I need one of these at home
July 22nd, 2011 | Batteries EOD Logistics Navy Research The greenside | Posted by Bill McMichael
One day, military personnel and civilians alike will enjoy much-simplified electronic lives. Until then, most of us are stuck with a plethora of batteries, connectors and chargers for the electronic devices so vital to our lives. Most, that is, except for Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians, who should soon lose about 41 pounds worth of battery devices thanks to a lightweight power system developed by the Office of Naval Research’s TechSolutions Program.
The group, responding to a request from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit 2, partnered with Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, Ind., and Protonex Technology Corp.. to develop the Power Management Kit. Typically, an EOD team carries 50 pounds of battery devices to power its unique gear — a platoon’s worth would fill a four-foot by four-foot table, according to EODTEU 2.
The new PMK contains common military rechargable batteries, a solar-powered blanket, a one-pound Soldier Power Manager unit and “smart” cables to link the SPM with EOD equipment. The SPM charges batteries and powers up gear by harnessing energy from a variety of sources, according to the TechSolutions Program. The PMK also includes a graphical interface that displays information about batteries, power usage, state of charge and operational details.
All of that weighs just nine pounds.
The beauty of the setup is that any new equipment can be supported by simply adding a new cable — so, the SPM itself never needs an upgrade. Currently, most of an EOD team’s gear uses different power sources, so each requires the carrying of multiple single-purpose batteries to power up.
Five units have been shipped to EODTEU 2 for a trial.
Va. Beach NECC unit nabs Sloan Award
February 4th, 2011 | Awards Diving EOD Mobile Diving and Salvage Navy NECC The greenside | Posted by Bill McMichael
The top 20 percent. That’s where Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit 2 now finds itself in terms of public AND private employers in terms of programs, policies and culture for creating an effective and flexible workplace.
EODTEU 2, located in Virginia Beach, Va., received the 2010 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility from Rear Adm. Michael Tillotson, the commander of Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, during an awards ceremony Feb. 4.
“It’s fantastic to be recognized,” said Lt. Cmdr. Oliver Herion, the executive officer of EODTEU 2. “Our team at all levels, officer, enlisted and civil service employees, work hard on the programs that benefit the command and its personnel.”
The Sloan Award recognizes public and private organizations for innovative and effective workplace flexibility practices. Sloan Award judges use a rigorous scoring methodology to determine if an organization ranks in the top 20 percent of the nation’s employers in that regard.
In one example of workplace flexibility, the command recently established an internal college degree program that allows command members to take college classes within its workspaces after-hours and on average, Herion said, “complete an associate’s degree within 18 months.”
Such innovation is essential for EODTEU 2, which provides advanced pre-deployment training to Atlantic Fleet EOD platoons and Mobile Diving and Salvage companies. The unit’s training calendar contains more than 300 days of events, including night shifts and week-long evolutions, according to the command.
To give the unit a breather, the operations department schedules two weeks every July without training.
Sloan Award honorees become part of a national flexibility leadership network representing employers of all sizes and from all sectors to share best practices, exchange ideas and serve as models for other employers and community leaders. Exclusive learning opportunities will be shared with this network throughout the year.
Underway (so to speak) on wave power
September 28th, 2010 | Environment The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
A portion of the electricity that powers gear such as AEC Perry Long's P-3 Orion simulator at Marine Corps Base Hawaii now comes from the power of the ocean. // Navy
So maybe this doesn’t carry the same kind of epochal importance as the Nautilus’ famous message, but Navy officials are proud nonetheless: Engineers have hooked up a wave-power buoy to the electrical grid at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, meaning that a portion of the juice now running the barbershop clippers and soft drink machines out there comes from the natural energy of the Pacific Ocean.
“This project demonstrates the Navy and Marine Corps’ commitment to lead the country toward a new energy future. Of the five energy targets I issued in 2009, the most important is that by 2020, half of all the energy we use — ashore and afloat, in the air, on the sea, under the sea and on land – will come from alternative sources,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in the official announcement.
The Blue-Green Team still has a ways to go, and even though the power buoy bobbing out in Kaneohe Bay is now online, it feeds only about 3 to 4 kilowatts into the grid — a fraction of what you need for a base that houses almost 12,000 people. The goal is for the base to be self-sufficient by 2015, says its commander, Col. Robert Rice, which means it’ll likely need more wave, wind or other local alternative sources of energy. Wonder how much electricity you could capture from surfing and hula dancing…
That’s… unusual
September 14th, 2010 | Photos The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
MC1 Christopher Stoltz / Navy
Marine Cpl. Brice Millier helped a Guatemalan patient with her cranial last week before flying her out to the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima for surgery. Notice anything else… interesting… about this photo? The answer is after the jump.
‘He sh** his pants’
September 10th, 2010 | Pirates The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
The cruiser Princeton and Marines from the 15th MEU approached the cargo vessel Magellan Star to rescue its crew this week. // MC1 David McKee / Navy
Sometimes, even when you encounter certain phrases for the first time, you can already hear them echoing down the corridors of history: “Axis of Evil;” “shock and awe;” and “quadrennial defense review,” are three examples. So too with the words of Marine Capt. Alexander Martin, commander of 2nd Platoon, Force Reconnaissance Company, who told reporters this week about what happened when he and his troops recaptured the cargo vessel Magellan Star in the Gulf of Aden:
“As soon as the first stack of [Marines] made our way into the bridge, their hands were up, their weapons were down, they moved to their knees and they were compliant,” Martin said. “At that point, they were pretty scared. One guy actually defecated himself. … He sh** his pants. I don’t know if that can go on the news or not, but that actually happened.”
Full coverage here, with great analysis here and the first of what will no doubt be a series of motivational posters here. Looks like this has started to pay off … and probably will come in handy again.
Help for Pakistan
August 12th, 2010 | Aviation The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
CH-53E Sea Stallions from HMM 165, the "White Knights," took off for Pakistan on Thursday from the Peleliu. // MC2 Andrew Dunlap / Navy
Iron Nickel to the rescue: The amphibious assault ship Peleliu and its embarked Marines have been tasked with helping Pakistan recover from its devastating floods. According to this story, the ship’s 19 Marine helicopters will take over from six Army helos that commanders had “loaned” from combat in Afghanistan.
The doc on the beat
August 11th, 2010 | The greenside The Middle East | Posted by Phil Ewing
Marine Corps photographer Cpl. Lindsay Sayres has a great set of photos this morning about HM2 Claire E. Ballante, a member of 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines’ Female Engagement Team, which helps keep the peace in Helmand Province. Above, Ballante patrols with the Marines in her unit in Musa Qa’leh.
Ballante and her FETmates are specifically assigned to meet and talk with Afghan women and families — parts of the population that, for cultural reasons, male Marines are seldom permitted to see.
Ballante and 1/2′s FET are billeted in an old hooch dubbed “The White House,” where they relax by, among other things, reading Allure.
The Blue-Green Team of tomorrow
August 5th, 2010 | Gator Navy The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
Sailors and Marines work closely together now, and those ties will only strengthen in the force of tomorrow, planners say. For example, sailors aboard the amphibious transport dock Ponce taught Marines the joys of firefighting // MCSN Scott Pittman / Navy
Our senior colleague Christopher P. Cavas has a great story this week about the early planning for what the Marine Corps will look like after Afghanistan: Any way you slice it, the Marines are going to be operating closer than ever with the Navy, so top decision-makers like Navy Undersecretary Bob Work are nailing down the details.
If the Marine Corps of the past decade has been a rougher, angrier version of the Army — with different uniforms and a different motivational nonsense phrase — planners seem to want the Corps of the future to turn back the clock to the “small wars” era of the early 20th century. Here’s how it might go down:
Bad stuff is taking place in some horrible, hot country. Navy warships show up and send the Devil Dogs ashore via sea and aircraft, enabling the Marines to resolve the aforesaid bad stuff using their unique brand of high-impact, high-explosive mediation. The Marines get back on the ships and leave. No major footprint, and it’s all over in just a few weeks. Yes, the Marines can do this today, but planners want to get better at it, and it sounds like they want to increase the range of ships from which it can be done:
Marines will begin operating from a variety of new platforms like the Littoral Combat Ship and Joint High Speed Vessel, and “should come up with new and innovative ways to deploy Marines — in smaller packages, with distributed capabilities.” The Corps will also review its tactical aviation plans to make sure the Navy and Marine Corps “are in complete sync” and can afford what they want.
So what do you think? Can the Marine Corps un-learn being a heavy land force and re-learn the swashbuckling, conflict-hopping lifestyle of yesteryear? Is this theory even the right one for Navy and Marine Corps planners to pursue?
Navies secure from ‘SNOOZEPAC’
August 2nd, 2010 | The greenside The Pacific | Posted by Phil Ewing
The Singaporean frigate Supreme, here returning to Pearl Harbor, was just one of many exotic foreign warships that took part in this year's RIMPAC. // MC2 Brett Morton / Navy
The chips and dip are long gone; guys are waking up with marker on their faces; and the p-ways are echoing with the sound of empties rolling around — yes, the multinational naval kegger known as RIMPAC, aka SNOOZEPAC, is over. But unless you’re an expert insider, you shouldn’t try to discern any wider significance for the maneuvers, Vice Adm. Richard Hunt told the Associated Press, nor should any of the countries that weren’t invited (e.g. China, North Korea) be worried:
“What we are trying to accomplish with RIMPAC is training for ourself, not necessarily sending a message,” Hunt said. “Trying to read current events into it would be inappropriate, and is certainly not something that was part of the structure or the intent of the exercise.” He declared the world’s largest maritime exercises “a fantastic success,” saying it improved tactical coordination and built relationships that will improve security throughout the Pacific.
All kidding aside, Quantico types were really excited about this year’s RIMPAC because of the chance it gave them to try out their new smaller-unit amphibious theories, including ways to use sea-based artillery. If the Marine Corps of tomorrow is to become the nouveau-”small wars” force that some planners envision — disembarking from gators in small groups, engaging in some tasteful, limited violence, then packing up after only a few weeks — it needs venues like RIMPAC to try that stuff out, the thinking goes.
Update: The Navy has posted an official, good-time-had-by-all wrap up of this year’s exercises that included this breakdown of all the fun:
“During the exercise, participating countries conducted three sinking exercises, which included 140 discrete live-fire events, 30 surface-to-air engagements, 40 air-to-air missile engagements, 12 surface-to-surface engagements, 76 laser guided bombs and more than 1,000 rounds of naval gunfire from 20 surface combatants. In addition, units flew more than 3,100+ air sorties, completed numerous maritime interdiction and vessel boardings, explosive ordnance disposal, diving and salvage operations and mine clearance operations and 10 major experiments — the major one [was] the Marine Corps Enhanced Company Operations experiment.”
The only one of its kind
June 30th, 2010 | Military Sealift Command The greenside | Posted by Phil Ewing
The VADM K.R. Wheeler trained this week to deploy and recover its eight miles of fuel hoses. // MSC
It’s seabasing’s world, and we just live in it — or so some elements in the Pentagon and at Quantico might say. So, all right: Y’got a whole bunch of angry, face-painted Devil Dogs ashore on a hostile beach doing what they do best — chopping up bad guys and kicking up rooster-tails in the sand with their armored vehicles — and then the combat element pushes inward. That leaves a beachhead for Navy and Marine Corps engineers to turn into a depot, and the first thing they’re going to want is gas for all their vehicles and equipment. Lots of gas. How do you get it there?
One way to do it is with Military Sealift Command’s offshore petroleum distribution ship VADM K. R. Wheeler, which, as this official story explains, is the only ship in the world that can stand miles out to sea and pump fuel ashore from a tanker. Here’s how it works: Wheeler’s crew sends a lighter amphibious resupply cargo vessel ashore to serve as an anchor, then attaches a messenger line to the LARC’s winch. It pulls in the line, which then guides the ship’s eight miles worth of hose to a connection on the beach. Wheeler can then start pumping up to 1,400 gallons of fuel per minute from a merchant vessel, an MSC oiler, or whatever’s available.
The ship practiced this routine — without actually delivering any fuel — in South Korea last week. Wheeler trains to deploy and recover its hoses about every year, just to be sure the ship is ready to go.