Liberty in Panama City, Decommissioning Work and Fun Deployment Facts

CARR Families and Friends,

As mentioned in the Sunday email, below is part 2 which covers our time in port Vasco Nunez de Balboa (VNB), Panama.

Farewell and following seas to QM3 Richard Andino, QM2 Andre Menice, MR2 Kevin Smith, and EM3 Andrew Toth. Thank you for the great jobs you all did throughout your tours!

Welcome aboard to our last new arrival on CARR, ITC Horace Wint – welcome to the CARR team.

Day 111 – Wednesday, September 19th (VNB, Panama)
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We arrived in VNB, Panama for our third visit this deployment. Although the crew will get liberty in the evenings and on the weekend, our primary focus is to conduct necessary mid-deployment maintenance (it was originally scheduled for mid-deployment, but was moved to the right due to some scheduling changes). We will take advantage of this time pierside to receive repair parts, conduct corrective maintenance, and preserve our ship.

As always, it was extremely busy immediately upon arrival. We received parts, mail, food, and 8,059 gallons of JP-5 fuel for our helicopter.

Great job to FCC Brian Runningen and FC1 Cody Koch who led efforts to correct an ongoing radar issue which had stumped the technicians for a couple of weeks. After studying their tech manuals and drawings for several nights, they were able to identify the cause and restore the radar to full operation.

BZ to our latest Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialists!   Congratulations upon reaching a significant milestone in the careers of LSSN Bilal Barnes, LS3 DeWayne Gilkes, GMSA Aaron Reyesvilla, and LSSN Brandon Vasser!

Day 112 – Thursday, September 20th (VNB, Panama)
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Today some of our Sailors took the last of the exams for the Fall advancement cycle – today the E4 exam was given on the Mess Decks. Now we have to wait patiently for the results, which typically come out in late November. Our Sailors have been busy studying, so I expect many of them to advance this cycle.

IT3 Edward Szwarc and ITSN Christopher Noonan spent several hours today setting up and conducting an annual maintenance check on our shipboard LAN which ensures our system is running properly. They were able to accomplish the maintenance ahead of schedule and with minimal effect on our crew.

ET3 Gregory Dyson and ET3 Dustin Jackson replaced several flow sensors in the cooling system for CARR’s SPS-49 air-search radar.

Day 113 – Friday, September 21st (VNB, Panama)
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After a two day delay, we successfully took on 74,337 gallons of Marine Gas Oil from the shore bunker. We were scheduled to refuel upon arrival; however, the fuel facility was running low and we had to wait for a tanker to pull in and offload fuel. As always, great job to our engineers for making this an environmentally safe evolution.

Congratulations to OS2 Quinton McDonald and his wife Janeen upon the birth of their son Gabriel. Both Janeen and Gabriel are doing well!

During our stop in VNB, Deck Division put in several long days while working on preservation. They did a fantastic job preserving the ship’s superstructure. By working on this project now, Deck Division is getting ahead of the work that needs to go into decommissioning the ship.

Thank you to our Sailors who participated in a Community Relations

(COMREL) Project in Panama. Our Sailors delivered Project Handclasp items to the Nutre Hogar School today (a home for about 30 children with special needs). Thank you to CMDCS, LTjg Fred Tomaszycki, IC1 Derek Hotop, LS1 Larry Stephens, ET1 Casey Strom. PS1 James Hannah, NC1 Vladimir Arias, IT1 LaMarcus Brown, LS1 Daniel Shelton, SH1 Jason Zarcone, MA1 James Lighty, AT1 Erik Burch, DC3 Jorge Hoke, STG2 David Botel, FC2 Gary Freas, EM2 Germaine Pelican, ME2 Mark Masoner, IC3 Brent Edwards, GSE3 George Clements, SHSN Rashad Simpson, CS3 Aaron Kinchen, ENFR Quincy Bullock, SN James Cameron, SN Joshua Quail, LSSN Keith Green, and SHSN Ulises Hernandez.

Day 114 – Saturday, September 22nd (VNB, Panama)
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All but the duty section enjoyed liberty in Panama City today.

Deployment fun fact: we have taken on 818, 767 gallons of Diesel Fuel Marine or equivalent and 66,264 gallons of fuel for our helo.

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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!”