Casey Coane posted on April 01, 2010 00:12
April 2010 Navy
by Casey Coane
Our feature this month is the Lockheed C-130J aircraft. We were pleased to be able to tour the plant in Marietta, Georgia, where Hercules aircraft have been manufactured continuously for many years. For those of us who have ridden around in its predecessors, the J model is certainly a new breed, and we are happy to tell its story here. In the works is a similar piece on the F-35C, and we look forward to that in the June/July time frame.
On the legislative front, the Association believes that the Navy’s C-130 fleet needs to be recapitalized. You will see in the feature article that the Navy is going to have to spend some money to make at least some of the existing aircraft compliant with new European airspace restrictions. In the long run, today’s fleet is being worn out in this continuing war; and recapitalization to a much more capable aircraft needs to happen before the maintenance curve skyrockets, as it always does when aircraft reach the end of their planned service life. Having said all that, we strongly believe that the Navy needs to complete its C-40 buy with an additional five aircraft and we will submit Congressional testimony to that end. The Navy has recently changed its mind and now intends to replace the four expeditionary EA6-B squadrons with new F/A-18Gs. We strongly support the recapitalization of the VAQ 209 EA-6Bs with Growlers as well. The expeditionary squadrons are support to the Air Force mission. VAQ 209 is a Navy mission.
Our Guest Columnist this month is Mrs. Polli Brunelli, Acting Director of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). The Association has had a long history of supporting and working with the ESGR. Mrs. Brunelli attended the Navy Reserve Birthday celebration at the Navy Memorial and her Deputy, Mr. Philip Pope, attended the reenlistment ceremony on Capitol Hill. They both are strong advocates for our Navy. BTW, the new top man for the ESGR in the state of Georgia, is our own RADM (Ret) Jim McGarrah. Jim is the Director, Information Technology and Telecommunications Lab at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
On the fifth of March, VADM Debbink hosted two events to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the establishment of the Navy Reserve. Our Association was the primary sponsor of both events along with support from FRA, NERA, and DRS Technologies. It was a day to make you proud and I wish you all could have been there as I was. Many thanks to our local Chapter President, Jim Diehl, for manning an AUSN table at the Navy Memorial. See the story on page 31.
Also, in this issue, we have another column by LCDR Marc Soss, one of our regular contributors. This important column, on page 24, concerns benefits for our disabled veterans. Our Association is working with the Navy Safe Harbor program which seeks to help our Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard injured in need of support at home. We will bring you an article about Navy Safe Harbor in an upcoming issue.
In late February, CAPT Puzon sent out a legislative alert about the potential for cuts to payments to Medicare physicians. This was part of legislation tied up when Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) was trying to force the Senate to observe “pay go,” finding ways to pay for other items in the bill. More than a thousand of our members responded via CAP WIZ to send messages to Congress. That really does have an impact as all such messages are catalogued by staffers. As a result of a flood of such mail, Congress gave themselves until April to resolve the issue vice enacting the cuts immediately. These particular cuts in payments have become an annual event where they are considered and then set aside for another year. We will keep the pressure on with your help. It’s what we do! As always, enjoy the read.