Vinson Voice 21 Dec 10

VOL 1 / NO 54

Story by MC2 Byron C. Linder USS Carl Vinson Staff Writer

Today, Sailors witnessed the end of a training cycle and the beginning of deployment operations. Following Vinson’s departure from San Diego Nov. 30, Vinson Sailors participated in a three-week composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX). The exercise gathered numerous separate elements of different sizes and capabilities, with the end goal being a single battle group operating with clockwork precision.

The exercise’s Final Battle Problem (FBP), a three-day event fusing a variety of warfare scenarios into a continuous evolution, commenced Dec. 18 at midnight and concluded this afternoon.

The Carl Vinson Voice is an internal document produced by and for the crew of the USS Carl Vinson and their families. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Government or the Departments of Defense or the Navy and do not imply any endorsement thereby.

December 21, 2010

Cmdr. Kyle Weaver, Vinson’s Strike Operations officer, explained the variety of assets required to pull off the FBP. “The carrier strike group staff and all warfare areas were exercised at some point. One was a war-at-sea with enemy vessels simulated by U.S. assets. We practiced air defense and we had submarines to present a problem. There were a whole lot of pieces to the FBP’s continuous scenario,” said Weaver. “External units like P-3’s gave support in the antisubmarine warfare, and 3rd Fleet stood up a combined air operations center to coordinate the different air wing missions.”

Coordination and communication between the strike See`COMPTUEX` page 4

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Aaron Shelley

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The Heat is on for Vinson’s “Flying Squad”

CNO Issues Statement Following Vote to Repeal DADT Special from Chief of Naval Operations Public Affairs

Damage Controlman 3rd Class Erick Kobayashi mans the fire hose while Damage Controlman 3rd Class Logan Marx operates the Naval Firefighting Thermal Imager during a Gold Eagle Flying Squad drill. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Christopher K. Hwang.

Story by MC3 Lori Bent USS Carl Vinson Staff Writer

STAFF

When the instinct to run away from danger kicks in, some brave Sailors ignore those impulses and take off running to look it in the eye. An elite group, known to Vinson’s crew as the “Gold Eagle Flying Squad,” is the first responder to casualties at sea.

Sixty-five Sailors from Engineering and various departments on board selflessly defend Carl Vinson and its crew, only pausing long enough to hear the location of the casualty after an alarm is sounded.

“We are the cream of the crop,” said Chief Warrant Officer Dave Hinds, Vinson’s Fire Marshal. “We know what we have to do and Publisher

Capt. Bruce H. Lindsey Commanding Officer Executive Editors

Lt. Cmdr. Erik Reynolds

Public Affairs Officer

Lt. Erik Schneider

Deputy Public Affairs Officer

Managing Editor MC2 Ashley Van Dien Photo Editor MC2 Adrian White Layout and Design MC3 Patrick Green Staff Writers/Photographers MC2 James R. Evans MC2 Byron C. Linder MC3 Lori Bent MC3 Travis K. Mendoza MC3 Aaron Shelley MCSN Christopher K. Hwang

we do it. No matter if it’s fire, flooding, you name it. We move when we’re called upon, and kick ass doing it.”

Training is key to the success of the Flying Squad, added Hinds. The Squad conducts realistic training scenarios once a week and relies on that training to save their lives and the lives of their Shipmates.

“They are proficient in what they do because they are highly trained to combat whatever they come across after those bells start ringing,” said Chief Damage Controlman (SW) Matthew Brenner. “They are aggressively designed to fight casualties without disrupting the ship’s routine.”

In addition to planned training evolutions, Damage Controlman 2nd Class (SW) Bryan Sipe, Gas Free Engineer for the Flying Squad, stays on alert all day, every day to be more proficient at damage control.

“I go about my day with one ear open and I listen to everything that comes over that 1MC,” said Sipe. “I pay attention to smells and sounds. Anything that’s out of the ordinary may be an indication that something is wrong. That’s how we learn and that how we train.”

“We are not set up for failure,” added Hinds. “We train the way we fight. If the initial responders can’t contain the situation we send out backups. We fight until there’s no need to fight anymore.”

When asked what drives him to run into a smoke filled space or a blazing fire, Damage Controlman 3rd class Erick Kobayashi said, “That’s what I do. I save lives and I save my ship. This is why I’m here.”

To be a member of the flying squad, Sailors are required to be qualified Basic Dam-

The Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, released the following statement following the vote to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: “I am pleased the Congress voted to repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” statute (section 654 of title 10, United States Code).

“This Senate action does not immediately change the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

“If the President signs the provision into law, there are still a series of steps that will take place before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed.

“First, the Department of Defense will prepare the necessary policies and regulations to implement the change.

We will also ensure that the force is provided training on the new policies.

“Second, the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must certify that the change can be made consistent with military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention.

“Finally, there is a 60-day period following certification before repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell takes effect.

“As we move forward our Navy’s superb leaders, both officer and enlisted, will be key to a successful transition to the new policy. Navy leadership will continue to keep all informed.

“The United States Navy will remain the world’s most ready, capable and professional Navy where all our shipmates will continue to be treated with dignity and respect.” age Control (301-306), as well as advanced qualified in the position they request such as Advanced Damage Control (307), Team Leader (308) or Repair Party Investigator (312). Qualified volunteers contact the fire marshal.

“It doesn’t matter if you are an Engineer.

You have to be familiar with the ship and the damage control equipment. We do our job quickly and confidently. That’s the number one rule of the flying squad,” said Brenner.

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December 21, 2010

Battle Messing Fuels the Fight Story by MC2 Byron C. Linder USS Carl Vinson Staff Writer

“General quarters, general quarters. All hands man your battle stations!”

When those words are spoken over the 1MC aboard a U.S. Navy ship, Sailors are charged with expeditiously reporting to their repair lockers and battle stations as a preventative measure to fight for the safety and integrity of the ship. While a dangerous situation may realistically be hours away, setting the defensive posture early is an elementary facet of a successful battle plan.

With Carl Vinson Sailors training to respond to numerous battle scenarios in a composite unit training exercise (COMPTUEX), a multi-hour general quarters (GQ) demands Sailors stay alert and focused for hours on station. To facilitate this, battle messing provides the fuel to keep the ship’s war fighters at optimal readiness.

On Dec. 19, Carl Vinson’s culinary specialists, food service attendants, S-2 leadership, and Damage Control Training Team (DCTT) worked to implement over four hours of battle messing during the ship’s five-hour GQ as part of COMPTUEX’s Final Battle Problem (FBP) training event series.

Senior Chief Culinary Specialist (SW/AW) Andre Harris, a Kansas City native and Vinson’s Culinary Division Leading Chief Petty Officer, explained the multiple points to coordinate with battle messing.

Chief Machinist’s Mate (SW) Douglas Troendle hands out forks to hungry Sailors at a battle messing evolution during General Quarters. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Adrian White.

“Battle messing is going to be a period of time. We man up the battle messing areas, which are Wardrooms 1 & 2 and the forward and aft galleys. We need to fight the ship, and we can’t have the normal meal hours. We can be called on to do this anytime we’re at GQ.” With the significant number of personnel requiring food, with a mission that allowed little opportunity to leave their GG stations, food service personnel prepared scores of boxed lunches. Harris explained that a number of factors played a role in the lunch preparation challenge.

“We had notice this time, but this was just a rehears-

al. When we have to do it, we have to do it. We made more than 1,000 boxed lunches and it took about an hour to get staged. At that time, we already had the daily food broken out.

Battle messing changed the plans, so we had to get sandwiches, juices, and chips broken out,” said Harris.

Communication between different elements played a vital role in the battle messing’s successful execution.

“DCTT knew where the repair lockers had to go.

The Damage Control Assistant provided concrete numbers for boxed lunches so we didn’t waste food or leave anyone out,” said Har-

ris. “It was a great learning experience ship-wide. The repair locker personnel learned where to go and we got the word out that we’re not using CPO mess or Wardroom 3. Knowing who gets food where is the key to all this.”

Battle messing provided an optimal training environment for the ship’s culinary specialists, said Harris.

“It was great practice and a great way to see how things would work in an actual casualty. For the newer CS’s who have never seen a GQ and never seen battle messing, this was a great experience to see everyone working as a team.”

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Aviation Electrician’s Mate Airman Jamie Fisher and other Sailors assigned to repair locker 1F practice quickly donning firefighting ensembles during a general quarters drill. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) James R. Evans.

From ‘COMPTUEX’ Page 1

group elements was a key element to completing the FBP. “All the strike group assets were involved. Some of the warfare area commanders are here on Vinson, but others are on the other ships. For example, the air defense commander was the (guided-missile cruiser) USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) commanding officer.

The Navy trainers put together a battle scenario to teach us how to work as team,” said Weaver.

Strike Force Training Pacific (SFTP) was responsible for certifying the strike group. SFTP Operations Officer Capt.

Chuck Luttrell explained the challenge inherent in focusing different abilities toward a common goal.

“The ultimate goal of COMPTUEX was to get the strike group to operate fully integrated with the ability to execute all skill sets required for the numbered fleet commanders overseas,” said Luttrell.

“SFTP’s charter was to push us to

the edge and consider the extremes of our problem solving process. We had to work hard and use our resources smartly,” added Weaver.

Luttrell explained the importance of pressing the group to overcome every conceivable type of threat.

“We got them working with an air threat coming in, with a surface threat, a subsurface threat, and even a cyber threat. Computer network defense is just as important to educate on and work through. There’s a lot of moving parts, and when we started implementing all these skill sets at once, it became an extremely complex problem.”

Luttrell explained that with growth and evolution, pain inevitably follows.

“You can’t just operate individually, and nothing is as simple as it seems,” said Luttrell. “The carrier itself is 5,000 people and 60 aircraft, and trying to integrate all those little pieces from the guys in engineering or the reactor all the way to the flight deck coordi-

nator to the culinary specialists feeding 20,000 meals a day in one package is tough. The work is heavy, hard and takes lots of people.”

Luttrell added that one of the strongest factors in overcoming the pain is maintaining a positive mental attitude and realizing the importance of seemingly insignificant contributions to the strike group’s operations.

“I wish every Sailor could always understand how important their part is in the overall success in the strike group. Every job is important. If a job was not important, there wouldn’t be someone to execute it,” said Luttrell.

Following the pain, Luttrell continued, a stronger unity and ability to operate will ensue.

“At the end they see what they’ve accomplished and they start reflecting ‘We are a better unit and ready to go fight.’ There should be a lot of personal pride in getting 6,000 people prepared and five units ready to go overseas and defend our nation.”

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December 21, 2010

Deckplate Dialogues “What’s something a lot of people don’t know about your job?”

“How technical it is. Pilots depend on us to know the ins and outs of the aircraft.”

Aviation Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Shawn Conners

“We don’t just sit at a register. We cater to the basic needs of the Sailors, such as the ship’s store, vending machines, laundry and barbershop.”

Ship’s Serviceman 3rd Class (SW) Jessie Lu

“We work with all the necessities that you use every day like lights, receptacles and keeping the ship electrically safe.”

Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class Samuel Franklin

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