USS Iowa: Progress Report

Iowa in San Pedro

Volunteers on Iowa

Today I was privileged to spend the day on board the USS Iowa with dozens of motivated volunteers and a small dedicated staff who are literally working their tails off getting Iowa ready for the celebrations the will begin July 2, and continue as she hosts the USS Iowa Veterans Reunion and then her grand opening on July 7. The work already done in Richmond produced amazing results for a ship that was left absorbing the elements for over twenty years. Much work is still needed to get her ready, and what amounts to enough volunteers to almost fill her original complement, have stepped forward in such numbers to keep the scheduling staff working day and night, processing the applications of those willing to lend a hand.

This was my second day aboard the Iowa. Last weekend I joined up with a small group of strangers who soon became shipmates, as we went about the task of removing the walls of a petty officers lounge to make way for expanding the museum space. The task at first seemed daunting as the walls resisted our grinding tools that made little progress against what turned out the be honeycomb metal walls. We soon collectivly seized upon using a combination of metal saws and grinders to cut away the walls and open the space. Sparks flew, smoke spewed, and the ever present danger of fire, was suppressed under a careful watch. The walls soon gave way to present a new problem of how to get them topside. All the while, our little group continued to bond and in doing so, put our heads together to solve the problem of removing walls, then winching them topside through the hatch via a block and tackle. By the end of the day we were the tightest of shipmates, and left for our homes with a feeling of accomplishment, and even deeper, that sense of comraderie when you've made new friends.

Lt. Dan, Operations Boss

Today was no different, as the volunteers gathered in a crew dining space and awaited the safety meeting which is the daily benediction, before fanning out to the various assignments. Except for staff, most of the faces were new to me; except James a fellow volunteer from our Saturday crew. He and I were assigned to go with the Ship Ops Lead, Mac, to  raise the colors on the fantail, and them forward to raise the pennant on the bow. We then collected a half dozen ROTC students from San Pedro High, who had been coming aboard every day this week to lend a hand. The main task today was to move a large stack of life rafts racks to the side of the ship for removal to the dock. They were nested in rows below the barrels of number three turret and needed to be moved to the side of the ship where they would be hooked on to the forks of a lift and off loaded onto the dock. I must admit, it was challenging work, as we carefully untied the racks, stacked four high, and then by shear muscle power lifted then to the deck, and carried them to the rail, careful not to mar the wooden deck.

"Mac"

Our leader, was a former Iowa crew member who we will acknowledge as "Mac" who's first priority was doing it Safely, Safely, and more Safely!. The students worked along side old salts, and this old army guy, as we moved those heavy racks one by one to the side for offloading. Mac, kept everyone's head in the game with his ever present cautioning and if needed chewing out if anyone strayed from paying attention to the lurking danger associated with offloading such material. He demonstrated, then supervised the careful hooking of the straps, and calling out caution as each rack soared over the side onto the dock.  We them moved onto other assignments, each acomplished without a whimper of complaint, or any shirking to the task by old or young. The ROTC group consisted of five boys and one girl, who represented the diversity of Los Angeles and America today. Our next task was moving 60 cases of water, by forming a chain gang and passing the cases across the deck to a hatch where they were slid them down to the galley below and via chain gang moved snake like to a storage space. Again, us old guys were hard pressed to keep up with the enthusiasm of those students. During a break I learned that they were part of an Air Force ROTC program, and all planned to go into the Air Force, (too bad Navy, as they would make great sailors). All I can say is I tried to pitch them to consider switching services when they graduated.

I came away with two impressions, the first, that all of those who have volunteered, each feel a deep sense of commitment to the ship and the sea service. And second, they all share the feeling that they are part of a great enterprise, and take immense pride in working on the Iowa. Even more heartening, was my impression of the high school students who never once complained, or shirked from any assignment, and actually jumped at any task they were assigned. I am assured, that some of America's future leaders were among that group, and demonstrated the kind of grit and innovation that is a purely American trait.

Thoughts on a Maritime Nation

Dropping Astern: HMS Guerriere versus USS Constitution

19 August 1812

The maritime theme that most often runs through this blog, and binds it together, is the same one that for over two hundred years has bound together the United States, and led to our success as a nation and great power. Due to our ability to recognize our failings, and self correct ourselves this path has led to a world more prosperous and secure, than any time since humans have existed. Our nation was founded by people who journeyed to our shores on ships, and then when divorced from Europe, founded a navy to protect our shores and lanes of commerce.

The past two decades since the end of the Cold War and ten years of war in Southwest Asia has seen the Navy take a back seat. First as the fleet, post-Cold War shrank to the smallest since the 1920's, and second, as the soaring cost of two land wars outstripped the treasury more than any conflict since World War II, and diverted funds from shipbuilding programs.

The recent decision by President Obama to commit to a "Strategic Pivot" to reinforce our presence in the Western Pacific has left the Navy with hard choices to do more with less, as it plans to retire 16 ships and now 7 more cruisers and 2 amphibious ships next year. Some in Congress have begun to question the logic and soundness of the Navy's decision. This topic has spread to the influential naval centric blog of Information Dissemination, where this post generated lively debate. Amid the plans for pivoting to Asia is a rather large fly in the ointment named Iran. Reading the "Tea Leaves" tends support the phrase, plan for the worst, and hope for the best.

Looking back, to the beginning of the nation Alexander Hamilton lobbied for the maintaining of a strong navy that was chronicled in the recent book, Six Frigates by Ian Toll. Our nation relied on ships like these were our first line of defense during the war of 1812 when the USS Constitution made history and due to her service remains on active duty as a tribute to those first ships.

At the end of the 19th century the pen of Alfred Thayer Mahan produced a book that introduced Theodore Roosevelt then the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, to apply the principles of The Influence of Sea Power on History 1660-1783 when he became president. Mahan's book was the bible that guided American naval strategy during the 20th century and now is being followed by China, as she moves to correct a historical mistake they made in the 15th century.

The story of our naval heritage in the 20th century and especially the War in the Pacific was written about in a masterful way by Samuel Eliot Morison who's books are still available from US Naval Institute.

USS Johnston at Battle off Samar 25 October 1944

Other authors have published recent books that chronicle our naval history during World War II. Men like James D Hornfischer who has penned three books bound to be classics, and Ian Toll whose Pacific Crucible joins his previous Six Frigates, as another classic account of the US Navy.

It might also be noted as President Obama is prone to call a "Learning Moment," to consider that the two presidents who had the most influence on the American Navy in the 20th century, both learned to appreciate sea power when serving as Assistant Secretaries of the Navy. As noted above, Theodore, and his cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt, held that post and both brought our Navy to the forefront of a global presence that has lasted to this day. One can only hope that future presidents heed their example, and maintain the Navy as a force that will continue to wear the mailed, or surgical glove, with equal mastery.

2011, A pause to reflect on the year

2012, Hong Kong

The last day of 2011 gave me time to pause and look back over the past 12 months and far beyond into the mists of decades past. The year 2011 has been marked with personal satisfaction, in my professional life as I measured the successes in introducing my students to a history they had missed learning about, or even considered relevant in todays me, myself world. Several other events occurred during the past year that have been rewarding.  Being invited to become a contributing analysis for Wikistrat  a "Next generation strategy" enterprise has been rewarding and provided an opportunity to join a community of analysis and experts who will provide insight on a host of global issues in the coming years.

2011, also saw a favorite project move from the planning stage to a reality, as the US Navy awarded the USS Iowa BB-61 to the Pacific Battleship Center headed by Robert Kent and supported by a volunteer task force of committed citizens. The ship is currently berthed in Richmond, CA as it is being prepared to be moved to it's new home at pier 87 in San Pedro, former home of the Pacific Fleet prior to World War II. The ship's new mission is two fold, first to provide a supplemental education for K-12 classes, and providing a "living" ship museum, recreating "at sea" experiences.

USS Iowa, Heading on a new mission

Tim Heatherington, RIP

Looking further back in time, one is immediately drawn to 2001 and the events of September 11, and how it has influenced and touched people across the globe; especially the families of those who lost their lives on that terrible day, and in conflicts that have scarred each day since.  2011 saw a film, recognized for capturing the experience of the common soldier win an Academy Award for best documentary, and a few months later, see the loss of the filmmaker, Tim Hetherington while he was covering the rebellion in Libya. A silver lining that came about because of the movie, was gaining the  friendship of the film's publicist, Kanani Fong, who besides being a fellow blogger; shares many of the same world views about being involved instead of being a passenger on this big blue marble. She and her husband David, a surgeon who joined the Army after having a successful private practice for 25 years, are two outstanding examples of my fellow Americans stepping forward and being counted.

December 7, 1941

The attack on Pearl Harbor seventy years ago this month, has been compared to September 11, 2001 as a transformational event in American history. But, if we use the same measurement of time to see what changed in the decade after the event, and compare the year 1951 to 2011, we see such a difference. In 1951, we were in midst of a very bloody Korean War, unemployment was only 3.3% and people had money to spend. Communism was the major threat and the Cold War was in it's infancy, only to end in 1991 another first year of a new decade. Today, we seem at times to be struggling along, blinded by the same hubris and self-centered navel gazing that foretold the decline of other great powers. I don't hold that view to be the same for America due to our ability to re-purpose ourselves in the arena of innovation that stems from being a continental nation, filled and re-filled with people seeking new avenues to advance mankind. Conflict is natural, as is the innate human trait to find the best way forward.

Kathy Vo, Founder of Pre-health Alliance

Returning to the opening paragraph, and my reference to the students in my classes who ranged from just out of high school, to adults in their mature years. Each one had their own goals, but shared the same vision of improving their chances by furthering their education and in turn, to see a better future for their children. This is in contrast to the belief that many Americans are fearful of, given the current status of our economy, and lack of national commitment to the myths and realities that drove out nation forward. More proof that the nation is producing a new generation of people committed to a better future, can be found in the most unlikely places. I wrote earlier about a chance meeting in my dentists office of the daughter of immigrants who fled the aftermath of the fall of South Vietnam. Over the months since our chance encounter, I came to learn that this young woman had founded a club, the Pre-health Alliance at her university. The club's mission is to spread awareness in the community about health related issues by sponsoring health fairs and health awareness events across Southern California. Her commitment to being involved, doesn't end there. As she prepares for medical school, she recently told me that she has been working with a group of doctors to found a free clinic that is set to open in April 2012. She added that she hopes to take over the clinic herself, once she begins to practice medicine. I don't write this to make her seem like a superwoman, but to serve as an example of how new blood is the lifeblood of this nation and as we look forward, we can be grateful for people who strive to make a difference instead of treading water.

As 2011 ends, and 2012 opens to usher in the more of the same and many new challenges and opportunities, I am reinforced in my belief that the good of humankind will continue to raise the quality of life for billions of people around the planet. Vigilance against the forces of repression can only be met and defeated by shining the brilliant light of truth on their evil efforts. I don't fear today's social media or the Internet, as the free exchange of ideas always trumps the lie. Best wishes to all for a interesting and happy 2012.

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the reason that we Americans have paused on a hot summer day in early July for the past 235 years to re-affirm what it is to be an American. Although, during the first few years, July 4th, was only celebrated locally and by the armed forces. It did not even become a national holiday until 1870 amd a paid holiday until 1938. The date however is not as important, as the document, and that leads to the subject of this post. Two of my fellow bloggers have posted eloquent tributes about the meaning of the declaration, and they deserve to be acknowledged. Mark of Zenpundit get the lead off position with this excellent description on what an American is.

This is the core of what it America is, a civic creed, adherence to which defines the holder as possessor of the exalted title of ”American”, without regard to their origins, however humble, their condition, however mean, they can hold their heads above those of kings as a free people, jealous of their liberties and none greater than another under the law.

That was the revolutionary ideal that set the world on fire, long though in the coming to arrive as a reality. It is our greatest legacy to the history of mankind and if we ever lose our vigilance and submit to tyrants, forgetting ourselves in seeking security, Jefferson’s words may yet inspire others to take up the cause on our behalf as we have done so for others:

Read and view the whole post:
“We hold these Truths to be Self-Evident….”

Citizen soldiers

Being an American also brings with it a responsibility to ensure that our way of life is protected. This next post from CDR Salamander, provides an answer.

And so our Revolution - really a civil war - began. Those who served, fought, wounded, or died in that war understood why they left family and future to put their lives on the line.

In 2011 after a decade of undeclared war, with a leadership that cannot even call bombing another nation conflict and the reasons for these wars not even defended by those who lead us - why do we fight?

Besides following orders and doing what you can to protect and serve your band of brothers - why are we scattered around the world killing others, and for what purpose?

If our leaders cannot define or describe what we are doing with our armed forces - can we?

Read the whole post and the link within:
Why do we serve?

Major Robert Soltes 2004, Iraq

Lt. Mark Daily, Iraq 2007

Cpt. Eric F. Wood, Memorial, Belgium

Sadly for our nation, this is a question that is being asked by only a few, when less than 1% of the population answers the call to serve. For some, it is a way to find new direction, for others, the call to duty hearkened back to earlier wars when men answered the call, and preformed deeds of valor, often unrecorded, and un-seen, except, by God. We should all, understand that preserving our liberties means a willingness to serve both in the traditional sense of arms, as well as citizens who take an active part in their civic responsibilities and to follow their conscience, putting the interests of the nation first, so as to preserve the civic creed so aptly stated by Mark in the second paragraph of this post.

Memorial Day 2011

American Military Cemetery Cartage, Tunisia

Cartage,Tunisia

American Military Cemetery, Manila-16,631 at rest.

American Cemetery Luxembourg

Memorial Day is a day to remember those who have given their lives in the service of our nation. For anyone who has served, the day takes on a special meaning because we shared the same bond of service. I have written before of those we remember  on this day. This year, I want to share a passage written by Rick Atkinson author of Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943. This excerpt from the prologue is one of the most moving passages ever put to ink.

Twenty-seven acres of headstones fill the American military cemetery at Carthage, Tunisia. There are no obelisks, no tombs, no ostentatious monuments, just 2,841 bone-white marble markers, two feet high and arrayed in ranks as straight as gunshots. Only the chiseled names and dates of death suggest singularity. Four sets of brothers lie side by side. Some 240 stones are inscribed with the thirteen of the saddest words in our language: "Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God." A long limestone wall contains the names of another 3,724 men still missing, and a benediction: "Into Thy hands, O Lord."

This is an ancient place, built on the ruins of Roman Carthage and a stone's throw from the even older Punic city. It is incomparably serene. The scents of eucalyptus and of the briny Mediterranean barely two miles away carry on the morning air, and the African light is flat and shimmering, as if worked by a silversmith. Tunisian lovers stroll hand in hand across the kikuyu grass or sit on benches in the bowers, framed by orangeberry and scarlet hibiscus. Cypress and Russian olive trees ring the yard, with scattered acacia and Aleppo pine and Jerusalem thorn. A carillon plays hymns on the hour, and the chimes sometimes mingle with a muezzin's call to prayer from a nearby minaret. Another wall is inscribed with the battles where these boys died in 1942 and 1943 -- Casablanca, Algiers, Oran, Kasserine, El Guettar, Sidi Nsir, Bizerte -- along with a line from Shelley's "Adonais": "He has outsoared the shadow of our night."

In the tradition of government-issue graves, the stones are devoid of epitaphs, parting endearments, even dates of birth. But visitors familiar with the American and British invasion of North Africa in November 1942, and the subsequent seven-month struggle to expel the Axis powers there, can make reasonable conjectures. We can surmise that Willett H. Wallace, a private first class in the 26th Infantry Regiment who died on November 9,1942, was killed at St. Cloud, Algeria, during the three days of hard fighting against, improbably, the French. Ward H. Osmun and his brother Wilbur W., both privates from New Jersey in the 18th Infantry and both killed on Christmas Eve 1942, surely died in the brutal battle of Longstop Hill, where the initial Allied drive in Tunisia was stopped -- for more than five months, as it turned out -- within sight of Tunis. Ignatius Glovach, a private first class in the 701st Tank Destroyer Battalion who died on Valentine's Day, 1943, certainly was killed in the opening hours of the great German counteroffensive known as the battle of Kasserine Pass. And Jacob Feinstein, a sergeant from Maryland in the 135th Infantry who died on April 29, 1943, no doubt passed during the epic battle for Hill 609, where the American Army came of age.

A visit to the Tunisian battlefields tells a bit more. For more than half a century, time and weather have purified the ground at El Guettar and Kasserine and Longstop. But the slit trenches remain, and rusty C-ration cans, and shell fragments scattered like seed corn. The lay of the land also remains -- the vulnerable low ground, the superior high ground: incessant reminders of how, in battle, topography is fate.

Yet even when the choreography of armies is understood, or the movement of this battalion or that rifle squad, we crave intimate detail, of individual men in individual foxholes. Where, precisely, was Private Anthony N. Marfione when he died on December 24,1942? What were the last conscious thoughts of Lieutenant Hill P. Cooper before he left this earth on April 9, 1943? Was Sergeant Harry K. Midkiff alone when he crossed over on November 25,1942, or did some good soul squeeze his hand and caress his forehead?

The dead resist such intimacy. The closer we try to approach, the farther they draw back, like rainbows or mirages. They have outsoared the shadow of our night, to reside in the wild uplands of the past. History can take us there, almost. Their diaries and letters, their official reports and unofficial chronicles -- including documents that, until now, have been hidden from view since the war -- reveal many moments of exquisite clarity over a distance of sixty years. Memory, too, has transcendent power, even as we swiftly move toward the day when not a single participant remains alive to tell his tale, and the epic of World War II forever slips into national mythology.

Tens of thousands of Americans lay like those above; in cemeteries, unmarked loam and jungle sand, far from the place of their birth. I can attest for every one, that in their youth, none imagined their bones would rest forever so far from home. Today, the nation goes to extraordinary measures to bring their fallen sons and daughters home. For most of the nation, the wars of the past decade have not left them wounded with the loss of a family member or even anyone they have personally known. The lives lost in earlier wars are distant and fleeting, only remembered if those lost were a parent or a relative.

Hopefully, this post and those by other unfettered hands posting scores of tributes on this medium and across the social media, will give pause to everyone to remember how much their current lives were impacted by fellow citizens who gave their lives to insure the freedom of the next generation. I am especially speaking to the millions born and those who have come to these shores in the years since World War II and the wars spawned of the Cold War. Your lives would not be the same without the sacrifice of souls like those remembered above.

So I say, lift your glass just once this long weekend, and pause and utter a small remembrance to those who made it possible for you to have the chance to live in a world of opportunity versus a world of permission. The greatest redemption for their loss, is making sure your life is worthwhile.

Ronald Reagan, A Personal Reflection

Death Valley Days

Ronald Reagan, 40th President of United States

Today, February 6, 2011 marks the centennial of the birth of Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States and by most historical opinions a transformational figure in American history. The number of truly transformational presidents can be counted on one hand, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan. These men all practiced reconstructive and transformational politics that lead the country away from stagnant and ineffective leadership. One can quibble over the politics of the men, but the fact that they were leaders as opposed to the status-quo, and sent the country on a different path to the future is a testament to their vision and leadership style.

I often tell my American History 1945-to-the Present, students that as opposed to using secondary sources to study a subject; as one would when looking back into the decades preceding World War II, that I stand before them as a primary source, since I have first-hand experienced much of the history we would be studying. This is the case with Ronald Reagan.
My first introduction to Reagan was unrelated to politics as I would be allowed to watch the General Electric Theater, which Reagan hosted, on Sunday evenings whenever there was school holiday on Mondays. Later, in my teens, he was a familiar figure with a cowboy hat that hosted Death Valley Days. Reagan made no impact on me in those early years and it was not until November of 1968 that I was introduced to his leadership style.

After Vietnam, I was married and stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky. and were expecting our first child in April 1969. We decided to move the wife home to be near her parents and undertook a cross country drive to California. Just after sunset, three days later, we crossed over the Colorado River on I-10 and were met with two things that signaled that we were back in what at the time was the "Golden State." First, was the roadway, brightly lit as far as one's headlights carried, with little glass reflectors that were an invention of a Cal-Trans engineer named Botts. They had been installed after I had joined the army and California was the only state in the nation to have them. Driving in the desert that night, the first California radio station we tuned in was carrying a live interview with then Governor Ronald Reagan. As I drove along, and listened to him discuss the affairs of California and the state of the nation after changing leadership with the election Nixon a couple of weeks earlier, I was struck by the tenor of the way he presented his convictions. I was still naive about most politics and frankly had not formed any political affiliation, but listening to his positive message about individuality and the human spirit that night, left me with a very favorable impression. To reveal my ignorance about the history of Bott's Dots, I was initially left to credit Reagan with lighting our way across the California desert that night, only to learn later, they were approved the summer before he was elected.

Reagan as governor on a personal level did not really cross my radar. The economy of the early 1970's allowed me, just out of the Army and a student to purchase my first home while still a student. Being a Vietnam Veteran I shunned anti-war protests and was focused on re-entering the work force and remained non-political. Later, after Reagan left office and the decade dragged on to introduce double digit inflation and equally double digit interest rates, Reagan again appeared on my radar. The election of 1980, amid the Iranian Hostage Crisis saw the myth that has never been fully discredited that as soon as Reagan was sworn in and 20 minutes into his speech, the hostages were released in Tehran and flown to Algeria. The myth of what awaited the Iranians had they not released the hostages, persists to this day and has enhanced Reagan's reputation of being ready to use force to protect and project American power.

I can honestly attest that for this son of a broken home, who without financial support of family, put himself through college on the GI bill and by his own hand; the 1980's under Reagan, was a decade that saw me fulfill the American Dream. In that decade and its aftermath, I founded my own business, and saw my personal wealth grow far beyond that of my parents. Upon reflection, most Americans look back on that decade, decried by some as one of "greed" and see it as one of pivotal improvement in their lives.



As noted in the beginning of this post, Reagan was a transformational leader who changed the course of history. Perhaps the most telling of Reagan's legacy is that in 2008, the election of Barak Obama was hailed by some as a chance to add a sixth person to the club of transitional presidents. It has been accurately reported that President Obama is diligently studying Reagan's presidency and reading Lou Cannon's biography, "President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime."