The really bad smell

Background 
Former submariner Walter Lyon served over 1,200 days at sea (from 2000-2010) as ship’s diver and fire control technician. Lyon was last assigned to the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Toledo (SSN-769). He now co-publishes Submarine Tough with his buddy Josh Toth.

In early February New London Conneticut's TheDay published Toth's opinion that, “Submariners don’t do a good job of selling how cool their lifestyle is.”  The former submariners see their podcast as a way to bring an understanding of the submarine force to the masses.

Former Groton sailors talk submarines, everything else in podcast 

What happened next ....

Well, rather than doing a good job of selling how cool their lifestyle is, readers (or listeners) got the opposite --- an underbelly of topics that make submarine service seem highly undesirable, at least for thoughtful women or timid "snowflakes".   

Task & Purpose, bills itself as, news and culture site geared toward the next great generation of American veterans . We offer an outlet for well-written analysis and commentary on veterans and greater military affairs."  Task & Purpose published this interview of Walter Lyon on October 7, 2016: Life On A Submarine: Raunchy, Cramped, And Occasionally Smells Like Sh*t

Several topics mentioned in the Lyon interview may be natural turnoffs to some of the women and men in the submarine force's declining recruitment pool.  We can hardly blame Mr. Lyon for simply telling the truth.

Examples:

• They operate in world where disaster is narrowly averted by the smallest of margins, due in large part to the hard work and diligence of every sailor onboard. It’s a dangerous job in an unforgiving environment.  
• what it’s like to live in a submerged pressurized container, where to go for a little “private time,” 
• Every square inch of space is taken up, so sometimes you’ll be sleeping next to a crate of eggs. Sometimes the rack that you’re in is right next to a torpedo. It’s really cramped. What you do is called hot-racking, which is three guys to every two beds and we say “it’s not gay, if you’re under way.”
• what happens when the sanitation valves aren’t set up correctly --- It ruined pizza night for the sub..  we had pressurized poop go ... into the kitchen. The machinist mates, called A-gangers got the valve line-up wrong in such a way that the poop went through one of the deep sinks and sprayed the entire galley.
•  submarine warfare qualification takes about a year ... In that year, your sole job is to learn every inch of that submarine from bow to stern and you’re not allowed to smoke cigarettes, you’re not allowed to eat sugary cereal, you’re not allowed to eat dessert, you’re not allowed to watch movies, you’re not allowed to read any content not related to submarines.  

 Submarines are always silent and strange. 

Answers: Submarine QOTW 12 SEP 16

Related information, photo(s) and links for questions are found in the original posting.

  

Answers to Submarine Questions of the Week  

1- Identify the vessels and location pictured [in photo by Sean D. Elliot/The Day].  ANS:
The schooners Mystic Whaler (background), and Spirit of South Carolina (foreground) pass Ledge Light sailing up the Thames River.  

2- During what event was this [photo by Sean D. Elliot/The Day] taken? ANS: The Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival Parade of Sail, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.

The Maritime Heritage Festival is considered one of the last events tied to Submarine Century, a yearlong celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton. 

******

According to the The Day, the 500-foot U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS Ramage dominated "the landscape" outside Fort Trumbull.  (My tongue-in-cheek guess is that somewhere quite hidden an SSN was actually dominating, well, you know, the actual non-landscape naval domain).

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Answers to Submarine Q.O.T.W. from AUG 11, 2016

Related information, photo(s) and links for questions are found in the original posting. 

Questions of the Week (Q.O.T.W.) with ANSWERS

1 - Which, if any, of the 5 closures on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were major naval installations?
ANSWER:  Two - (1) Naval Submarine Base New London and, (2) Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 

2 - Which, if any, of the major naval installations on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were submarine related installations?   ANSWER:  Originally, Naval Submarine Base New London and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, but both were later removed from the original closure list. [ibid]

3 - How many members are appointed to serve on the BRAC Commission?  ANSWER: The latest (2005) Defense Base Closure and Realignments Commission (BRAC) was comprised of 9-members.  [ibid.]

4 - Who chaired the 2005 BRAC Commission?  ANSWER:  Anthony Principi 

5 - When did a SecDef last seek a new BRAC Commission, and who was he?  ANSWER:  On March 2015,  Defense secretary Ashton Carter directed his (acting) Asst. Secretary of Defense, John Conger to request authority for another BRAC during Congressional testimony.  

6 - What high ranking Navy appointee spoke very recently of a new BRAC round?   ANSWER:  Navy Seretary Ray Mabus was quoted August 9th as supporting another Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round.   

 7 -  State officials recently claimed that there are national security interests in keeping waterways clear for the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., and U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.  What state expressed such a claim, and in what context was that claim made?  ANSWER: Connecticut, of course, made the national security claim to defend its controversial plan to relocate dredged materials into New York state Long Island Sound.    

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine QOTW 11 AUG 2016

Background

BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) is the federal government's method of assuring Department of Defense efficiency in use and upkeep of U.S. military installations. More than 350 installations have been closed in five BRAC rounds since 1988.  The current process was created in 1988 to reduce pork barrel politics when facilities in Congress's home states face reduction.

The most recent process began in May 2005, when the U.S. Secretary of Defense forwarded his recommendations for realignments and closures to the  BRAC Commission.  The BRAC Commission removed 5 major installations from the Secretary of Defenses's closure list.

Questions of the Week

1 - Which, if any, of the 5 closures on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were major naval installations?

2 - Which, if any, of the major naval installations on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were submarine related installations?

3 - How many members are appointed to serve on the BRAC Commission?

4 - Who chaired the 2005 BRAC Commission?

5 - When did a SecDef last seek a new BRAC Commission, and who was he.

6 - What high ranking Navy appointee also spoke recently of a new BRAC round?

7 -  State officials recently claimed that there are national security interests in keeping waterways clear for the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., and U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.  What state expressed such a claim, and in what context was that claim made? 

ANSWERS:  Monday, 15 August

Submarines are always silemt and strange.

Submarine Irony and Lawyerly Stupidity

Background

The number of rotten apples creating public relations nightmares for the Navy's submarine service these past 5 years is a very small percentage of our 13,000-man submarine force. - Vigilis, April 15, 2010

January 15, 2002 - Sailor Faces Sex Charges - Police Say He Used Chat Room To Lure Two Underage Girls --- A 22-year-old Naval sonar technician from Groton was arrested on Monday for allegedly having sex with two underage girls he met in an Internet chat room, police said.

April 14, 2010 - Three submariners face charges in sexual assault of 12-year-old girl - The three men are assigned to the USS Philadelphia, a submarine that returned to port in February.  Groton Police and NCIS officials questioned Dominguez, who said he did have sex with the victim, but said he thought she [a 12-year-old girl] was between the ages of 17 and 20, according to the warrant. He later received a suspended prison sentence and two years' probation in New London Superior Court Thursday for fourth-degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor.  Prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman said the cases of two other defendants are expected to be disposed of similarly.

Update

September 24, 2013 -  Sailor arrested for child molestation - A 25-year-old petty officer 3rd class, a machinist mate aboard the USS Rhode Island, at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay was arrested by Kingsland police after he allegedly took a 13-year-old girl on base and sexually molested her in his room in a barracks. ... Investigators with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Kings Bay and a forensic interview specialist with the St. Marys Police Department assisted in the investigation, police said.

(Above may not be all-inclusive of the crime category, as it represents only highly publicized incidents.)

M.E. Observations
1. Bad publicity from rare submariners' crimes remains far less than the negative PR the Navy has dumps upon itself (e.g. the USS Miami arson, and firings of numerous submarine COs, but not the skimmer, shipyard CO where the USS Miami arson occurred). 

2.  Our Phase Two forecast (ref.: Nov 12, 2011) never came to pass. How ironic USS Rhode Island is the sub to which the latest perpetrator (alleged) had been assigned. Whatever the plans to put women crew on her may have once been, the recent publicity has made such an order less likely.

3.  SECNAV Mabus, a non-submariner lawyer, insulted (in this televised video) almost all former Navy vets (with his allusion to the superior patriotism and abilities of today's sailors, including the gratuitous: "we never left port without leaving a couple of guys behind in jail").

4.  In 2013, Navy SECNAV Mabus said that the first women to join Virginia-class attack subs had been chosen: They were newly commissioned female officers scheduled to report to their subs in fiscal year 2015. 

Only a lawyerly genius would authorize women for SSN duty and not expect disruptions of good order and discipline or interferences with secret missions.  

Submarines are always silent and strange.