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May 15, 2008 With naval battles on the high seas now virtually extinct for the U.S. armed forces, the navy's role has become more one of infantry invasion and airstrike support - and with this new role comes a need for vessels more suited to littoral (just offshore) operations. The initial order was placed back in 2005, and the first delivery, the U.S.S. Independence, has just been launched, a speedy trimaran with helicopter decks, a stealthy radar profile and a healthy array of arms. It's configurable to suit a wide array of littoral combat missions, including minesweeping, anti-submarine and surface...

Renton (Washington State),May 15 Indian Navy will soon have an edge in the Indian Ocean once it inks $2.2 billion deal for eight maritime patrol planes from Boeing.The agreement is expected to be signed soon. The Boeing P-8i Poseidons long-range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR)patrol aircraft will enable the Indian Navy to operate a platform almost simultaneously with the USNavy. Richard Buck,Boeing's international programme manager for P8,said that India would be able to leverage on the substantial investment made in the P8 by the US Navy. A lot of issues relating to the P-8i for the Indian Navy are still in the...

Just an update on the Letters from Home project. If you remember, I’m collecting letters for the men and women serving aboard the USS Russell. So far I’ve received a little over 50 letters. Remember, we’re looking for about 250, so we’ve got a long way to go yet. Once again, any help you all can give would be greatly appreciated. Please pass the word along to family and friends. Or, if you have a blog, please put up a post abou the project. Letters can be sent to letters@thinking-right.com.

Just an update on the Letters from Home project. If you remember, I’m collecting letters for the men and women serving aboard the USS Russell. So far I’ve received a little over 50 letters. Remember, we’re looking for about 250, so we’ve got a long way to go yet. Once again, any help you all can give would be greatly appreciated. Please pass the word along to family and friends. Or, if you have a blog, please put up a post abou the project. Letters can be sent to letters@thinking-right.com.

In the New York Times’ upcoming edition of their Sunday magazine, they take a look at John McCain’s divergent views of the Iraq War from those of his fellow Vietnam veterans. In The McCain Doctrines, Matt Bai reports that most of these colleagues (with the noted exception of Bob Kerrey) attribute McCain’s support for Iraq to the fact that he didn’t serve on the ground in Vietnam — and that his years as a POW somehow “sealed” him away from the war’s lessons: There is a feeling among some of McCain’s fellow veterans that his break with them on Iraq...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Navy has denied Chelsea Clinton permission to campaign for her mother on a former bombing range on a small Puerto Rican island. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign wanted to use the land Wednesday as a setting to discuss the candidate's clean up plan for the region and call to give some areas to local residents. But Navy spokeswoman Lt. Lara Bollinger said no one is allowed to campaign on federal property. Chelsea Clinton is making her second campaign visit to Puerto Rico in the last three weeks. The U.S. territory has 55 delegates...

Not many men in the military are eager to join a brand-new unit, where they don't know people, don't know what they'll be doing and don't have a proud unit lineage. But the Navy assured the men it would be good for their careers. So some men volunteered and a lot more were drafted to join Observation Squadron 67, so named because that was the year it was born. After a while the men took to calling themselves "the Ghost Squadron" because they felt forgotten, participants in a secret war that neither the U.S. nor the North Vietnamese wanted to...

The Navy's newest guided missile destroyer was christened Saturday with the name of a fighter pilot who spent 7 1/2 years in captivity in North Vietnam, received the Medal of Honor and served as presidential candidate Ross Perot's running mate. Four Medal of Honor recipients and seven former prisoners of war attended the ceremony at Bath Iron Works that marked a milestone in construction of the 9,200-ton ship named for Vice Adm. James Stockdale. Stockdale's widow, Sybil, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and uses a wheelchair, let loose a champagne bottle propelled by rope that swung across the Stockdale's bow....

A Navy deal for an unmanned plane is the latest won by a unit of the defense contractor, the region's second-largest private employer.With a bulbous head and plank-like wings, the aircraft resembles a lumbering whale. And its seven-word, 49-letter name -- Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aerial System -- is a whopper. But the award last month of a Navy contract to build the hulking, robotic patrol plane, nicknamed BAMS, could not have come at a better time for Northrop Grumman Corp. and, in particular, its military aircraft business headquartered in El Segundo. Flying highThe contract, potentially worth nearly $4...

The surface warfare module for the U.S. Navy's new LCS (Littoral Combat Ships) will contain an unusual collection of weapons. The only familiar item will be a MH-60R (a navalized Blackhawk) helicopter, armed with a 12.7mm machine-gun and Hellfire missiles (with a range of 8 kilometers). There will be three other aircraft, all RQ-8A Fire Scout UAVs. Each of these is a 1.5 ton unmanned helicopter, that will be armed with 70mm laser guided DAGR missiles. These 25 pound missiles have a range of six kilometers. There will be two 23 foot long Spartan USVs (unmanned surface vehicles), each armed...

An underground nuclear submarine base on China's Hainan Island is drawing scrutiny from the United States and India. According to satellite imagery on the Web sites of Jane's Intelligence Review and the Federation of American Scientists, the base has a sea entrance wide enough to allow submarines to enter the underground facilities. The photograph reveals what appears to be a ballistic missile submarine moored to one of the piers outside. Rumors of a nuclear submarine base had been swirling for a few years. Kurt Campbell, with the Center for a New American Security, says the satellite photographs confirm those suspicions...

LEMOORE NAVAL AIR STATION (CALIFORNIA): The race for a $10 billion Indian order for 126 fighters just got hotter with the US Navy enthusiastically batting for the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, saying it was best suited for an Indian Air Force (IAF) requirement for a multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA). Such was the spirit with which UN Navy pilots put the jet through its paces at this sprawling air base in central California that it left no doubt it was making a strong pitch for the fighter that it assisted Boeing in developing. "The F/A-18 has delivered on all that it...

Navy Secretary Names New Guided-Missile Destroyer USS Michael Murphy Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced today at a ceremony in Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y., the name of the newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be Michael Murphy. Designated as DDG-112, the name honors Lt. Michael Murphy who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during Operation Red Wing in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. Navy SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Lt. Michael P. Murphy lead a four-man team tasked with finding a key Taliban leader in the mountainous terrain near Asadabad, Afghanistan, when they came under...

At a ceremony on the eastern shore of Lake Ronkonkoma -- in a Brookhaven Town beach previously named after Murphy, who was awarded the Medal of Honor last September -- Navy Secretary Donald Winter said the keel of the destroyer would be laid in June 2009 at a shipyard in Maine. He said the ship would be commissioned in 2011. Winter said Navy warships have traditionally been named after major historical figures, such as American presidents. He said the naming of the destroyer after Murphy was "an opportunity to recognize this new generation of heroes." This story is based on...

We’ve been hearing rumblings about the U.S. Navy’s triple-hulled ships, but here’s one that was launched last month, the U.S.S Independence. Built by General Dynamics, it’s called a “littoral combat ship” (LCS), and the trimaran can move huge weapons around faster than any ship in the Navy. Ironic that with all that high tech built in, the ship reminds us of the Merrimac ironclad from Civil War days. Littoral means close to shore, and that’s where these fleet-hulled babies will operate, tailor-made for launching helicopters and armored vehicles, sweeping mines and firing all manner of torpedoes, missiles and machine guns....

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (AW) Kevin S. O’Brien, Office of the Secretary of the Navy, Public Affairs LAKE RONKONKOMA, N.Y. (NNS) -- Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter announced on May 7 at a ceremony in Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y., the name of the newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be USS Michael Murphy. Designated as DDG 112, the name honors Lt. Michael Murphy who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during Operation Red Wing, in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. "Michael Murphy's name which will be forever synonymous with astonishing courage under...

Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter announced on May 7 at a ceremony in Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y., the name of the newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be USS Michael Murphy. Designated as DDG 112, the name honors Lt. Michael Murphy who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during Operation Red Wing, in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. "Michael Murphy's name which will be forever synonymous with astonishing courage under fire will now be associated with one of the U.S. Navy's most technologically advanced, most powerful and most capable warships," Winter said. Michael Murphy's...

Michael Pillsbury, a Pentagon consultant on China, said recently that the U.S. strategy of "hedging" against an emerging military threat from Beijing by building up U.S. forces in the Pacific likely will continue whoever is elected president in November. Mr. Pillsbury made the comments during a panel discussion at a Jane's U.S. Defense Conference and noted that a key part of the strategy is the U.S. buildup of forces on Guam. The recent deployment of additional U.S. forces there prompted some "hysteria" from the state-run Chinese news media, he said. The hedge strategy, Mr. Pillsbury said, remains below the public...

aring, the first of the Royal Navy's Type 45 Destroyers, has successfully tracked a Typhoon aircraft from Manchester to the west coast of Scotland as part of the second stage of her sea trials. During the five week trial the 7,350 tonne vessel has completed all power and propulsion testing, as well as a series of tests in open water off the west coast of Scotland which included extensive Long Range Radar and navigation systems trials, medium calibre gun blast trials and weapon alignment tests. Combat System trials have seen good performance across a wide range of equipment and numerous...

Once again, I’m collecting letters of support for the men and women aboard the USS Russell - DDG-59. I’m aiming for about 250 letters, so it will be a smaller project than last time. I’ve received word back from the Marines who we sent the letters to late last year, and I can’t emphasize enough how important these letters are to them. It’s really not all that much to ask to sit down and write a short note of support to those putting it all on the line for us. Please send the emails to letters@thinking-right.com.

Once again, I’m collecting letters of support for the men and women aboard the USS Russell - DDG-59. I’m aiming for about 250 letters, so it will be a smaller project than last time. I’ve received word back from the Marines who we sent the letters to late last year, and I can’t emphasize enough how important these letters are to them. It’s really not all that much to ask to sit down and write a short note of support to those putting it all on the line for us. Please send the emails to letters@thinking-right.com.

Once again, I’m collecting letters of support for the men and women aboard the USS Russell - DDG-59. I’m aiming for about 250 letters, so it will be a smaller project than last time. I’ve received word back from the Marines who we sent the letters to late last year, and I can’t emphasize enough how important these letters are to them. It’s really not all that much to ask to sit down and write a short note of support to those putting it all on the line for us. Please send the emails to: letters@thinking-right.com.

I have been enjoying this series a great deal. How about you?

Final assembly starts on the first of Navy P-8A Poseidon planes that could be Renton's last 737s Although The Boeing Co. lost the competition to supply air-refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force, it still has one major military aircraft development program in the works.Starting next year, it will deliver the first of what could be more than 100 737s, modified with bomb bay doors and weapon pylons under the wings, to the U.S. Navy. Over the next decade or more, the P-8A Poseidon will replace the aging fleet of prop-engine Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion planes that have been used...

A vessel contracted by the Navy in the Persian Gulf fired warning shots Thursday on two Iranian fast boats, FOX News has learned. The Westward Venture, a ship contracted by the Navy to carry military cargo to Kuwait, fired upon the boats Thursday after attempts to get Iranian boats' attention failed. The ship was about 50 miles off the coast of Iran when the fast boats approached. A Navy security team, armed with M16 rifles and .50-caliber machine guns, was onboard at the time the warning shots were fired.

MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead announced today the reestablishment of U.S. 4th Fleet and assigned Rear Adm. Joseph D. Kernan, currently serving as Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command, as its first commander. U.S. 4th Fleet will be responsible for U.S. Navy ships, aircraft and submarines operating in the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of focus, which encompasses the Caribbean, and Central and South America and the surrounding waters. Located in Mayport, Fla., and dual-hatted with Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (COMUSNAVSO), U.S. 4th Fleet reestablishment addresses the increased role of maritime forces...

A female midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy testified Tuesday that a fellow midshipman raped her in her dorm room after he had been drinking. Mark Calvanico is accused of rape, making a false statement to investigators, conduct unbecoming an officer and unauthorized absence.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, April 22, 2008 – Forty-eight business, civic and local government leaders visited the USS George Washington about 80 miles off shore from here April 20, and a lucky dozen got to spend the night on the ship. “It reminds me that the best and the brightest are right here representing our country,” said Neal Denton, a senior vice president of government relations and strategic partnerships for the American Red Cross, based in Washington, D.C. Denton and the other visitors are participating in the 75th iteration of the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, a defense secretary-sponsored program...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, April 22, 2008 – Since the fourth grade, Wendy Wachtell’s son, Jameson, has wanted to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. She thought his desire would wane with age, like wanting to be a fireman in the fourth grade. But it soon became clear that was what he wanted, she said. Now, with Jameson a sophomore in high school, conversations and considerations for his future are taking a more serious tone. Naturally, she conceded, as a mother, Wachtell is concerned about her son joining a military force while the nation is at war. But, yesterday, as...

U.S. and Gulf allies in exercise to block ships carrying WMDs April 21, 2008 ABU DHABI — The United States has held a rare naval exercise with Gulf states which it said was not directed at Iran. The U.S. Navy began the exercise on April 19 meant to test Gulf Cooperation Council capabilities to block the entry of ships that carry weapons of mass destruction. This was the second such exercise in the Gulf in as many years. Officials said Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar participated in the exercise while representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia observed.

MANAMA (Reuters) - A female sailor was found dead at a U.S. naval base in the Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain on Sunday, the Navy said. The cause of death was under investigation, and the name of the sailor was being withheld until the family had been notified, the Navy said in a statement. It gave no further details. In October, two female sailors were killed and a third sailor was critically wounded with what appeared to a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a shooting incident at the base. Bahrain is the home of the U.S. fifth fleet. About 3,000 staff...

6th Annual Rally for the Troops will be held on Sunday April 20, 2008 at 11:00 PM in downtown Cleveland’s Public Square. Free Parking at Tower City Parking lots. Last year an estimated 5000 motorcyclist attended the Rally. Bikes will stage at 8:30 AM from Cleveland Harley Davidson Sales Company (W145 and Lorain), Lake Erie Harley Davidson (Avon Ohio); South East Harley Davidson (Bedford Hts. Ohio) and Western Reserve Harley Davidson (Mentor Ohio). Bikes will depart for downtown Cleveland at 9:30 AM. Jim Mantel of WGAR will MC the Rally and Monica Robins of WKYC will sing the National Anthem....

Kailash Colony market, a middle-class shopping area in south Delhi, is an unlikely headquarters for one of the world's most successful warship design programmes. A single armed sentry post and a strand of barbed wire atop the boundary walls are all that hint at an ultra high-security installation -- the Directorate General of Naval Design -- that has fathered battleships like the INS Mumbai, which turned heads across the globe when it sailed into war-torn Beirut in 2006 to evacuate hundreds of Indians stranded by Israel's attack on Lebanon. Rear Admiral MK Badhwar, the navy's design chief, explains how the...

By Ann Shibler Published: 2008-04-07 New "anti-terrorism" rules ordered up by DHS for those who fish the Great Lakes are causing a wave of dissent. While still leaving our southern border wide open, the northern border will be protected by stricter security rules heavily enforced by the DHS, particularly for those tall-tale-telling anglers. Follow this link to the original source: "Going fishing? Pack your passport" COMMENTARY: Starting with the 2008 charter fishing season on the Great Lakes, and particularly impacting Lake Erie because of its geography and popularity among anglers, fishermen will now have to have their passports or two...

WASHINGTON — A Navy officer has described for a Washington jury how she worked as a call girl while also serving as a supply officer at the Naval Academy. Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Dickinson testified Thursday that she had sex for money while working for Deborah Palfrey's escort service, according to The Washington Post. She testified she quit in April 2006 because she didn't like the work and because she had other commitments. Palfrey has said she was unaware that the escorts were having sex for money. She says the business was an erotic fantasy service. Testimony resumes Monday.

McCain was a POW when U.S. began to use laser-guided bombs TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Sen. Rockefeller got down and dirty today with colleague John McCain in an interview with the Charleston Gazette in West Virginia when he said: "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues." Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki had this to say about the Rockefeller smack down: "Senator...

Summary of Action Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Michael A. Monsoor For actions on Sept. 29, 2006 Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor, United States Navy, distinguished himself through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Combat Advisor and Automatic Weapons Gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 29 September 2006. He displayed great personal courage and exceptional bravery while conducting operations in enemy held territory at Ar Ramadi Iraq. During Operation Kentucky Jumper, a combined Coalition battalion clearance and...

A doctor from Concord who pleaded guilty in 2005 to having sexual contact with a patient in his home has asked a judge to reduce his conviction and cut short his probation so he can join the U.S. Navy. "In my humble opinion . . . Dr. Loeser has learned from his mistakes and is ready to write a new and far more positive chapter for himself and his family," [Navy recruiter Jeffrey] Hall wrote. "Dr. Loeser epitomizes the Navy's core values of honor, courage and commitment."

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

A shadow legal body was set up by the Defense Department to manipulate the prosecutions of U.S. Marines accused of massacring Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005. That’s the bombshell disclosure from the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm that is representing one of the accused Marines, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. And it could prove to be the most damning piece of evidence showing the political motivations behind the ongoing prosecutions of the Haditha Marines. “The hysteria and media firestorm over Abu Ghraib and the Pat Tillman investigations led to fear of a similar media reaction...

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2008 – A ship on short-term charter to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal last night, military officials reported. There were no reports of casualties from the ship, the Global Patriot. Officials said several boats approached the Global Patriot while it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal. The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker on the Global Patriot to advise them to turn away. Other warning steps, including a signal flare, were used...

Easter Sunrise Services and Our ServicemenKT McFarland The only people in the history of the world who have sacrificed their lives for people they didn’t know have been Jesus Christ and the American soldier, sailor, marine and airman…Read Full Story Here

ONE Egyptian was killed and two wounded when a US military ship about to cross the Suez Canal opened fire on barges of hawkers that approached their boat today, a security source said.

US military finds sailor in slain taxi driver's case: report Weekend March 22, 2008 The US military Saturday took into custody a deserter in Japan wanted for questioning over the killing of a taxi driver, a report said.The US military, which has been looking for the sailor since early this month, informed Japan early Saturday that he was found in the military hub of Yokosuka near Tokyo, Kyodo News said, quoting police sources. The report said the sailor's credit card was found Wednesday in a parked taxi in which the 61-year-old driver was stabbed to death with a kitchen...

I was just as shocked as some of you when I heard this. How can a man who has attacked family members who support the war be honored for supporting military families? Defenselink: To recognize his continuous support and recognition of sailors, Marines and their families throughout his 17 years on television, the Navy presented its Superior Public Service Award to Montel Williams yesterday in New York during the taping of his long-running program’s final show. Navy Capt. Kenneth J. Braithwaite II, a rear admiral selectee and director of Joint Public Affairs Support Element Reserve, presented the award to Williams...

Filling a Heroes Uniform By Debbie Lee Gold Star Mom

A few months ago, a day before one of the occasional marches the Capital sees demanding an end to the Iraq War, I began the descent into the Metro stop near my office, looked up, and saw a number of representatives of Code Pink standing at the railing overlooking the escalator. Or rather, I heard them first. They were screaming at the parade of commuters, at the top of their lungs and in a tone somewhere between simple frustration and righteous anger, "End the war!!!" Well, I thought, that ought to take care of things. Good work, hippies! I kid...

Remember Me By Salena Zito Time punishes war. The war in Iraq is no exception; as each moment passes, public resolve, politics and passion erode its mission. Collectively, many Americans tend to remember the mistakes and politics that led us there, rather than the faces of the men and women who serve and defend us. Seven months ago, Lizzie Palmer, a young lady from Columbus, Ohio, barely over the threshold of childhood, felt compelled to do her part to remind people of those faces. The result is a stunning video that was showcased on Chris Wallace's Fox News Sunday last...

(UNCLASSIFIED) Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Guess these guys shouldn't have taken the relaxed walk back to the mosque.. Video taken on Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) sensor in Iraq. The FLIR Sensor produces a video picture based on heat all objects give off. These terrorists just completed an attack on an American position and had slowed down to a stroll thinking they were home free. WRONG!!! The Chain Gun onboard uses a 30 mm high energy explosive in the bullet. The gun is considered an area weapon but as you can see it is very accurate; you can see the...

WASHINGTON - Borrowing a theme from the presidential contest, Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that the possibility of a 3 a.m. emergency call to the White House is all the more reason for the next commander in chief to follow through on President Bush's plans for a national missile defense. "It's plain to see that the world around us gives ample reason to continue working on missile defense," Cheney told the conservative Heritage Foundation at a dinner recognizing the 25th anniversary of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a proposed network of rockets capable of shooting down incoming intercontinental ballistic...