A ‘Like’ From John Paul Jones?
February 29th, 2012 | Facebook | Posted by Joshua Stewart
The Navy is switching to a re-vamped Facebook format that shows everything important that has ever happened in the service’s history.
Gone will be the standard page. Instead, information will be in the “Timeline” format, which allows visitors to see every photo, comment and ‘like’ ever posted on the Navy’s page.
It also allows the Navy to put in old photos and important events, including its “birth.” Typically, people put in cutesy pictures of themselves as a newborn, but here, clearly, should be a shot of John Paul Jones.
Hand is an amazing, yet creepy, Navy development
February 2nd, 2012 | Facebook Health Medical Navy | Posted by Joshua Stewart
The Navy has developed one of the most realistic prosthetic limbs ever. Creepily realistic.
The Navy has developed an incredibly realistic prosthetic limb. When finished it better not be so scary or nobody will want to use it. // Navy Photo
The picture appeared on the Navy’s Facebook page but it didn’t include many details. What is clear is that it’s part of the Navy’s ongoing work to make wounded service members as whole as possible. Needless to say, this is an amazing piece of equipment that will hopefully improve somebody’s life in immeasurable ways.
But until then, it seems unnaturally lifelike and kind of reminds the Scoop Deck of this:
Keep calm and carry on
January 6th, 2012 | 5th Fleet Admirals Carriers Facebook Iran Navy | Posted by Joshua Stewart
Despite trash-talk from Iran, the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is keeping its cool.
After practicing blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a highway for about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, Iranian Army chief Ataollah Salehi pledged consequences if a U.S. aircraft carrier entered the Persian Golf.
“I advise, recommend and warn them over the return of this carrier to the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once,” Salehi said.
Days earlier, one of his country’s aircraft captured footage of the Stennis as it operated in the Gulf. Iranian officials claimed that the footage was a sign of weakness in the carrier’s overlapping layers of security.
All of this made headlines and caused the family and friends of Stennis sailors to worry. Many of them posted their concerns on the carrier’s Facebook page.
But fear not, says Rear Adm. Craig Faller, commander of the five-ship carrier strike group. Appearing in a video message apparently shot from his office in the Stennis and later posted on Facebook and YouTube, things are safe, things are fine and there’s nothing unusual going on, he said in a video message. He looks relaxed and pretty comfortable for a guy whose ships were just threatened by a country with big-time nuclear aspirations. The only thing at all frightening about the video is that red phone in the background.
“I know we’ve been in the news lately, so I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that everything is fine. We’re doing a great job out here and it’s business as usual as we continue to provide outstanding support to Operation Enduring Freedom,” he said.
It may be the first time that a CSG commander tried to quell a national concern and assure families of the safety of their loved ones with an at-sea video message.
CO vs. sailor’s mother
November 17th, 2011 | Blogs Carriers Facebook Life at Sea | Posted by Joshua Stewart
The fight is between blogger and Navy Mom Mary Brotherton and Capt. Brian “Lex” Luther, commanding officer of the carrier George H.W. Bush, a ship with ongoing commode problems.
Brotherton has a blow-by-blow account of the head troubles on the carrier, complete with accounts from her son, a sailor onboard. It’s pretty thorough and includes details on how sailors handle widespread toilet outages, the clogs that cripple the toilet system and efforts to fix breakdowns. It was her work that tipped off a bunch of reporters on what’s happening on the ship.
Not to be outdone, Capt. Luther has spoken up as well, explaining the head issue from his perspective in a post on the carrier’s Facebook page. The CO of the Navy’s newest carrier offers a bunch of data and figures to bolster his side and provides a nuanced account of life at sea.
In his Facebook page, Luther disputes some of Brotherton’s claims but doesn’t mention her by name (look for this tactic during candidate debates – political hopefuls almost never mention their opponent by name. Candidates do it to keep their opponent’s name from appearing in print, bringing them additional attention. Luther seems to be doing it out of courtesy to Brotherton.) In response, Brotherton was more direct and posted “just as [Luther] stated that he will defend my rights as an American, as that American, I will defend and advocate for, to the day I die, those men and women who are serving their country.”
This is a tough fight to call. Luther has one of the toughest call signs around, giving him a huge intimidation advantage. Brotherton, however, is a Navy mom, and Navy moms — and moms of any service members, for that matter — don’t back down.
Gay sailors coming forward in wake of DADT
September 20th, 2011 | Facebook Life at Home Navy The deckplates | Posted by Sam Fellman
Lt. Gary Ross, right, and Dan Swezy exchange wedding vows on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011 in Duxbury, Vt. // AP Photo
The law banning gays from serving openly ended Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. Now that it’s history, gay sailors are coming forward in ways ranging from showy to subtle. Others are simply blunt.
One of them is Master-at-Arms Seaman Casie Jude, who’s posted in Italy. In a Facebook update on Tuesday she wrote, “Dear Navy: I’m gay. Duh.”
One of her commenters replied, “I knew it!!!”
Another sailor coming forward is Lt. Gary Ross. The 33-year-old surface warfare officer was married very early this morning at a small ceremony in Duxbury, Vt. to his partner of 11 years, Dan Swezy. It was the first same-sex marriage after the repeal by a servicemember.
Why did he come forward?
“We realized that there [are] still people serving in the military that will need good role models, who are gay and lesbian,” Ross told Navy Times on Monday, prior to his wedding. If by publicly announcing his marriage, he said, “that could help any soldier, sailor or airman realizing that it’s ok if you’re gay or lesbian and you could still become an officer and the service isn’t going to discriminate against you anymore – if that could help anyone, we decided that it was worth it.”
Fired CO speaks out
August 9th, 2011 | Commanding officers Ethics Facebook Loss of confidence Navy SURFLANT | Posted by Bill McMichael
The officer fired Aug. 5 as commander of Beachmaster Unit 2 posted an oblique defense Sunday in the Facebook comments section following the story about his relief posted on navytimes.com.
Oblique, because Cmdr. Robert M. Brown said not a word about being fired or the circumstances under which he was fired, instead posting the famous “man in the arena” quote from President Theodore Roosevelt.
Brown’s post had attracted a couple dozen comments, most of them expressing support of Brown, and 25 “likes” as of Tuesday afternoon. He had earlier declined to comment until the investigation is complete.
Naval Surface Force Atlantic commander Rear Adm. Dave Thomas relieved Brown as commander of the unit, based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Va., during an investigation into allegations of various ethics violations to include misuse of government resources and the improper disposal of government equipment.
Brown was the 16th CO fired in 2011 — one short of the total for all of 2010.
Six clicks off target
May 17th, 2011 | Facebook Navy | Posted by Joshua Stewart
Put the sextant down and grab your mouse — a Navy scavenger hunt begins Wednesday.
This doesn’t require scuttling around, but rather clicking. The entire contest, which begins May 18, takes place on Facebook. It’s part of an effort to promote maritime strategy while highlighting different Navy Facebook pages.
To find the first clue, go to Big Navy’s Facebook page where you should find a hint about a command where you can find the second clue. Leave a comment there to prove you clicked through. Go to that command’s Facebook page on day two for the second clue; again, leave a comment and go to the next command. In all there are six clues. The first person to comment on the sixth command after stopping by all the others wins and get to assist in selecting the Navy’s official Facebook picture for the week of Memorial Day.
Also, since we at The Scoop Deck like you so much, here’s a compass and a map (Read: the Navy’s directory of official social media accounts. It may be helpful, but we can’t vouch that it’s up to date or exhaustive.)
This isn’t the Navy’s first Facebook-based contest. In March, in tribute to the NCAA basketball tournament, the Navy ran its own contest to determine the most popular aircraft carrier. The Carl Vinson — which certainly had less name recognition two months ago than today, considering its role in the burial of Osama bin Laden — won.
Elizabeth Taylor and the Carl Vinson
March 24th, 2011 | Carriers Congress Facebook Movies Photos | Posted by Joshua Stewart
Elizabeth Taylor and her then-husband, former Navy Secretary and Sen. John Warner, alongside the Carl Vinson. // Photo from Carl Vinson Public Affairs.
Nearly 28 years ago to the day, the carrier Carl Vinson had a visitor whose death is one of the biggest news stories of the week.
Elizabeth Taylor, who died Wednesday, attended the ship’s christening (or maybe commissioning) with her husband, former Navy Secretary and then Virginia Sen. John Warner. The two are shown together in a photo posted on the carrier’s Facebook page, which described her as a “friend” of the ship.
The photo’s origins are unclear. The caption says it’s from the christening March 13, 1982. The ship, however, was christened March 15, 1980. The picture is probably actually from the commissioning, which took place March 13, 1982, the date of the photo.
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.
Bracketology and aircraft carriers
March 8th, 2011 | Carriers Facebook Historical Navy Sports | Posted by Joshua Stewart
The month wouldn’t be complete without tournament brackets. And not to be outdone by the NCAA’s basketball showdown, Naval Air Forces has created a competition of its own.
But instead of matching up the best basketball teams in the country, this bracket pits aircraft carriers against each other in a Facebook-based competition designed to determine the best aircraft carrier in U.S. Navy history. Every week is a new round, until the April 5 championship game (or contest or match-up or whatever this type of competition should be called).
While it takes the form of a tournament bracket, the actual competition appears to be more like American Idol. Instead of the most physically capable contender advancing to the next round, the most popular ship, as determined by “likes” collected on an accompanying picture of that carrier, moves forward.
It’s a democratic system that gives older, antiquated carriers a fighting chance, but gives the Enterprise, a carrier whose name has appeared on several other vessels, including a fictitious spacecraft, a large amount of alumni support… consider it a home court advantage.