61st year, No. 29
Serving the NATO, Naples and Gaeta Military Community in Italy
Friday, July 22, 2016
USS Porter Visits Gaeta on Last Stop Before Leaving Med
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook
Carter Offers Condolences, Pledges Support to France Following Nice Attack DoD News Sailors heave mooring lines aboard USS Porter (DDG 78) as the ship arrives in Gaeta, Italy for a scheduled port visit July 15, 2016. Porter, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, forwarddeployed to Rota, Spain, is conducting a routine patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. Photo by MC3 Mass Robert S. Price
By NSA Public Affairs
The USS Porter (DDG 78) an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, which is forward-deployed to Naval Station Rota, Spain, visited Gaeta, Italy, as its last port call during a fourmonth patrol in the Mediterranean. Operations officer Lt. Paul Tortora explained why these port visits throughout the re-
gion are important for the ship and its Sailors. “One of the benefits of being forward deployed is the opportunity to visit our partner nations that we commonly interact with at our homeport in Spain and on patrol,” Tortora said. “Our families live in the same region that we actively defend. It’s important for our Sailors to visit these countries, so they can better understand
and appreciate our neighbors.” Porter, during its patrol, participated in Noble DINA 2016, an annual tri-lateral exercise with the Hellenic and Israeli navies, and also made port visits to Toulon, France; Valencia, Spain; Varna, Bulgaria; Constanta, Romania; and Haifa, Israel. After being at sea for the past four months, the crew is ready to head back to Rota.
“We’re looking forward to returning to Rota, but this port visit to Gaeta is a great capstone to this patrol in the Mediterranean,” Tortora said. “It’s a privilege to serve with such a motivated, hardworking crew and to conduct operations with our NATO partner nations.” Porter operated in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe.
Be Informed: Preparing for an Active Shooter Emergency From NSA Naples Emergency Management Office
In September 2014, the FBI released a study of 160 Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013.
It included active shooting incidents at now-familiar locales such as: Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary School, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Fort Hood, the Aurora (Colorado) Cine-
mark Century 16 movie theater, the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, and the Washington Navy Yard, as well as numerous other tragic shootings. Page 6 ACTIVE SHOOTER CAPTAIN’S CORNER. . . . . . . . . 2 BASE NOTES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 NAVY HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 FFSC CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . 5 SOUND OFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 MOVIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 JOBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
BEQ III SECOND WEEK BIGGEST LOSER . . . . page 5
BICYCLE SAFETY TIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 14
USO TOURS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 WORD SEARCH / COLOR ME 14
Defense Secretary Ash Carter called French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian July 15, 2016, to offer his and the entire Department of Defense’s deepest condolences to the French people, the families of the victims and the French government for yesterday’s attack in Nice, according to a statement issued today by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook. Pledges Support Carter also expressed his and the department’s solidarity with France, and pledged his support to intensify joint efforts against terrorism, Cook said. Cook said Carter and Le Drian agreed to discuss the attack and the response next week in Washington when Carter will gather the defense ministers from the counter-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant military coalition. The defense ministerial at Joint Base Andrews will discuss the next steps in the military campaign and the requirements needed to further accelerate the defeat of ISIL, Cook said.