Blue Angels Nix Naval Academy Show After Incident

Blue Angels Nix Naval Academy Show After Incident

May 24, 2011
Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The Blue Angels have canceled a practice and show this week at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., days after announcing a safety standown after four of the six jets flew below a specified altitude at a recent air show.

The famed flight squadron said it is scrubbing Tuesday's scheduled practice and Wednesday's show. Navy Lt. Kaitie Kelly, the Blue Angels spokeswoman, says it hasn't been decided yet if the team will perform its traditional flyover at the academy's graduation Friday.
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Blue Angels Nix Naval Academy Show After Incident

Florida based Navy plane crash in Georgia claims lives of crew

Update

Levittown Marine killed in training flight
By Robert Moran

Inquirer Staff Writer

First Lt. Shawn Nice, 26, a Levittown native, was a Marine officer training in Pensacola, Fla., to be a naval flight officer.
He had a degree in electrical engineering.

He and his wife, Kimberly, were expecting their first child.

Nice was on a routine training flight on a T-39N Sabreliner out of Pensacola when it crashed in dense forest in northern Georgia on Monday.

He was one of four killed in the crash. The twin-engine jet nearly struck a house when it went down, according to authorities, but no one on the ground was hurt.
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Levittown Marine killed in training flight



At Least 3 Dead in Navy Crash in Georgia
April 13, 2010
Associated Press

MORGANTON, Ga. -- A Florida-based Navy plane just missed a house and crashed in dense woods in north Georgia on Monday, killing three crew members, and authorities were looking for a fourth person believed to be aboard, officials said.

Naval Air Station Pensacola spokesman Harry White said authorities have not confirmed whether the pilot was among those killed when a T-39N training plane went down at 4:26 p.m. No one on the ground was injured, he said.

The plane was part of Training Air Wing 6, which conducts routine cross-country missions through Fannin County, where it crashed, about two hours north of Atlanta, on the edge of the North Carolina and Tennessee borders, White said. Searchers found three bodies. The twin-jet plane can carry two pilots and seven passengers, according to a Navy Web site.
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At Least 3 Dead in Navy Crash in Georgia

Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich faces trail for slaying two soldiers

Sgt. accused of killing NCOs to face trial

By Russ Bynum - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 8, 2009 7:05:43 EDT

SAVANNAH, Georgia — An Army sergeant accused of slaying his superior and another U.S. soldier in Iraq will face a court-martial and could be sentenced to death if convicted, the military said Tuesday.

Army prosecutors say Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, shot his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson, and Sgt. Wesley Durbin on Sept. 14 at a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol base south of Baghdad. Witnesses have said Bozicevich opened fire on the soldiers when they tried to counsel him for poor performance.

Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division based at Georgia's Fort Stewart, ordered a general court-martial for Bozicevich on charges of murder. His decision Tuesday was based on preliminary evidence heard in April at the accused soldier's Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury.

If Bozicevich is convicted but not sentenced to death, he would face life in prison without parole, said Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson. No trial date has been set.

Bozicevich's attorney, Charles Gittins, said Tuesday evening he had no comment.

Dawson's stepmother, Maxine Mathis, said she was thankful the military was moving forward with the case. But she said she couldn't support the death penalty for Bozicevich.

"If they could just send him to prison, that wouldn't bother me one bit," Mathis said by phone from Pensacola, Fla. "I just feel in my heart something snapped in that man. I don't know what those young men go through over there."
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_fragging_case_bozicevich_070709/

This is one amazing woman to be able to look past her pain and find compassion for the one accused of killing her step-son.

Why haven't we heard about sailors deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan?

If you keep track of the reports on the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, you would know that it is not just the Army and Marines, along with the National Guards and Reservists, but the Navy as well as the Air Force. What I didn't know was that so little was being done for the sailors who deploy into other units. This is sad and this is wrong.

You'd think that the DOD would be doing everything possible for the Navy and their families. Something needs to be done about this.

Sailors go solo on stressful Army, USMC tours

By Melissa Nelson - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Oct 31, 2008 14:52:28 EDT

PENSACOLA NAVAL AIR STATION, Fla. — Chief Warrant Officer Bob Turner spent most of the last year at an Army base in Afghanistan, far from his fellow sailors and the sea. The 28-year veteran was one of thousands of sailors attached by themselves to Army and Marine units, groups that trained together stateside — without them.

These solo sailors and their families lack the usual support groups for deployed personnel, and the costs of that can be considerable.

The stress for “individual augmentees,” as they’re called, can be greater than shipboard assignments because sailors deploy alone for six months to a year and are doing entirely different jobs than they’ve had throughout their careers, said Cmdr. Tracy Skipton, a psychiatrist at Pensacola Naval Hospital. Turner, for instance, was providing electronics support for a special operations team working outside the base.

“It was a whole new life for me,” Turner said.

It wasn’t easy working his way into the unit, either. Even though Turner wore an Army uniform and worked closely with soldiers, it took him months to feel that he was part of the team.

“You definitely know you are an IA because you see a group of Army come in together and they’ve trained in the states together and made plans to get ready for this,” he said.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/ap_navyia_103108/

Family of U.S. soldier in dark about 'non-hostile' death

Family of U.S. soldier in dark about 'non-hostile' death
Story Highlights
Army Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson and another soldier were killed in Iraq this week

Another U.S. soldier is being held in connection with the killings

Dawson's father says he can't get a "straight answer" from the U.S. military

The U.S. military has classified the death as "non-hostile"

By Cal Perry
CNN


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Darryl Mathis waits in his Pensacola, Florida, home for the body of his 24-year-old son to return home from Iraq. Mathis, a military veteran himself, was seething with anger Thursday as he spoke about the death of Army Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson.

Dawson, and Sgt. Wesley Durbin, 26, are said to have been shot and killed by another U.S. soldier on Sunday at a base south of Baghdad.

Darryl and his wife, Maxine (Dawson's stepmother), say the military has told them nothing about the incident: no details on his death, no information at all.

His voice shakes as he says he believes that the military has let him down.

"I'm very disappointed -- very," he said. "If I would get a straight answer, if they would actually tell me what's going on, I would have something to work on; but right now, I have nothing to work on. Everything I'm getting, I'm getting from the media."

His wife sobs as she says her stepson's death was foreshadowed by a phone call he made to her from Iraq.
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/09/18/iraq.soldier.deaths/index.html

Soldiers stationed in Germany have mold problems

Families fear the return of irritating black mold
Army says it hasn’t heard problem is back
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, March 20, 2008

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — It’s almost spring, and for many people that means time for some spring cleaning.

Spring in Germany means lots of moisture, which not only brings beautiful flowers, but also helps nasty black mold to form.

Outdoors, molds live in the soil and plants. Indoors, molds will often grow in damp or wet areas, including basement walls, bathroom tiles and sinks. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, mold can lead to a variety of health problems, such as headaches, breathing difficulties, skin irritation and aggravation of asthma symptoms.

Last year, the Army had to eradicate mold problems at the off-post military housing area in Kaltenbrunn after an inspection found mold growing in bathrooms and attics of at least 10 homes.

Now, some soldiers and family members living in the housing area say the mold has returned, although the Army says it’s unaware of any problems.

Staff Sgt. Frederick Rowell of the 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment blames the mold problems for the allergies experienced by his family.

When he first complained to the Army about the mold last summer, workers did remediation work that involved covering up the mold rather than solving the problem, Rowell said.

“I think the contractors did an excellent job on some houses, but at my house there was mold in the concrete and they just covered it up,” he said.

The 29-year-old Pensacola, Fla., native — who said he suffers from traumatic brain injury sustained in a roadside bomb blast — said he raised the issue with the Vilseck Warrior Transition Unit last month. A week later the Army found him a house at the new off-post military housing area at Netzaberg, he said.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53456