A Lot of Lasts

CARR Families and Friends,

For those who RSVP’d, I am sure you will not forget tonight’s Family Readiness Group (FRG) “Night Before Party.”  We are looking forward to finding out who won the First Hug and First Kiss tickets.
First Christian Fellowship Church
3401 Azalea Garden Rd, Norfolk, VA 23513
December 2 from 2:30-5pm

Thank you to everyone on board CARR who contributed to these weekly updates.  It is important that we kept the families and friends informed as well as recognized our Sailors for their outstanding performance.  BZ to LCDR Neil Krueger who was responsible for gathering the multiple inputs and putting them together each week – well done!

Day 178 – Sunday, November 25th (Depart Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) ==========================================
This afternoon we were underway from Guantanamo Bay and headed toward our second home – Mayport, Florida.  While in GTMO we welcomed aboard Mrs. Lisa Dain from the Fleet and Family Support Center.  We invited her on board to provide training to our crew on topics ranging from car buying and money management to reunion with children/family and return for singles.  After being away for six months, it is important for all of us to understand the challenges of returning to normalcy.

Day 179 – Monday, November 26th
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Congratulations to ETC William Dowe who completed his qualification as Tactical Action Officer today – he clearly demonstrated his knowledge of our ship’s systems and how to employ them against air, surface, and submarine threats…great job!

BZ to HMC Patrick Ehrhard and LS2 Dominique Sherrod who both reenlisted today.  Following his tour on CARR, LS2 Sherrod will report to USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) and HMC Ehrhard will report to the Naval Station Norfolk Health Clinic.

There is a huge push to get all the boards completed for our backlog of Sailors ready to complete their Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist qualification.  Congratulations to our latest round of Sailors to earn their ESWS:
GSMFN Kadeem Anderson    SR Mark Cardenas        OS2 Allen Catalan
ET3 Gregory Dyson                CS2 Harrold Edge          IC3 Brent
Edwards
EM3 Jeffery Farlow                 LSSN Keith Green         YNSN
Christopher Himes
GMSN John Hodges               QMSN Austin Holcomb  YNSN Brett Sapp
YNSN Shawn Smith                LS2 Lawrence Stubblefield
EN3 Joshua Young

Day 180 – Tuesday, November 27th
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Today our helicopter flew off as we continued north past Miami.  The helicopter will fly up the coast to Mayport while the remaining air detachment prepares to offload all their support equipment pierside in Mayport.

Mrs. Dain finished up her training today and we conducted some additional training regarding the dangers/consequences of drinking and driving.  The number of reports I read every day about Sailors throughout the fleet is alarming.  We also discussed the dangers of texting while driving.  Each Sailor was issued a business card with Safe Ride information (numbers to local cab companies) as well as phone numbers for their chain of command.  My number one priority is to keep our Sailors safe!

I prefer everyone have a plan to get home safely when they go out to drink, but when the plan fails, our Sailors can call CARR from anywhere in the Hampton Roads area and we will bring them back to CARR – I do not ask for names of personnel who call for a ride nor will there be punitive action against a Sailor for doing the right thing.  Statistics have shown that someone from the crew will be arrested for a DUI during the holidays and we have to do everything we can to prevent that.

After training we all gathered on the flight deck to recognize some of the outstanding Sailors who contributed to our success during
deployment:

Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal:
LSSN Bilal Barnes                 CTT1 Billy Bernal
CTTSN Booker                      FC2 Justin Campbell
BM2 Rolando Clarke             CS2 Harrold Edge
OS3 Jonas Flesher                BM2 Travis Gardner
LSSN Keith Green                 IT2 Tuan Gross
QMSN Austin Holcomb          FC2 Cliff Jensen
BM3 Eric Jones                    CS3 Willie Martinez
HM1 Randall McLain             BM1 Marcus Mincey
ITSN Christopher Noonan     LSSN Augustine Otwori
DC1 Jeremiah Robertson      LS2 Dominique Sherrod
SHSN Rashad Simpson        LS2 Lawrence Stubblefield
OS1 Rafel Trice

Commanding Officer Letters of Commendation
STG3 Matthew Baker            SN Mark Cardenas
GMSN William Carpenter      OSSN Joseph Casias
OS2 Allen Catalan                 IC3 Brent Edwards
SN William Guevara              OS3 Matthew Lyons
OS2 Quinton McDonald        SN Okello Niles
LSSN Kyle Owens                 SN Joshua Quail
GMSN Aaron Reyesvilla        SN Richmond Russ
SN Shawn Smith                   FC3 Darwin Stinson
EN3 Brian Sutton                  BM2 Jared Thomson
ET3 Kaz Warren                   STG3 Larry Whitehead

Thanks to YN1 Anthony Contino, YN3 Scott Hunt, and YN3 Nestor Noyolaruiz for preparing these awards and ensuring the awards ceremony went smoothly.

Day 181 – Wednesday, November 28th (Arrive Mayport, Florida)
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This morning we safely arrived in Mayport, Florida to offload our ammunition, helicopter detachment, Coast Guard Detachment, and contraband.

Great job to HSL 48.2!  Throughout deployment they did a superlative job of executing our C-TOC mission as well as finding a vessel in distress.
Fair winds and following seas to HSL 48.2 and their families!

In addition to all the offloads scheduled, we are also receiving training from the personnel in charge of our decommissioning.  This training involved both classroom lectures and walk arounds of CARR to ensure everyone understood the expectations for our decommissioning.
Based on the positive feedback, I think we will work well together to get CARR ready for her tow to Philadelphia in March.

Day 182 – Thursday, November 29th (Mayport, Florida)
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Congratulations to BM3 Joshua Fidler who reenlisted this afternoon – he will be heading to Bahrain for his next tour.

Day 183 – Friday, November 30th (Mayport, Florida)
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Today’s focus of effort was the offload of 1.5 tons of Cocaine and 2 tons of Marijuana.  There were television crews on board from all the major networks and independent stations in Jacksonville along with Navy media.  RADM Sinclair Harris, Commander of Fourth Fleet, was also on board to conduct media interviews and express his appreciation for everything CARR’s Sailors have done.  In addition, our Navy sent out a press release (included below).

Following the narcotics offload, our Logistics Specialists offloaded our helicopter “pack up kit” (PUK).  The PUK is a rotating pool of spare parts to support the helicopter – the parts are worth approximately $40 million.  Great job to LSSN Bilal Barnes, LSC Jeff Fries, LS3 Dewayne Gilkes, LSSN Keith Green, and LSSN Augustine Otwori for a smooth offload.

Day 184 – Saturday, December 1st (Depart Mayport, Florida)
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This afternoon we embarked our 61 Tigers and got underway for the last time.  In the evening we held and ice cream social and our last round of Sailors completed their Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist Qualification. BZ to:
OS2 Caleb Bryant           OSSA Joseph Casias       GSE3 George
Clements
EN2 Hezekiah Crandall   BM2 Travis Gardner         SN Erick Grijalva
ET3 Brent Hinson            ET3 Dustin Jackson          BM3 Eric
Jones
OS3 Matthew Lyons        SN Wyatt Pipkin                EN3 Brian
Sutton
ET3 Kaz Warren              SHSN John Wild

Great job to our Sailors who earned their ESWS!  Throughout deployment there was a ton of studying as they pressed to get qualified – 92% of our Sailors are ESWS qualified!

Day 185 – Sunday, December 2nd (Tiger Cruise)
==========================================
CARR Statistic: Total emails sent during deployment – 1,113,474

The Tigers enjoyed guided tours of the ship today and also received a familiarization regarding our Damage Control equipment

Congratulations to GSE1 Peter Meisnner who will reenlist this afternoon
– after he detaches CARR he will report to USS ELROD (FFG 55).

We conducted an awards ceremony today that included personnel who had Tigers on board – so that their Tigers could be present to see them receive their awards.

Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal
QM3 Justin Arnold             SN James Cameron
BMSN Michael Dimick       FC2 Jacob Gonzales
SN Christopher Himes       EN3 Joseph Kruse
GSMFN Tyler Manning      OS2 James Nastasi

Letters of Commendation
SN Eric Grijalva                 ET3 Dustin Jackson
BMSN Joshua Mebane      SN Wyatt Pipkin
SN Brett Sapp                    CTTSN Nathanial Weston

==========================================
Jessica Meissner    OMBUDSMAN
April Linton        Co-OMBUDSMAN
Jackie Lease        FRG President

Please join CARR along with our OMBUDSMAN and Family Readiness Group:

CARR
https://www.facebook.com/FFG52
OMBUDSMAN
http://www.facebook.com/pages/USS-CARR-
ombudsman/219688138070847?sk=wall
CARR Family Readiness Group
www.facebook.com/USSCARRFRG

Sailors Name
Department/Division
USS CARR (FFG 52)
FPO AE 09566-1506
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All of us are looking forward to seeing our Family and Friends!
CDR Patrick Kulakowski
Commanding Officer
USS CARR (FFG 52)
“Courage, Will, Determination!”