Category: Military

2 soldiers killed, 3 injured in Army Black Hawk helicopter crash on San Clemente Island

Two soldiers were killed and three injured when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed on San Clemente Island late Thursday, according to a Defense Department official.

The Army’s Special Operation’s Command said in a statement the incident occurred in the vicinity of Coronado and declined to comment further.

“At this time we are not releasing anything beyond the statement provided,” said J. Elise Van Pool, an Army spokeswoman, in an email. “We are still in the process of making next of kin notifications and will not release any additional information until that process is complete.”

A Defense Department official with knowledge of the incident told The San Diego Union-Tribune that the crash occurred on San Clemente Island, which is about 70 miles west of San Diego and controlled by the U.S. Navy. The island has an airfield, a bombing range and a training facility used by special operations units. The island falls under the command of Naval Base Coronado.

The official spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to comment publicly. The accident involved members of the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the official said.

The soldiers were conducting “routine training,” the Army said in a statement early Friday.

“An element of U.S. Army Special Operations Command was conducting routine training in the vicinity of Coronado, California, on August 27, when an aircraft incident occurred,” the Army said in a statement. “Two Soldiers were killed and three were injured. The area has been secured and an investigation into the incident is underway.”

San Clemente Island is part of Los Angeles County. The Thursday crash was the second fatal accident involving military personnel there during the last month.

 

 

Trump’s Big NATO Move Puts Putin on Notice.

For more than four decades, the United States Army’s V Corps — one of the most powerful armored formations ever assembled — stood watch against the Soviet Union on the Fulda Gap, the primary World War II invasion route from East Germany through West Germany to the Rhine…………

While much has been made by the mainstream media — almost all of it negative — about President Trump’s decision in July to remove thousands of American troops from Germany, less has been said about where they’ll end up.

Nearly 12,000 troops will be redeployed from Germany, reducing the American presence there by about one third. Of those being redeployed, around half of them will end up in other NATO ally nations, including Poland and the Baltic States.

A headquarters like the newly reestablished V Corps is a big deal in and of itself, providing “command and control focused on synchronizing U.S. Army, allied, and partner nation tactical formations,” according to Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville. Placing V Corps in Poland sends a serious message about serious intent.

In effect, NATO’s front line defenses are moving to the east……..

At least they can be sent home to their families.

The remains of seven Marines and a Sailor were successfully recovered Aug. 7, 2020, after underwater salvage operations following the July 30 mishap involving an amphibious assault vehicle off the coast of San Clemente Island. pic.twitter.com/3vhcvhCVfc

— I MEF (@1stMEF) August 8, 2020

Congress awards its highest honor to WWII crew of USS Indianapolis

WASHINGTON — Congress has awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, its highest honor, to surviving crew members of the USS Indianapolis, the ship that delivered key components of the first nuclear bomb and was later sunk by Japan during World War II.

The ship, with 1,195 personnel aboard, delivered enriched uranium and other parts of the atomic bomb ‘‘Little Boy” that was later dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945.

Four days after delivering its top secret cargo, the ship was sunk by Japanese torpedoes on July 30, 1945. Of nearly 900 men who went into the Philippine Sea, just 316 survived before being rescued nearly five days later. The death toll of 879 was the largest single disaster at sea in U.S. Navy history. Continue reading “”

Marine Corps identifies 8 Marines, 1 Sailor killed in amphibious vehicle accident

The identities of the seven presumed dead U.S. Marines and one Sailor were identified early Monday, along with an eighth U.S. Marine who died on the scene following an amphibious assault vehicle accident on Thursday.

The eight missing service members’ identities are as follows:

Pfc. Bryan J. Baltierra, 18, of Corona, California, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.

Lance Cpl. Marco A. Barranco, 21, of Montebello, California, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.

Pfc. Evan A. Bath, 19, of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.

U.S. Navy Hospitalman Christopher Gnem, 22, of Stockton, California, a hospital corpsman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.

Pfc. Jack Ryan Ostrovsky, 21, of Bend, Oregon, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.

Cpl. Wesley A. Rodd, 23, of Harris, Texas, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.

Lance Cpl. Chase D. Sweetwood, 19, of Portland, Oregon, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.

Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, of Riverside, California, a rifleman with Bravo Company, BLT 1/4, 15th MEU.

The ninth service member — who died on the scene and was the first reported casualty — was identified as
Lance Cpl. Guillermo S. Perez, 20, of New Braunfels, Texas. He was a rifleman with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/4, 15th MEU. Continue reading “”

1 US Marine dead, 8 missing off coast of California in training exercise

One U.S. Marine has died and eight more remain unaccounted for after an accident involving an Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) off the coast of California Thursday.

“1 Marine has died, 8 service members remain missing and 2 were injured after an AAV mishap July 30 off the coast of Southern California. All are assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU). Search and rescue efforts are still underway with support from the Navy and Coast Guard,” the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) confirmed the incident in a Tweet Friday.

U.S. to pull 12,000 troops from Germany after Trump calls country ‘delinquent’

The Pentagon on Wednesday laid out a plan to shift nearly 12,000 service members out of Germany after President Donald Trump repeatedly said the country was “delinquent” on defense spending.

Top defense leaders said the plan, which would bring 6,400 service members home and reposition nearly 5,600 to other countries in Europe, is part of the Pentagon’s broader effort to redistribute U.S. forces across the world to better compete with new threats from Russia and China. The move will leave 24,000 troops in Germany, where the United States has stationed a significant number of forces since the end of the Cold War.

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“On the upside, everyone’s diversity and trans-awareness training is up to date.”

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The Navy’s Cultural Ship Is Listing
The service is trying to do too much with too little public support, as the chain of command frays.

In the U.S. Navy, “shock trials” involve taking a warship to sea and conducting drills to see how well she might absorb the stress of combat. The Navy has lately experienced institutional shock trials: bribery scandals, collisions and sundry other public-relations nightmares. This week in San Diego the USS Bonhomme Richard, a $750 million amphibious assault ship, caught fire and burned for days. Earlier this year, Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved of command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after writing a letter saying he needed to move his sailors off the aircraft carrier to arrest an outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

High-profile mishaps and unwanted publicity point to an overarching problem: For several years the Navy has been forced to do too much with too little, a debate that deserves wider attention. The Navy also seems to be suffering from a cultural dysfunction in the chain of command. To repair it, the Navy will need to reinvent its process for refining leaders and perhaps even the service’s broader mission. What’s at stake is the quality of American military talent that fights the next war—an eventuality that seems less far-fetched amid the tense mood of a global pandemic.
The 2017 crashes in the Western Pacific involving the USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald still loom large in the Navy. An investigation revealed that Pacific fleet ships were going to sea with too little training and that crews weren’t skilled in the basics of sea navigation. Also implicated was the Navy’s “can do” culture—the propensity of naval officers to try to get the job done no matter the cost.

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More Than Just a Fire: The Implications of the Bonhomme Richard Catastrophe.

As I write this, the USS Bonhomme Richard — a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship — burns at Pier 2, Naval Station San Diego. Scores of Navy and civilian firefighters have fought the blaze for over 72 hours and it is difficult to tell from afar how much progress is being made.

One thing is clear: The ship will likely be, at best, out of action for years or, at worst, stricken from Navy rolls. In either case, there will be considerable impact to ongoing naval operations, force development efforts, and naval integration initiatives. While navalists tend to judge navies by the number of ships that comprise them, the plain truth is that not all ships are created equal. The loss of some ships is much worse than others. That is what Americans are watching happen before their eyes. Confidence in the Navy is shaken.

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Navy Officials Fear USS Bonhomme Richard Fire Has Damaged It Beyond Repair

Amphibious assault ship one of the few in U.S. fleet that can launch F-35 operations

WASHINGTON—The fire aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard showed no sign of abating Monday, raising fears that one of the few U.S. Navy ships that can operate like a mini aircraft carrier is damaged beyond repair.

U.S. Soldier Makes History As First Woman to Join Special Forces

An Army National Guard soldier marked a new milestone in the U.S. military Thursday by graduating from the grueling Special Forces Qualification Course (Q Course) to become the first woman to join Special Forces

U.S. Army Special Operations Command would not identify the soldier, but confirmed that she graduated from the 53-week course in a ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, according to a USASOC release.

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I’ve got a phone number for them to call: 1-800 CRY-BABY

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Three US Navy aircraft carriers are patrolling the Pacific Ocean at the same time. And China’s not happy

The deployment of three 100,000-ton US Navy aircraft carriers to the Pacific Ocean for the first time in years has drawn swift reaction from China, with state-sponsored media saying Beijing will not back down to defend its interests in the region.

The USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Theodore Roosevelt are both patrolling in the western Pacific, while the USS Nimitz is in the east, according to US Navy press releases. With each vessel containing more than 60 aircraft, it represents the biggest deployment of US aircraft carriers in the Pacific since 2017 — when tensions with North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program were at their peak.

The presence of the carriers was first highlighted in an Associated Press report on Friday.

“Carriers and carrier strike groups writ large are phenomenal symbols of American naval power. I really am pretty fired up that we’ve got three of them at the moment,” Rear Adm. Stephen Koehler, director of operations at Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, told AP.

On Sunday, the Communist Party’s Global Times mouthpiece said the carriers could threaten troops in the disputed South China Sea.