Ensign Seeks Release from Subs on Religious Grounds
November 5th, 2010 | Naval Academy Navy nuclear weapons Officers Submarines | Posted by Sam Fellman
Would you push the button and launch a nuclear missile, if ordered to?
By the time Ensign Michael Izbicki was asked this question in a routine psychological screening at nuclear power school, he had had a religious awakening. He had read the book, Choosing Against War: A Christian View, and had embraced pacifistic Quaker beliefs after periods of intense study and reflection.
Izbicki — a 24-year-old Naval Academy graduate, who holds a master’s degree in computer science from John Hopkins University — answered no, he wouldn’t push the red button.
The Navy, however, rejected two of his requests for an honorable discourage as a conscientious objector. Izbicki, having passed nuke school, is now training to be a submariner at Naval Submarine School in Groton, Conn., while appealing not to be a submariner.
He lives in St. Francis House, a pacifist Christian community in New London, Conn. He rejected promotion to lieutenant junior grade “to reduce his connection to the Navy as much as possible,” and is willing to pay the Navy back for his eduction, according to a suit filed on his behalf.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition in federal court seeking Izbicki’s honorable discharge on Wednesday, a development first reported by The Hartford Courant.
The mids are back in town
August 24th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
MC1 Chad Runge / Navy
Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Mike Miller welcomed the Brigade of Midshipmen on Monday for another meritorious year in Annapolis, although, in one respect, it’s is already looking like an uphill battle: Despite doing well in several unofficial preseason rakings, Navy will not start in this AP Top 25 this year. But as one commenter on our siblog After Action wrote, “It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”
Flying high in Annapolis
August 17th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
"I never thought I'd say this, but -- I'd rather be doing calculus!" // MC1 Chad Runge / Navy
The Naval Academy was silent about its place on the Princeton Review’s unhappiest students rankings, but now it’s got a new list to crow about. U.S. News & World Report, America’s ground-breaking, risk-taking college-rankery (it discovered three tiny new schools for this year’s top spots: Harvard, Princeton, Yale) has included the Naval Academy in several of its new lists.
The academy was ranked 16th overall for “best liberal arts colleges,” fifth for “best undergraduate engineering” programs; fifth for “best aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering” program; and fifth for “best electrical/electronic/communications” program.
“The Naval Academy is pleased that our educational program continues to be recognized among the top colleges in the country,” said Andrew Phillips, the Naval Academy’s academic dean and provost, in a statement. “While remaining focused on developing our students morally, mentally and physically to become ethical leaders of sailors and Marines, our world-class faculty and exceptional students work hard to balance the highly technical demands of a rigorous engineering education with the critical thinking, communication skills, and global awareness associated with a fine liberal arts education.”
Unhappy mids, unhappy cadets
August 9th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Naval Academy midshipmen are among America's least-happy college students, according to a ranking. Well, maybe. // MC1 Gregory E. Badger / Navy
Here’s something that’s either disturbing or meaningless, depending on your point of view: All three of America’s maritime service academies — the Naval Academy, the Coast Guard Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy – are on the Princeton Review’s list of “least happy students,” according to its recent rankings.
It’s disturbing if you wonder, “if the kids are just peeved because of all the additional stress from their military lifestyles, why aren’t the U.S. Military Academy or the Air Force Academy also on the ‘least happy’ list?” Have the troubles at each of the maritime schools — including the “slush fund” in Annapolis; the noose discoveries in New London; and the quiet crisis in Kings Point — given all their students the blues?
It’s meaningless if you’re a member of the growing backlash against the college-ranking-industrial complex, which includes educators and students sick of all the glib, confusing list-makery. For every unhappy mid or cadet who happened to fill out a survey, there’s at least one satisfied student whose view went uncounted, critics might say.
What do you think?
Meet the new boss
August 4th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Vice Adm. Mike Miller made his debut Tuesday as the new superintendent of the Naval Academy. // Chris Maddaloni / Staff
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The “instructions” in the folders given to the hacks here Tuesday were explicit: “Media will remain in place during the arrival and honors portion of the ceremony;” “Vice Adm. [Jeffrey] Fowler and Vice Adm. [Mike] Miller will not be available for media interviews following the ceremony;” “only INVITED GUESTS can attend the reception;” “Once the ceremony is over, TAD escorts or public affairs staff will escort media off the Yard.”
And so it was — Tuesday’s change of command in the basketball arena, where Miller took over for Fowler as superintendent of the Naval Academy, was a private affair, with no questions from the press or any mention of “slush funds.” Both men and their guest speaker, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, sent shout-outs to audience members and cracked wise like flag officers seldom do in the open, clearly comfortable among friends and relaxed on the safe ground of alma mater.
Miller, a former S-3 Viking pilot, breaks the lockdown that submariners briefly held on the Naval Academy leadership — Fowler and his last commandant, Capt. Robert Clark, are both bubbleheads — and he brings a finely tuned political acumen from his job as the Navy’s top liaison with Congress. Greenert marveled at the skills Miller showed in an earlier job with the White House: “He survived an administration change and a party change — how about that, ladies and gentlemen?”
That background makes Miller a good fit for a very tough job — one that’s like a “hydra,” Greenert said.
“Everyone wants to live in the big house and be the supe … but it’s complicated, it’s dynamic, it’s herding cats,” he said. “It’s strategic, tactical and operational, and that’s all in one day. It’s not for the meek, for sure. We in OpNav, we think, y’know, we can affect the Navy maybe 10 years. The superintendent of this institution impacts the Navy for 35 years. Or more.”
Picking up the pieces in Annapolis
July 15th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
How different will the Naval Academy experience be for this year's class of plebes? // David Tucker / Navy
A three-star nuke thrown out of the Navy. A pathbreaking command master chief admonished over lavish parties and wild spending. Blacklisted midshipmen offered a chance at redemption. It’s already been a whirlwind summer for the Naval Academy, and the new class of plebes haven’t even been midshipmen for a month. How will all this change the institution where they’ll spend their next four years?
Welcome to Annapolis
July 1st, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Naval Academy
An incoming Naval Academy freshman — or “plebe,” in Annapolis parlance — underwent style modification operations Thursday during the school’s yearly induction day. Some 1,247 plebes were expected to show up, hug their parents goodbye, and begin their Navy careers as part of the class of 2014.
Learning about life under the sea
June 9th, 2010 | Naval Academy Submarines | Posted by Phil Ewing
Midshipmen learned this week about submarine life in Kings Bay, Ga., but there are other ways to get ready for a submarine deployment. // MC1 Kimberly Clifford / Navy
This photograph of Naval Academy midshipmen learning about a simulator that lets sailors train to sail ballistic missile submarines — we call them “boomers,” pupils! — brought to mind a classic message-board subject: “How to simulate life aboard a submarine.”
If you’re a young midshipman or a civilian who’s never gone to sea on a submarine, here are some tips, culled from around the Internet, about how to create an authentic experience in your own home. This is just a family-friendly sample of what you can find out there; please add your own favorites or new suggestions in the comments.
- Every so often, yell “emergency deep!” run into the kitchen and sweep all pots, pans and dishes off of the counters onto the floor, and then yell at your family for not having the kitchen area “stowed for sea!”
- Set your lawn mower in the middle of the living room while it is running for six hours a day.
- Put a complicated lock on your basement door and wear the key around your neck on a special chain.
- Fix-up a shelf in your closet that will serve as your bunk for the next six months. Take the door off of the hinges and replace them with curtains. While asleep, have family members shine a flashlight in your eyes at random intervals and say either, “sign this!” or “sorry, wrong rack.”
- Put on a pair of headphones and hang an empty soup can around your neck with a string. Stand in front of the stove in your kitchen and say into the can, “stove manned and ready!” Stay there for four hours. Then say into the can, “stove secured!” Make sure your headphones and soup can are stored properly.
AH-1W Super Cobra links
June 2nd, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Naval Academy Pirates Science and technology | Posted by Phil Ewing
Much as Marine Cobra gunship helicopters -- like this one, from HMM 166 -- deliver support exactly where the grunts need it, so too do today's links bring the latest updates right to you. // MC1 Richard Doolin / Navy
Whip-whip whip-whip whip-whip whip-whip whip-whip whip-whip — twin-rotor spinnin’, Hellfire missile slingin’, big-deck gator launchin’ links, coming in low out of the haze, straight at you, with no question about who they are or what they’re capable of:
- The Norfolk-based cruiser San Jacinto is the latest warship on a pirate tear.
- There’s a petition in the works these days for the Navy to name its next ship after the late Medal of Honor recipient Lt. John Finn — we hasten to point out that DDG 1002 is as yet unnamed…
- Sailors on boarding teams at sea may be able to zip up the sides of high-freeboard vessels like Batman with the Office of Naval Researcher’s new rope ascender.
- Apparently we’re all taking completely in the open these days about China’s super death-ray re-targetable anti-ship ballistic missile — no more spooky “classified threat” phrases. As such, other navies with carrier-fielding aspirations are realizing they too might have some challenges putting their ships to sea in a hostile environment.
- The latest chapter in the endless saga called “What Will Happen To the Ex-Carrier John F. Kennedy” seems to be in the works: One Maine activist wants to get on board with plans to bring JFK down east, only he says engineers should install wind turbines on the flight deck and let it earn its keep.
- Pacific Fleet, take note: It’s midshipman season.
So what happens to all those hats?
May 28th, 2010 | Naval Academy | Posted by Phil Ewing
Does gravity affect the hundreds of hats tossed into the air at the end of a Naval Academy commencement? // Philip Ewing / Staff
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — We’ve all seen many iterations of the Naval Academy’s iconic celebratory hat toss, in which the newly commissioned officers mark their arrival in the fleet by all throwing their hats in the air. Except they aren’t their hats, in the strictest sense… they’re hats specifically acquired for the purpose of celebratory throwing operations.
Still, what happens to them? Do they ever come down from there, or are they forever frozen in the millions of photographs of the event?