USS Enterprise CVN-65 '06

Really great video I found on Youtube.com

Fellow Navy Wife Blogs... Slightly Salty

http://slightlysalty.wordpress.com/

Found this site while I was searching around on Milblogging.com. Def worth checking out :)

Navy Missile Likely Hit Fuel Tank on Disabled Satellite

WASHINGTON (NNS) --
The missile fired from a U.S. Navy ship in the Pacific Ocean that hit a malfunctioning U.S. reconnaissance satellite late yesterday likely accomplished its goal of destroying the satellite's toxic fuel tank, a senior U.S. military officer said here today.Preliminary reports indicate the SM-3 missile struck its primary target, which was a tank full of toxic hydrazine rocket fuel carried aboard the 5,000-pound satellite, Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference. "The intercept occurred. … We're very confident that we hit the satellite," Cartwright said. "We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank." -read more

Navy.mil

The Official Website of the UNITED STATES NAVY

Story Number: NNS080221-06

Release Date: 2/21/2008 12:58:00 PM
By Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service

Breast Cancer PetitionUrge Congress to stop "Drive-Through" Mastectomies!

This is a bit off topic for the Navy Pride Blog but it is imperative we get the word out about this important issue.

From a nurse:
I'll never forget the look in my patients eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies. So there I sat with my patients, giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank You" they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a Mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure.Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important .. Please take the time and do it really quick! Please send this to everyone in your address book.

If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. Please consider taking the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require Insurance Companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.Lifetime Television has put this bill on their Web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on.

PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the Web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php
This takes about 2 seconds.
PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women,
THANKS.

USS Augusta Inactivated After 23 Years

"With stealth, persistence, agility and firepower, fast-attack submarines like Augusta are multi-mission capable – able to deploy and support special force operations, disrupt and destroy an adversary's military and economic operations at sea, provide early strike from close proximity and ensure undersea superiority."
(exerpt from military.com)

FACTS ~
USS Augusta (SSN-710), a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Augusta, Maine. (There were 3 other ships named USS Augusta that were named for Augusta, Georgia).

Her keel was laid down on 1 April 1982. She was launched on 21 January 1984 sponsored by Mrs. Diana D. Cohen, and commissioned on 19 January 1985, with Commander Thomas W. Turner in command.

The Soviet Navy claims that on 3 October 1986, Augusta, commanded by James von Suskil, collided with the 667AU Nalim (Yankee-I) class ballistic missile submarine K-219, commanded by Igor Britanov, off the coast of Bermuda. The United States Navy states that K-219 was disabled by an internal explosion.

Beginning in July 1987, Augusta began service as trials boat for the BQG-5D Wide Aperture Array (WAA) passive sonar system and carrying the prototype BQQ-10 ARCI sonars, which incorporate off-the-shelf computer components, allowing easy introduction of modular upgrades.

In 2003, the USS Augusta was one of a handful of submarines participating in Tomahawk Strikes against Iraq in the opening of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The boat successfully launched missiles against all assigned missions leaving the theater with 100% completion.

The USS Augusta underwent extensive maintenance during 2006 to prepare for six month deployment in 2007, which began in March and completed in September.

Augusta was homeported in Norfolk, VA before heading to Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, VA.
(some of these facts were found on wikipedia)

Postal Service Offers Military Discount

If you send a package to a servicemember after March 3, 2008, you can take advantage of the new flat-rate box from the Postal Service that is 50 percent larger and delivered for $10.95 to any APO/FPO address, which is $2 less than for domestic destinations. The new priority mail large flat-rate box (12" x 12" x 5-1/2" or 800 cubic inches) will be available in post offices nationwide beginning March 3, 2008, but customers can begin ordering them Feb. 20, 2008 at the United States Postal Service website at (http://shop.usps.com/) usps.com/supplies or by calling 800-610-8734.To find more deployment news and resources, visit (http://www.military.com/deployment) The Deployment Center.