Know Your Shipmate
U.S. Navy photo and information byMCSN K. Ashley Lawrence
IT2 Thomas Whipple
Combat Systems Dept/ CS-3 Division
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nformation Systems Technician 2nd Class Thomas Whipple was born and raised in Sierra Vista, Ariz. He joined the Navy in 2000 to immediately begin his Information Technology career. Eleven years later, he is still going strong with goals accomplished and many more ahead. Whipple is an operations banager for USS Abraham Lincoln’s (CVN 72) Combat Systems department. He oversees all day-to-day operations on classified and unclassified networks. Sharing his knowledge with junior Sailors is what he enjoys the most. “I like to teach people how to properly complete their job so that they can be recognized for it,” said Whipple. In his off time, he enjoys keeping his body in shape, and his hobby is playing soccer, which he does every chance he gets. Having taken his Petty Officer 1st Class exam, he has plans on pushing to his next goal, getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Project Management. He plans on completing 20 years in the Navy and retiring as an accomplished leader.
U.S. Navy photo by MCSN K. Ashley Lawrence
Lincoln Fired Up For Ney Inspections Story and photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Sean Hillier
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he Food Service Team aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) was inspected, Oct. 19, by inspectors from the Ney Memorial Award. The Ney Memorial Awards Program is co-sponsored by the Secretary of the Navy and Internal Food Service Executives Association (IFSEA). They are responsible for recognizing quality food and customer service and present the Ney Award to naval culinary institutes that promote excellence and surpass other military food service locations. The goal of the award is to improve the quality of life for Navy personnel. “The Ney Award is awarded to the best of the best, but it’s not only a competition,” said Chief Warrant Officer David Webb, a Ney Award inspector. “It’s a guideline for everyday business about the Mess Decks.” “The Food Service Team is dedicated to serving the crew each day. They spent many hours and hard work
in preparation for this assessment on top of continuing outstanding customer service,” said Senior Chief Culinary Specialist Philip Sannicolas. “It is an honor to just make it to this level,” said Sannicolas. “It means that our team is dedicated to serving the crew and has the passion to do this on a daily basis.” Lincoln is one of two aircraft carriers in the fleet to be nominated for the Ney Award and final results are scheduled to be released in December. Sannicolas said if it wasn’t for the support and hard work from the command and dedication of the crew, the nomination would not have been possible. “I would like to thank the command for the support they have given us for this assessment,” said Sannicolas. “We were nominated for our dedication to food service for the ship’s crew each day. All of our hours of hard work in preparation for the assessment paid off.”
Lincoln Gets Schooled With NCPACE Story by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jerine Lee
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ith USS Abraham Lincoln’s (CVN 72) upcoming deployment just around the corner, the ship’s education service office (ESO) offers classes during the cruise through the Navy College Program for Afloat College Education (NCPACE) to help further the crew’s education while at sea. NCPACE offers qualified Sailors preparatory, basic and advanced courses via distance learning and instructorled courses. It doesn’t affect the Navy’s Tuition Assistance program or the Montgomery G.I. Bill. Sailors are only responsible for paying for the textbooks required for the class. Lincoln’s ESO is available for instructor-led class registration until Nov. 2. “Instructor-led classes are really helpful. All Sailors should take advantage of it,” said Personnel Specialist 3rd Class Allison Burns, ESO’s leading petty officer. “It gives Sailors the opportunity to work on their degree and unlike online classes, you don’t have to rely on the slow bandwidth on the ship. You have the professors on board to help you answer any questions.” Certain prerequisites must be met to participate in NCPACE. The Sailor must be recommended for promotion or advancement, not have been awarded non-judicial punishment or courts-martial punishment in the last six months, must pass or be medically waived from their most recent physical readiness test and must have an approved degree plan. Degree plans can be acquired through the college the Sailor has applied to or through Naval Station
Everett’s Navy college office. Lincoln’s ESO also provides math and English asset testing for Sailors who do not know what level of classes they are prepared for. The ESO is available to help all Sailors who are interested in furthering their education and do not know where to start. “Come down and talk to us. We are here to help,” said Burns. “We actively communicate with the base college office and multiple colleges so if we don’t have an answer, we will get it for you.”
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U.S. Navy photo by SN Dagan Alexander
Preservation Work Keeps Abe Ship-Shape Story by Seaman Gregory Harden
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ailors onboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) assigned to the Deck department are making a difference by preserving the ship inside and out. The preservation crew, consisting of approximately 90 Sailors, has been charged to ensure that the middle-aged ship remains in working condition in preparation for its upcoming deployment. “Part of our responsibilities include maintenance, preserving, needle gunning and sanding,” said Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Francis P. Moesch, the starboard side preservation crew supervisor. As crew supervisor, Moesch oversees 12 Sailors, ensuring that they complete their job safely, effectively and in a timely manner. Much of the job consists of removing chipped paint surfaces, tackling Lincoln’s rust stains as well as removing scratches left from the movement of the ship’s anchor. “First we needle gun the area, then we disc sand and afterwards wipe down the surface with hot soapy water. When the area is dry we apply isopropyl alcohol to kill any existing rust and afterwards a coat of primer is applied,”
Moesch said. The preservation of the area isn’t considered completed until it’s covered with a fresh coat of paint. Although the life of a boatswain’s mate can be difficult at times, a family-like bond is forged through shared experiences within Deck department. Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Zachary Hearn, the Forecastle crew supervisor, understands this better than most. Hearn finds that the most rewarding aspect of his job is the camaraderie that comes from being a team player as well as a mentor to junior Sailors. “Training junior Sailors on in-rate knowledge doesn’t just improve the quality of Deck department’s work,” said Hearn. “It also enhances my skills as a leader.” The commitment that Deck department Sailors share keeps them driven throughout any weather conditions and allows them to effectively complete the daily mission of preserving the ship. From the deckplates to the skin of the ship, Lincoln’s Deck department is consistently working to ensure the cleanliness and optimal representation of USS Abraham Lincoln and its crew.
Story by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Zachary Welch
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can remember the first time I saw the 1982 film “The Thing,” directed by John Carpenter. I was with my father as an 8-year-old boy, sitting in our living room in complete awe. The horror genre and I have always had a very good relationship with each other. I always felt it was harder to scare your audience than it was to make them laugh, cry, etc. That being said, it’s a special situation when the point of a horror film isn’t the appearance, but the suspense that makes it truly frightening. Over the course of the original film, you start to get more and more views of the alien creature, each one more gruesome and fantastic than the last! With this new film, designed as a prequel to the original, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. felt as though the answer to stirring up fright for his viewing audience was to take advantage of three decades of special effects to make the alien as
awful and gooey as possible. While van Heijningen Jr. did this well with incredible technical expertise, my problem is: for what? The more you see of a monster, the less your brain has to create for itself. The scary to me was always the unseen and the imagined. The story itself is as creepy a science-fiction story as you get. Imagine an alien creature that crashed to this planet in a spacecraft buried deep in the ice of Antarctica. Later discovered by a group of scientists it is dug out of the ice. The ice block begins to thaw and the creature breaks loose and wreaks havoc. The problem lies in the fact that this alien life form can exactly imitate the body and behavior of another life form so well, it could fool you into thinking it was your mom, dad or your best friend. When its real form is shown; a cornucopia of claws, teeth, gooey appendages and crab legs, it wastes no time in annihilating all people within reach. The movie progresses with the
creature secretly inhabiting its hosts and remaining in disguise within their bodies. This leads to a very deadly and confusing puzzle: Are the people around really themselves or are they just copies made by the alien creature? However, with this film as well as the original, I could not get this logical problem out of my mind: Why would the alien ever reveal itself before it had killed or infected everyone? Why let anyone know there’s a problem? Why not just infect and replicate the human race until we are all alien copies? Well, the simple answer is there would be no movie then. In that movie, people would just go about their business until the very end when the audience figured out that everybody was a Thing from the start. Aside from that, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film, and I fully expect it to do well at the box office. The special effects are worth the price of admission, as well as the ending, which brings the story full-circle.
Briefly First Lady Announces Hiring Commitment for Spouses, Vets
U.S. Navy photo by LS1 John Stone
SECNAV Addresses ISS Delegation By Lt. John Ripley, U.S. Naval War College Public Affairs Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus addressed the world’s maritime leaders at the 20th International Seapower Symposium (ISS) at the U.S. Naval War College Oct. 20. The secretary stressed the importance of maritime cooperation and global presence as nations work to manage a plethora of shared challenges, such as combating piracy, regional security, ensuring the free flow of commerce, peacekeeping and providing humanitarian assistance. Additionally, he said, these issues must be met during an era of fiscal limitations. “One of the challenges to every one of our countries has been economic, fiscal,” Mabus said. “My government, virtually all governments, is wrestling with matching resources with requirements. “But despite those challenges one thing should be very clear: the United States Navy is and will continue to be a global presence, wherever and whenever we are called upon,” Mabus said. Mabus noted that since the first ISS more than 40 years ago, the world has become increasingly inter-connected. And despite amazing advances in technology, he said, more than 90 percent
of trade goes by sea, and 95 percent of telecommunications resources remain under the oceans. To ensure common approaches to shared issues, the world’s navies continue to work and train together in a variety of global military exercises, Mabus said. In working together, the world’s navies share a common seagoing heritage that should serve to continue to build upon maritime cooperation and collective global presence. “There’s a common bond that exists between Sailors,” he said. “Because, in many ways, we are one culture. We share a tradition two millennia in the making.” “That kind of ship is a major part of the future of our navy and of all navies,” Mabus said, pointing out that the Independence is fast, agile, operates with a smaller crew and can perform operations in both shallow and deep waters. The Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert welcomed the delegates on Wednesday, along with a video-taped message from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. The symposium concludes on Oct. 21.
First Lady Michelle Obama, on a visit with her husband to Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., announced Oct. 19 a private sector hiring commitment of 25,000 military spouses and veterans as part of the Joining Forces campaign. Some 270 companies represented by the American Logistics Association for doing business in military resale and morale, welfare, and recreation, have committed to hiring 25,000 military spouses and veterans in the next two years, the first lady said. The commitment is the largest yet toward President Barack Obama’s challenge for the private sector to hire 100,000 military spouses and veterans by 2013. “They do not want to miss out on your potential. They want American businesses to have the best, most hardworking employees around.” The first lady then introduced the president, saying his presence shows what “a huge deal” the announcement is. The president thanked the troops for their service, noting, “Your generation has earned a special place in America’s history.” Many of the 3 million post-9/11 war veterans “have taken their leadership experience, their mastery of cutting edge technologies, their ability to adapt to changing circumstances, and they’ve become leaders here at home,” the president said. “They’ve become leaders at businesses all across the country. However, the Obamas said, many military spouses and veterans struggle to find good employment. In announcing the initiative, the first lady said the administration wants to raise awareness that many important job skills -- time management, organization, people skills, and complex decisionmaking -- are “second nature” to military spouses and veterans. “We want America to know that you’re veterans who have completed missions with enough variables involved to make most people’s heads spin; that you’ve managed dozens if not hundreds of your peers; and when the stakes are the highest, that’s when you’re at your best,” she added. (source: www.navy.mil)