Rocky Mountain Navy Association
News The Rocky Mountain Navy Association (RMNA) is a not-for-profit, organization to promote the United States Navy and the Naval Reserve in the local community. Specific out reach efforts have been extended to civic organizations, educational institutions, and the business community. RMNA also provides mission support to the local recruiting command and offers a wide variety of professional development assistance programs to the naval reserve community. Newsletter Contact: James Garrett, CAPT, USNR (Ret.), garrettj3745@yahoo.com This is an interactive newsletter so Click on underlined inks or photos for websites for more information or zoom the page.
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Vol. 3 Issue 10
October 2018
Reminding you of next monthly RMNA Luncheon at the American Legion Post, 5400 East Yale, Denver (southeast corner of I-25 and Yale), on Tuesday, November 6th, gathering around 11:30 a.m.
See You There! This newsletter is posted online to our website at (www.navrescolorado.org) and Facebook page at (https://www.facebook.com/RockyMountainNavyAssociation/)
From Our RMNA President: To Our Rocky Mountain Navy, and all Navy personnel and friends, We are changing our usual first Wednesday of the Month luncheon this November to Tuesday, November 6th. The reason being the opportunity to invite and listen to Rear Admiral Brendan McLane, Commander, Navy Recruiting Command, who will be visiting Denver. His impressive bio is on page two of this newsletter. We will need to get a head count on those planning on coming, so please let me know at your earliest convenience. Please feel free to invite other Navy people who would like to meet and hear RADM McLane speak about today's Navy recruiting. But they must also be in our head count. Our luncheon will be at our usual place, American Legion Post #1, 5400 East Yale. gathering about 1130 hours. Luncheon will begin shortly after noon.
We start
Hope many of you can attend. Dick Young 1
Rear Adm. Brendan McLane graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in History. He earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Troy University and graduated with highest distinction from the Naval War College with a master’s degree in National Security Affairs. He completed Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Seminar XXI and the Naval Operational Planning Course (now Maritime Advanced Warfighting School). At sea, he served aboard USS Lewis B. Puller (FFG 23), USS Vicksburg (CG 69), USS Moosbrugger (DD 980), Destroyer Squadron 14, and USS Simpson (FFG 56). While in command of USS Carney (DDG 64), his ship won the Battle E & Battenberg Cup and deployed with the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to Fifth Fleet. In major command, he served as deputy and then commodore of Destroyer Squadron 50 and commanded Task Force 55 and Coalition Task Force 152 in Fifth Fleet. Ashore, he served on the staff of the U.S. Naval Academy and on the OPNAV N3N5 Staff. Overseas, he deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Army’s 354th Civil Affairs Brigade, ran the Israel Desk in the J5-Europe Division of the U.S. European Command, and directed the Sixth Fleet Maritime Operations Center and served as the NAVEUR/NAVAF/Sixth Fleet Deputy N3. He most recently served as the chief of staff, Surface Forces Pacific 2
Commentary Do what’s right for our Blue Water Vietnam veterans By: Rear Adm. Christopher W. Cole, National Executive Director of the Association of the United States Navy The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017 (H.R. 299) is currently languishing in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and as a result, vital funding of benefits that impacts the lives and livelihoods of veterans now hangs in the balance. The fact that a funding bill, the Fiscal Year 2019 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MilCon-VA) Appropriations Bill was completed with full bipartisan passage makes spending arguments on the Blue Water Navy legislation unacceptable. This bill — which passed the House of Representatives and would provide medical coverage to sailors who were exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War — appears to have some skeptics on the committee. They seem swayed by the Department of Veterans Affairs' thin arguments that because record-keeping wasn’t good during the Vietnam War there’s no reason to provide veterans with this necessary treatment. Nearly 90,000 veterans would be covered by H.R. 299, according to Military Times. That’s tens of thousands of veterans who were once the picture of health who now find themselves battling cancer as well as nerve, digestive, skin, and respiratory disorders. To add insult to injury, because the VA and Congress refuse to act, they’re getting stuck with paying the bill…. Read article……. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/299/text
Blue Water Navy Veterans Face Setback From the VA A recent letter from Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie to the Senate Veterans' Affairs Com2 mittee marked the latest VA effort to scuttle proposed legislation that would extend benefits available to Blue Water Navy veterans of the Vietnam War. MOAA President and CEO Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins (USAF, Ret.) vowed to continue to advocate for these Blue Water veterans. “This is a very disappointing turn of events and frankly, MOAA sees VA's attempt to contest the blue water legislation as breaking trust with not only the veterans dealing with these debilitating conditions, but likely to further erode the faith and confidence veterans in general have with VA as an institution, at a critical time when VA is struggling to rebuild its image among veterans they serve,” Atkins said. “MOAA intends to work with our veteran and military service organization partners, along with the VA, to find an equitable solution for those veterans impacted by their service during the Vietnam era.” Read article……. 3
The True Story of the Russian Kursk Submarine Disaster A navy fleet exercise became a desperate race to recover survivors hundreds of feet beneath the sea.
Read article…….
In 2000, one of the worst peacetime submarines accidents ever took place off the coast of Russia. A huge explosion sank the giant nuclear-powered submarine Kursk, killing most of its crew and stranding nearly two dozen survivors hundreds of feet underwater. An international rescue team assembled to save the sailors, but was unable to reach them in time.
U.S. and Chinese Destroyers Involved in 'Unsafe' Encounter at Sea . The Chinese destroyer was trying to run off the American ship from what China considers its own territory.
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A Chinese destroyer came within 45 yards of an American destroyer in the South China Sea. The encounter, which U.S. officials described as “unsafe and unprofessional," took place in a part of the Pacific Ocean that China considers Chinese territory. The Chinese destroyer swerved in front of the American ship in an apparent attempt to harass it into leaving. See also…….
Tiny Chinese Microchips Reportedly Found Hidden in Amazon, Apple Servers The jaw-dropping report is disputed by some of the supposed victims. Chinese-made microchips roughly the size of the tip of a pencil have been found hidden inside servers used by Apple, Amazon, and government contractors according to a report by Bloomberg Businessweek. The origin of the chips reportedly traces back to a U.S.-based company called Super Micro Computer Inc., which works with subcontractors with manufacturing facilities in China, where the tiny eavesdropping chips were inserted. Read article…….
Ford Resurrects a Legend With the 2019 Mustang Bullitt Steve McQueen's speed machine gets a muscle-y 480hp upgrade.
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The Mustang Bullitt is cool. But it would be cool whether it was called the Bullitt or the 5.0 SVO or the GT Dark Green Edition. Its coolness is innate and not tied to the time Steve McQueen ripped up the streets of San Francisco in a mean green Mustang back in 1968.
Click on links or photos for websites or more information
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Panel: Military Tensions in Europe Continue to Run High Between NATO, Moscow The admission of the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to NATO was the “fattest of red line” warnings to Russia to stay clear of the western European military, a transatlantic expert on foreign policy and security on Wednesday. But that move has not tempered tensions on the continent as both NATO and Moscow have stepped up military operations. Click on links or photos for websites or more information
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“Our alliance is not just a military one; it’s a political alliance” of like-minded nations who will come to each others’ defense if attacked, German-born Constanze Stelzenmuller, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
VIDEO: U.K. Carrier Program Brings ‘Two More for the Good Guys’ as Royal Navy Set to Partner More with U.S., French Navies ABOARD HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, OFF THE COAST OF NEW JERSEY – The Royal Navy lays out the intentions of its largest warship to visitors immediately. “ H MS Q ueen Elizabet h: Welcome to Britain’s Conventional Deterrent,” reads a giant sign hanging in the carrier’s second island, over a ladder well just off the flight deck. The 70,000-ton carrier and its sister ship, Prince of Wales (R09), and their embarked air wings of F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters are set to be the centerpiece of Britain’s nascent carrier strike group construct. The move – after years of starts and stops – is reshaping the Royal Navy from a force that was a key NATO partner focused on antisubmarine and mine warfare in the Cold War to one that will blend closely with the carrier forces of American and French allies. 5 Read article…….
Royal Navy Lands 1st F-35B on New Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth ABOARD HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH: For the first time, a Royal Navy pilot has taken off and landed an F-35B on a British aircraft carrier, eight years after the UK retired its last generation of carriers. Royal Navy Cmdr. Nathan Gray, 41, made history on Sept. 25 by flying from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland to the carrier, landing, and then taking off using the ship’s ski-ramp. (All news and media about the flight was embargoed until this evening by the British.) An F-35 flies above HMS Queen Elizabeth, as another waits on deck.
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First Look Aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth
HMS Queen Elizabeth from top of her ski ramp at Norfolk
NAVAL STATION NORFOLK: The largest ship in British naval history, the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, can move four F-35Bs on her two huge elevators up to her decks in just a few minutes, allowing the ship to put its most potent strike assets into the air in minutes. The entire ship is laced with fiber-optic cable to move the enormous amount of data generated by the 36 Joint Strike Fighters she will be capable of having aboard, as well as from the ship’s radar and numerous other communication systems the 932-foot queen of the Royal Navy carries.
In the article’s video , Commodore Jerry Kyd, the ship’s captain, discusses the strike carrier. Read article……. 6
Colorado Remembers 9-12-18 NTAG Rocky Mountain assists the Colorado Remembers ceremony at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House 12 Sept 2018, reflecting on the 17th anniversary of the Terrorist Attacks on the United States. Please see the following Flickr photo album link to Wednesday's Colorado Remembers 9/11 ceremony. We had a number of Navy Leaguers in attendance and reaffirmed an extremely beneficial relationship with the National Guard ,which in the short term, will open doors for the Sea Cadets to visit National Guard squadrons, test firing ranges and high altitude training facilities in the state. https://www.flickr.com/photos/129681239@N06/albums/72157698085210652
Please see the news story link below regarding a recent nuclear submarine embarkation trip the Navy Officer Recruiters set up for University Engineering Educators. I'm working to learn more about HOW to get a submarine embark invitation for select persons of our association in the future.
Staff trip highlights potential for engineers in the nuclear navy Sept. 11, 2018 • By William Doe
https://www.colorado.edu/engineering/2018/09/11/staff-trip-highlights-potential-engineers-nuclearnavy
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SIX GROWTH INDUSTRIES EXPERIENCING THE BIGGEST HIRING INCREASES
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With unemployment at just 3.9 percent, the jobless rate has reached an 18-year low. This is great news for businesses, but the low unemployment rate makes finding a job more challenging for job seekers. In order to increase the chances of finding employment, job seekers should focus on the industries that are experiencing growth and are adding opportunities. The August LinkedIn Workforce Report looks at the latest national data on hiring, skills, and migration trends through July 2018. The industries with the biggest year-over-year hiring increases in July were agriculture (26% higher); manufacturing (12.3% higher); and transportation & logistics (12% higher). These sectors are running strong today, but they are also among the most vulnerable to a trade war escalation. Next comes corporate services9.7% higher; energy and mining (8.5%); and software and IT services 7.5%). When it comes to growth based on sales, mining-support services came in at the top spot. Next came heavy and civil engineering construction, beverage manufacturing, personal services and direct sales. Rounding out the top ten are building finishing contractors, real estate agents and brokers, durable goods merchant wholesalers, fright trucking and architectural, engineering and related MilitaryConnection.com, named a Top 100 Employment Website, is a leader when it comes to connecting prime military and veteran candidates with outstanding career opportunities in both the government and civilian sectors.
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