Military Recon Away Missions

Miramar Naval Air Station Aug. '97

I happened to be visiting a good friend of mine in San Diego in August. Woke up to hear a really loud BOOM, and when I asked her what it was, she said "Probably a jet." Well, that wasn't a good enough answer. "From where?" "Oh, Miramar." Me: (ignorant of California geography) "Miramar's near here?" "Yeah, about four miles; I think they're having a show-" "Get up. We're going."

Turns out that I'd picked the weekend of the NAS Miramar Final Flight, the last airshow to be held there before the base is turned over to the Marine Corps. Heeheeheeheeehee. We pulled into the parking lot, and I was leaning out the window saying "gee, that looks a lot like a..." WHOOOSH "...yep, it's a MiG-17." A pretty one, too; done up in crimson paint job with scarlet insignia. Ahhh. So Sally had to watch me be a turbo-hyper-guy-military-geek for the day (That's her in the MiG-17 shot and elsewhere); luckily, she thought it was amusing.

I had a crappy camera, so the only good shots I have are of the static display aircraft. For what it's worth, here they are, in no particular order:

Bath Iron Works

Recently (Late '96) some colleagues and I took a trip to Bath Iron Works, in Bath Maine. I had directed research to do; the others said 'Military trip? You're organizing? Cool!' and before you could say 'defense contractor' we'd scared up a Jeep Cherokee, a map to Bath, a contact name and a plan to stop at the Freeport, ME outlets on the way back.

I had journeyed to Bath because, in order: a) the Bath Iron Works was there, b) The Bath Iron Works builds Arleigh Burke DDG-51 destroyers, c) those DDG-51's have the 5"/54 gun system, and d) I am currently doing research on Naval Gun Fire Support. So, we set off to learn about how they build destroyers, and what the gun systems look like from the inside and out.

We ended up touring DDG-63 The Sullivans, which was at dock for its post-trials refit. We were guided and assisted most ably by Lt. Aggie Coleman, of USN SupShip Bath, and by Mr. Dave Antell of Bath Iron Works who supervises the construction of the 5"/54 gun system. That's him in this picture, talking about the primary gun computer unit which lives in the Loader/Drum Room. This room is inside the turret barbette, below deck level. After examining the turret control console and the turret CIC systems repeater display we travelled down to the magazine to inspect the ammo hoist and comm system.

That wasn't the only system we looked at, however. We checked out the fore and aft CIWS mounts (CIWS stands for Close In Weapon System; a last ditch defense against incoming missiles. For more information, see the Navy fact file on the Phalanx, the U.S. Navy's version). We also poked around the VLS (Vertical Launch System) mounts from the outside and the inside as well.

Of course, no ship visit would be complete without a view from the bridge, or even better, one of my colleagues testing the captain's chair. Make it so! And, to round things out, here's the whole group of us, with another shot for good measure.

How do they build them? Why, in sections of course. For example, if you can make it out, here's a shot of the bow section of a soon-to-be DDG-51 which contains the mount for the sonar dome.

Fort Bragg (18th Airborne Corps) / Pope AFB (23rd Composite Wing) Feb. 1996

Feb. 19-21st, 1996, I took a trip to Fort Bragg and Pope AFB in North Carolina to do research on American airborne/light infantry forces, especially their organic artillery. For more information on the units I visited, you can visit the Unofficial Guide to the US Military. In any case, we observed a practice airfield seizure airborne assault by the 82nd Airborne and the 23rd Composite wing, and were briefed on the 23rd Wing the next day. We rode with the paratroopers in a C-130 aircraft. Following their exit over the dropzone, we returned to Pope, where we boarded UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters to ride to the drop zone. After landing on the 'airfield', we were given a briefing on some of the systems used by the 82nd Airborne. As a wanna-be defense analyst, I must say that I'm not impressed with the systems used by this division, as it appears to consist of older, less capable systems such as the M551 Sheridan tank, a pre-Vietnam era tank with a thin skin and a 152mm gun that whacks the electronics out of alignment as soon as it's fired or airdropped (according to an Army Colonel I spoke with) and the outdated Dragon anti-tank guided missile system. However, the unit's small arms, up to and including the AT-4 shoulder-fired anti-armor weapon, are quite up-to-date. Note that I don't feel this at all reflects on the 82nd itself; on the contrary, being willing to airborne assault locations using less-than-modern equipment, with elan, shows true spirit!

Electric Boat/New London Submarine Base/USS San Juan SSN-751 Feb. 1996

On February 8th, 1996 I and several colleagues travelled to Groton and New London, Connecticut to tour Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics and several U.S. Navy Fast Attack subs. Although there was a paperwork snafu and we did not manage to walk through the yards at Electric Boat, we did manage a tour of the Submarine Base and several discussions with naval personnel.

My group of five toured the U.S.S. San Juan SSN-751, a 688 Los Angeles class Fast Attack Submarine. Although tied up in port, her crew were running battle drills. After lunch with Commander Gardner, CO of the San Juan, we observed several tracking and torpedo drills before continuing our tour. Cdr. Gardner and his crew were extremely friendly and tolerant of the landlubbers trooping through their spaces. Although I was allowed to take photographs, I have chosen not to put up pictures of more sensitive areas without checking with the Navy. There are a few, however, I do have:

Following lunch aboard and the tour, we met with RAdm. Rick Buchanan (CO of Submarine Group Two), Capt. Nestlerode, and three other Captains (John Brandes, John Demlein and George Jackson) for a highly informative panel discussion and Q&A on the future of the U.S. sub force. All in all, a fun afternoon, and very informative.

New London Submarine Base/U.S.S. Boston Apr. 1995

A 'Bubblehead Wanna-Be' as I was referred to by a friend who sails 'comfortably above the water,' I *love* submarines. I was privileged to take a trip aboard the USS Boston, SSN-703. That's her on the outboard side in this picture, with the fairwater planes. The inboard boat is, I believe, USS Alexandria.