of disrupting my meals with your troubles. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You raise hell with the guy who cuts you off in traffic, but let me catch you doing the same thing and I'm picking on you. You know all the traffic laws...but you've never gotten a single ticket you deserve. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You shout "foul" if you observe me driving fast to a call, but raise the roof if I take more than ten seconds to respond to your complaint. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You call it part of my job if someone strikes me, but call it police brutality if I strike back. You wouldn't think of telling your dentist how to pull a tooth or your doctor how to take out an appendix, yet your always willing give me pointers on the law. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You talk to me in a manner that would get you a bloody nose from anyone else, but expect me to take it without batting an eye. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You yell something's got to be done to fight crime, but you can't be bothered to get involved. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You have no use for me at all, but of course it's OK if I change a flat for your wife, deliver your child in the back of the patrol car, or perhaps save your son's life with mouth to mouth breathing, or work many hours overtime looking for your lost daughter. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">So, Mr. Citizen, you can stand there on your soapbox and rant and rave about the way I do my work, calling me every name in the book, but never stop to think that your property, family, or maybe even your life depends on me or one of my buddies. </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Yes, Mr. Citizen, it's me...Your local cop!</font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"></div>

Title: rockwell-norman-the-runaway-2105387.jpg
Caption: Norman Rockwell's "The Runaway"
Credit: CG23Sailor

Title: rockwell-norman-the-runaway-2105387.jpg
Caption: Norman Rockwell's "The Runaway"
Credit: CG23Sailor

rockwell-norman-the-runaway-2105387.jpg Norman Rockwell's "The Runaway" CG23Sailor Heavy Seas http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/6971 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/CG23Sailor/6971 <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align="center"><strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">You may not like the Ocean, But you darn sure better respect her!</span></strong></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">This is a video I came across the other day that shows somewhat what it’s like to be in a ship during heavy seas. It is a containership in the North Pacific during a “blow”. And yes my friends, those are NOT special effects when you see that camera looking down an interior passageway. They really do flex like that. and for scale.. each of those containers you see are the size of a Semi Trailer.</span></span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I was in a storm like this once upon a time</span></span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> While aboard my Ship, USS Halsey CG-23</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <a href="http://www.navybuddies.com/cg/cg23_2.jpg">http://www.navybuddies.com/cg/cg23_2.jpg</a></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Back in 1991, I was onboard USS Halsey. We were on deployment to the Persian Gulf. We had stopped in Hawaii and now were on our way to the Island of Guam.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">So was Yuri…</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We were due to arrive in Apra Harbor late in the after noon of the next day.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">So was Yuri…</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Halsey was a 533 foot long Guided Missile Cruiser.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Yuri was just wind…</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Halsey weighed in at over 7,800 tons displacement.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Yuri was just water…</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The captain in his wisdom decided it would be a good idea if Halsey and Yuri not meet in Apra Harbor.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">For you see, Yuri was a SuperTyphoon!</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The names are different but a Supertyphoon is the same as a Category 5 Hurricane. A Monster. A Massive storm that had a bull’s-eye painted right on the Island we wanted to be at. So the captain ordered all remaining boilers lit off and 4 Westinghouse 1200lb psi boilers brought us to flank speed. Halsey was rated at 33 knots top speed but I think we hit about 34.5 that day and night.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Though due to come in late in the afternoon, our full power run the day before brought us into harbor around 0230 hours (about 2:30AM for you Civvies). All hands turned to and stores onload and refueling was completed shortly. I don’t think we ever secured the special sea and anchor detail and by 0345 we were back underway and heading out the harbor.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We immediately turned south. The idea was to cross the path of the Typhoon to get to the safer southwestern quadrant where the winds and seas were (relatively) calmer. The next 36 hours was a wild rollercoaster ride the like of which you can only dream.  It wasn’t until years later that I discovered that there was another somewhat smaller storm in the Atlantic only weeks earlier. They made a movie about that one. They called it the ‘Perfect Storm”.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I spent most of that time in my Divisional workspace because we could not just go back and forth when we wanted to, and since we had to keep that space manned it was just easier to rack out there in the workspace. To get to our compartment you had to step out a watertight door down on the 03 level (That’s where the bridge is) . This placed us on the catwalk that runs from the bridge wing back to the signal bridge. You are now exposed to the wind and the elements, huge waves crashing. The ship is rolling heavy to both port and starboard and heaving up and down 30-40 feet. Our rolls were averaging about 35-38 degrees. You had to walk back along that catwalk and around the corner to a vertical ladder going up one level to the 04.  You now have to walk drunkenly across an open deck space right behind the forward mast and stack to the other side of the ship where you would then go up another ladder and back inside another watertight door to our space.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Not a trip to be taken lightly.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The problem with being there was a matter of height.  To be more specific. Height and distance from the axis of rotation in our ships crazy gyrations. You see, down on the Main deck and lower decks, the ships roll is a leaning from one angle to the left to another angle to the right.  At our distance from the point where the ship pivots around those angles, we are not just tilting one way then another, we are moving in a huge arc through space as well. Like a crazed pendulum. </span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Needless to say we made it through the ordeal with no fatalities (except our appetites) and only minor damage to the ship. Some of the living spaces looked like a tornado hit them (Always secure for sea) and had belongings and other things thrown about.</span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></div>