Liberty: It’s A Mission

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

The Shuttle Newsletter Edition

“We are Legend”

May 14, 2012 Issue

Liberty: It’s A Mission Story by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW) Jeffry A. Willadsen with, or a bigger issue such as public drunkenness or properly addressing women, it’s important that we are especially careful here.”

Young stresses how essential it is to know these cultural sensitivities before liberty call. Enterprise provides several resources that are aimed toward this goal.

These include the port brief that is televised on Big E’s SITE TV system, liberty pamphlets, and information put out in the “Big E Shuttle” newspaper before port call. These resources provide a variety of information that ranges from cultural sensitivities and taboos, to common phrases in the host country language, to off-limits areas and maps. They are designed to provide all the information you need for a successful and incident-free liberty experience.

“It’s important to be informed and aware,” said Young. “If you aren’t informed you never know Sailors stationed aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) enjoy what kind of trouble you could get into and not even liberty while in port visiting the city of Athens, Greece. realize. And if you do get into trouble, that not only affects you, but our mission in this part of the world USS ENTERPRISE, At Sea – If you were to ask a Sailor as well.” aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) what their Young also emphasized the importance of planning when it reasons where for joining the Navy, it is very likely that one comes to a Sailor’s liberty experience. This not only includes of their top answers would be: “To see the world,” or “To see where a Sailors plans to go and what they plan to do, but also foreign countries.” who they plan to go with. According to Young, proper planning Sailors gain this opportunity during liberty, the privilege to is essential for staying smart on liberty. leave the ship and explore the local area while in port.

An important part of this planning is going on liberty with a Liberty is an important morale booster to Sailors on designated non-drinker. This facet of the liberty buddy system deployment, but in recent years it has become a hot button issue is intended to ensure that at least one member of a liberty party in the Navy, due to its potential effect on the Navy’s mission. abstains from alcohol and is,therefore, better able to make the According to Master Chief Aviation Boatswain’s Mate(AW/ right decision in any situation.

SW) Eric J. Young, Enterprise’s Command Master Chief, This designated non-drinker helps keep everyone else safe liberty not only affects the mission, but is a mission in itself. and smart while on liberty. In a sense, the designated non“Liberty isn’t just a time to unwind after weeks at sea, it drinker is the most important part of the liberty plan. If a Sailor is also an opportunity to be ambassadors for our country,” or Marine chooses to be the designated non-drinker, they need said Young. “For some host country citizens we are the to stick to the plan in order to keep their Shipmates safe. only Americans they have come into contact with. We are “It’s all about your intentions,” said Young. “We all know representatives (of the United States) and we directly affect what is smart to do on liberty and what is not. If you plan on how the citizens of that country view Enterprise, the Navy, and being smart and staying out of trouble and you go out with the United States. Making that example a good one is a vital people you know have the same intentions, I can virtually mission.” guarantee you will not get into trouble in a foreign port.”

Young mentioned how Sailors act on liberty is especially Enterprise provides as many options as possible to make important in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. your experience in ports of call as favorable as possible.

“In this part of world there are many cultural sensitivities that seem foreign to us. Whether it is which hand you shake

LIBERTY continued on page 2

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Monday, May 14, 2012

Big E Idol Auditions

Big E Idol photos by MCSN Gregory Pickett

* Call backs will be notified via e-mail or telephone.*

The Shuttle USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

The Shuttle is published and printed daily underway and bi-weekly in port by the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Media Department, FPO AE 09543-2810. This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the Department of Defense. Please direct all story ideas, questions and comments to MC1 (SW) Steve Smith at smithsw@cvn65. navy.mil.

Commanding Officer Capt. William C. Hamilton, Jr.

Executive Officer Capt. G. C. Huffman

Command Master Chief ABCM (AW/SW) Eric M. Young

Public Affairs Officer Lt. Cmdr. Sarah T. Self-Kyler

Editors MC2 (SW) Kristin L. Grover MCSN Brian G. Reynolds

LIBERTY continued Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) sponsored tours are designed to help Sailors responsibly get the most out of the time and money they spend in a foreign country. They are provided at a discount price and because they are chaperoned by responsible MWR representatives, no liberty buddies are required.

Even though it is important to keep the mission of liberty at the forefront of your mind while in port, Young acknowledged that long periods of time at sea can be hard for Sailors, and unwinding in a foreign port can help make deployment easier.

“Going to a foreign port can be the opportunity of a lifetime. Many of us may have never gotten the chance to go to the countries we have if we hadn’t joined the Navy,” said Young. “I encourage Sailors to enjoy each port to the fullest and to do it the right way. In short, don’t stop at the first bar you see and stay there all day. There is a whole world out there for you to experience, and if you do it in a smart and professional manner, you will not regret it.”

Enterprise is on its 22nd and final deployment, operating in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility and conducting maritime security operation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Monday, May 14, 2012

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In the News

US Sends Troops to Yemen as Al Qaeda Gains Ground

By Anna Mulrine, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR training Yemeni forces last year, WASHINGTON --The week after but President Obama suspended revelations by a double agent that the mission in the wake of political Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was trying to take down a US turmoil in the country.

In February, Yemen’s autocratic airliner with an underwear bomb, the ruler of 30 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Pentagon announced that it has begun was replaced in a democratic election, sending US troops into Yemen. making the return of US troops The move is part of a US effort possible. to increase pressure on the terrorist But the security situation in Yemen outfit based in Yemen at a time when has worsened in recent months, with the Yemeni government is weak and AQAP taking advantage of the civil only now beginning to emerge from a unrest that grew as Mr. Saleh’s grasp period of political turmoil. The troops on power loosened. will help train Yemeni soldiers, and “It’s clear that there are more together with a campaign of drone [AQAP] volunteers, there are more strikes and an increased intelligence sanctuaries” in Yemen, says Anthony presence, the aim is to hold AQAP in Cordesman, a defense analyst at the check while rebuilding the Yemeni government’s capacity to fight its own Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. battles.

It is also clear that these AQAP US forces had been on the ground

forces have been able to take arms and equipment that were either abandoned or lost by Yemeni forces and use them to wage attacks on the government and expand their base of operations, Dr. Cordesman adds.

But Defense Secretary Leon Panetta denied that this could portend a greater presence for US ground forces.

“Yeah, there’s no consideration of that,” Secretary Panetta responded when asked in a Pentagon briefing whether he would rule out using ground forces in Yemen “at some point.”

Added Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, the point is “trying to build their capacity, not use our own.”

This will likely include expanded US intelligence assets on the ground.

Patrolling the Seas with Deepwater Robots

By Gopal Ratnam, BLOOMBERG BUISINESSWEEK Underwater mines are lurking in critical waterways around the world. Low-tech but highly destructive, they can blow up ships, destroy oil and natural gas pipelines, and wipe out international telephone and Internet cables.

By U.S. Navy estimates, some 50 countries stock more than 250,000 maritime mines that could be dropped in the world’s oceans. Naval analysts believe China has the most extensive and sophisticated inventory of mines.

If Iran had shut down the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year, as it threatened, its strategy likely would have involved deploying its stockpile of mines.

The Navy currently relies on a small fleet of ships and divers dispatched from submarines to find mines and defuse them. Trained dolphins, equipped with cameras and sensors, also sniff them out.

With the Pentagon facing $1 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade, finding money for those missions “is going to be a huge challenge,” says Captain Duane Ashton.

Instead, the Navy plans to rely on the Knifefish, an underwater drone that Ashton’s Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office is developing.

The 19-foot-long Knifefish weighs 1,700 pounds and is

powered by lithium-ion batteries. Shaped like a torpedo, it will roam the deep seas for 16 hours at a time—unpiloted.

The Navy is spending $170 million over the next five years to design and buy eight of the robots from General Dynamics (GD) and Bluefin Robotics. It expects to deploy the first Knifefish in 2016, acquiring 52 by 2034.

The drones are an upgrade from a small fleet of remotecontrolled underwater vehicles the Navy has used since the 1990s to comb shallow harbors and clear debris for ships. These vehicles can make out suspect objects, but the Navy must send in divers to investigate further.

The more powerful Knifefish sweeps for mines by sending out low-frequency sound signals; when they bounce off a manmade object, the drone develops an image that it takes back to analysts aboard the mother ship.

Ashton says it “can tell a mine from a refrigerator littering the bottom of the sea.”

The challenge for the Navy lies in programming the drones to operate without a pilot directing them via a cable, which would restrict their reach in deep water.

“The ocean is so big that you can’t just joy-stick” drones, says Tom Curtin, a former scientist at the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

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Monday, May 14, 2012

Sailors and Marine of the Day Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Heath Zeigler

Aviation Maintenance Administrationman Airman Christine Washington

MCSN Heath Zeigler, from Marshall, Texas, joined the Navy one year and seven months ago to take control of his life and learn new skills. Zeigler enjoys reading, playing games and practicing graphics skills. In the future, he would like to earn a mulitmedia degree and open his own graphics and photo studio.

AZAN Christine Washington, from Cleveland, joined the Navy one year and five months ago to travel and further her education. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling and going to the spa.

Washington hopes to advance in the Navy, earn her warfare pins and a nursing degree and become an RN.

Corporal Jonathan W. Carr

Cpl. Jonathan Carr, from Orange County, Va., joined the Marine Corps three years ago for career opportunities. He enjoys shooting, fishing, camping and introducing people to the outdoors. In the future, Carr hopes to continue working in the mechanic field and someday start his own family.

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