Feb. 12th Nimitz News

VOL. 6| ISSUE 2 February 2, 2017

THE GOLDEN

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NIMITZNEWS.WORDPRESS.COM

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NIMITZ NEWS

in this issue:

Capt. Kevin Lenox Commanding Officer Capt. Todd Marzano Executive Officer CMDCM Jimmy Hailey Command Master Chief

Media Department Lt. Cmdr. Theresa Donnelly PAO Ens. Meagan Morrison DIVO MCC Ahron Arendes Media LCPO MC1 Porter Anderson Media LPO MC2 Jimmy Cellini Production LPO

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MC2 Andrew Price Creative Lead MC2 Holly Herline Phojo WCS MC3 Marc Cuenca Lead Designer

06 Healthy Crew, Happy Crew: With long working hours prepping for the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV), it can be hard for Sailors to find time to hit the gym or keep up with their fitness. With the equipment and opportunities offered, it can be easier to stay fit underway than you think.

Sail Mail: How exactly does USPS manage to get that Adele CD to a waiting Sailor in the middle of the ocean? More than 45 million pieces of mail are sent to and from service members every year. Read about the methods USPS and the Military uses to get the mail to you, rain, snow and shine.

MC2 Mark Brison MC2 Jessica Gray MC2 Jose Hernandez MC2 Siobhana McEwen MC2 Ian Zagrocki MC3 Chad Anderson MC3 Samuel Bacon MC3 Kenneth Blair MC3 Colby Comery MC3 Deanna Gonzales MC3 Austin Haist MC3 Erickson Magno MC3 Weston Mohr MC3 Liana Nichols MC3 Bethany Woolsey MCSN David Claypool MCSN Ian Kinkead MCSN Cole Schroeder MCSN Leon Wong MCSA Cody Deccio

12 The Golden Thirteen: In the year 1944, 16 black Sailors pushed the limits and endured a majority of the training that would qualify them as the first black naval officers. Turn to page 12 to read more about the Golden 13.

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Healthy Crew, Happy Crew

Sailors can get worn out from working long hours making sure an aircraft carrier is well prepared for the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). The last thing on some Sailor’s minds is going to the gym or worrying about what they are eating.

MC3(SW) WESTON MOHR

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onetheless as USS Nimitz and her crew undergo INSURV, physical fitness and health are still important aspects of the military lifestyle that should not be overlooked.

“We’re all in the military and Physical Fitness Assessments (PFA) are required,” said Airman Christian Sigurdson, a native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin and selfproclaimed health fanatic who doesn’t miss a day at the gym. “Basically, it’s a part of our job to stay in shape. Everyone

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needs to do their duty and work on their fitness in addition to their job on the ship.”

Sigurdson tries to work out for at least an hour or more a day even while out to sea. He says it takes a lot of mental toughness, but having a gym partner helps him get motivated.

“If you pick someone who is at your physical level or higher, you will have an unspoken competition to push yourself to try to do more and more,” said Sigurdson.

Sigurdson says being around the same people every day and the added pressures of work, can be aggravating at times. Getting a good sweat in and

working out can be a great way to relieve that stress.

It can also release endorphins, which make you feel good and give you more energy throughout the day.

Feeling good and seeing progress in the mirror can be a great self-esteem booster as well.

Nimitz has six different gym spaces and 88 pieces of cardio equipment on board. These areas are open 24 hours a day, so there is plenty of accessibility.

There are also plenty of people on board willing to help. Elizabeth Winsper is Nimitz’s Fitboss, and

in the food provided to you, there are still ways to ensure you are eating healthy.

“Most people will know when they’re not eating healthy,” said Winsper. “They will see it in their appearance and they won’t feel as well as when they eat healthy.”

Both Sigurdson and Winsper said that portion control is one of the most important factors of eating well.

“I know that food can be comforting,” said

Working out is only part of being healthy, your diet and what you eat is also a huge factor in maintaining your health. her entire job is devoted to the health and fitness of Nimitz Sailors.

“I’ve always been passionate about working out and being athletic,” said Winsper. “My family has a military background, so this job is the perfect combination of both.”

Right now Nimitz is busy with workups, but once Nimitz returns to a consistent out-to-sea schedule on deployment, Winsper will run two to three fitness classes each day. The different classes include yoga, spin, dance fitness, boot camp and TRX (Total Body Resistance Exercise) suspension training.

“It’s hard to not be lazy after your work day,” said Winsper. “We schedule most of our classes in the evening to help accommodate for that. Even if your schedule doesn’t match up or the gyms are slammed with people you can do your own work out in the hangar bay.”

Nimitz’s next PFA is in May, over a year since the ship’s previous assessment. Sailors should be looking at where they are at physically and should start working on getting to a passing level of fitness if they aren’t where they need to be.

“The ship’s schedule is relatively the same day to day, so if you add working out to that schedule and do it for a while it will eventually become part of your daily routine,” said Winsper.

Working out is only part of being healthy, your diet and what you eat is also a huge factor in maintaining your health. Even while you’re underway and don’t have much choice

Winsper. “Especially when you’re away from your family and loved ones. It can be hard to avoid those monster pieces of cake and the tubs of pudding. I believe in enjoying the junk occasionally, but if you limit your intake you will see and feel a big difference.”

For Sigurdson, breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day because it helps get him going. He also eats small snacks throughout the day so he doesn’t eat larger meals than necessary.

“If you eat breakfast, your body starts metabolizing right away in the morning,” said Sigurdson. “A bigger breakfast and smaller dinner will help because you’re up and active during the day, which burns more calories. When you eat dinner you’re probably going to bed a few hours later so your body doesn’t work off all those calories, and they just sit there.”

In order to help you make better food choices, the Sailors who work in the galley place color-coded cards to show how healthy the food is. Red cards mean that the food isn’t too healthy and intake should be pretty limited. Yellow cards mean that you should still be watchful and only eat it occasionally. The green cards mean that the food is your best choice if you’re trying to be healthy and watch what you eat.

A healthy diet and fitting a bit of time to work out into your long days can be the key to looking and feeling better. If you use your resources and pay attention to what you are doing while underway you might even return home to your loved ones feeling a little better, faster, stronger or even smaller around the waist.

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USS NIMITZ PRIORITY MAIL

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n aroma of jet fuel and exhaust permeates the air.

The tight compartment seems to almost gasp for oxygen with every vibration and rattle.

The cargo containers vibrate and dance against their restraints as if taking part in a ballet, a performance attended by only a handful of lucky Sailors. The final approach is always the best, or the worst, depending on who you ask and where they sit.

The stop is a force of controlled violence.

Halting an object moving just under 200 miles per hour is no gentle endeavor, and doing it in less than 344 feet requires more than one attentive eye.

A quick turn on the deck, a handful of chains, and the cargo compartment of the C-2A Greyhound opens at last on the busy aircraft carrier, USS Nimitz (CVN 68).

You’ve got mail.

Packages pass through the hands of civilians, military personnel and a battery of machines during the journey to their recipients. If it’s a document describing the inner workings of a nuclear reactor, a chart showing the medical ailments of an unfortunate Sailor or an online order of the latest Adele CD, all items arrive on the ship equally at the same time in an orange bag. From warehouse to a Sailor’s berthing, in 30 days or less.

“Seven-to-ten days is the delivery expectation to Fleet Post Offices (FPO) and Army Post Offices (APO),” said Drew Butler, Senior Manager of Joint Military Postal Activity Chicago (JMPACA). “There’s about 1,000 zip codes, of which 650 or so are Navy.”

When military mail is dropped in a post office box, one of the first places it will stop is a USPS sorting center with a JMPA attachment.

JMPAs are located across the United States with hubs in major cities like New York City, Chicago and Honolulu. Smaller detachments can

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be found as far as Japan and Spain. The mission of the postal activities is simple, to ensure the mail is processed quickly according to a classic postal operating plan, “in by noon, out by midnight”, to deliver to service members around the globe.

Averaging 60 active duty members, JMPAs are predominately independent duty personnel, hailing from all of the services. The bulk of the service members however, come from the Navy.

“We rely on responsible people when they come to these locations to not only represent their service branch but all branches as a whole as they’re a liaison to USPS,” said Butler. “They have to truly care about what they’re doing as their work can directly affect the morale of nearly every Sailor overseas.”

An average of 100,000 pounds of mail passes through the USPS sorting center every day, under the eyes of JMPA service-members.

Once through the battery of screening processes,

PRIORITY MAIL POSTAGE REQUIRED SHIPBOARD USE ONLY

searching for drugs, weapons and other non-mailable items, one of the more dynamic parts of the mail system comes into play.

The rapidly changing time table of some ships can make sending and receiving mail quite challenging. When ships pull out to sea, they dispatch mail routing instructions to JMPAs and Fleet Mail Centers in the region they’ll be working in so the USPS has an idea of where to try and send the post.

Mail is sent via commercial air carriers like Delta Airlines, from USPS to a Military Mail Terminal (MMT). The mail terminals act as a local hub for multiple FPO and APOs. When letters and packages are sent to a ship, they need to make their way to an FPO ahead of the target ship so it can either be picked up on a port call, delivered via C-2 Greyhound or even transferred during an Underway Replenishment.

“Communication really is key. Navy movements can be classified, so you could [overwhelm] the capacity of an airstrip by trying to drop cargo ahead of a Navy vessel,” said Butler. “It’s a constant challenge trying to work with the airlines to ensure that the capacity is there to ensure the transit of the mail.”

From start to finish, expedited mail can make it to a ship within 10 days with deferred mail taking up to 30 days. One of the biggest challenges to overcome is a problem that can easily be addressed by the Sailor making the order or receiving the package.

“The biggest thing that can help us out is to make sure the mail is addressed properly,” said Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Mario Garciacantu, Nimitz’ Custodian of Postal Effects and a native

of Houston. “A wrong zip means mail goes to the wrong ship. A bad or non-existent box number means we’ll give it to the wrong department once it’s on the ship.”

Packaging can also affect the transfer time of an item. Plastic footlockers, improperly contained liquids, or even inadequate amounts of tape can make even a small package struggle through the mail process.

“Footlockers tend to crack if they take a drop,” said Butler. “Liquids escape from bottles, which can cause damage to other items in shipping. It always helps to write the intended address on a slip of paper inside the package. If the package is ripped or torn, it’ll tell us who the package belongs to.”

More than 45 million packages are sent to military members each year within the United States and its borders. Despite technological advances, there will always be a place for that special package.

“The people are what makes this effort worth it,” said Garciacantu. “When someone is having a bad day, and they light up because I give them their mail, I feel really good about my work. There isn’t a happier time while working in the mail room than when you see that smile.”

3 TIPS FOR SPEEDY DELIVERY 1) VERIFY DELIVERY & RETURNED ADDRESSES 2) THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH TAPE 3) DOUBLE UP LIQUIDS IN ZIPLOCK BAGS

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SAILORS OF USS NIMITZ REFLECT ON BLACK HISTORY MONTH

MCSN COLE SCHROEDER

“Just looking at this ship, I might not be here today if the iconic figures of black history had not SA Jamel Seibak done what they did.”

Dallas 10

MCSN LEON WONG

“It’s important to remember those who have paved the way for not only African American rights, but equal rights for all Americans regardless of race or religion.”

HM2 Reicar Areceo Pensacola, Fla.

MC3 COLBY COMERY

“The only thing I judge people on is their work ethic and demeanor. I couldn’t care less what they look like.”

AN Christian Sigurdson Eauclare, Wis.

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THE GOLDEN

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Graham E. Martin, A member of the “Golden Thirteen”

I wasn’t thinking about this as being any kind of history-making event at the time.

I was just thinking about getting what I was due. I had a master’s degree, and I ought to be able to at least get further than a third-class petty officer in 17 months.

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THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY HAS BEEN OBSERVED NATIONALLY AS AFRICAN AMERICAN/BLACK HISTORY MONTH SINCE 1976. IT’S A MONTH TO CELEBRATE AND HONOR THE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY WHO DID, AND CONTINUE TO, PUSH THE STATUS QUO.

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) will honor the brave men of “The Golden 13,” along with all the other men and women who have served their country, during a ceremony scheduled for February 23.

The story of the first black officers to serve in the Navy is documented in the book, “The Golden Thirteen, Recollections of the First Black Naval Officers” It was during February, in the year 1944, when 16 black Sailors pushed the limits and endured a majority of the training that would qualify them as the first black naval officers.

The fight against fascism was the predominant motive for the fight overseas during the second World War, but it was also happening in a time when discrimination was reaching a peak back in the United States.

Black civic leaders took to the campaign, Double Victory: victory over fascism abroad and victory over discrimination at home, a program that started in 1942.

This new found fight against an old problem was brought to light by way of an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in June of 1941. Order number 8802 prohibited racial discrimination in any government agency. Although this by no means ended the prejudice occurring across the country, it was the first stepping stone for the brave men of the Golden 13 to change the course of Navy history.

A compressed multi-month officer training class comprised of 16 black Sailors started in January of 1944. These were the first men of color to endure the officer training program of its time, and it didn’t happen without a number of hurdles along the way.

“We had to learn vicariously rather than

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through actual experience,” said Samuel E. Barnes, a member of the original 13. “We worked constantly at a fast pace, because we were given an intensive course.”

The original 16 were taught everything from gunnery and aircraft recognition to seamanship and survival techniques from the seclusion of their own barracks. Never even boarding a ship, they were given training equivalent to a full semester at the Naval Academy from the months of January to March.

“We were under a lot of pressure, and we had to operate as controlled individuals,” said James E. Hair, a member of the Golden 13. “We would get many insults, and it was understood that if we reported any incidents the white trainees would get disciplined, but we might get thrown out.”

In interviews, the Golden 13 often talked about how much they relied on each other and would pass or fail as a group. They did everything they could to not compete but to succeed as a unit.

“We were determined not to fail and followed the motto, all for one, and one for all,” said Barnes. “We knew that we were the foot in the door for many other black Sailors, and we were determined not to be the ones who were responsible for having that foot removed.”

Their short two months of training led up to a final exam in which the class of 16 scored an average of 3.89 out of 4.0, not once but 3 times, a final result that has yet to be broken. It was in March of 1944 when 13 of the original 16 were commissioned as officers, including one warrant officer.

However, this commissioning was not the end of the discrimination and segregation they faced. Many of the 13 went to commands where

they were still treated as lesser individuals because of the color of their skin, despite graduating and breaking records while doing it. Some were sent to command divisions of all black Sailors, because they still weren’t thought of as being equal to their white counterparts.

“I felt that the Navy didn’t know what to do with us, and they were trying to make sure that we weren’t pushed into any situations where we couldn’t extricate ourselves,” said Graham E. Martin, a member of the 13. “I

don’t know whether they were trying to protect us or hold us back.”

In most cases, the 13 were still not welcomed inside the previously all-white officer’s clubs at their various commands. They recalled the slow acceptance of their presence within the clubs. At first, most white officers would walk out as soon as one of the new black officers walked in.

Barnes recalled over time that the prejudice waned, and the white officers realized the new officers weren’t as bad as they previously thought.

“No one today is facing the issues that the Golden 13 had to face because of what they did for us,” said Lt. j.g. Kenneth Bradley, a Sailor on board Nimitz, and a native of Champaign, Ill. Bradley also talked about the homage that should be payed to the original class of 16 in 1944.

“A lot of times today we use excuses like, oh they’re doing this to me or this system or person is doing this to me,” said Bradley. “Well, the Golden 13 weathered it when they jumped over the hurdles and through the obstacles to achieve their goals, because they were passionate about it. I think that’s something everyone can learn from.”

The Golden 13 were pioneers of their time.

Although only one of the 13 made a career in the Navy, the rest went forward and left their mark in the civilian world with various occupations in teaching, engineering, business, social work and law. They rose up in a time when equality was far removed from all sanctions of life in the United States, but they proved to not only the Navy, but the entire world that regardless of race, color or religion, all individuals are capable of achieving results when most people just see a challenge. They showed people what it meant to give future generations a foothold and continue making a difference.

“The Golden Thirteen, Recollections of the First Black Naval Officers” and more Navy Reading can be found at: WWW.NAVYREADING.NAVY.MIL

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through | the | lens

Chief Gunner’s Mate Jason Adams, a native of Ash County, S.C., instructs Avation Ordnanceman Airman Bryan Perry, a native of Tulsa, Okla., on techniques to clear a gun jam on an M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun during a live-fire exercise. Photo by MC3 Samuel Bacon Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Mark Fierro, a native of El Paso, Texas, stands a security watch on the flight deck, as the ship prepares to get underway. Photo by MCSN Cole Schroeder Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Cole Schroeder, from Steven’s Point, Wisc., takes photos of the San Diego skyline from the flight deck as the ship prepares to get underway. Photo by MC2(SW/AW) Siobhana R. McEwen

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A tugboat pulls the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Photo by MCSN Leon Wong Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) Airman Ashley Linares, a native of Los Angeles, confirms numbers with the central charging pad operator on the flight deck. Photo by MCSN Cole Schroeder

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crossword

channel list CH. 02- MOVIE CHANNEL CH. 03- MOVIE CHANNEL CH. 04- MOVIE CHANNEL CH. 05- MOVIE CHANNEL CH. 07- AFN CH. 08- AFN CH. 09- SCROLLER CH. 10- ILARTS CH. 14- CBS CH. 15- NBC CH. 16- FOX CH. 17- ABC CH. 18- ESPN CH. 19- FOX SPORTS CH. 20- NBA NETWORK CH. 21- A&E CH. 22- HISTORY CH. 23- TNT CH. 24- NATIONAL GEO CH. 25- DISCOVERY CH. 26- FX CH. 27- COUNTRY NETWORK CH. 28- TBS CH. 32- CNN CH. 33- BBC NEWS

weekly throwback

Nimitz anchors one mile off the coast of Monaco for a five day port visit during a Mediterranean Cruise in 1982.

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Nimitz News accepts submissions in writing. All submissions are subject to review and editing. “Nimitz News” is an authorized publication for the members of the military services and their families. Its content does not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy, or the Marine Corps and does not imply endorsement thereby.

meme of the week

SODOKU

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