News of the Force: Thursday, December 29, 2016 - Page 2

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News of the Force: Thursday, December 29, 2016 - Page 2

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U.S. Navy and Marine Corps

 

    The commanding officer of a Marine Corps fighter attack squadron at NAS Miramar, Calif., was fired yesterday because of a loss of trust in his abilities.

    The Sealed Air Corp. has collected over 1,100 toys this holiday season for donation to the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program.

    The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) decommissioned ROKS Pyeongtaek (ATS-27), on Dec. 28th, closing the final chapter on the last U.S. ship transferred to the ROK's navy. USS Beaufort (ATS-2), an Edenton-class salvage and rescue ship, joined the U.S. Fleet in 1972 and served 24 years in the Indo-Asia-Pacific before being decommissioned in 1996. One year later, the ship was transferred to the ROK Navy and commissioned as ROKS Pyeongtaek. Beaufort was involved in multiple operations in the 7th Fleet's area of responsibility including serving as a support ship for minesweepers in Operation End Sweep in North Vietnam. Following her decommissioning on March 8, 1996, ROKS Pyeongtaek entered the Department of State's Security Assistance Program and the hull was sold to the ROK on Aug. 29, 1996, and was re-commissioned ROKS Peyongtaek on April 1, 1997.

    The U.S. Marines are expanding their sabbatical program due to low participation. The deal offered by the program is simple: Marines can take up to three years off in the Individual Ready Reserve to pursue personal plans and goals.

    And the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots program wrapped up its annual drive in Lorain County, Ohio, with more than 4,000 gifts donated by people across the area.

 

News from the U.S. Marshals Service

    The United States Marshals Service reports that its "Fugitive of the Week" program in New Hampshire has resulted in multiple arrests since it began there.

    A Perth, Australia, man is expected to be extradited to the U.S. within days and turned over to the U.S. Marshals to face child abuse charges, but his lawyer fears he could die in a U.S. prison.

    A man has spent a night in jail in DeKalb County, Ga., after he was arrested in a case of mistaken identity. The actual fugitive was wanted in Virginia.

    The U.S. Marshals have captured two fugitives who escaped from a jail in Fayetteville, N.C.

    And a Lorain, Ohio, murder suspect's mother and sister have been arrested by the U.S. Marshals for obstruction of justice.

 

U.S. Air Force

    Raytheon has been awarded a $37 million U.S. Air Force contract to support the service's satellite anti-jamming efforts.

    Heaps of World War II junk are rusting away in Greenland. Abandoned by the U.S. Air Force in 1947, Bluie East Two is one of several World War II and Cold War installations left to crumble there.

    The Air Force has kicked off the bidding process for JSTARS replacement aircraft.

    The Boeing Co. and its partner, Saab, have completed the first flight of their all-new T-X aircraft, which is designed specifically for the U.S. Air Force's training requirements.

    Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said yesterday the Air Force "just got too small, too fast," and says the service now needs 29,000 more airmen.

    The Air Force Reserve Command concluded its final Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program training weekend of 2016 last Sunday in Orlando, Fla.

    The Missouri Air National Guard's 131st Medical Group has joined with the active duty 509th and the Air Force Reserve's 442nd medical groups as a Total Force partner.

    Jhonny Polanco assumed command of an Alaska Air National Guard unit on Tuesday, according to a news release from the Air National Guard. The squadron flies KC-135s.

    A fire in Great Falls, Montana, has destroyed a house under construction. Twelve personnel from Great Falls Fire Rescue, and three personnel from the Montana Air National Guard were on the scene. Five fire trucks were used.

    Lt. Col. Michael Belardo has assumed command of the 131st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron of the Missouri Air National Guard's 131st Bomb Wing.  

    The Fresno, Calif., City Council has honored the city's Civil Air Patrol squadron. The CAP is made up of senior members and cadets, and it is truly a group for all.

    Civil Air Patrol Cadet Jacob Vieira, of the Civil Air Patrol's 102nd Composite Squadron in North Smithfield, R.I., has received the CAP's lifesaving award.

    U.S. Sen. John Thune has stopped in Rapid City, S.D., to present the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to a World War II veteran of the Civil Air Patrol.

    And the first thing you notice about Air Force Airman 1st Class Corynn Marcelo when she talks about her recent deployment to Afghanistan is her professionalism and military bearing. She carries herself like a seasoned veteran and speaks with a quiet authority usually reserved for older, more experienced troops. Yet there’s something that just doesn't seem to fit. It’s only when the Flint, Mich., native tells you about how she came to the decision to join the Air Force that it dawns on you. She’s only 21. Like countless other young Americans, Marcelo has family who served in the military, and she tried a bit of college before deciding she really wanted something different -something challenging. So, she enlisted in the Air Force to create a new life for herself, and she found it at Robins AFB, Ga., with the 78th Medical Group, where she works in medical logistics. It’s a job she’s proud of, and one she’s quick to point out helps to keep the group running. Marcelo had been married for only a couple of months when she got her first deployment orders last year. Her husband’s deployment soon followed, and both have since returned to Robins AFB. "I was actually excited to deploy," Marcelo said. "In our job field, we don’t get to deploy very much, and I wanted to deploy at least once in my career to get the experience." It was a long haul from there to there. A six-day journey with four stops, flying on three different aircraft. It marked the beginning of a five-and-a-half-month deployment that she said would change her outlook on life. Upon arriving in Afghanistan, Marcelo was assigned to an aid station for Special Operations Joint Task Force Afghanistan/NATO Special Operations Component Command Afghanistan, where she worked with Americans, as well as with an Australian and an Austrian senior medic. Marcelo said it was easy to work with them, though their accents and slang took a little getting used to. Her day-to-day tasks began with morning sick call. This was a change for her, she said, because she'd usually handled logistics and normally didn't work with patients. After sick call, it was business as usual she added, doing whatever task was required for the rest of the 10-hour shifts she worked seven days a week. Something else that became business as usual, she said, was the sound of alarms and sirens going off with a resounding, "Incoming! Incoming! Incoming! It was pretty regular for us to get indirect fire," she said. "There were times when there were more at once. I think Sept. 11th we got one every couple of hours throughout the night. Other days we'd get like one or two. Sometimes they were on the other side of base, sometimes they were on the flightline. Twice they happened to land on our camp." The regular attacks made Marcelo very appreciative of the alarms, and of the U.S. firepower designed to remove the threat. "It was scary and loud. It makes you realize that counter-rocket, artillery, mortar-intercept-based weapons are a very good thing," she said with a knowing grin. "When they shoot them out of the sky and the remnants come down, it’s a lot better than the entire indirect fire landing." Now that she has lived through it, Marcelo said, she knows exactly what she would tell another airman with an impending first deployment. "When you're back at home, if there are different sections in the job you do, try to rotate to as many as you can," she said. "I was lucky that I was able to, because when I deployed I was the only logistics person, but I did every job. If I wasn’t able to get the chance to work in all those sections at Robins, I don’t know if I would've been equipped to do it over there." She said the experience broadened her perspective. "I feel like I made a difference, going out there and being able to support the mission," she said. When she got the news that she was returning home, Marcelo said, it was an amazing feeling. And since she has returned, she added, people have asked her about joining the military. "Every time, I tell them it was the best decision of my life," she said. "You get to meet new people and see new places - do things you couldn’t really do if you just went to college and stayed at home."

 

The parting shots

    On this date in 1778, British troops occupied Savannah, Ga. In 1782, the first U.S. nautical almanac was published in Boston, Mass., by Samuel Stearns. In 1798, Secretary of Navy Benjamin Stoddert sent in his first annual report to Congress, requesting naval forces be increased "to make the most powerful nation desire our friendship - the most unprincipled respect our neutrality." In 1812, the frigate USS Constitution, commanded by William Bainbridge, captured HMS Java off Brazil, the second British frigate captured by Constitution in six months, during the War of 1812. In 1813, during the War of 1812, British forces burned Buffalo, N.Y. In 1835, the Treaty of New Echota was signed, giving Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi River to the U.S. In 1837, a Canadian militia force destroyed the steamboat USS Caroline while she was docked at Buffalo, N.Y.; and the steam -powered threshing machine was patented. In 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state of the U.S. In 1848, gas-powered lights were first installed at the White House. In 1851, the United States' first YMCA opened in Boston, Mass. In 1862, during the Civil War, Confederate forces defeated Gen. Sherman's troops at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Miss.; and the bowling ball was invented. In 1867, the first telegraph ticker was used at Groesbeck & Co., a brokerage house in New York City. In 1876, eleven railroad cars crashed into a ravine near Ashtabula, Ohio, killing 92 people. In 1885, the first bicycle was patented in Germany. In 1890, the U.S. 7th Cavalry massacred more than 200 captured Indians at Wounded Knee, S.D. In 1891, Thomas Edison patented the electrical transmission of radio signals. In 1908, a U.S. patent was issued for 4-wheel automobile brakes. In 1930, Fred P. Newton completed the longest swim ever at 1,826 miles when he swam the Mississippi River from Ft. Dam, Minn., to New Orleans, La. In 1934, Japan renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, and the London Treaty of 1930. In 1940, Germany began its bombing of London. In 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's train returned to Versailles, France. In 1942, USS Wasmuth (DMS 15) eventually sank 35 miles off Scotch Cape, the southwest point of Unimak Island, in the Aleutians, two days after a pair of her depth charges exploded during a gale. USS Ramapo (AO 12) came alongside in the heavy seas and heroically rescued Wasmuth's crew. In 1943, USS Silversides (SS 236) sank the Japanese transport Tenposan Maru, the army cargo ship Shichisei Maru, and the freighter Ryuto Maru while also damaging the army cargo ship Bichu Maru, off Palau. In 1944, USS Fixity (AM 235) was commissioned. Decommissioned after the war, she was later sold for commercial service until she sank in the Ohio River in the late 1990s. Also on this date, USS Murrelet (AM 372) was launched. In 1947, a ship carrying Jewish immigrants was turned away from Palestine. In 1949, the first UHF television station began broad-casting on a regular basis in Bridgeport, Conn. In 1952, the first transistorized hearing aid went on sale in Elmsford, N.Y. In 1955, Barbra Streisand recorded her first song, a rendition of "You'll Never Know," at the age of 13. In 1967, Star Trek's episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles," was first shown on TV. In 1968, Israeli commandos destroyed eleven Lebanese air force planes inside Lebanon. In 1975, 11 people were killed and 75 were hurt by a terrorist bomb at New York City's LaGuardia Airport. In 1978, the Shah of Iran asked Shapour Bahktiar to form a civilian government. In 1982, Paul "Bear" Bryant coached the Alabama college football team for the final time. In 1992, a China Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed into a mountain in Taipei. In 1994, a Boeing 737-400 crashed into a mountainside in Turkey, killed 54 people. And in 1997, Russia signed an agreement to build a $3 billion nuclear power plant in China.

    Actor Michael Cudlitz (Southland) is 52-years-old today. Actor Jude Law is 44, and actress Mary Tyler Moore is 80.

    Actress Carrie Fisher, as you know, died in a Los Angeles hospital this week at age 60 after having suffered a massive heart attack. Yesterday, her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, also died at her son's home there. The family said she suffered a massive stroke. Debbie Reynolds was 84.  

    "Well, I'm in the hospital to end the Christmas Break," Couzin Gym said today. "Today has not been a good day. I decided to go horseback riding, something I haven't done for years. It turned out to be a big mistake. I got on the horse and started out slowly, but then we went a little faster; and before I knew it, we were going as fast as the horse could go. I couldn't take the pace and fell off, but caught my foot in the stirrups with the horse dragging me. It wouldn't stop. Thank goodness the manager at Toys-R-Us came out and unplugged the machine, but he had the nerve to take the rest of my change so I wouldn't attempt to ride the elephant. I was heading there next."

 

    

          

 

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