THE DESTROYERMEN

I want to feature a new blog by the crew of the USS Russell, DDG 59. It is the first time that blogging has been taken to sea by the Navy. The TheDestroyermen, was started by LCDR Chris van Avery, aka Yankee Sailor, the XO of the Russell.

The blog's mission statement:

To deliver an authentic, unvarnished, informative and entertaining account of life aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer, report on USS RUSSELL's contribution to the Global War on Terror and execution of America's Maritime Strategy, and provide insight into the character of the American Sailor.

Our first objective is to offer a true-to-life picture of what American Sailors do day in and day out aboard a warship, in port and at sea. There are, after all, more blogs out there detailing life of the ground-pounding variety than you can shake a cat-o-nine-tails at, but precious few that tell about American Sailors at sea.

Second, most Americans know few if any members of the military and little more about the military than its general role in society. So, one way to think of this blog is an unofficial civil-military relations project keeping the West Virginia miners, Montana ranchers, Iowa farmers and Boston software developers up to speed on what their Navy's all about.

Third, we hope to provide insight into the U.S. Navy's participation in the Global War on Terror and execution of America's Maritime Strategy. To date, the Army and Marines have been grabbing all the headlines (both good and bad), and there's been scant reporting about what the Navy's been up to for the last six years. From the Philippine Sea to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Gulf, we're in it up to our main trucks and somebodies got to tell the story.
Enjoy!

Posted by LCDR Chris van Avery, USN, Executive Officer

I want to highly recommend this blog to all who love the sea, or have ever wondered what it is like to be at sea. LCDR van Avery describes the bittersweet parting in as post, Farewell to Paradise, and has begun to describe daily life aboard one of our country's fighting ships. The photos are also something to behold, they add that thousand words to the brief paragraphs to make each post reading, Eye Candy for Sailors.