Vert reps: Routine, dangerous

Stars & Stripes ^ | Feb. 9, 2004 | Scott Schonauer

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Monday, February 9, 2004

Vert reps: Routine, dangerous


By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, February 9, 2004

Scott Schonauer/ S&S
Navy aircraft directors guide a helicopter during a vertical replenishment operation aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan on Thursday in the Mediterranean Sea.

ABOARD THE USS BATAAN — The helicopter drifted above the ship’s flight deck and hovered within feet of Pvt. John Purcell’s helmet.

His mission: Latch a piece of cargo to the belly of the MH-60 Night Hawk and get out of the way quickly — without getting killed, of course.

Fighting off hurricane-strength winds, Purcell shoved the 6-foot-long hook into the clip and the helicopter lifted the empty pallets into the air. He escaped without a scratch, but the experience left him with an adrenaline rush.

“The first time you do it you can’t fathom the fact that you’re standing underneath a hovering helicopter and your life is in the hands of the man above you as well as the man on your back,” Purcell said

When a Navy ship is in a hurry, the quickest way to get supplies is by helicopter. Vertical replenishments are routine, but they can be risky, especially at night or under harsh weather.

The Bataan conducted its vertical replenishment, or vert rep for short, on Thursday while in the Mediterranean Sea. The 844-foot amphibious assault ship is on its way to the Persian Gulf to help support the military’s largest rotation of forces since World War II.

Ships usually need supplies every two weeks. When at sea, they can either receive it by rope or by helicopter.

Sailors and Marines aboard the Bataan got their supplies 17 days after they left the United States on a three-month deployment to drop off Marines and equipment for duty in Iraq.

It took several hours to transfer 85 pallets packed with everything from mail to Mountain Dew. The ship also received thousands of gallons of fuel from the supply ship USNS John Lenthall as it cruised alongside.

Hooking the cargo to the bottom of the aircraft might be the most hazardous part of the operation.

Lance Cpl. Matthew Bishop described standing underneath a hovering helicopter as like standing in the center of a tornado.

Some helicopters such as the CH-53 create so much static electricity that the person on the flight deck must touch a grounding wire. The wind from the blades can be so strong that it can blow a person overboard. The person must avoid getting disoriented under the helicopter so he doesn’t run into the helicopter’s landing gear or, worse, the tail rotor.

Pilots and combat cargo team members practice the well-orchestrated operations as often as they can.

“The potential is there for someone to get hurt because of all of the things going on at one time,” said Marine Master Sgt. Greg Stimmell, who is part of the 39-member platoon responsible for supplying the Marines on the ship. “But we’ve been very fortunate that we haven’t had anybody get hurt on any vert reps.”

[ibheath]

Watching this happen in real time is a rush, especially when we were off/on loading the redshirt's munitions from an ordinance supply ship.

The downside for us was a vertrep meant at least 10hrs of a working party.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

ABOARD THE USS BATAAN — The helicopter drifted above the ship’s flight deck and hovered within feet of Pvt. John Purcell’s helmet.

His mission: Latch a piece of cargo to the belly of the MH-60 Night Hawk and get out of the way quickly — without getting killed, of course.

“The first time you do it you can’t fathom the fact that you’re standing underneath a hovering helicopter and your life is in the hands of the man above you as well as the man on your back,” Purcell said

When a Navy ship is in a hurry, the quickest way to get supplies is by helicopter. Vertical replenishments are routine, but they can be risky, especially at night or under harsh weather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     USS Bataan (LHD 5)

 

                   Sailor "speak"

 

                    

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Thanks, Cannoneer No. 4

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

* Thank you, ibheath. *

[SAMWolf]

Dangerous Job Bump

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Mideast Notebook: Plenty of flicks for Bataan crew

Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, February 9, 2004

SOMEWHERE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN — Sailors don’t have to bring their portable DVD player aboard the USS Bataan.

That’s because the ship has plenty of movies playing 24 hours a day.

The ship has a library of nearly 1,000 movie titles. Many of them are fairly new releases.

The Public Affairs Department plays 84 movies a week. Sailors and Marines can request a movie, and the public affairs staff will play it if they have it.

Each day, a dozen movies are played on the ship’s closed-circuit TV. The schedule is replayed throughout the day.

On the amphibious assault ship’s current deployment to the Persian Gulf, the most requested movie has been “Radio” starring Cuba Gooding Jr., said Seaman Brian Anderson, who plays the movies daily.

And if sailors and Marines don’t like a movie, Anderson often hears about it.

When he played “Brotherhood of the Wolf,” he got as many as 10 calls from angry viewers. The movie is in French and has subtitles.

“I’m not going to stop a movie, but I’ll take into [consideration] their concern and not play it again,” he said.

Anderson probably got the most complaints when he played the first part of “The Godfather.” When it came time to play the second part, he discovered he didn’t have it. The ship never received it. Although most of the viewers probably know how the 1972 classic ends, many wanted to see it.

As bad as its bark

BAGHDAD — Taking in a stray has provided more than a friend for one set of soldiers in Iraq. When a team of soldiers found a dog whose head had been split open — by what appeared to be a rifle butt — the group took him in and nursed it back to health.

After tending to the dog’s wounds with antibiotic cream, the soldiers of the the Headquarters Headquarters Company 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division Maintenance from Friedberg, Germany, discovered a new loyal friend. The dog, “Big Daddy,” joins the soldiers at the checkpoint and has become a welcome companion — therapeutic and comforting in the day-to-day existence in Iraq, some soldiers said.

As a result of the new coexistence, soldiers on guard have an early warning of possible danger and, as one soldier put it, the dog hates Iraqis and will attack them or chase them off when they get too close.

In another camp, another group of 1st AD troops have adopted a golden-haired puppy named Sapper, given it some shots and plan to transfer the dog to the next incoming unit.

Expressing condolences

Sailors aboard the USS Bataan were shocked to learn that Virginian-Pilot newspaper reporter Dennis O’Brien had died. The reporter road aboard the Bataan prior to the war in Iraq and was embedded with the Marines throughout the war.

The newspaper industry journal, Editor & Publisher, reported that O’Brien, 35, killed himself and was found in a Norfolk, Va., park. The magazine cited sources from within the Norfolk newspaper.

The Bataan expressed its condolences to the family and sent flowers.

O’Brien spent 5½ months covering the war. His business card — with his e-mail address scrawled on the top — is still taped to a computer monitor in the public affairs office.

— Stars and Stripes reporter Scott Schonauer, aboard the USS Bataan, and Stripes photographer Jim Schulz, in Baghdad, contributed to this report.

[OXENinFLA]

COOL!!!

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[blackie]

Be ever vigilant ~ Bump!

[getgoing]

"God bless the Marines" please let your son know he'll be in our thoughts and prayers...you, too!



RC, Thank YOU for the update - http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1060449/posts.

[serurier]

Thank soldier , bless them win and security .

[Soaring Feather]

Amen bump

[Soaring Feather]

bump to the top, Thanks RC

[Calpernia]

Bump!

Nice job Cowgirl!

[Neets]

Hi serurier!!

Your posts make me smile!!

I really needed a smile today.

I am happy you joined us.

[serurier]

Thank you very much , Neets , I'm glad help you , thank you again .

[Ben Chad]

"God bless the Marines" please let your son know he'll be in our thoughts and prayers...you, too!

Thanks!! Any day now mine will be on his way for the test of his life. All I can do is pray for his safe return along with all the others.

[windchime]

Bump!