Streeter's 'Godspeed, John McCain' →
Via CaglePost - the superlative Mark Streeter, Staff Cartoonist at The Savanah Morning News.
USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) →
via the United States Navy: YOKOSUKA, Japan (June 27, 2017) Family, friends and shipmates attend a memorial ceremony at Fleet Activities Yokosuka honoring the seven Sailors assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) who were killed in a collision at sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Raymond D. Diaz III/Released)
The Porter
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (April 7, 2017) The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) conducts strike operations while in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017.
Porter, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ford Williams/Released)
Edwin T. Layton, Rear Admiral, United States Navy Ribbon Bar
Intelligence QOTD, Edwin Layton, RADM, USN →
'I want you to be the Admiral Nagumo of my staff. I want your every thought, every instinct as you believe Admiral Nagumo might have them. You are to see the war, their operations, their aims, from the Japanese viewpoint and keep me advised what you are thinking about, what you are doing, and what purpose, what strategy, motivates your operations. If you can do this, you will give me the kind of information needed to win this war.' - Edwin Layton, RADM USN, 'And I Was There', 1985, pg.357, ISBN-13: 978-5550460245, Publisher - Random House (March 1987)
Brought to my undeniably over-taxed attention by the Red Team Journal
Naval OPSEC of the Future →
The United States Navy OPSEC of the future, is Tuesday's MustRead. Via the Navy's Office of the Chief of Information, comes this fascinating glimpse of the future.
Sailors assigned to the Fast-Attack submarine USS Seawolf (SSN 21) return home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton.
Coming Home
The USS Seawolf (SSN 21) arrives (with the assistance of a port tug) home at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on Friday last, up the road a piece from us in Bremerton, Washington. United States Navy photograph by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray. Outstanding
The Five
and, then there were five....
CHATTANOOGA, Tennesee, United States of America - August 15, 2015) Battle crosses for fallen service members on stage during the memorial at McKenzie Arena at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. The memorial honored the four United States Marines and one United States Navy Sailor who died in the Navy Operational Support Center Chattanooga shooting July 16, 2015.
United States Navy Photograph by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Wolpert
Statement by Rear Adm. Mary M. Jackson at the City of Chattanooga's Vigil
Story Number: NNS150718-01 Release Date: 7/18/2015 02:09:00 AM From the Navy Office of Information
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- A statement by Rear Adm. Mary M. Jackson, Commander, Navy Region South East, was given at the City of Chattanooga's vigil for the fallen Marines, July 17.
Good evening. It is with my deepest sympathies and personal sadness that I am here tonight.
I would like to thank the Chattanooga community for their overwhelming support of our Navy and Marine Corps family. We greatly appreciate the arrangements made here this evening with this vigil invitation and those who have gone out of their way to make us feel at home. We are honored to be part of this community. We continue to keep our thoughts and prayers with our fallen Marines and their families, and for our wounded Sailor and his family.
Today, a small team of counselors and chaplains arrived from around the Southeast Region to provide support for families and service members and we will continue to support our Navy and Marine Corps team alongside the community.
These incidents have had a profound impact on every one of us, regardless of whether we wear the uniform or not. But we stand together and find resilience in each other as we move ahead of these difficult times. We are Chattanooga strong!
Outstanding →
via the United States Navy, comes this image created by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gerald Dudley Reynolds, capturing for perpetuity, a United States Naturalization Ceremony, while aboard the USS Midway Museum, in San Diego, California. Nearly fifty Marines and Sailors from twenty-two countries, as well as many civilians, were sworn in as United States Citizens on July 1st, 2015.
US Marines, Killed in Nepal Crash, Have Been Recovered →
News, via the Joint Task Force 505 from KATHMANDU, Nepal, May 17, 2015 – Joint Task Force 505 officials have identified the six U.S. Marines who were killed along with two Nepalese soldiers when their UH-1Y Huey helicopter crashed in the mountains of Nepal May 12.
Once identified as the crash site, Nepalese Special Forces stood watch over our fallen Marines and their Nepalese Army comrades-in-arms throughout the night, till recovery efforts could be mounted.
Capt. Dustin R. Lukasiewicz, a UH-1Y pilot with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Camp Pendleton, California, and a native of Nebraska;
Capt. Christopher L. Norgren, a UH-1Y pilot with HMLA-469, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Camp Pendleton, California, and a native of Kansas;
Sgt. Ward M. Johnson, IV, a UH-1Y helicopter crew chief with HMLA-469, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Camp Pendleton, California, and a native of Florida;
Sgt. Eric M. Seaman, a UH-1Y helicopter crew chief with HMLA-469, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Camp Pendleton, California, and a native of California;
-- Cpl. Sara A. Medina, a combat photographer with Marine Corps Installations Pacific, Okinawa, Japan, and a native of Illinois; and
-- Lance Cpl. Jacob A. Hug, a combat videographer with Marine Corps Installations Pacific, Okinawa, Japan, and a native of Arizona.
Recovery Effort
Today at approximately 10:00 a.m. Nepal Standard Time, Nepalese soldiers and service members from Joint Task Force 505 safely recovered the fallen U.S. and Nepalese service members to the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal.
The soldiers and Marines were honorably received at TIA and will be transported to the appropriate medical facilities to be properly identified by mortuary affairs personnel.
JTF 505 Commander Marine Corps Lt. Gen John E. Wissler thanked the people of Nepal and the Nepalese armed forces for their selfless dedication in the search and recovery of the fallen service members.
"I am honored to serve alongside the Nepalese soldiers and to call them my friends" he said.
"You never hesitated in the joint effort to bring our brothers home. Everyone united -- the soldiers hiking through hazardous terrain, the pilots flying in uncertain weather conditions and the Nepalese special forces standing watch over our Marines on a mountainside at night,” Wissler said. “We honor our fallen comrades through our unselfish support to each other in this time of grief."
The fallen service members were "courageous, selfless individuals dedicated to the international Humanitarian Aid mission here in Nepal whose memories will live on through the lives they touched during this disaster relief operation and in their previous service to their countries," he said.
JTF 505 arrived in Nepal April 29 to conduct humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations following the April 25 magnitude-7.8 earthquake. The helicopter crashed about 8 miles north of Charikot, Nepal, while supporting casualty evacuations following a second earthquake of magnitude 7.3 that occurred May 12.
United States Armed Forces Day 2015
via the United States Department of Defense - 'The History of Armed Forces Day':
On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense. Each of the military leagues and orders was asked to drop sponsorship of its specific service day in order to celebrate the newly announced Armed Forces Day. The Army, Navy and Air Force leagues adopted the newly formed day. The Marine Corps League declined to drop support for Marine Corps Day but supports Armed Forces Day, too.
In a speech announcing the formation of the day, President Truman "praised the work of the military services at home and across the seas" and said, "it is vital to the security of the nation and to the establishment of a desirable peace." In an excerpt from the Presidential Proclamation of Feb. 27, 1950, Mr. Truman stated: "Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 20, 1950, marks the first combined demonstration by America's defense team of its progress, under the National Security Act, towards the goal of readiness for any eventuality. It is the first parade of preparedness by the unified forces of our land, sea, and air defense".
US CRS Report to Congress: Cyberwar and Cyberterrorism →
via the eponymous United States Naval Institute, comes news of last months United States Congressional Research Service report entitled Cyberwarfare and Cyberterrorism: In Brief. A fascinating analysis, and todays' MustRead.