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| "Navy 3, Pirates 0" | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Fri May 8th, 2009 09:36 pm |
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1st Post |
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JDBuckwell 3T WIS 
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I received this email from a reliable source... thought you guys would enjoy the story. —JD The 411 from NSWC Norfolk and from SOCOM Tampa: In the evening darkness late Thursday night, a team of Navy SEALs from NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Norfolk parachuted from such a C-17 into the black waters (no refraction of light) of the Indian Ocean-- close-aboard to our 40,000 ton amphibious assault ship, USS BOXER (LHD 4), the flagship of our ESG (Expeditionary Strike Group) in the AOR (Area Of Responsibility, the Gulf of Aden). They not only parachuted in with all of their "equipment," they had their own inflatable boats, RHIB's (Rigid Hull, Inflatable Boats) with them for over-water transport. They went into BOXER's landing dock, debarked, and staged for the rescue-- Thursday night. And, let me comment on time-late: In that the SEAL's quick response-- departing ready-alert in less than 4 hours from Norfolk-- supposedly surprised POTUS's staff, whereas President Obama was miffed not to get his "cops" there before the Navy. He reportedly questioned his staff, "Will 'my' FBI people get there before the Navy does?" It took the FBI almost 12 hours to put together a team and get them packed-up-- for an "at sea" rescue. The FBI was trying to tell him that they are not practiced to do this-- Navy SEALs are. But, BHO wanted the FBI there "to help," that is, carry out the Attorney General's (his) orders to negotiate the release of Captain Phillips peacefully-- because apparently he doesn't trust GW's military to carry out his "political guidance." The flight of the FBI's passenger jet took a little less than 14 hours at 500-some knots to get to Djibouti. BOXER'S helos picked them up and transported them out to the ship. The Navy SEALs were already there, staged, and ready to act by the time POTUS's FBI arrived on board later that evening. Notably, the first request by the OSC (On Scene Commander) that early Friday morning to take them out and save Captain Phillips was denied, to wit: "No, wait until 'my' FBI people get there." Third, please consider a candid assessment of ability that finds that the FBI snipers had never practiced shooting from a rolling, pitching, yawing, surging, swaying, heaving platform-- and, target-- such as a ship and a lifeboat on the high seas. Navies have been doing since Admiral Nelson who had trained "Marines" to shoot muskets from the ship's rigging-- ironically, he was killed at sea in HMS VICTORY at the Battle of Trafalgar by a French Marine rifleman that shot him from the rigging of the French ship that they were grappling alongside. Notably, when I was first training at USNA in 1955, the Navy was doing it with a SATU, Small Arms Training Unit, based at our Little Creek amphib base. Now, Navy SEAL's, in particular SEAL Team SIX (The "DevGru") based at NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) at Little Creek do that training now, and hone their skills professionally-- daily. Shooting small arms from a ship is more of an accomplished "Art Form" than it is a practiced skill. When you are "in the bubble" and "in tune" with the harmonic motion you find, through practice, that you are "able to put three .308 slugs inside the head of a quarter at 100 meters, in day or night-- or, behind a camouflaged net or a thin enclosure, such as a superstructure bulkhead. Yes, we have the monocular scopes that can "see" heat-- and, draw a bead on it. SEALs are absolutely expert at it-- with the movie clips to prove it. Okay, now try to imagine patrolling among the boats fishing everyday out on the Grand Banks off our New England coast, and then responding to a distress call from down around the waters between Florida and the Bahamas. Three points for you to consider here: (1) Time-Distance-Speed relationships for ships on the high seas, for instance, at a 25-knot SOA (Speed Of Advance) it takes 24 hours to make good 600 nm-- BAINBRIDGE did. (2) Fishermen work on the high seas, and (3) The best place to hide as a "fisherman" pirate is among other fishermen Early Wednesday morning, 4/8/2009, MV ALABAMA is at sea in the IO about 300 miles off the (east) coast of Somalia en route to Mombassa Kenya. Pirates in small boat start harassing her, and threatening her with weapons. MV ALABAMA's captain sent out the distress call by radio, and ordered his Engineer to shut down the engines as well as the ship-service electrical generators-- in our lingo, "Go dark and cold." He informed his crew by radio what was happening, and ordered them to go to an out-of-the-way compartment and lock themselves in it-- from the inside. He would stay in the pilot house to "negotiate" with the pirates. The pirates boarded, captured the Captain, and ordered him to start the engines. He said he would order his Engineer to do so, and he called down to Engine Control on the internal communication system, but got no answer. The lead pirate ordered two of his four men to go down and find him and get the engines started. Inside a ship without any lights is like the definition of dark. The advantage goes to the people who work and live there. They jumped the two pirates in a dark passageway. Both pirates lost their weapons, but one managed to scramble and get away. The other they tied up, put tape over his mouth and a knife at his throat. Other members of the crew opened the drain cocks on the pirates boat and cast it adrift. It foundered and sunk. The scrambling pirate made it back to the pilot house and told of his demise. The pirates took the Captain at gun point, and told him to launch one of his rescue boats (not a life boat, per se). As he was lowering the boat for them, the crew appeared with the other pirate to negotiate a trade. The crew let their hostage go to soon, and the pirates kept the captain. But, he purposefully had lowered the boat so it would jam. With the rescue boat jammed, the pirates jumped over to a lifeboat and released it as the captain jumped in the water. They fired at him, made him stop, and grabbed him out of the water. Now, as night falls in the vastness of the Indian Ocean, we have the classic "Mexican" standoff, to wit: A life-boat that is just that, a life-boat adrift without any means of propulsion except oars and paddles; and, a huge (by comparison) Motor Vessel Container Ship adrift with a crew that is not going to leave their captain behind. The pirates are enclosed under its shelter-covering, holding the captain as their hostage. The crew is hunkered down in their ship waiting for the "posse" to arrive. After receiving MV ALABAMA'S distress call, USS BAINBRIDGE (DDG 96) was dispatched by the ESG commander to respond to ALABAMA's distress call. At best sustainable speed, she arrived on scene the day after-- that is, in the dark of that early Thursday morning. As BAINBRIDGE quietly and slowly, at darkened-ship without any lights to give her away, arrived on scene, please consider a recorded interview with the Chief Engineer of MV ALABAMA describing BAINBRIDGE's arrival. He said it was something else "... to see the Navy slide in there like a greyhound!" He then said as she slipped in closer he could see the "Stars and Stripes" flying from her masthead. He got choked up saying it was the "...proudest moment of my life." Phew! Let that sink in. Earlier in the day, one of the U.S. Navy's Maritime Patrol Aircraft, a fixed wing P3C, flew over to recon the scene. They dropped a buoy with a radio to the pirates so that the Navy's interpreter could talk with the pirates. When BAINBRIDGE arrived, the pirates thought the radio to be a beaconing device, and threw it overboard. They wanted a satellite telephone so that they could call home for help. Remember now, they are fishermen, not "Rocket Scientists," in that, they don't know that we can intercept the phone transmission also. MV ALABAMA provided them with a satellite phone. They called home back to "somebody" in Eyl Somalia (so that we now know where you live) to come out and get them. The "somebody" in Eyl said they would be out right away with other hostages, like 54 of them from other countries, and that they would be coming out in two of their pirated ships. Right-- and, the tooth fairy will let you have sex with her. Yea, in paradise. The "somebody" in Eyl just chalked up four more expendables as overhead for "the cost of operation." Next page. Anyway, ESG will continue to "watch" Eyl for any ships standing out. The Navy SEAL team, SEAL TEAM SIX, from NSWC briefed the OSC (Commander Castellano, CO BAINBRIDGE) on how they could rescue the captain from the life boat with swimmers-- "Combat Swimmers," per se. That plan was denied by POTUS because it put the captain in danger-- and, involved killing the pirates. The FBI negotiators arrived on scene, and talked the pirates into sending their wounded man over for treatment Saturday morning. Later that afternoon, the SEAL's sent over their RHIB with food and water to recon the life boat but the pirates shot at it. They could have taken them out then (from being fired upon) but were denied again being told that the captain was not in "imminent danger." The FBI negotiators calmed the situation by informing the pirates of threatening weather as they could see storm clouds closing from the horizon, and offered to tow the life boat. The pirates agreed, and BAINBRIDGE took them under tow in their wake at 30 meters-- exactly 30 meters, which is exactly the distance the SEALs practice their shooting skills. With the lifeboat under tow, riding comfortably bow-down on BAINBRIDGE's wake-wave ("rooster tail"), had a 17-second period of harmonic motion, and at the end of every half-period (8.5 seconds) was steady on. The light-enhanced (infra-red heat) monocular scopes on the SEAL's .308 caliber Mark 11 Mod 0 H&K suppressor-fitted sniper ri fles easily imaged their target very clearly. Pirates in a life boat at 30-meters could be compared to fish in a barrel. All that was necessary was to take out the plexiglass window so that it would not deflect the trajectory of the high velocity .308 round. So, a sniper (one of four) with a wad-cutter round (a flaxen sabot) would take out the window a split second before the kill-shot-- no change in sight-picture, just the window blowing out, clean. Now, here's the part BHO's "whiz kids" knew as well as the Navy hierarchy, including CO BAINBRIDGE and CO SEAL TEAM SIX. It's the law in Article 19 of Appendix L in the "Convention of the High Seas" that the Commanding Officer of a US Ship on the high seas is obligated to respond to distress signals from any flagged ship (US or otherwise), and protect the life and property thereof when deemed to be in IMMINENT DANGER. So, in the final analysis, it would be Captain Castellano's call as to "Imminent Danger," and that he alone was obligated (duty bound) to act accordingly. Got the picture? After medically attending to the wounded pirated, and feeding him, come first light (from the east) on Easter Sunday morning and the pirates saw they were being towed further out to sea (instead of westward toward land), the wounded pirate demanded to be returned to the lifeboat. There would BE NO more negotiations-- and, the four Navy SEAL snipers "in the bubble" went "Unlock." The pirate holding Captain Philips raised the gun to his head, and IMMINENT DANGER was so observed and noted in the Log as CO BAINBRIDGE gave the classic order: WEAPONS RELEASED! I can hear the echo in my earpiece now, "On my count (from 8.5 seconds), 3, 2, 1, !" POP, BANG! Out went the window, followed by three simultaneous shots. The scoreboard flashed: "GAME OVER, GAME OVER-- NAVY 3, PIRATES 0!" I hope you found the above informative as best I know it-- and, please excuse me in that after more than 50 years the Navy is still in me. Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE
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| Posted: Fri May 8th, 2009 09:55 pm |
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2nd Post |
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Tony Duronio 3T WIS 
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In a word...............perfect.gif for sharing that
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| Posted: Fri May 8th, 2009 11:30 pm |
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3rd Post |
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oagaspar Site Founder 
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good read JD!
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 12:07 am |
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4th Post |
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Paladin 3T WIS 
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JD, thats a good story. Just a little ironic history for those who don't know; the USS Bainbridge is named after Commodore William Bainbridge, USN (1774-1833). During 1800-1803 he commanded the U.S. warships George Washington, Essex and Philadelphia during operations in the Mediterranean, but was taken prisoner with his entire crew by pirates when the Philadelphia ran aground off Tripoli in October 1803. After his release in 1805, he lead an American squadron, again visited Tripoli in 1815 and forced the pasha to comply with the demands of the United States. Once again we see almost 200 years later Bainbridge is still fighting pirates and winning!! Bill USN '87-'98
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 02:14 am |
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5th Post |
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Skipdawg 3T WIS 
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Ditto to the above. ;)
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 08:13 am |
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6th Post |
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bigrustypig 3T WIS 
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Some of these details were not on the news at all and were not released to media. Wow! Thanks for sharing.
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 12:36 pm |
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7th Post |
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JDBuckwell 3T WIS
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I like a lot of things in life, but there are three that I truly love... family, fine watches and grass-roots American patriotism. Fortunately, in the times we're in right now, recognition for family or a fine watch is easy, where as recognition for the motivation that drives those who serve (or have served) to protect what we love is not. Today, our youth is being taught, by teachers, Hollywood and the Media, that patriotism, as it was instilled in me by my WW II Vet Grandfather, is "old thinking... too black and white... not enough shades of forgiving gray". It is clear to me that this "new way of thinking" is how we are where we are today, and why the story I posted received such a welcomed response. So many of us are hungry for stories like this, yet have to dig to find them and worry about sharing them. I guess this is my bloviated way of saying, your welcome... the pleasure was mine. —JD
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 02:36 pm |
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8th Post |
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Paxman 3T WIS 
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JDBuckwell wrote: I like a lot of things in life, but there are three that I truly love... family, fine watches and grass-roots American patriotism. Fortunately, in the times we're in right now, recognition for family or a fine watch is easy, where as recognition for the motivation that drives those who serve (or have served) to protect what we love is not. The same thing applies to us who do not share your exact same thought process. Just a short time ago anyone who questioned the powers that be was labelled unpatriotic. This very stance is in and of itself unpatriotic. This country should allow all opinions to be heard and respected. We don't have to agree. And please don't blame teachers, media and movies for what youth are being taught. Teaching is a function of parenting and if one's child is being taught their core values by someone other than a parent then I would contend that parent is not involved or engaged properly. I enjoyed this story and I am no right winger. I am however a patriot, proud of my country and damn thankful and respectful of those who serve and have served. You might call me a shade of grey...;)
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 03:31 pm |
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9th Post |
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JDBuckwell 3T WIS
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Paxman wrote:JDBuckwell wrote:I appreciate your position Pax... I agree that to question the "powers that be" is patriotic. The questioning is not my concern... it is the actions of our current administration (as well as the one before ) that have me very concerned.I like a lot of things in life, but there are three that I truly love... family, fine watches and grass-roots American patriotism. Fortunately, in the times we're in right now, recognition for family or a fine watch is easy, where as recognition for the motivation that drives those who serve (or have served) to protect what we love is not. I also agree that parenting should be the source of core values, but unfortunately, parental responsibility, as well as the conventional family unit, is eroding (along with our parental rights), and to many in power now... that's a good thing, thus their reliance on educators, Hollywood and the "Mainstream Media" to instill their belief systems. Of course, not all teachers, actors, and media sources are a party to this, but it is a growing and very factorable movement we cannot deny. I have three teachers in my family and one of them openly instills her "activist values" into her students without shame or concern. As far as "shades of gray" is concerned... My liptnus test is: Does this action or belief build upon or degrade our founding father's intentions for our Republic? Does it promote freedom and individual rights? Does it rely on the universal law of "cause and effect" for practical validation? if yes to these simple (yet often unasked) questions, then I'm all for it... requiring no shade of gray.
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 03:34 pm |
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10th Post |
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KenC Admin 
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Paxman wrote:
Oh, bullS**t, PAX, I agree that teaching is a function of parenting but personal opinions (liberal or conservative) have no place in the classroom at any level of education. It is a teacher's responsibility to teach a child/student how to form their own opinion and not to heavily influence them from their position of authority with their own personal opinions. While it is my job to teach core values to my own children, I should not have to "unteach" them the personal opinions and values that have been forced upon them by teachers abusing their positions of authority. You know damn well than in most cases, if a child voices an opinion that challenges the teacher or the teacher's opinion, that child is punished in many ways, both subtle and not-so-subtle! As for the media, the media has a very liberal bias. Their responsibility is to report the news. Not to interpret it for us. There is a place for journalistic opinion and that is on the editorial page. That's where it belongs and that is where it should stay. As a graduate of one of the more prestigious journalism schools in the country, the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism, I would tell you that if you ask today's journalism student why he wants to become a journalist, he will not, in most cases, tell you it is to report the news and inform people. The typical response is that he wants to "influence change in the world". That is NOT the job of a journalist! Movies? Who gives a flying frack....the psuedo-intellectual movie stars who hold themselves out to be experts (when most of them barely finished high school...or not) is simply crap....thank you Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Rosie O'Donnell, et al! And now for my personal opinion (please note it is clearly labeled), liberal politics (which is mostly a way of buying votes with someone elses money) has taken us from "no-fault" insurance to being a "no-fault" country...no one is accountable for what they do or don't do and expect the government, using the money of those that are accountable, to take care of them. That said, I, for one, and you know this comes from the heart, do not doubt your patriotism one bit!
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 05:04 pm |
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11th Post |
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Edgel 3T WIS 
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KenC wrote: Paxman wrote: Aw, quit beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel, Ken. 
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| Posted: Sat May 9th, 2009 05:29 pm |
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12th Post |
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KenC Admin
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Edgel wrote: Aw, quit beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel, Ken. Oh sure...now you're going to bring Bush into it!!!! 
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