THE FRIDAY FOTO (May 5, 2023)

SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Samantha Jetzer)  Please click on the photo to enlarge the image.

Hula students perform on the Nohili Dunes at the Pacific Missile Range Facility during a cultural site visit the island of Kauai, Hawaii on April 1, 2023.

The U.S. Navy facility is the world’s largest instrumented, multi-domain missile range capable of supporting surface, subsurface, air and space operations simultaneously.What that means is U.S. Missile Defense Agency, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, can test things there like the Aegis Weapon System and  demonstrate the capability of a ballistic missile defense (BMD)-configured Aegis ship to detect, track, engage, and intercept a medium range ballistic missile target in the terminal phase of flight.

Barking Sands started out as an Army Air Force Base during World War II. Early in 1942, the single existing runway was paved and lengthened to 6,000 feet with a width of 200 feet. Soon a second, equally sized runway was added. They were built to accommodate heavy bombers like the B–17 Flying Fortress and B–24 Liberator, as well as C–47 and C–54 cargo planes.

Traditionally, Hawaiians congregated at these dunes to fish and gather sustenance.

For the record, the Hula haumāna (hula students) with Hālau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leinā‘ala dance group were performing a hula to the mele (song) called “Ike I ke One Kani AʻO Nohili (The Barking Sands of Nohili)” at the wahi pana (legendary place) of Nohili Dunes.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (April 28, 2023)

“High shall our purpose be.”

(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Hillard) Click on the photo to enlarge image.

Coast Guard personnel conduct maintenance aloft on the Coast Guard cutter Eagle, a three-masted barque, in the Atlantic Ocean on April 9, 2023.

The Eagle is the only active (operational) commissioned sailing vessel in the U.S. maritime services. A permanent crew of eight officers and 50 enlisted personnel maintain the ship year-round. They also provide the knowledge and seamanship for training  up to 150 cadets at a time.

In early April, Eagle began a four-month summer deployment to teach practical seamanship skills to officer candidates from the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Corps, as well as foreign military personnel.  During this voyage, cadets and crew will meet with U.S. allies in Northern Europe (the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark), the Portuguese archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira — and later, Bermuda.

Eagle will return to its homeport in New London, Connecticut by mid-August.

The German-built Eagle is an actual war prize, taken from the Nazis at the end of World War II.  Launched in 1936 by the Blohm + Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, the sailing ship was commissioned as Horst Wessel, after the Nazi icon and “martyr.” Originally operated by Nazi Germany to train cadets for the German Navy, the ship was taken over by the United States after World War II. In 1946, a U.S. Coast Guard crew – aided by the German crew still on board – sailed the tall ship from Bremerhaven to its New London.

By the way, the words of the headline are taken from the Coast Guard marching song, “Semper Paratus,“ Always Prepared.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (April 21, 2023)

UNDRESS REHEARSAL.

(U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Laura Stephens.) Click on photo to enlarge image.

Soldiers assigned to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment’s Continental Color Guard prepare for a performance — with all but one in PT garb — at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia on April 11, 2023.

The 3d U.S. Infantry, traditionally known as “The Old Guard,” is the oldest active-duty infantry unit in the U.S. Army, serving the nation since 1784 (three years before the first states ratified the Constitution). The Old Guard is the Army’s official ceremonial unit and escort to the president, and it also provides security for Washington, D.C., in time of national emergency or civil disturbance.

The Continental Color Guard is one of  six specialty platoons in The Old Guard, including the Fife and Drum Corps, the Presidential Salute Battery, the Army Drill Team and two units supplying ceremonial duties at Arlington National Cemetery: the Caisson Platoon and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier guards.

The blue uniforms worn by the Color Team are replicas of the 1784-style infantry uniforms worn by The Old Guard’s predecessor, the First American Regiment. The pattern of the uniform for wear by all Continental Army infantry units was approved by General George Washington in 1782. It consisted of a blue coat faced with a red collar, cuffs and lapels, white buttons and lining, long-fitting overalls, and a black cocked hat with cockade.

Some 4GWAR visitors may have seen the 3rd Infantry’s Fife and Drum Corps, in their redcoats trimmed in blue, playing at White House ceremonies and other celebratory events.  In 18th Century warfare, the reversed colors on the fifers and drummers’ uniforms would stand out on a battlefield obscured by musket smoke. The hope was that soldiers on both sides would see, but not shoot, bandsmen since they were unarmed — and during battle they often served as stretcher bearers and provided other medical assistance to the wounded.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (April 14, 2023)

PARKING VIOLATION?

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ryan Ramsammy)

This is not how they deal with traffic scofflaws in the United States Marine Corps.

What this photo does show is a Marine AAV7A1(assault amphibious vehicle) from 2d Marine Division’s 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, crushing a car during Gator Week on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on April 6, 2023.

Gator Week is an annual field meet with physical team building events that increase unit cohesion and commemorates the history of the 2d Marines 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (March 31, 2023)

DOING IT BACKWARDS, AND IN … SKIS.

(U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Max Archambault) Please click on the photo to enlarge the image.

U.S. Army Sergeant Hunter Johnson conducts a mountain rappel during training for the Edelweiss Raid, on February 26, 2023 at Training Area Lizum, Innsbruck, Austria.

The Edelweiss Raid is an international, military competition sponsored by Austria’s bundesheer [national army] designed to test the alpine skills of mountain soldiers. Competitors must be able to quickly transition from skis to technical mountaineering and back into skis to overcome obstacles on the course.

The Edelweiss Raid covers 40 kilometers with an overall rise in elevation of 4,000 meters. The competition includes up to 12 stations with required military tasks, including high-angle shooting, call for fire, and mountain casualty evacuation. The event intends to challenge soldiers, foster camaraderie, and build relations between mountain warfighters across the world.

Sergeant Hunter is an instructor at the Army Mountain Warfare School, operated by the Vermont Army National Guard at Camp Ethan Allen Training Site, Jericho, Vermont.

For the record, of the 22 participating teams, 18 finished the grueling two-day competition. According to the event’s Facebook page, Germany’s  Mountain Battalion 233 from Mittenwald took the winner’s trophy and a gold medal. A team of the Hochgebirgsjägerbataillon 26 (High Mountain Rifle Battalion 26) from Spittal an der Drau, Austria won the silver medal and a team of the 53rd Mountain Combined Arms Brigade from the People’s Republic of China earned the third place bronze medal. No word on how the U.S. team fared. Other teams came from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Switzerland.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (March 23, 2023)

NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Matthew Dickinson) Click on photo to enlarge image.

Navy SEALS can do a lot of  amazing things but walking on water isn’t one of them.

What this February 27, 2023 photo does show is U.S. Naval Special Warfare Operators (SEALs) and NATO special operations forces landing a combatant rubber raiding craft (CRRC) aboard Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Florida somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.

According to the Defense Department, operations like this demonstrate U.S. European Command’s ability to rapidly deploy Special Operations Forces throughout the region “at a time and place of our choosing,” while also demonstrating U.S. commitment to train with Allies and partners to deploy and fight as multinational forces.

THE FRIDAY FOTO: March 3, 2023

ARRANGEMENT IN PINK AND BLUE No. 1

(U.S. Defense Department photo by Jason W. Edwards) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

Both the women in this photo are Army nurses, Army captains and both named Megan. What are the odds?

In this strikingly lit photo we see emergency trauma nurses Captain Megan Honeywell and Captain Megan Gross — we’re not 100 percent sure which is which — treating a simulated patient during the Tactical Trauma Reaction and Evacuation Crossover Course (TTREX) at Joint Base San Antonio in Lackland, Texas on  February 23, 2023.

The eight-hour course incorporates battlefield trauma simulations, evacuation procedures, and forward resuscitative care in an austere environment. More than 40 participants took part in the first time, two-day exercise developed to give medics and nurses hands-on experience.

In addition to liking the way this photo was lit, we thought it was the perfect subject to kick off Women’s History Month at the 4GWAR Blog.

And yes, art mavens, the headline at the top is an homage to American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s 1871 work, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, known the world over as “Whistler’s Mother.”

Interesting to note, Whistler, the son of a West Point-educated U.S. Army engineer, was an Army man himself — briefly. The younger Whistler was admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1851, where he excelled in drawing classes. But he chafed at the Point’s rules, regulations and largely scientific curriculum as well as Army dress and drill. As the demerits mounted, then-West Point Superintendent Robert E. Lee finally lost patience with the eccentric youth, and Whistler was dismissed from the academy in 1854.

Whistler’s younger brother, William, became a physician and served as a field surgeon in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, which — we guess — brings us full circle to a photo of today’s U.S. Army medicos.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (February 24, 2022)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH IN … ITALY

Italian(U.S. Army photo by Paolo Bovo)

Italian Army and U.S. Army paratroopers conduct an airborne operation from an Italian Air Force C-27J Spartan transport aircraft onto Alpe di Siusi in Bolzano, Italy on February 16, 2023. It turns out Alpe di Siusi is the largest high-alpine pasture in Europe.

The C-27J belongs to Italy’s 46th Air Brigade. The Italian troops are assigned to 4th Alpini Regiment of the Folgore Brigade. The  American soldiers are from the 173rd Airborne Brigade,  The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the Army’s Contingency Response Force in Europe, capable of projecting ready forces anywhere in the U.S. European, Africa or Central Commands’ areas of responsibility.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (February 17, 2023)

PREPARING FOR THE WORST.

    (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Rowe)

U.S Navy sailors combat a simulated casualty emergency aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the South China Sea on February 2, 2023.

Nimitz is in the U.S. 7th fleet area conducting routine operations. 7th Fleet is the Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

As we’ve said in the past at 4GWAR Blog, the U.S. Navy takes fires very seriously. At the Navy’s only boot camp, Naval Service Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois, recruits are trained in firefighting as one of five basic competencies, which also include: Damage control, watch standing, seamanship and small-arms handling/marksmanship.

The importance of firefighting aboard ship was driven home in July 2020 when the amphibious assault ship, USS Bonhomme Richard, caught fire beside the pier at Naval Base San Diego, California and burned for four days. No one died but the 22-year-old Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) was a total loss.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (February 3, 2023)

BRADLEYS ON THE WAY.

Ukraine-bound U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicles (U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan) Click on the photo to enlarge image.

After weeks of discussions and negotiations with Germany and other NATO allies, the United States has agreed to send its top ground war machine, the Abrams M1A main battle tank, to Ukraine.

But its going to take several months to get the world’s most capable — but also one of the most complicated — armored vehicle systems to the front. The Pentagon says it’s going to take months to train Ukrainian troops on the Abrams and ready to face an expected Russian offensive late this year.

In the meantime, the U.S. is sending about five dozen M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles to help Ukraine in the war against Vladimir Putin’s ruthless attacks. The Bradley is tracked like a tank, but smaller and in certain circumstances more maneuverable. Unlike the Abrams, the Bradley is considered a mechanized infantry vehicle that can carry a squad of seven soldiers into the combat zone as well as its three-person crew.

Bradleys have both offensive and defensive capabilities and provide “a level of firepower and armor that will bring advantages on the battlefield as the Ukrainian military continues to defend their homeland,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder told a January 5 news conference.

The Bradley’s primary weapon is the M242 25 mm Automatic Cannon. Other weapons include a 7.62 Coaxial Machine Gun and a Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wireless-Guided (TOW) Anti-Tank Missile Launcher. The M2A4 also has a commander’s independent viewer that allows the commander to scan for targets and maintain situational awareness while remaining under protective armor and without interfering with the gunner’s acquisition and engagement of targets.

In the photo above, stevedore drivers work through the night of January 25 to load Bradleys onto the transport ship ARC Integrity at the Transportation Core Dock in North Charleston, South Carolina. More than 60 Bradleys were shipped by U.S. Transportation Command as part of the U.S. military aid package to Ukraine. USTRANSCOM is a combatant command focused on projecting and sustaining U.S. military power around the globe when needed.

(U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan) Click on photo to enlarge image.

Operations hatch foreman Sergeant Ryan Townsend, of the Army’s 841st Transportation Battalion, inspects Bradley Fighting Vehicles as they are parked within the ARC Integrity. Integrity is an American Roll-on, Roll-off Carrier equipped with ramp access and a system of fixed and liftable cargo decks which constitute the main cargo section. This system enables the vessel to be reconfigured quickly to accommodate different cargoes and maximize lift capacity. The ramp systems make the vessels able to load and discharge cargo vehicles without cranes or other port loading facilities. ARC is the American-flagged ship operator moves tanks, helicopters and other equipment for the U.S. government and its various agencies.