GUNNING for TOP GUN: The Question Either No One Is Asking, or to which No One Has Gotten a PC Answer Yet is Submarine-Related!!

THE QUESTION: It's not immediately known why the videos are surfacing now. The Virginian-Pilot quoted anonymous crew members who said they raised concerns aboard the ship about the videos when they aired [2006 and 2007] , but they were brushed off.

As M.E. was preparing this posting, the 41-second YouTube Super Marine had gone viral. In fact, it appears at least twice in submariner blogs we follow, so there was no need to embed it again. Coincidence? We do not think it is!

.

Have you heard about Capt. Honors's (real name and rank) kerfluffle on USS Enterprise, however? Honors is a native of Syracuse, N.Y, and is 1983 alumnus of the U.S. Naval Academy. He was a naval aviator (F-14 Tomcat) who attended the U.S. Naval Top Gun school, and served as XO on the Enterprise from July 2005 to September 2007, before assuming command. It's not immediately known why the videos surfaced now.

.

The Virginian-Pilot quoted anonymous crew members who said they raised concerns aboard the ship about the videos when they aired, but they were brushed off.It is certainly another spoof, but a potentially bigger scandal! The Navy said it plans to investigate the videos, which it called "clearly inappropriate."

.

The Associated Press
Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011 7:47 a.m. US Navy to probe lewd videos shown to carrier crew

Capt. Owen Honors appeared in the videos in 2006 and 2007 while he was the USS Enterprise's second-ranking officer, and showed them across the ship on closed-circuit television. He took over as the ship's commander in May.

There is more.

The newspaper says Honors appeared in the videos in 2006 and 2007 while he was the Enterprise's second-ranking officer, and he showed them across the ship on closed-circuit television. He took over as the ship's commander in May.The navy says the videos are "clearly inappropriate" and it is investigating the circumstances surrounding the production of the videos.

The videos were part of what Honors, 49, called XO Movie Night. The Navy released a statement late Friday in response to the Virginia Pilot's inquiries.

The videos created onboard USS Enterprise in 2006-2007 were not created with the intent to offend anyone," the statement said. The videos were intended to be humorous skits focusing the crew's attention on specific issues such as port visits, traffic safety, water conservation, ship cleanliness, etc.

In each video, Honors indicates that he's trying to entertain the crew. The clips were shown roughly once a week on ship closed-circuit shipwide television, according to a few sailors who were assigned to USS Enterprise at the time.

.

A female sailor who was assigned to the Enterprise at the time said she and a number of other women on board were offended by the videos. She said some crew members complained about them, and in fact, Honors acknowledged it on camera. In one movie, he says, "Over the years I've gotten several complaints about inappropriate materials in these videos, never to me personally but, gutlessly, through other channels." [color and bold emphasis mine]

In one scene [from the videos], two female Navy sailors stand in a shower stall aboard an aircraft carrier, pretending to wash each other. They joke about how they should get six minutes under the water instead of the mandated three.

What else that involves females under the water just happens to be in process as we write?

.

HINT: 2011 is the year females are slated to be assigned to submarines for the first time. Apparently, no Fleet Marines (including women Marines) assigned to CVN-65 registered any complaints at the time. Just saying!

.

Submarines are always silent and strange.