Know Your Shipmate
Photo and information by MC3 Zachary Hunt
CSSN Tenesia Pinkney Food Services
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ulinary Specialist Seaman Tenesia Pinkney works in the aft galley preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for the enlisted crew of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). A 20-year-old native of Orlando, Fla., Pinkney joined the Navy to take advantage of the educational opportunities available through the military. She intends to get a degree in psychology, and she hopes to work as a criminal psychologist one day. Pinkney, who has been aboard Lincoln for more than a year, has served one full deployment on the ship. She said what she likes most about her job is getting down to business preparing food for the crew. “I love to cook,” said Pinkney. “That’s why I chose to be a CS.” Pinkney said the people she works with also help make her life easier. “I enjoy coming to work and being around people I like,” she said. Pinkney is not sure whether or not her career in the Navy will end after her first term. She doesn’t plan on making that decision until she has to. “It all depends,” she said. “I’m talking to the psychologist on board, trying to get into that, but I think the next deployment will be a big factor in my decision.” When she isn’t cooking for her shipmates, Pinkney loves to travel. She dreams of someday taking a vacation to Paris. “From everything I’ve heard about it, it just seems like a beautiful place,” she said.
do I get to Virginia fromHere Story and photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Adam Randolph
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SS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) hosted a change of homeport (COHP) fair June 15 and 16 on Naval Station Everett. Lincoln personnel organized the fair to present the ship’s Sailors and their family members with pertinent information and resources to assist them in preparing for Lincoln’s upcoming move to her new homeport in Norfolk at the end of this year. Representatives from the Abraham Lincoln Family Association, Fleet and Family Support Centers and the ship’s ombudsman program joined personnel specializing in housing, shipping goods and vehicles, health issues, legal requirements and general Norfolk information. Representatives manned tables to answer questions and provide attendees with information for various points of contact relating to the move. Ombudsman Shannon Huff said the fair offered Sailors and their family members an opportunity to have all of their COHP questions answered at one comprehensive event. “We’re handing out information sheets, addressing questions and giving out media resources on what ombudsmen can do for families,” Huff said. “A lot of Lincoln Sailors are getting some very valuable information on the change of homeport.” Huff added that she was pleased with the number of
Sailors and family members that attended the two-day event. “We’ve had an excellent turnout,” she said. Stephanie Pickett, whose husband is stationed aboard Lincoln, said she agreed that the fair has helped her answer the questions she has about the upcoming change. “I think the biggest challenge we’re facing right now is figuring out how to move the families and our household items,” she said. Although the relocation process may already be stressful, Pickett said she is satisfied with Lincoln’s efforts to reduce her anxiety and to minimize the impact on families. “Everybody here at the fair has been very helpful in giving us the information we need to move things along,” she said. Michael Spoto, a realty specialist from the Norfolk Housing Center, said he spoke to a large number of Sailors who had questions relating to home sales. “At least 300 people have shown up so far, so we’ve been busy answering questions and giving out information on short sales, homeownership, home buying and liquidation,” Spoto said. As Lincoln prepares for relocation, the continued need for information and support services will play a critical role in changing homeports. For more information on the homeport change, contact your divisional COHP representative.
The Adventurous Authenticity of Super 8 By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jimmy Cellini
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y generation is spoiled. Growing up, our movies had heroes we could relate to. My movie heroes weren’t from comic books, nor were they giant CGI robots. Some were Goonies, some were part of the Monster Squad. They were the kids from “E.T.,” they were Kevin McCallister, Rufio and Quint from “Jaws.” Except for Quint (who was the MAN), they were just kids, like I was. Kids today have never had these kinds of heroes. Instead, they’ve been forced to suffer through three “Spy Kids” movies and a remake of “The Karate Kid.” But director J.J Abrams’s latest film, “Super 8,” finally gives the kids of today the heroes they deserve. Taking place in the typical American small town of Lillian, Ohio in 1979, “Super 8” tells the story of a group of 13-year-old friends who are dead set on spending their summer finishing their production
almost perfectly. Everything about the movie seemed authentic to me, but nothing more so than the kids. All of us knew these kids growing up. If not, then we were these kids. They aren’t popular; they’re outsiders obsessed with horror movies and monster makeup. They’re fat, buck-toothed, foul-mouthed pyros, one of whom throws up every time he gets scared. That’s what makes the characters so relatable. You want these kids to win because you were these kids once. Though “Super 8” is, at its core, about friendship, love and triumphing in extreme circumstances, let’s not forgot why everyone wanted to see this movie to begin with. It’s still very much a monster movie, one the director has crafted brilliantly. Abrams is no stranger to suspense (having helped create the TV show “Lost” and movies like “Cloverfield”), but this time he follows in Spielberg’s “Jaws” footsteps to build his suspense. He knows the viewer fears what can’t be seen
of a zombie movie in time for a local film festival. After sneaking out late one night to shoot a scene at a local train station, the friends witness a massive train derailment and continue to film the horrific scene until the Air Force shows up to take charge of the scene. Following the train derailment, the town starts to experience some strange disappearances. Pets, people and appliances mysteriously go missing. The Air Force refuses to divulge information to local law enforcement. As the situation continues to get stranger and one of the boys disappears, the kids take it upon themselves to use the footage they secretly own to uncover what’s really going on in their town. The movie doesn’t just seem to take place in 1979; it seems to have been made in 1979. Abrams has managed to capture the feel of the movies I loved from back then
more than anything that can. He lets the monster build in the viewer’s imagination for much of the film and uncovers more, little by little, as it progresses. “Super 8” is a throwback, what summer movies used to be. It’s part ‘50s sci-fi/monster flick and part ‘80s adventure movie, all with a whole lot of lens flare thrown in, and it comes together quite nicely. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an instant classic, but it’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you have some eight- to twelve-year-old kids (or if you were ever that age yourself).
4 out of 5 Pennies
Abe’s Maintenance Winds Down By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kirk Putnam
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magine swimming halfway around the world. Now imagine launching and recovering aircraft and carrying more than 5,000 Sailors while you swam. By the time you returned home, you might be in need of a serious makeover. Such is the case with our favorite aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Upon her return in March from a rigorous six-month deployment to the 5th and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility, the carrier’s crew joined civilian contractors to begin work on a host of scheduled repairs. Now, these workers are reaching the tail end of two massive repair availabilities to get Abe back in fighting shape, ready to hit the deep blue ocean once again and to prepare for the upcoming planned Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH). Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Pruitt, Lincoln’s maintenance officer, said workers began the maintenance period with the highest priority items and worked their way down the list. “All of Lincoln’s availabilities are meant to get the ship in a condition where it is able to continue to accomplish its mission,” Pruitt said. “We started repairs with anything that might prevent mission capabilities and went from there.” Several of the larger projects included replacing the non-skid surface on the flight deck (particularly the landing area), completely overhauling one of the launch catapults, inspecting approximately 200 vent plenums, and assessing and repairing all galley equipment including the freezers in the aft portion of the ship.
“Repairing the aft freezers might not seem like much until you realize there’s more than one million dollars worth of food kept in those things,” said Pruitt. Pruitt said the various inspections and ship checks in preparation for RCOH were a huge undertaking and “an enormous amount of work was accomplished.” However, the RCOH isn’t the only thing on the mind of Pruitt and his crew in Lincoln’s Maintenance division. Before the ship arrives in Virginia, there’s still the small matter of a full deployment. “A lot of our inspections are meant to find any major problems before we hit RCOH, but our primary goal is to be ready for deployment. I won’t try to downplay the importance of the RCOH, but the RCOH is secondary to Lincoln being mission-ready,” Pruitt said. With mission readiness firmly in mind, a great deal of work went into Lincoln’s repairs, but Pruitt said he understands there is still more to do to be ready to change homeports. “I can almost guarantee there is something broken in your office that you have just dealt with, but you need to document it and begin the process toward getting it repaired,” said Pruitt. “When it’s time to come out of the RCOH, the ship will be inspected to ‘as new’ standards. If something is not working perfectly as built, the discrepancy needs to be documented in the Current Ship’s Maintenance Plan.” So as you walk through the passageways and climb through the scuttles, be sure to ask yourself if you’re doing all you can to keep your ship in good working order. Because Lincoln’s maintainers sure are.
An Aircraft’s
Last Resort
Story and photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Luciano Marano
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he flight deck of an aircraft carrier is one of the most dangerous working environments on the planet. It takes a special breed of Sailor to work on a Navy flat top, a person capable of thriving somewhere most people will never even be qualified to stand. Vigilance is the order of the day, and safety is on the forefront of everybody’s mind. While the ship is in port, however, it’s easy to lose sight of the ship’s mission. Working hours are shorter, no aircraft are flying missions, and all the nagging details of real life (so easily forgotten on deployment)creep back into a Sailor’s mind and can act as distractions. It’s imperative to the continued safety and success of the ship that Sailors remain dedicated to training and to improving their skills. To that end, Sailors assigned to Lincoln’s Air department recently rehearsed a response for one of the worst-case scenarios for flight deck personnel: a landing gear failure. In the event that a plane can’t land by hooking the arresting gear wire and the ship is too far out to sea to make rerouting feasible, there’s only one course of action. Flight deck personnel have to run a barricade across the ship. “The flight deck barricade is designed to catch aircraft,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) 3rd Class Jeremy Baker, a member of the barricade team and drill participant. “An exercise like this one requires full participation.” With a large number of the current crew new to the ship, and a schedule of increasing sea time ahead of them this year, Air department Sailors will continue to train to remain at the top of their game in all aspects of shipboard operations.
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We train to keep us prepared at all times. The more we do it, the more it becomes second nature to us.” -- ABE3 Jeremy Baker, Lincoln barricade team
Briefly Navy Departs the City of Roses
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy Aguirre
Stennis Returns Home, Prepares to Deploy By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dugan Flynn
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SS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) returned to its homeport of Bremerton, Wash., June 13, after 45 days away conducting exercises in preparation for an upcoming deployment. Stennis recently completed Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) and Joint Task Force Training Exercise (JTFEX). “This underway period had a lot of stuff going on,” said Combat Direction Center Officer, Cmdr. Chris Dobson. “Not only COMPTUEX and JTFEX, we also had Supply Management Inspection (SMI), and ORSE (Operational Reactor Safeguard Examination), the reactor inspection. Those are all major events in a carrier’s training evolution. We passed those with flying colors as well. All of those elements are necessary for a carrier to be able to deploy across the Pacific and into the Middle East.” Dobson said this underway provided many challenges and opportunities to learn and improve from the battle exercises. “We’ve learned how to operate in a communications denied environment,” said Dobson. “One of the key points of JTFEX was the denial of satellite communications, and it forced us to coordinate in other ways. It stressed us a little bit out of the box to find other ways to get things done.”
Stennis worked together with the strike group to perform the missions of different battle problems. “Working together as an overall group was probably one of the biggest challenges to overcome,” said Strike Operations Officer Cmdr. Stevin Johnson. “It’s been very easy to work on our own with Fleet Replacement Squadron Carrier Qualifications, for instance, where we don’t have to worry about integrating with somebody else to do what we need to do, but we’ve done well.” Dobson said the entire crew played an integral part during the underway period, and the efforts of each individual contributed to the overall successful completion. “It’s the efforts of the guy that fixes breakfast for the crew, the guy that generates power for the ship, the guy that pushes buttons to launch missiles,” said Dobson. “It’s an all hands effort to make sure we can do our job, and I think we’re ready to go.” Commander, Strike Forces Training Pacific (CSFTP) recommended Stennis ready for major combat operations. “CSFTP noted that we worked well together as a strike group,” said Dobson. “We were stressed more right off the bat through JTFEX in the battle problem than previous strike groups that have gone before us, and we received accolades across the board.”
Fleet Week came to an end as the three visiting Navy ships departed the Tom McCall Waterfront Park sea wall in Portland, Ore., and began transiting the Willamette River, June 13. The guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) and guidedmissile frigates USS McClusky (FFG 41) and USS Ingraham (FFG 61) were in Portland along with vessels from the Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers and the Royal Canadian Navy, in celebration of the 104th Annual Portland Rose Festival. More than 5,000 visitors toured the Navy ships, allowing the public to interact with and see the character of the Sailors and the capability and quality of the ships. Festivities for Sailors during Fleet Week included several officially-hosted parties, a waterfront carnival, sports tournaments and the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade.
Navy Assists Chilean Volcano Evacuees Sailors from guided-missile frigates USS Boone (FFG 28) and USS Thach (FFG 43) delivered supplies provided by Project Handclasp to evacuees displaced by the volcanic eruption of Mount Puyehue in Chile, June 12. Three pallets of medical and hygienic supplies and more than 60 stuffed animals were dropped off at a school in Lago Ranco, Chile. The Sailors were given a tour of the facilities and met with several volunteers and Chilean Red Cross workers who discussed the volcanic eruptions and the shelter operations. The supplies included hygiene and medical provisions and will be used to assist the displaced families living in the shelter. The boxes included dressings, bandages, antiseptic, dental care products and other materials for basic health care. Project Handclasp is an official Navy program that accepts and transports educational, humanitarian and goodwill materials overseas on a space-available basis aboard U.S. Navy ships.