FORMER NAS OCEANA COMMANDING OFFICER DIES PAGE 3 VOLUME 52 NO. 27
JULY 11, 2013
SERVING NAVAL AIR STATION OCEANA
INSIDEJET
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DAM NECK ANNEX
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NALF FENTRESS
Rain can’t dampen spirits at CVW-7 homecoming
PIECES OF HISTORY: CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF OCEANA
PAGE 6 SEMINAR OFFERS FINANCIAL TIPS
PAGE 7 Photo by Harry Gerwien
The Navy League will sponsor a vehicle sale July 13 -14 at the NAS Oceana Main Gate Park. Ten local auto dealerships and financing representatives will be on site to assist customers. The sale takes place rain or shine.
While the adults might have been wishing “rain, rain go away,” during CVW7’s homecoming July 2 at NAS Oceana, the downpour did not discourage the children from trying to get a closer look at the aviators of VFA-103. Following the second deployment in 12 months on board USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), CVW-7 with squadron VFA-83, VFA-103, VFA-131 and VFA-143 returned to Oceana, while VAW-121 and HS-5 returned to Naval Station Norfolk July 2. Also returning to Norfolk was VRC-40, detachment 3, on June 30.
Photo by Mike Lynaugh
The rain let up by the time the “Wildcats” were on the ground and VFA-131 Executive Officer Cmdr. Matt Barker has his arms full as his three children, Holland, Dax and Cadence rush to greet him. Closely behind the trio is mom and wife Amy Barker, as AD2 Andrew Dodsworth watches. — Story, more photos, pages 8 - 9
CNO answers questions during all-hands call at Oceana BY CATHY HEIMER Jet Observer Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert held an all-hands call at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana July 3. The CNO answered questions from Sailors, Marines and Department of Defense (DoD) civilians in attendance.Those who could not attend the event at the base theater were encouraged to submit their questions online at Navy.mil. The all-hands call was kicked off by a group reenlistment ceremony for 13 Sailors from com-
mands across Hampton Roads. Greenert also presented two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals and an Enlisted Information Dominance Warfare pin to Sailors. Greenert’s visit coincided with the 40th anniversary of the all-volunteer military forces, a fact he highlighted after the reenlistments and award presentations. The CNO began by addressing the Navy’s sexual assault problem.“We need to understand — you and I collectively, that this is the problem for our times,” he said.The way to get this resolved, Greenert explained that “collectively, everybody
in the Navy has to decide that it’s not acceptable.” Many of the audience and internet questions concerned sequestration, DoD civilian furloughs and how the budget issues affect military readiness. Greenert said that for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, he expects to again deal with the continuing resolution and sequestration. But unlike FY13, there is time to prepare and plan for those issues, something that he is currently doing. Sequestration has affected the number of ships forward-deployed.With a total of 286 ships, — See CNO visit Page 4