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INSIDE
Abe Celebrates diversity
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Photos of the Week
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Life as a Gunner’s Mate
FROM THE EDITOR
Conducting the nation’s business may be business as usual for the warriors assigned to serve aboard Big Abe, but week in and week out, we always seem to have new reason to celebrate our excellence. Why, just this week, not only did we trumpet the breadth and depth of the diversity that makes our ship, our Navy and our nation great, we also heard about yet another prestigious award for excellence. But that’s just the Lincoln way: be better than everyone else at everything, and someone is bound to notice. Congratulations to the mighty Kestrels of VFA 137, this year’s winners of the Scott Kirby Award for Ordnance Excellence. Tune in next week and the weeks to follow, when I’m sure we’ll have more and more awards to announce. That’s just how we do things around here.
U.S. Navy photo by MCSA Karolina Martinez
VOLUME 24 , ISSUE 8
Kestrels Receive Scott Kirby Award
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he “Kestrels” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 137 received the 2011 Strike Fighter Wing Pacific (CSFWP) Scott Kirby Award for Ordnance Excellence, Feb. 6. The award recognizes proficiency, professionalism and safety in ordnance handling and delivery. The Kestrels’ Aviation Ordnance (AO) division was chosen from an extremely competitive group among all CSFWP squadrons. The Kestrels were graded for excellence in several areas including: the Conventional Weapons Technical Proficiency Inspection, weapons requisitioning and aircraft armament equipment reporting. Throughout the year, Kestrel aviation ordnancemen were responsible for the inspection, movement, uploading, downloading and expenditure of more than two million pounds of conventional ordnance.
Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class Scott Dwyer, the leading petty officer of the AO shop, is responsible for leading and instructing 20 Sailors. “Our shop is armed with rich talent and high standards established by those from our cherished past and our present leadership,” Dwyer said. “The VFA-137 ordnance shop continues to strive for tactical excellence and remains ready to execute any contingency operation in support of national security objectives. “Striving for excellence and being ready to execute any contingency are what puts us on top of the ordnance community,” Dwyer added. “It is an honor and privilege to be the recipient of this prestigious award that recognizes outstanding weapons handling and delivery capability.” Story by Lt. Brad Panzarella
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incoln’s Diversity Council hosted a ceremony for the crew in the ship’s hangar bay, Feb. 17, in celebration of African-American History Month. Lincoln Sailors performed songs by African-American artists and viewed various displays and presentations acknowledging the achievements of notable African-Americans throughout history. In his opening remarks, Capt. William Triplett, deputy commander of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 9, embarked aboard Lincoln, said Sailors should reflect periodically on the lives and accomplishments of great Americans. “We come together to take time off and recognize those who have contributed to the America we live and serve now,” Triplett said. “It’s important to remember and pay homage to the diversity of men and women that contributed to our history.” After beginning the festivities with a cake-cutting ceremony, members of the Diversity Council read poems honoring a variety of different cultures and backgrounds. The ship’s band and choir performed music by African-American artists including the jazz song “Autumn Leaves,” by John Coltrane, the blues song “Feeling Good,” by Nina Simone, the doo-wop song “Don’t Make Me Over,” by Dionne Warwick and Bob Marley’s reggae hit, “Is This Love.” “We highlight all societies of our American culture, and we honor their legacy,” said Triplett. “This celebration creates a more cohesive team within the crew. In effect, that cohesion projects combat power in the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).” Lincoln’s Diversity Council hosts regularly scheduled holiday events like the African-American History Month celebration to educate the crew and increase awareness of the diversity present on the ship. “Doing this helps the crew feel more at home,” said Lt. j.g. Ian Brenner, Lincoln’s Diversity Council officer. “This reminds people of each other’s talents and what makes us unique, but it brings us together as well.” Story by MC3 Jerine Lee
Story and layout by MCSN Brandon J. Bilderback
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hankfully, the very greed that almost caused a season-ending lockout was abolished when the owners and players finally realized they were in danger of making no money at all. So Christmas day, they tipped off a shortened 66-game NBA season, and so far, it has been nothing short of entertaining. While the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder slash through the league on their way to a likely NBA Finals showdown for the ages (sorry Bulls fans), we have plenty of other storylines and subplots to follow. Roll back the clocks one month. The New York Knicks were the biggest disappointment of the year, with an 8-15 record. Head Coach Mike D’Antoni, with no available options, throws Jeremy Lin in at starting point guard (Lin was scheduled to be cut from the team the following day). Eight wins and two losses later, the Knicks are back in the playoff race, and “Lin-sanity” has taken not just professional basketball, but the entire planet by storm. Lin is averaging 24.6 points, 9.2 assists and 2.2 steals a game. The 23-year-old Harvard University graduate has since been on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the subject of a Saturday Night Live
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THE PENNY PRESS
skit. If that’s not “Linsane” enough for you, according to the website bovada.lv, Lin has 5-1 odds to be dating Kim Kardashian by the start of the NBA finals. Until recently, the story of the season had to be the Los Angeles Clippers, the best team in L.A. Wait. What? The Clippers really are the best team in L.A. This is not Planet X, and you are not dreaming. If you are, wake up! Lob City is here to stay and will only get better while Kobe Bryant grows older. Speaking of Kobe, this is season 16, yet he still leads the league in scoring (despite his wrist and knee injuries, not to mention a costly divorce), and he gives the Lakers a chance to win every night. Look, we all have our own opinions of Jordan vs. Kobe, but Bryant’s longevity has to count for something. Like him or not, no one plays harder, cares more or sacrifices everything for his craft quite like Kobe Bryant. If you remember seeing Jordan in that Wizards uniform (or taking batting practice for the Birmingham Barons), then surely you can appreciate the level Bryant is playing at this season. He continues to remain relevant in a league chock full of young talent. Imagine Bryant’s Lakers with an able point guard and, say, Dwight Howard. The Lakers have the trade value to make this happen. This is all purely hypothetical, but hear me out. Flip Pau
Gasol and Matt Barnes’ expiring contract for Deron Williams, which at least leaves the Nets with a legitimate all-star for their move to Brooklyn next season (Williams will NOT be a Net next year—trust me— and Robin Lopez’s injury left them with no chips whatsoever to deal for Howard). The Lakers could then send Andrew Bynum and their 2012 first round pick (and remember, this upcoming draft is loaded) to Orlando for Dwight Howard. Hey, it could happen. Pull off a trade like that, and you catapult yourself from L.A.’s second best team back to league-wide dominance. I’m just sayin’. While we’re being hypothetical, let’s imagine what it might take to derail my Heat/Thunder prediction. What if either team experienced a catastrophic injury (Durant, Westbrook, James or Wade) on their way to the Finals? Who plays for the
Larry O’Brien trophy then? Chicago and the “I can’t believe I’m saying this” Los Angeles Clippers? It’s a toss-up. The league is more talented today than it has been in 20 years. Every team has good players. Even the Minnesota Timberwolves have topnotch talent. Putting Ricky Rubio aside for a second, note that Kevin Love is averaging 26.8 points and 14.2 rebounds a game. Those are solid MVP-caliber numbers. The problem is the T-Wolves have a losing record and a snowball’s chance in hell of making the playoffs. When the smoke clears and all is said and done, there are only a handful of teams with a true shot at winning it all. If it isn’t the Heat and Thunder, then who will it be? Bulls vs. Clippers is a real possibility and not a bad matchup, either. Chris Paul and Derrick Rose one-upping each other for seven games would translate to great entertainment for the fans and high television ratings for the NBA. Everybody would win. Maybe we would even learn who our starting point guard in London will be... In case you didn’t realize it, the Olympics are back this year. If you don’t think this is relevant to what is happening this season, you obviously don’t watch much basketball. Lebron James and Dwight Howard are locked in as starters, but after
that it’s wide open. Go back and watch some of these games between Chris Paul and Derrick Rose, Paul and Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge, even Kobe vs. Wade, then tell me the Olympics aren’t in the back of everyone’s mind. Someone on that list will be this year’s MVP. The question is, who? If Oklahoma City earns top honors in the West, Durant has to be the favorite. Lebron is better statistically than ever, but can he overcome the fact he plays alongside Wade and Bosh? Derrick Rose is a solid choice. Absolutely no one means more to his team. Without
Rose, the Bulls are mediocre at best. The 2011-12 season has been so good so far that maybe every season should be 66 games. With a much smaller margin for error, none of these teams have any chance to mail in games or take a night off. The NBA is on an all-time popularity high that seems to just get better and better. And now that all four quarters of the game are worth watching, fans will be much less likely to spend time staring at some terrible network television crime drama until the last three minutes of the fourth quarter. Stay tuned, fans. I think this season will come down to the last possession.
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Carrier Strike Group 9
U.S. Navy photo by MC3 Carlos Vazquez
Images
U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Jon Idle
U.S. Navy photo by MCSN Zachary Welch U.S. Navy photo by MC3 Wade T. Oberlin U.S. Navy photo by MCSN Benjamin Liston
U.S. Navy p
U.S. Navy photo by MCSN Zachary Welch
photo by MCA Joshua Walters U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Jon Idle
images of the week
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VOLUME 24 , ISSUE 8
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ut of the nearly 5,000 Sailors assigned to or embarked aboard Lincoln, there are only 16 gunner’s mates (GMs) to support and defend the ship and to sustain her combat readiness. GMs are trained to master weapons in many classes, including torpedoes, small arms such as M9s and crewserved weapons like the .50 caliber guns. They are experts in the performance and maintenance of their equipment. The ship and the air wing rely on GMs to maintain their weapons qualifications to ensure a high level of security. GMs assist by passing on their knowledge and instructing other Sailors in the proper use of weapons, including firing stances, field stripping weapons and condition codes. While underway, GMs construct shooting ranges on the flight deck from sandbags, chock chains and wooden targets that they assemble themselves. “On days when there are no flight operations, we set up a range on the flight deck so we can keep in touch with our skills and qualify Sailors,” said Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Landis Green, G-2 division’s leading petty officer. GMs routinely drill and train to sustain the ship’s readiness and safety. Drills that demand GMs’ participation are Quick Draw, Small Craft Attack Team (SCAT), Otto Fuel 2 spill team, abandon ship and man overboard. During Quick Draw, the team has ten minutes to mount and man ten .50 caliber guns, which are located all around the ship. These drills may be called out any time, day or night, and may last for long periods of time. In addition to these drills, GMs must also assume responsibility for alert watch stations, which at times may require them to stand back-to-back watches in the
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same workday. “We have to be ready for any scenario, so we take our training very seriously,” said Green. Aside from combat readiness, GMs also support other needs of the ship, including during at-seareplenishments. “We are up at the break of dawn for every underway replenishment to shoot an M-14 shot line from our ship to connect to the supply ship,” said Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Ryan Stoddard. In the armory, GMs continuously perform maintenance on their weapons and equipment. Required to attend to any equipment defects as quickly as possible, GMs must be able to rapidly disassemble and assemble their weapons and to know every part of them, top to bottom. After every use, they are required to clean all equipment to make it ready for use at a moment’s notice. The GMs must also maintain the support equipment that aides the use of these weapons. This maintenance includes the sprinkler systems in weapons magazines-where the weapons are stored--and long-range acoustic devices, speakers located by their posts that transmit warnings in different languages to ships that come too close to Lincoln. The life of a Lincoln GM demands hours of watch standing and strenuous performance, tedious maintenance and a continuing expansion of weapons knowledge. Next time you see one of these brave 16, take a moment to thank them for assuming responsibility for the defense of the ship. Photos by MC3 Christina Naranjo and MC2 James Evans
Piper Ellen Zaic
Born: Dec. 11, 2011 Weight: 7 lbs., 15 oz. Father: MM3 Lawrence Zaic
Brandon Jared Speed
Born: Dec. 26, 2011 Time: 12:25 p.m. Weight: 6 lbs., 4 oz. Length: 19 in. Father: MMFN Spencer Speed
Taygan Michael Smail
Naliya Sylvia Moore
Claire Elizabeth McCrink
Marilyn Renea Lander
Born: Jan. 3, 2012 Weight: 3 lbs., 6 oz. Father: LSSN Tyler Smail
Born: Feb. 2, 2012 Time: 11:25 p.m. Weight: 6 lbs., 7 oz. Length: 18.5 in. Father: Lt. Sean McCrink
Heidi Lynn Nyssen
Born: Feb. 9, 2012 Time: 9:19 p.m. Weight: 8 lbs., 1 oz. Length: 20 in. Father: ASAN Samuel Nyssen
Born: Jan. 30, 2012 Time: 7:47 a.m. Weight: 7 lbs., 7 oz. Length: 20 in. Father: MMFN Spencer Moore
Born: Feb. 7, 2012 Time: 7:05 a.m. Weight: 6 lbs., 14 oz. Length: 19.75 in. Father: AD3 David Lander
Mackenzie Loriane Bowland Born: Feb. 12, 2012 Time: 11:21 a.m. Weight: 6 lbs., 12 oz. Length: 17.5 in. Father: AN Joshuah Bowland
Know Your Shipmate
Briefly
Photo by MCSN Benjamin Liston and information provided by MC3 Amanda Kilpatrick
Sailors Prohibited from Synthetic Chemical Compound Abuse
AD3 Nicholas Priebe VFA 151
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viation Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Nicholas Priebe, from Owatonna, Minn., joined the Navy in August 2008 to start a new chapter in his life and to receive an education. He currently maintains the fuel system engines for the F/A-18C Hornets assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 151. “Our maintenance keeps the aircraft up and gets it to its target then back on the deck safely,” he said. “We are one cog in the machine to keep peace wherever our carrier operates.” Priebe, deployed aboard Lincoln for the second time, said he enjoys building computers for his friends during his free time. He said he cannot wait to return home to the family he left behind: a goat named Betty. After his enlistment is over in 2013, Priebe plans on returning to his home state to attend the University of Minnesota. And to reunite with Betty, of course. During deployment, he hopes to finish his shop qualifications and become a shop collateral duty inspector, and to advance to petty officer 2nd class as a result of the upcoming March exams. He constantly recommends the military to his friends and family back home. “Joining the service is a great opportunity to get your life on the right track,” said Priebe. “It can be a great stepping stone to greater aspirations as well as a solid career choice.”
The Navy continued to emphasize the policy of zero tolerance for substance abuse by separating 1,515 Sailors in fiscal year 2011 for synthetic chemical compounds, commonly called Spice, and other drug usage according to an official Feb. 21. “Currently, we are discharging a number of Sailors for use of synthetic chemical compounds also known as Spice, sighting failure to obey a direct order,” said Lanorfeia Holder, deputy director of Navy Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention (NADAP). “Those that are tested by our Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) are discharged under an Article 92 misconduct or an Article 112A which is drug abuse.” A ban was placed on five synthetic cannabis compounds commonly found in the designer drug Spice, but also sold under different names, just one year ago March 1. AFMES has the ability to test for those five compounds via Navy Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) at the request of unit commanders if probable cause is determined. Spice is a synthetic chemical compound that is sold as herbal incense and mimics the effects of the drug marijuana. Some of the compounds were initially developed as research to help individuals with certain brain conditions, but the research did not reach its fruition, according to Holder. Some of the short-term effects include auditory and visual hallucinations, painless head pressure, panic attacks, time distortion and delirium. Long-term effects from the designer drug can include permanent physical impairment, mental illness or death. “If a Sailor is having issues with drug abuse or synthetic chemical compound use specifically, we recommend that they reach out to Military-One Source for confidential assessment and counseling at no cost to the Sailor,” said Holder. (Source: www.navy.mil)
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