Congrats! I mean, hang on a minute
November 17th, 2011 | Navy | Posted by Dave Brown
Yes! We all learned Thursday morning that the fall active petty officer advancement results would be released online Friday morning at 8 a.m. and posted on the Navy Advancement Center’s Facebook page a couple hours after. The happy comments rolled in as sailors (and people who cared about sailors) crossed their fingers for some good news.
Then came this downer: “Due to some technical difficulties we have to retract the statement of when the results will be published. Hopefully, NAC will have the problems resolved as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience but Navy leadership is trying to communicate and make every Sailor and Navy family aware as quickly as possible on the results and as you know sometimes speed creates errors. Once again, good luck to all.”
We can relate to that here at the Navy Times Center of Excellence. Better to get it right. No word yet from NAC on what those technical difficulties are or when they expect to release the list. Be sure to check back with www.navytimes.com as well for the latest on the list.
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UPDATE: The list is out! Sigh of relief if you made it. Good luck in the spring if you didn’t.
Littoral, not figurative
September 15th, 2011 | Littoral Combat Ship Ships | Posted by Dave Brown
OK, folks. Scoop Deck doesn’t want to get into a whole thing here, but there’s something we have to say. Now that littoral combat ships are getting named, launching, deploying and being celebrated at baseball games, it’s time to get used to the word “littoral.”
It’s pronounced “literal,” not “lit-TOR-al.” So the next time you see, say, an admiral saying it wrong, do the right thing and correct him or her. OK, maybe that’s not a good idea. You could, however, tell the admiral’s aide. Give the two of them something fun to talk about in the back of the SUV on the trip back to the office.
Now that we’ve taken care of that, can you think of any other common Navy mispronunciations?
The ship that buried bin Laden
June 14th, 2011 | Carriers Navy Photos Ships The Middle East | Posted by Dave Brown
"No comment": Carl Vinson commanding officer Capt. Bruce Lindsey talks about what he can't talk about during a June 13 conference call with reporters // Navy
It’s gotta be at least a little frustrating. You’re just wrapping up a highly successful deployment and you’ve finally got a whole mess of reporters who want to talk to you about it. But they don’t. They want to talk about that. You know. That guy you buried at sea and now utterly defines your ship, crew and deployment, at least until the next big thing happens.
You are no longer the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson. You are The Carrier That Buried Osama Bin Laden, and it’s sticking with you, no matter how tangential the story. Check out these headlines:
U.S. carrier that buried bin Laden visits Hong Kong
Navy ship that buried bin Laden stops in Hawaii
Osama’s burial ship captain fears for crew safety in aftermath of operation
“Osama’s burial ship.” Rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Capt. Bruce Lindsey, in a June 13 conference call with eager reporters, took it all in stride — and a dash of humor. When told by one reporter that a California man was planning on heading to the Arabian Sea with designs on finding bin Laden’s resting place, Lindsey responded: “OK, that’ll be an interesting mission, and I hope he has a lot of money.”
I’m thinkin’ that’s Lincoln
May 31st, 2011 | Navy Newport News Shipbuilding Photos Ships | Posted by Dave Brown
An eagle-eyed reader named “Mike” wrote us over the weekend to make an interesting point about the Navy’s photo illustration released the day the Navy announced that the second Gerald R. Ford-class carrier will be named in honor of John F. Kennedy. His point? That ain’t no Ford.
“There’s plenty of renderings of the Ford Class available for use, and with the differences between classes you might as well be showing a picture of the Forrestal.”
Right you are. The carrier below JFK’s head is actually the Abraham Lincoln. The image was shot March 2 as the ship made its way across the Pacific near the end of its most-recent deployment. You can see the photo in its natural habitat here.
Ford and its follow-ons will look more like this.
Shutdownpocalypsemageddon 2011
April 8th, 2011 | Navy | Posted by Dave Brown
This one’s making the rounds. Hat tip: Galrahn
‘Spiced’: A Very Special episode
April 6th, 2011 | Humor leadership Naval Safety Center Navy spice Uniforms Video | Posted by Dave Brown
Remember in the ’80s when sitcoms did Very Special episodes? Who will ever forget Jessie’s freak out when she took caffeine pills? Or the time Urkel got drunk and almost died? And don’t get Scoop Deck started on the time Brad got high, or on Uncle Ned’s drinking problem.
The sailors up at the Naval Submarine School in Groton, Conn., are reliving those glory days with “Spiced.” It’s a Very Special episode that naturally features puppets named “Josh” and “Greg” and the latter’s struggle with a very real problem in today’s Navy.
Spice and other designer drugs are scary stuff. And the part about getting kicked out of the Navy for using is no joke. Just ask any of these former mids or former amphibious assault ship Bataan sailors.
Thanks Josh and Greg. You made us laugh, and you made us think. You also taught us that sailors are referring to their Navy working uniforms as “N-dubs.” Brilliant.
Another CO fired … no wait
March 10th, 2011 | Navy | Posted by Dave Brown
We were more than a little concerned here at the Navy Times Center of Excellence when we learned that everyone’s favorite sugary shipmate, Cap’n Crunch, had been relieved of command. What could the reason be, we wondered? Mustache out of regs? A “loss of crunchiness in his ability to be delicious?” We did our due diligence, got his releasables from Millington, found appropriate file photos and carved out some space in Monday’s book. A dark day for the good captain indeed.
So it was with great relief that we learned he was staying put. “Thanks to everyone who was asking about me! I was out on the seas, but don’t worry, I’m back and not going anywhere,” Crunch said on his official website. Turns out it had all been a crispy kerfuffle. We are standing by to be crunchatized, sir.
Hello from space!
March 9th, 2011 | Facebook NASA Navy Video | Posted by Dave Brown
Let’s face it: Taped messages can be kinda lame. You’re at boot camp, you’re tired and confused, and someone wheels in a TV to give you a mini-speech by someone you’ve never heard of.
Then Scoop Deck saw this: a video of astronaut Capt. Scott Kelly that was posted on the U.S. Navy’s Facebook page. Kelly addresses recruits from the International Space Station, traveling 17,000 miles per hour and 220 miles above the Earth’s surface. No matter what he has to say, it’s more than a little cool to get a message like that.
And be sure to check out the somersault at the end.
Another Gulf War?
December 2nd, 2010 | Facebook Historical The Middle East | Posted by Dave Brown
Thankfully, this battle is more semantic than deadly. Thursday morning, the popular-yet-normally-benign Facebook page for the U.S. Navy was hit by cyber activists demanding that a certain body of water be referred to as the “Persian Gulf.”
The Navy, as you know, calls it the “Arabian Gulf,” although not always. The moderator of the Navy site has since struck a conciliatory tone, welcoming the new fans and inviting regulars to share their favorite Navy acronyms and jargon. Although too much alphabet soup could get them into hot water as well.
Oh, and Persian Gulf folks: Don’t bother doing the same on the Navy Times page. We already call it “Persian,” for historical reasons. But we’ll take the likers.
You really ‘like’ me (social media edition)
October 28th, 2010 | Facebook Navy Officers The deckplates | Posted by Dave Brown
Petty officers are likable folks. You name it, they’ve got it: Bravery, work ethic, patriotism — even lovely singing voices. Now there’s even a Facebook page to prove it. As of this writing, the group dedicated to “liking” petty officers has north of 14,000 “likers,” with the goal of hitting a cool million.
As for the similarly goaled naval officer group? Only 999,993 to go!