Bastille Day and Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

CARR Families and Friends,

Special thanks to our Family Readiness Group who have actively worked to support the crew and our families back home.  The FRG will be holding a “Skinny Dip Fund Raiser” on Monday, July 16th from 4-7 PM at the Providence Square and the Pembroke Skinny Dip stores.  Simply mention “USS CARR Family
Readiness Group” when checking out and our FRG will receive a portion of the profits from those sales.  This fund raising event is not limited, so spread the word and invite all your friends to enjoy some frozen yogurt at Skinny Dip!

• Providence Square: 985 Providence Square Shopping Ctr VA Beach
• Pembroke: 4421 Virginia Beach Blvd. (by Silver Diner) VA Beach

The next FRG Meeting will be held on Monday, July 23rd from 6-8PM at First
Baptist Norfolk (312 Kempsville Road, Norfolk, VA).  Child care will be
provided at no cost.  Please RSVP to the FRG if you plan to attend and
include the number of children requiring childcare.

Day 38 – Sunday, July 8th
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Once again the stars have aligned to support Holiday routine on Sunday – no steel beach picnic this week since we just held one last Wednesday.

Today’s Captain’s Cup event was originally scheduled to be an egg toss event, but the crew ate all our eggs.as a result, we shifted to Corn Hole. For those of you unfamiliar with Corn Hole, it is similar to horse shoes; however, replace the spikes and shoes with wooden boards and bean bags.

We made the brackets in order to produce one final four team from each department.  The final round pitted EA Division (ENC David Boulter and EN3 Joshua Young) against CF Division (FC2 Gary Freas and FC2 Justin Campbell). With the score tied at 20, CF held on to get the win.  The battle for third was
not as close – LSC Jeff Fries and LSSN Kyle Owens from S1 Division demolished the Coast Guard Det of LT Andy Williams and ME1 Jeremiah Babas.

After the fifth round, the Captain’s Cup standings are as follows:
1st Place:    OT Division (12 pts)
2nd Place:    EA Division (11 pts)
Tie for 3rd:   CG Division (9 pts), EM Division (9 pts),
CE Division (9 pts), CF Division (9 pts)

Day 39 – Monday, July 9th
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Congratulations to our FSA of the month for July, SN Brett Sapp well done!

Not much to report today, we conducted routine drills and evolutions.  QM3 Justin Arnold wants his family and friends to know that he has been hitting the gym and is looking great! (thank you for that input QM3 Arnold…)

Day 40 – Tuesday, July 10th (Colon, Panama)
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Following the departure of USNS SACAGAWEA, we now need to enter port to get fuel and supplies.  Today’s destination was Colon, Panama – located adjacent to the entrance to the Panama Canal.

This brief stop for fuel and supplies was a more challenging evolution than normal due to multiple weather systems that passed through the area.  During our transit into port a weather system moved through, dropping the visibility to less than two miles; as a result we held our position and
waited for the rain and fog to pass.

After the weather cleared we started our way through the anchorage area where a few dozen large container and tankers were anchored awaiting clearance to go through the Panama Canal.  After beginning our transit through the anchorage area towards the Colon channel, a weather system quickly rolled in and the torrential rain began and visibility dropped.  The good news is that we have several radars and three redundant GPS systems. After dodging vessels at anchor and waiting for about 30 minutes, I decided to anchor and wait out the weather.  Our anchor is always made ready before entering port for situations just as this – the Boatswain’s Mates manning the forecastle were ready and immediately dropped anchor.  Shortly after we were anchored (within minutes) the visibility almost instantly improved and we got back under way to proceed into port.

Fortunately, the rain held off the rest of the day as we took on fuel, water, parts, food, and most importantly for many – MAIL.  There was so much mail waiting for us, LS1 Daniel Shelton and LS2 Dominique Sherrod processed the 800 pounds of mail on the pier.  Once the mail was processed and sorted
by division, we called the division postal petty officers out to bring the mail to their divisions. Although email and social media allow CARR Sailors to keep in touch more often, there is still something to be said for actually receiving something tangible from home.

Every time we enter port, we make it a point to load as many Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (FFV) as possible.  Our Galley records keeper, CS2 Timothy Faulkner, made sure that we also received ice cream in our order.   It has been several weeks since we have had any and the crew is looking forward to our next ice cream social.

Colon also afforded us the opportunity to transfer personnel – both inbound and outbound.  Welcome back to QMSN Austin Holcomb who completed a challenging school back in Mayport to become our latest Search and Rescue Swimmer.  Welcome aboard to EM2 Germaine Pelican coming from shore duty in Kings Bay, GA.  Farewell and Following Seas to-STG1 Christopher Wilson, who is off to Officer Candidate School, and EM2 Quang Duong who is departing our Navy (a significant loss – he did a great job in CARR).

Day 41 – Wednesday, July 11th
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Early this morning we receive an Optimum Track Ships’ Routing (OTSR) weather advisory (which advises me about weather systems) that advised us to stay to the south of our area; however, our tasking required us to go north in order to track a suspect vessel.  About mid morning we headed north and the seas
immediately began to build; however, they were within our limits and nothing compared to the seas we encountered back during our April/May COMPTUEX.

Congratulations to GSM2 Robert Kirkman who was frocked today!  After reviewing his record, we discovered that he had not been credited with points for his Good Conduct Award, the extra point made the difference to push him over and get him promoted to Petty Officer Second Class.

Great job to our Command Senior Chief, AECS Jacob Bristow, upon earning his Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) pin!  Although an aviator, he buckled down immediately upon arrival to study for his ESWS pin.  He put in a tremendous effort and set the standard for how to qualify ESWS – I expect
many more ESWS qualifications in the coming months.

Day 42 – Thursday, July 12th
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Although we were fairly certain we had found the vessel we were searching for, our helicopter (VENOM 502) flew out covertly and confirmed that we had the right vessel in our sights.  Working with our helicopter and Coast Guard Team we closed and boarded the suspect vessel in the early morning.  The
team quickly took control and commenced their search – these searches can take several days to complete.it is amazing how the traffickers hide their loads.

Great job to FC2 Gary Freas, ET2 Michael McCullick, STG2 David Botel, and CTT2 Joseph Seal who also went over to the suspect vessel to assist the Coast Guard.  They spent several hours searching the vessel for any signs of contraband.

BZ to IT2 Tuan Gross whose perseverance in correcting a long-standing antivirus issue on board CARR.  As a result of his efforts, were able to reload 17 computers with the latest antivirus program and definitions, making our network more secure from intrusion and viruses.

Day 43 – Friday, July 13th
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Our Coast Guard Det continued their search today.  We made a few small boat runs throughout the day to swap personnel, transfer material, and keep the boarding team hydrated and well fed.  Last night LTJG Charles McIver, FC2 Justin Gunderson, DC2 Andy Fernandez, and SN Aaron Reyesvilla spent the night on the suspect vessel to allow some of the Coast Guard Det to get some rest and continue searching and completing documentation.

Day 44 – Saturday, July 14th (Bastille Day)
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This morning we turned the suspect vessel over to the Colombian Navy so they can continue the search pierside once the cargo (tons of sand in 1.2 ton bags) is offloaded.  Great job to SN William Guevara who translated to make communications between the Colombians and us seamless.  SN Guevara’s fluency in Spanish made the turnover process easier.

Great job to HT2 Tony Oliveri who received the Engineer of the Week award for outstanding performance in standing his duties as Auxiliary Systems Monitor.  He was awarded a $10 gift certificate to the ship’s store and a well deserved day off from divisional duty.

History Moment:  Today is the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille that occurred July 14th, 1789.  This event was one of the opening actions of the French Revolution as the Third Estate rose up in revolt (First Estate: French Aristocrats, Second Estate: French Clergy, Third Estate: Common
People of France).

On the morning of July 14th a group of revolutionaries raided an armory and stole 28,000 riffles, however, there was no powder found in the magazine. The mob then proceeded to the Bastille, a prison that was a local symbol of the King Louis’ absolute power, in order to steal a supply of gun powder.
The Marquis de Launay, at the Bastille, fearing a growing anger among the revolutionaries met some of their representatives inside the prison while stalling for time in order for reinforcements to arrive.  The negotiations ended abruptly when a group of revolutionaries stormed the Bastille. The Bastille guards fired at the mob, killing hundreds of the French peasants. Once the reinforcements arrived and observed that the guards had killed the peasants, they joined the revolutionary mob and defeated the Bastille’s guards.  At 4pm, the Marquis de Launay surrendered and let the people enter the Bastille.  Upon entering the Bastille, the mob slaughtered the guards and the Marquis de Launay was beheaded; his head was put on a stake and carried all over the city as a sign of victory.

Historians found the King Louis’ diary and noted that it simply recorded “Nothing” in his diary for that day; which was the result of his day’s hunting expedition.  When the Duc de Liancourt informed the King of what happened at the Bastille, the King asked his advisor “is this a revolt?” and de Liancourt answered, “No Majesty, this is a revolution”.  This was the beginning of a bloody revolution that would last until Napoleon Bonaparte became the First Consul of the First French Republic in 1799.

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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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Until next Sunday, stay safe CARR Family and Friends!

CDR Patrick Kulakowski

Commanding Officer
USS CARR (FFG 52)
“Courage, Will, Determination”