Good friend of mine is being sent out among the new Navy sailors that will be filling in the gaps for the deaths & low recruitment of the army and marine corps.
Not going to say specifics of where or when he’s going, but it’s an especially "hot" area of iraq. And he’ll be working with the marines doing a job that was/is supposed to be done by a marine.
He joined the navy, but did not volunteer for service in iraq as the article suggests many of them have. He’s being forced against his will as an order from up high.
Should be a warning to all of you that think the Navy is a good place to avoid seeing the shit.
Good thing we're winning the war and the iraqi's are taking over things our soldiers were once doing
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1,000 more sailors expected to join ground forces in Iraq
By Alex Fryer
Seattle Times staff reporter
Three years after Baghdad fell, the Navy is poised to dramatically increase
the number of sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan, filling gaps in Army and
Marine Corps units.
The seamen, called "individual augmentees," support ground operations
thousands of miles from the nearest port, in deployments that can be far
different from the Navy's traditional role.
Last year, about 400 sailors from naval bases at Everett, Whidbey Island,
Bangor and Bremerton were called to fill specific jobs ashore. Most involved
security, communications, construction and administrative duties, on
yearlong deployments. For example, some helped staff prisons and others
drove trucks.
New requests for Navy personnel in the Middle East and Afghanistan are
coming in weekly. There are 4,000 sailors in Iraq — a number that is
expected to increase to 5,000 in the next few months. It is unclear how many
more sailors will be called to serve ashore by the end of the year.
"Ground forces have been in a very tough rotation over the last several
years, and if we can pitch in to help relieve some of that, we're going to
do that," Adm. Michael Mullen said during a recent interview with reporters.
"We are replacing some of the Marines and soldiers who are on the ground.
... I couldn't tell you exactly what it's going to grow to."
The sailors do not perform raids or attack insurgent positions. But some of
their missions, particularly defusing homemade bombs, can be dangerous.
Though most sailors sent to Iraq and Afghanistan volunteer, Navy officials
say everyone should be prepared to serve.
"If you're wearing a uniform, you're a volunteer for whatever the military
needs from you," said Lt. Trey Brown, a Navy spokesman. "We want to take the
people who are more eager, but everybody has got to be ready to go."
Not all sailors are enthusiastic about the Navy's support role.
A Naval Academy graduate based in San Diego received orders on Wednesday to
report to another base in 12 days and ship out to Iraq, even after he
specifically turned down a request to volunteer. To him, the program refutes
pronouncements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the Army is
"battle-hardened" but in good shape.
"Rumsfeld says the Army is not stretched too thin, but you have sailors
relieving the Army," said the officer, who wished to remain anonymous. "A
little straightforwardness goes a long way. We'd like the same from the
folks on high."
There are 356,429 Navy personnel on active duty; about 36,500 are deployed
around the world.
Requests for naval manpower in the region come from Central Command, which
oversees all military operations from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia.
The requests pass through Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., where it is
determined which naval regions will be asked to draw sailors. Navy Region
Northwest includes facilities in Washington, Alaska, Oregon and Idaho.
Selecting officers and enlisted personnel from ships and shore duty is a
delicate balancing act, said Brown, the Navy spokesman.
"They don't want to decimate a certain area. We want to manage this so we
don't inhibit the Navy's mission at sea."
The Navy asks for service members with specific training or skills such as
electronic warfare officers. But the call also goes out for "Any Rate"
sailors with indeterminate skills.
"They need a body to fill a spot," said Petty Officer Dustin Hill, who is
assigned to the USS Alabama, a ballistic nuclear submarine homeported at
Bangor.
There is a lot of talk on base about going to Iraq, he said, but so far,
most submariners aren't worried that they will be selected against their
will.
"People feel like they're safe," Hill said. "We trained to be on submarines.
It just doesn't make sense" for the submariners to support combat
operations.
Master Chief John Gross, stationed at Naval Station Everett, volunteered to
go to Afghanistan from October 2004 to April 2005, joining an operations
center that followed the movement of ground forces and summarized daily
events.
For him, the duty offered a unique opportunity to participate in war.
"It's a slice of life I would have never gotten to experience if I hadn't
put my arm in the air to volunteer," he said.
When a Navy vessel heads out to sea, the sailors on board have trained with
each other. But when sailors deploy to land combat, they often go alone and
serve under a different branch of the military.
Gross said he worked well with the other services, but there is evidence not
all deployments have gone smoothly.
In January 2003, nine medics assigned to Naval Hospital Oak Harbor left to
serve with the 1st Marine Division in Iraq.
During an interview with Navy Criminal Investigative Services, which was
investigating a report of prisoner abuse by the medics, one corpsman said
the Navy guys were not well-liked among the Marines.
"I cannot say I was well-received by the Marines with which I was assigned,"
said the medic, whose name was blocked out in the file. "I believe they
think of us as lazy [Navy] Corpsman who do not do a thing."
Investigators later determined the allegations of abuse were false.
Christine Wormuth, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington, D.C., said individual sailors risk
being the "odd man out" when they integrate into other units.
Over time, she said, the stress of such deployments could erode the
attractiveness of the Navy, and present a recruitment and retention problem.
The Pentagon "is trying to find ways to put Navy personnel in jobs that are
muddy-boots-type jobs," she said.
Gross said volunteers at Naval Station Everett were easy to come by,
particularly for general deployments that appeal to lower-ranked sailors.
Depending on their pay rate, service members can double their salaries by
working in combat zones, though it's not money that motivates most
volunteers, he said.
"You can read something in a news article or see something on TV, but there
is no substitute to actually being immersed in a 360-degree view with all
the sights and smells," Gross said.
"Money is money. The experience overrides it."
Not going to say specifics of where or when he’s going, but it’s an especially "hot" area of iraq. And he’ll be working with the marines doing a job that was/is supposed to be done by a marine.
He joined the navy, but did not volunteer for service in iraq as the article suggests many of them have. He’s being forced against his will as an order from up high.
Should be a warning to all of you that think the Navy is a good place to avoid seeing the shit.
Good thing we're winning the war and the iraqi's are taking over things our soldiers were once doing
----------------------------------------------------------------
1,000 more sailors expected to join ground forces in Iraq
By Alex Fryer
Seattle Times staff reporter
Three years after Baghdad fell, the Navy is poised to dramatically increase
the number of sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan, filling gaps in Army and
Marine Corps units.
The seamen, called "individual augmentees," support ground operations
thousands of miles from the nearest port, in deployments that can be far
different from the Navy's traditional role.
Last year, about 400 sailors from naval bases at Everett, Whidbey Island,
Bangor and Bremerton were called to fill specific jobs ashore. Most involved
security, communications, construction and administrative duties, on
yearlong deployments. For example, some helped staff prisons and others
drove trucks.
New requests for Navy personnel in the Middle East and Afghanistan are
coming in weekly. There are 4,000 sailors in Iraq — a number that is
expected to increase to 5,000 in the next few months. It is unclear how many
more sailors will be called to serve ashore by the end of the year.
"Ground forces have been in a very tough rotation over the last several
years, and if we can pitch in to help relieve some of that, we're going to
do that," Adm. Michael Mullen said during a recent interview with reporters.
"We are replacing some of the Marines and soldiers who are on the ground.
... I couldn't tell you exactly what it's going to grow to."
The sailors do not perform raids or attack insurgent positions. But some of
their missions, particularly defusing homemade bombs, can be dangerous.
Though most sailors sent to Iraq and Afghanistan volunteer, Navy officials
say everyone should be prepared to serve.
"If you're wearing a uniform, you're a volunteer for whatever the military
needs from you," said Lt. Trey Brown, a Navy spokesman. "We want to take the
people who are more eager, but everybody has got to be ready to go."
Not all sailors are enthusiastic about the Navy's support role.
A Naval Academy graduate based in San Diego received orders on Wednesday to
report to another base in 12 days and ship out to Iraq, even after he
specifically turned down a request to volunteer. To him, the program refutes
pronouncements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the Army is
"battle-hardened" but in good shape.
"Rumsfeld says the Army is not stretched too thin, but you have sailors
relieving the Army," said the officer, who wished to remain anonymous. "A
little straightforwardness goes a long way. We'd like the same from the
folks on high."
There are 356,429 Navy personnel on active duty; about 36,500 are deployed
around the world.
Requests for naval manpower in the region come from Central Command, which
oversees all military operations from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia.
The requests pass through Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., where it is
determined which naval regions will be asked to draw sailors. Navy Region
Northwest includes facilities in Washington, Alaska, Oregon and Idaho.
Selecting officers and enlisted personnel from ships and shore duty is a
delicate balancing act, said Brown, the Navy spokesman.
"They don't want to decimate a certain area. We want to manage this so we
don't inhibit the Navy's mission at sea."
The Navy asks for service members with specific training or skills such as
electronic warfare officers. But the call also goes out for "Any Rate"
sailors with indeterminate skills.
"They need a body to fill a spot," said Petty Officer Dustin Hill, who is
assigned to the USS Alabama, a ballistic nuclear submarine homeported at
Bangor.
There is a lot of talk on base about going to Iraq, he said, but so far,
most submariners aren't worried that they will be selected against their
will.
"People feel like they're safe," Hill said. "We trained to be on submarines.
It just doesn't make sense" for the submariners to support combat
operations.
Master Chief John Gross, stationed at Naval Station Everett, volunteered to
go to Afghanistan from October 2004 to April 2005, joining an operations
center that followed the movement of ground forces and summarized daily
events.
For him, the duty offered a unique opportunity to participate in war.
"It's a slice of life I would have never gotten to experience if I hadn't
put my arm in the air to volunteer," he said.
When a Navy vessel heads out to sea, the sailors on board have trained with
each other. But when sailors deploy to land combat, they often go alone and
serve under a different branch of the military.
Gross said he worked well with the other services, but there is evidence not
all deployments have gone smoothly.
In January 2003, nine medics assigned to Naval Hospital Oak Harbor left to
serve with the 1st Marine Division in Iraq.
During an interview with Navy Criminal Investigative Services, which was
investigating a report of prisoner abuse by the medics, one corpsman said
the Navy guys were not well-liked among the Marines.
"I cannot say I was well-received by the Marines with which I was assigned,"
said the medic, whose name was blocked out in the file. "I believe they
think of us as lazy [Navy] Corpsman who do not do a thing."
Investigators later determined the allegations of abuse were false.
Christine Wormuth, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington, D.C., said individual sailors risk
being the "odd man out" when they integrate into other units.
Over time, she said, the stress of such deployments could erode the
attractiveness of the Navy, and present a recruitment and retention problem.
The Pentagon "is trying to find ways to put Navy personnel in jobs that are
muddy-boots-type jobs," she said.
Gross said volunteers at Naval Station Everett were easy to come by,
particularly for general deployments that appeal to lower-ranked sailors.
Depending on their pay rate, service members can double their salaries by
working in combat zones, though it's not money that motivates most
volunteers, he said.
"You can read something in a news article or see something on TV, but there
is no substitute to actually being immersed in a 360-degree view with all
the sights and smells," Gross said.
"Money is money. The experience overrides it."
