Three new ships named after Marines — but did the Navy get it right?
January 6th, 2012 | Amphibious operations leadership Marine Corps Navy San Antonio class | Posted by Dan Lamothe
The destroyer Jason Dunham was named after the Marine Corps' first Medal of Honor recipient in the Iraq war. (Bath Iron Works photograph)
Above, you see the destroyer Jason Dunham. It’s named after Cpl. Jason Dunham, who covered a grenade with his helmet on April 14, 2004, in an attempt to shield the blast from fellow Marines. He died eight days later, and received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroism on Jan. 11, 2007.
No human being in their right mind would question the naming of the ship. It’s a logical, sensible case in which a class of ship frequently used to honor war heroes memorialized one of the greatest heroes of the Iraq war.
It’s no secret that the Navy has taken a hit in the naming other ships in the last few years, though. As Navy Times colleague Sam Fellman pointed out in a story last month, chief among those are the Cesar Chavez and the John P. Murtha, both of which rankled a variety of conservative politicians, service members and military advocates.
The Cesar Chavez, a Lewis and Clark-class cargo ship, was named after a labor leader and civil rights activist, raising questions about whether politics were involved with some critics. The class of ship is usually named after pioneers, but most other namesakes in the class (Alan Shepherd, Lewis and Clark, Amelia Earhart) were decidedly a different kind of pioneer.
The John P. Murtha, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, was named after the Marine veteran and late congressman. It outraged some Marines and Marine families who remembered that he accused Marines of “killing innocent people” in Hadithah, Iraq, before an investigation had concluded and anyone had been charged.
Those are controversial names, to be sure — and ones that could have been avoided in favor of others on which virtually all Americans could agree.
That brings us to the Navy’s decision, announced yesterday, on what to name the three first mobile landing platform ships.
“I chose to name the department’s new MLPs Montford Point, John Glenn and Lewis B. Puller as a way to recognize these American pioneers and heroes both collectively and individually,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement. “The courage shown by these Marines helped forge the Corps into the most formidable expeditionary force in the world.”
It’s hard to argue with using the names. Glenn is an American hero, a Marine aviator who served in combat and later became an astronaut and U.S. senator. “Chesty” Puller is a Marine legend, a five-time Navy Cross recipient who served in some of the bloodiest battles of World War II and the Korean War. Montford Point served as the training ground to thousands of black Marines who served in World War II.
The question is whether the names were used on the right kind of ship — and yes, it has mattered in the past.
There are certainly variations, but ship classes have typically followed themes. For example, many amphibious assault ships are named after famous battles — Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Makin Island, etc.
Montford Point is a place. It’s one that has been memorialized several times in the last year, and rightfully so. More than 20,000 black recruits were trained there from 1942 to 1949, and their service is credited with leading the U.S. to desegregate the military.
Puller and Glenn, on the other hand, are people. In fact, as I learned in a conversation with Defense News sage Chris Cavas, Puller’s name was used on a guided-missile frigate that was decommissioned in 1998. That Lewis B. Puller was part of a class of ship named after another war hero, American Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.
Wouldn’t it have made sense, then, to wait and name another San Antonio-class ship after Montford Point, memorializing its black Marine veterans with a ship that will carry modern-day Marines? The San Antonio class already is named after a location, so it would have held form. It also certainly would have been more popular across the Corps than naming a San Antonio-class ship after Murtha.
Also, wouldn’t it have made sense to name a destroyer or some other fearsome ship with heavy guns the Lewis B. Puller, rather than a mobile landing platform? Granted, the MLPs will have a major role in seabasing, a Marine Corps concept, but it doesn’t exactly square with Puller’s legendary status.
As Fellman pointed out in his story, Congress is expecting the Navy to report back this year and explain how it names its ships. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year.
Cross-posted from Battle Rattle.
“America’s Worst Bosses” list includes former CO, XO
December 20th, 2011 | Abusive leadership Call signs Commanding officers leadership Navy | Posted by Bill McMichael
It’s one of those end-of-year best-of/worst-of lists that multiply like flies this time of year. But this one caught the eye for two reasons: It purports to list America’s Worst Bosses — and who hasn’t got a story to tell about an awful supervisor? — and it lists a former Navy commanding officer and a fired executive officer among its 100 worst for 2011.
According to “the eBossWatch panel of workplace experts,” coming in at No. 25 was Cmdr. Liam Bruen, former commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 136 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., who was censured by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus for condoning the hazing of a junior officer and failing to immediately stop the meeting and for retaliating when the subordinate filed a sexual harassment complaint. Bruen defended himself, saying he didn’t condone the behavior at the “call sign” meeting and properly addressed it later. Bruen retired this summer.
The No. 76 Worst Boss, Cmdr. Joseph Baxter, former XO of the Mayport, Fla.-based cruiser Gettysburg, was found guilty at a nonjudicial hearing of sexual harassment and assault. If not for a “pretrial” agreement, Baxter would have faced a general court-martial on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman, sexual harassment, wrongful sexual contact and assault.
On the face of it, one can argue that the eBossWatch panel didn’t really do its homework by leaving off if not highly ranking Cmdr. Jay Wylie, former Momsen CO, who was court-martialed and convicted for an alcohol-fueled rape of an enlisted woman in his shipboard cabin and, on a separate occasion, sexually assaulting a junior officer while drunk.
It’s the third year in a row eBossWatch has published its Worst list. The group was launched in 2007 “to help people avoid hostile work environments and workplace bullying” and enables members to anonymously rate their bosses to help job seekers avoid the worst workplaces.
The group subtitles itself with, “Nobody should have to work with a jerk.”
End of an era
December 6th, 2011 | 6th Fleet Amphibious operations Amphibious Ready Group Combat support Commanding officers Flight deck certification Homecoming leadership Marine Corps Marine Expeditionary Unit Maritime operations Mine warfare Navy Norfolk Naval Station Odyssey Dawn Photos Ponce Ships The Middle East | Posted by Bill McMichael
On May 7, 1970, the Beatles released their last single: “The Long and Winding Road.”
Last week, the amphibious transport dock Ponce, launched 13 days after the song and commissioned in July 1971, completed its own long journey, coming home for the last time after four decades of service.
Sailors prepare to handle lines on Naval Station Norfolk's Pier 2 as the amphibious transport dock Ponce makes its final return to homeport. Ponce will now begin the long process that will result in the ship's decommissioning early next year. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Stevie Tate
Those years were filled with significant events. Ponce helped evacuate nearly 300 mostly U.S. and British Westerners from Lebanon during the 1976 civil war, and supported 6th Fleet air strikes on pro-Syrian militia positions in defense of U.S. Marines ashore. It supported military disaster relief in Florida following 1992′s devastating Hurricane Andrew. It took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, serving as the flagship of a minesweeping task group that opened the key port of Umm Qasr. Most recently, Ponce, as part of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, supported the NATO strikes on Libya that played a key role in helping rebel forces drive Moammar Gadhafi from power.
It was during that last cruise that the ship’s commanding officer and executive officer were fired by Vice Adm. Harry Harris, then-commander of 6th Fleet — Cmdr. Etta Jones for what investigators said were abuses of power, and Lt. Cmdr. Kurt Boenisch for not standing up to Jones. Jones apologized to the crew in a statement released by her lawyer the same day Ponce returned home last week, saying that she hoped the public “will not overlook their positive story.”
Ponce spent its final operational week supporting air operations for II Marine Expeditionary Force’s air-ground task force. One sailor said he took a lot of pride in being one of the last to man the ship’s flight deck.
“This underway is the last time anyone will fly on Ponce,” Aviation Support Equipment Technician 3rd Class Morgan Butkus was quoted by Ponce’s public affairs office as saying. “How many years have people been here with stuff happening, and this is the last of it.”
Four decades on Ponce, by the numbers: It was served by more than 18,400 sailors and embarked by more than 24,500 Marines; it landed and launched aircraft more than 39,000 times; it was involved in more than 25 major operations; it was commanded by 28 different commanding officers.
The ship will be decommissioned in early 2012 and placed in long-term storage at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia.
Quartermaster 2nd Class Shixi Zhang mans a telescopic alidade on the starboard bridge wing of the amphibious transport dock ship Ponce as the ship gets underway from Naval Station Norfolk for its final scheduled underway period. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathanael Miller
Crowston comes out
September 21st, 2011 | Anti-gay slurs Commanding officers don't tell leadership Navy Navy secretary Officers Photos | Posted by Bill McMichael
Proposing call signs like “Fagmeister” and “Gay Boy” — and the winner, “Romo’s bitch” — one can only assume that at least a few of Lt. Steve Crowston’s fellow officers in Strike Fighter Squadron 136 felt pretty sure the unit’s administrative/legal officer and avid Dallas Cowboys fan was a homosexual. But Crowston, who filed multiple inspector general complaints over what he regarded as anti-gay hazing in the unit, had steadfastly refused to acknowledge his sexual preference, saying it was irrelevant and that his concern was over inappropriate workplace hazing.Tuesday evening, on the 6 p.m. newscast of Norfolk’s WAVY-TV, with the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy no longer in effect, Crowston came out. “I’ve been in 17 years, livin’ a lie, hiding who I really am, said Crowston (1:52 on the video), interviewed at a downtown Norfolk celebration of the end of the policy’s demise Tuesday. “People have suspected through the years, but I couldn’t come out. Now, I have that choice, without losing my career over it.”
Crowston’s complaints, first voiced following an August 2009 call sign meeting attended by his CO and XO, eventually found their mark. In July, the Navy announced that the very recently retired Cmdr. Liam Bruen, the former CO, had been censured by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus — this after being removed from his post-command job as operations officer on the carrier John C. Stennis. The former XO and current CO, Cmdr. Damien Christopher, wasn’t cited by Mabus but received two formal counselings from senior commanders and an unspecified letter of admonition. He was allowed to remain in command, with officials citing superior performance while in command.
Bruen and Christopher both took issue with the punishments. Bruen said he felt the Naval IG interpreted the Navy’s Equal Opportunity policy too broadly in saying he’d condoned hazing by allowing the call sign meeting to continue, even though he called a subsequent all-officers meeting at which he vowed to provide a command environment “free from hostility and marginalization.” Christopher said the IG used “flawed legal analysis” to impose a “new standard” under the Navy’s hazing policy upon him. Christopher also told Navy Times that the Naval IG’s findings are under review by the Department of Defense IG.
Crowston, now the administrative officer for the Naval Ocean Processing Facility at Dam Neck Annex, told Navy Times Wednesday night that he feels a great sense of relief that the policy has been eliminated and that he’s no longer in the position of “living a lie.”
“It’s such a relief to know that the silent knife that could stab you at any moment and cause you to lose your career in the military is no longer there!” he wrote. But while the policy is gone, there are battles ahead within the ranks, he told WAVY-TV.
“There’s still gonna be homophobia,” Crowston said. “There’s still gonna be bigots. There’s still gonna be people who, you know, are gonna judge you, now that you can declare who you are.”
McFaul’s new chiefs beat the crowd
September 15th, 2011 | Chiefs leadership Navy Photos Pinning Promotion Surface Force Atlantic Traditions | Posted by Bill McMichael
The Norfolk-based destroyer McFaul broke ranks Thursday and pinned its five new chief petty officers day earlier than the rest of the Navy. There was a good reason for that.
Sailors aboard the guided missile destroyer McFaul gather on the ship's flight deck for their chief petty officer pinning ceremony Sept. 15. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kayla Jo Finley
McFaul did so to accommodate a scheduled deployment. So even when a short-notice delay changed that deployment date, the ship held the ceremony so as not to exclude family members who’d traveled to take in the rich tradition.
Chief Logistics Specialist (AW/SW) Tamika Tillman receives her chief's cover during the destroyer McFaul's chief petty officer pinning ceremony. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kayla Jo Finley
“It was very important to have my family here with me today,” said Chief Logistics Specialist (AW/SW) Tamika Tillman. “I can’t even describe what it means to have them present.” Tillman was pinned by her daughter, son, fiancé, fiancé’s grandparents and her best friend of 17 years.
Also entering the McFaul Chief’s Mess Thursday were Chief Engineman Christopher Brown, Chief Fire Controlman Daniel Chenowitz, Chief Sonar Technician Surface Johnny Nichols and Chief Fire Controlman Corey Stowe.
Command Master Chief (SW/SCW) Dianne Lohner shared the importance of the day and welcomed the new chiefs to the mess.
“Today, without a doubt, is one of the most important days in a sailor’s life,” said Lohner. “This is a day they will never forget. Every year we are taken back to the day we were promoted. It is always an emotional day pinning our sailors.”
Command Master Chief (SW/SCW) Dianne Lohner grants "permission to enter the mess" to the newly-pinned chiefs aboard the destroyer McFaul. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kayla Jo Finley
Our hearty congratulations to the new McFaul chiefs, and to new chief petty officers everywhere.
A success story, and a lesson learned
April 30th, 2011 | Board of Inspection and Survey Fleet Forces Command Gator Navy leadership Maintenance Navy Personnel Photos | Posted by Bill McMichael
A year ago, the dock landing ship Oak Hill was in poor shape — and that’s by the Fleet Forces Command chief’s reckoning. Beginning in 2005, five deployments in five years, no time for maintenance and inadequate manning had left the relatively young ship with a degraded power plant, endemic corrosion and a whole lot of systems that just didn’t work. A long-overdue yard period, money, lots of outside help and long hours produced a remarkable turnaround Apr. 4-8, when the ship passed its rigid underway material inspection by the Board of Inspection and Survey with flying colors. Oak Hill scored “green” in 16 of 18 functional areas, and “yellow” in the other two. Refurbishment and upgrade work continues, but the ship is just about back up to where officials want it to be. And it’s looking good:
The dock landing ship Oak Hill, on a recent afternoon at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. // Photo by William H. McMichael
The lesson learned — or more accurately (over the past two years), reinforced — is that it’s far easier, and the Navy is better served, when ships are maintained on a more even keel. That means, officials say, ships accurately reporting problems, leaders honestly assessing and reporting how much money the Navy needs for ship maintenance, and fully manning ships so that commands can better perform everyday maintenance as well as prepare to fight.
For more detail, see our story in Monday’s Navy Times.
‘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.
It really is a coalition, folks!
March 21st, 2011 | Admirals Carriers French navy Helicopters leadership Odyssey Dawn Photos | Posted by Bill McMichael
The Obama administration is working hard to play down the U.S. role in the airstrikes and no-fly zone operations on and over Libya, with senior officials stressing that the U.S. involvement is “limited” and that the operation is a broad-based coalition effort with international participation and Arab League backing — not a U.S.-led foray into yet another predominantly Muslim nation, which could further damage its already poor image in that part of the world. The Navy released at least seven images Monday, all apparently aimed at reinforcing that sense: All but one includes a coalition officer or aircraft. For example: this photo of liaison officers from coalition countries meeting with Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn (JTF OD) staff members aboard the command ship Mount Whitney to discuss command and control of the “multi-phase international military operations.”
And this one:
A French navy AS365 F Dauphin rescue helicopter from the French carrier Charles de Gaulle test lands aboard Mount Whitney. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Gary Keen
And this one:
Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn, speaks with French navy Rear Adm. Philippe Coindreau, deputy commander, French maritime forces, aboard the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, operating in the Mediterranean in support of the operation. // U.S. Navy photo
The Navy has released some mostly-shadowy video of U.S. Navy/U.S. Marine Corps-only operations, including several ship-based Tomahawk missile launches from over the weekend. So far, though, the U.S.-only pickings have been rather slim.
Yes, we can
March 18th, 2011 | leadership Navy | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
In a crowd of more than 1,300, Hospitalman Briana Bartholomew answered a challenge from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SS/SW) Rick West and knocked out several pushups on the stage at the Sea Service Leadership Association Women’s Symposium before she gave a loud “hooyah.”
“OK, now I’m ready for some questions,” West told the group of mostly female service members March 16.
The MCPON earlier highlighted the advancements that military women have made since he joined the Navy in 1981 and joined the submarine force. “We have come a long, long way,” he said, noting that female sailors swept the coveted Sailor of the Year awards last year, a first. He’s eager to see the arrival of women in the submarine community, adding, “it’s about damn time.” But enlisted sailors may have to wait a bit longer. “We are trying to get this phased in,” he said. “I just don’t know when or where.”
Women in the Navy today number about 63,000 and are slowly making process into the senior ranks, with 60 female command master chiefs and senior enlisted women representing 10 percent of the MCPON’s leadership mess. But, West said, “we still have a lot of work to do.”
‘XO Movie Night’ videos are out … all of them
March 4th, 2011 | Admirals Carriers Enterprise Fleet Forces Command Investigation JAGMAN leadership Navy Navy secretary Officers Personnel Video | Posted by Bill McMichael
As you probably know by now, Adm. John Harvey of Fleet Forces Command on Thursday unveiled the results of his investigation into the controversial “XO Movie Night” video skits aired on the carrier Enterprise from 2005 to 2007, recommending that secretarial letters of censure be issued to two admirals and two of the carrier’s former executive officers — including Capt. Owen Honors, who as XO played a primary role in most of the questionable productions.
If you haven’t read about the findings yet, here’s our short version. For those with a LOT of time on their hands, and perhaps curious about the 22 previously unleaked/unreleased videos containing what Harvey decided was objectionable material, go here. (Warning: Make sure you’re on a computer with a lot of juice and some volume control …)