|
1999 |
LTJG
Britton
LT Paul Fischer
CAPT Keith
LT
Kelley
LTJG
David Walter Britton returned to campus and
the Blacksburg airport on 19 November flying the newest aircraft in the Navy's
inventory, the MH-60 Knighthawk helicopter. Sharing his personal observation in
the aviation training pipeline and squadron duties, he was a highlight on the
Naval Aviation Professional Laboratory conducted on the airport ramp
along with other squadron members of HC-6 and VF-101.
Bravo Zulu, Dave!
LT Paul Fischer
After 5 months of school in Newport, RI, I reported in October for my first sea tour in aboard USS DEYO (DD 989), a SPRUANCE-class destroyer based in Norfolk. For the next two years I served as the ships Fire Control Officer. From November of 2000 through May 2001 the ship deployed to the Mediterranean and operated as the American representative to Standing Naval Forces Mediterranean (SNFM), a multi-national surface task force usually made up of eight warships, each from a different NATO nation. I detached from DEYO in January of 2002.
While I was aboard DEYO we visited several US ports, including Puerto Rico (4 or 5 times), New Orleans, Ft. Lauderdale, and Mayport (FL); several ports in Spain, including the Canary Islands, Palme de Mallorca, and Barcelona; Italy (twice), Toulon, France and Souda on the island of Crete (Greece). Other Hokies with me aboard DEYO were Marc Johannsen (?98), our ASW Officer, and Charlie Allison (?96, an ECP), who was one of our helo pilots from HSL-44.
From January to May of 2002 I attended training on the Aegis weapon system in Wallops Island and Dahlgren, VA. In June I got on a plane and flew to Bahrain to begin my second sea tour, this time aboard USS JOHN S. McCAIN (DDG 56), an ARLEIGH BURKE-class destroyer based with Forward Deployed Naval Forces in Yokosuka, Japan (about 30 miles southwest of Tokyo); Initially I served as CIC Officer, and later as Auxiliaries Officer. While I was aboard the ship made 3 operational deployments: Two to the Arabian Gulf, including combat support operations during the initial phases of IRAQI FREEDOM, and one WESTPAC ?Patrol?. I detached from JOHN S. McCAIN in May of 2004.
While I was aboard JSM we visited only two US ports, Guam (several times), and Saipan; several ports in South Korea, including Inchon and Chinhae; Phuket and Pattaya Beach in Thailand; the island of Bali (Indonesia)?2 months before the terrorist bombed it; Bahrain; Jebel Ali, U.A.E.; and Darwin, Australia. While there were no other Hokies with me aboard JSM, Yokosuka is a small naval community and I ran into several friends from Blacksburg who were serving aboard other ships. These included Raphael Castellejo (?99), Jon Powers (?00), Iris Andino (?00, I think), Keisha Marable (again, ?00, I think), Kevin Casagrande (?99), and a handful of others who were passing through. Additionally, when the ship operated in South Korea I was able to visit with Judd Strom (?99) and Michelle Gettier Medwick (?01).
Since June of ?04 I?ve been a student at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, studying for a master?s degree in Systems Engineering. I should finish in June of 2006 and then head back to Newport for Department Head School, and then another ship. There are several other Hokies here at NPS, over 20, and we?ve developed a great mini-alumni chapter.
CAPT
Eric Keith
I am currently stationed at
MCAS New River, in Jacksonville,
NC. I am a CH-46E pilot in
HMM-266, The Fighting Griffins. My
experiences in the fleet have been a deployment to Afghanistan
and I will leave for Iraq in a month. I'm sure that will be
much fun.
Go Hokies,
LT
Arthur Kelley
My name is Arthur Kelley, and I
am a graduate from 1999. As far as
what I am up to, I am currently stationed at US Transportation Command at Scott
AFB, ILL. What I am doing is
transportation analysis (moving personnel and equipment wherever they are
needed).
Sea story,
When I was on USS Underwood (FFG 36) out of Mayport, we were in a ModLoc box
about 45 miles off Jacksonville, when we heard over Bridge to Bridge that there
were 2 missing divers. So we found
the position on the chart, and it was about 13 nm away.
So we called the Captain, and he decided that we should help. Anyway,
we get to the position, and there are Coast Guard cutters and helicopters flying
around looking for these divers for the past 4 hours. The
first thing that happens after a ship reports to a SAR Commander is that he will
give you a heading to drive. So we
get our 270 heading for about 8nm. About
3 nm down the first track, a midshipman spotted the diver with an orange flipper
attached to a spear gun (lots of sharks in that area). So
we get our SAR people to help save these guys, and their boat had drifted from
them. The good thing is that these
people were in the Atlantic where the water temp is above 80. If
they were in the Pacific (water temps stays at around 55), they would have died.
Those divers were lucky, not all lost divers get found.