The best part of deployments are the homecomings — and the worst part of deployments are the homecomings.  As each day counts down and your homeport draws near, time slows to a crawl, the clock seems to freeze and restlessness grows.  Nervous energy abounds as do anyone of a number of “oh yeah, we also need to do…” tasks, ranging from preps for the post-cruise corrosion inspection from the wing, the post-deployment reports to the ISICs and plans for the inevitable trip tot he shipyard for an availability period and the creation of the supporting work packages.  Still, channel fever grows in direct proportion to the anticipation of arrival...

SJS,

The end of this wonderful government paid vacation is around the corner. We have been making an end run home. There is supposed to be one last port visit, to my home town in the Emerald City before the ship actually ends this cruise. That port visit most of my command is slated to leave. We will be embarking tigers and doing a tiger cruise from the Emerald City down to San Diego. I am doing it this time and bringing my father-in-law out with me. So he can get a chance to live my life for a few days. It will be interesting, they will have the usual stuff planned. Everything from an air power demonstration that may drop live death, to night time fire works as the self-defense mounts fire off their tracer rounds, big bucks bingo, ice cream social, movies on SITE TV that will be interrupted by FOD walks, etc. Basically a week in the life, and not the stuff they showed on those shows like JAG or in the movies like Top Gun.

While trying to get ready for home coming it has been nothing like meeting and paperwork hell. Last minute taskers that get assigned and then unassigned and then assigned again, all because some one else had the good idea fairy visit them. Then the good idea fairy spray came out and then the good idea fairy came out again. There are some of us that believes the good idea fairy is like a cockroach, you can kill one and then another pops up someplace else. Anyhow, like I said it seems like some training event gets started, then canx’d, then started again only because someone realized that the requirement needs to be fulfilled. On top of that it has been how to document the training. If not that then it has been paperwork hell simply because some additional paperwork that has become a requirement just before coming home. Everything from verifying personnel data in the service jackets to updating training to cover the good idea fairies. I think I have succeed in the last forty-eight hours to use enough paper that would justify clear-cutting the side of a mountain.

In the middle of all this as well has been the work to prepare our jets for our fly off. So it has been competing for hangar space trying to get enough of the little gripes that would affect the navigation and aviating of the airplane off the ship to the home base. I think I have talked about this portion before. To add into it we have dived into some storm that is tossing us around a little bit. Again just enough to make the suggestion to a few people that they should resort to the soda and saltine diet. What makes it even worst though is that there are some flying requirements that we need to hit as well, but due to the storm the ship isn’t feeling safe enough to launch jets or recover. Just a couple of days ago it seemed like everyone was trying to beat snakes in the cockpits while landing. Even the E-2’s were having problems and at the time we were doing flight ops the closest divert was NAF Midway, so when they came in saying “Trick or Treat”. The powers to be in charged decided to recover that event and knock off for the day. You know it is a bad day when the E-2 calls trick or treat. Since then we have had the deck open for a couple of hours in driving rain and high winds getting only the most basic of maintenance done. Again just enough to make sure the planes are safe enough to operate. We aren’t trying to break anything or lose anything in the high winds cause we are opening up panels. It sucks to lose an aircraft panel over the side this late in the game. It is sort of like losing a tire off your race car with in inches of the finish line.

When I have had a chance to bounce over to your site, I noticed a few people asking about the personal side of my life. Married life has been alright. Now I have only actually spent time with the wife for about a total of three months out of the first year married. Beyond that, I am living the geo-bachelor life right now. We are working on trying to get that fixed. That has been low priority compared to anything else going in our life. Such as getting a budget together, downsizing our respective stuff, deciding between sailor bachelor décor and her décor. Basically learning the idea that I need to be like a reed in a wind storm instead of being a huge oak. There is a time and place to stand firm and a time to bend to the winds of change. At times it feels like I am bending more and at other times I think I am standing firm only to find out that through her feminine trickery or wits, she has brought me around to her thinking. Other that that we are planning on home coming and dealing with some time off and together.

So the end is almost here and with it my contact to outside world. I hope you all have enjoyed these postcards and I hope soon to get time to work on my own site again. Get back into my a couple of my hobbies, work on my house, and basically try and enjoy some time on the life. So here is to the end of the last round of postcards. Remember, just as I am coming home there is someone else in this nation’s military ramping up to leave or is leavening. If you see one of them give them a shake of the hand and an honest pat on the back.

Sincerely,

Charles

Charles — BZ on a deployment well done, on your faithful and illuminating correspondence and all our best wishes for speedy homecoming and reunion with the CINCHOME.  Have a blast with your father-in-law and the Tiger Cruise, I think you’ll find that will really help the time pass.   – SJS

©2010 Steeljaw Scribe. All Rights Reserved.

"Prometheus" an AC-130A tail number 55-0044

In May 2008, I wrote of the final identification and return of the remains of two of the Prometheus’ crew  , Maj Barclay B. Young   and Sr. Master Sgt James K. Caniford  , two of a crew of 14 lost one dark March night, 38 years ago. At the time, all but one MIA had been identified, that being (then) Capt Curtis Daniel Miller.
Today, closure has come for the crew of the Prometheus (c/s “Spectre 13″):

Air Force Pilot MIA From Vietnam War is Identified

The Department of Defense announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Air Force Maj. Curtis Daniel Miller of Palacios, Texas, will be buried on March 29 in the Dallas-Ft. Worth National Cemetery. Miller was part of a 14-man aircrew, all of which are now accounted-for. Remains that could not be individually identified are included in a group that will be buried together in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.  On March 29, 1972, 14 men were aboard an AC-130A Spectre gunship that took off from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, on an armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. The aircraft was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile and crashed. Search and rescue efforts were stopped after a few days due to heavy enemy activity in the area.
In 1986, joint U.S.- Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams, lead by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), surveyed and excavated the crash site in Savannakhet Province, Laos. The team recovered human remains and other evidence including two identification tags, life support items and aircraft wreckage. From 1986 to 1988, the remains were identified as those of nine men from this crew.

Welcome home — and may all of you now rest in peace…

©2010 Steeljaw Scribe. All Rights Reserved.

Rear Admiral Meyer’s philosophy of “Build a Little, Test a Little, Learn a Lot” drove the testing and milestones of the Aegis system. Having witnessed problems with existing missile systems related to a lack of testing, tests that incorporated too many objectives, and failed system integration efforts requiring massive “get well” programs, he drove the project to conduct numerous tests in development and in delivery of production gear prior to ship installation.
That philosophy carried over into the sea-based ballistic missile defense (BMD) program, using the Aegis weapons system at its core. The following are scenes from the development of Aegis BMD — from the designing board to sea.  A clear example of the results of following that philosophy may be seen in the sequence of test shots over the final two minutes of the film — the early intercepts aimed for the center of mass of the target.  As the tests progressed, watch how the aim point is walked forward towards the harder to hit but more important (simulated) warhead section of the target:

©2010 Steeljaw Scribe. All Rights Reserved.

March is Brain Injury Awareness month and the following post was provided by Chelsea Travers  , a representative of CareMeridian, as part of a public service effort to raise awareness of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury).   With the significant incidence of injury from IEDs deployed against our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, TBI has quickly become the “signature” injury of the Global War on Terror (according to the VA).

Please note that I do not have any personal stake or interest in Care Meridian and provide no endorsement thereof (in keeping with the effort to keep the site ad free) except to offer my thanks for their efforts on the behalf of our injured servicemen and servicewomen who have sustained TBI.

Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Military

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is becoming a common wound of modern warfare. It has even been coined the “signature wound” of the War on Terror. While TBI is becoming more prevalent in wartime activity, many service men and women continue to go undiagnosed. Institutions, like the US Department of Veterans Affairs  , are working to make quick and accurate diagnoses in order to prescribe appropriate and effective treatment.

TBI is caused by forced trauma to the head, either by being shaken or hit. The severity of a TBI varies from case to case, but symptoms range from mild concussions to a debilitating state. The majority of TBI’s acquired by military personnel are classified as mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI). Initial symptoms of MTBI consist of loss of consciousness, disorientation, loss of memory, headache, and temporary loss of hearing and vision. They are often partnered with anxiety, irritability, difficulties processing information, limited concentration amongst other problems experienced down the road. While MTBI is most common amongst the men and women of the armed forces, more severe cases of TBI are happening much more frequently and often require the victim to attended specialty rehabilitative nursing centers, like CareMeridian  .

The most common cause of a TBI in the military is due to blasts. There are three degrees of blast injuries where a TBI is common; Primary (due to blast itself), Secondary (due to objects being propelled by a blast) and Tertiary (due to a collision with a third party object). According to the Veterans Health Initiative, active male members of the military from the ages 18-24 are hospitalized with a TBI at a rate of 231 per 100,000 and females 150 per 100,000. Based on military force projections this would mean that 4,141 military personnel are hospitalized on average each year with a TBI, and these numbers often rise during wartimes.

The best prevention for veterans to avert the long-term effects of a brain injury is to recognize the symptoms of a TBI. Once the symptoms are identified an individual should take basic precautionary measures in order to begin the healing and recovery process until a more specific diagnosis can be made.

Service men and women give so much to protect this country and they deserve to come home to a happy and healthy life. Creating awareness about TBI will help ensure their long term health. By helping our veterans, their friends and their families recognize the early warning signs of a TBI, treatment can be sought as early as possible.

I would also take this opportunity to steer you to Soldier’s Angels 3, and two of their outstanding projects: Project VALOUR-IT   and Operation Price of Freedom  .  Both are areas where you can have a direct and immediate positive impact on the recovery and life of one of our wounded heroes. – SJS

©2010 Steeljaw Scribe. All Rights Reserved.

Ecce:

070808-N-0684R-069 PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 8, 2007) - The guided missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88) steams into the sunset as storm clouds set in during exercise Valiant Shield 2007. Preble is part of the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group. The John C. Stennis, Kitty Hawk and Nimitz Carrier Strike Groups are participating in Valiant Shield 2007, the largest joint exercise in recent history. Held in the Guam operating area, the exercise includes 30 ships, more than 280 aircraft and more than 20,000 service members from the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ron Reeves (RELEASED)

©2010 Steeljaw Scribe. All Rights Reserved.