I Am A GONZALEZ Sailor - Return Remix

It's not quite Friday yet, but it feels like it should be. GONZALEZ Sailors are in the midst of completing an Aviation Certification, Aviation Readiness Qualification, Fleet Synthetic Training, and an Engineering Team Trainer...all while wrapping up remaining items from our shipyard period before sea trials. As I watch some of my Sailors participate in two or even all three of these significant training events, I am easily reminded of how amazing Navy Sailors truly are.

So, I figured it was time to bring back our GONZALEZ recruiting video! The Sailor's Creed is an important aspect of many ceremonies onboard our ship and to honor the best crew in the Navy, we incorporated a GONZALEZ version of the Sailor's creed with pictures and video from our 2008 deployment. The full DV version looks much better, but this compressed version was suitable for publication on the blog. Hit play on the video below to check it out.

I am a GONZALEZ Sailor.

I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and

I will obey the orders of those appointed over me.

I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and

all who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.

I proudly serve my country’s Navy combat team with Honor, Courage and Commitment.

I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all.

GONZALEZ Sailors Promote Motorcycle Safety

As Commanding Officer a Navy ship, I have the best job in the Navy, and with a crew like mine, I also have the easiest job onboard GONZALEZ. At the beginning of 2009, we published command goals for the year. My only direction was to set achievable and measurable goals. My XO and CMC then drafted a set of goals based around our command philosophy, vetted them through the crew, and then I had the easy job - I approved them. Under our category of "Do Our Best at Everything," we have a goal to 'Maintain Eligibility for all Safety and Health Awards." Not only did we win our third consecutive Fleet Health and Wellness Award - what we call the GREEN H - we also recently took a proactive approach toward motorcycle safety. All I asked was that we find a way to put out a positive motorcycle riding story and my motorcycle riders did the rest - again, I have the easy job. My Public Affairs Officer tells it best...only fitting too that I included a picture of our GREEN H winning Doc on his bike as well. - CO



---- Gonzalez Public Affairs (ENS Monika Hess)

(NORFOLK) —Motorcycle riders onboard the Norfolk based destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) decided it was time for a positive news story regarding the increase in motorcycle usage and the military. On 9 April, seven Gonzalez Sailors went on a command-sponsored, group motorcycle ride around the Hampton Roads beltway to promote motorcycle safety and to raise a little money for the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) at the same time. With a $10 buy-in, the Gonzalez riders added an additional $70 to the command’s total to NMCRS, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide emergency financial assistant to Sailors and Marines.

With recent and renewed Department of Defense-wide attention placed on motorcycle safety, proper protective equipment, and required motorcycle riding courses, Gonzalez riders joined together to show off the positive aspects of riding, build camaraderie and support the Navy’s motorcycle safety requirements. “This was a great opportunity for new bikers to get comfortable on their motorcycles with more experienced riders,” said Hospital Corpsman Chief Petty Officer Mike Ferretta. The riders met up at the Naval Exchange Service Station at the Norfolk Naval Base, completed a ride around the Hampton Roads beltway, and then met up with the rest of the command at the Norfolk Naval Station Bowling Alley for a command Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Bowling Tournament as part of a ship-wide celebration for completion of a successful Selective Restrictive Availability (SRA) period.

After a safety brief, the Gonzalez riders departed for their ride wearing proper riding jackets, reflective garments, and helmets. The road captain, Fire Controlman First Class Randy Sturgill, planned the route which looped around Hampton Roads through Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Pungo, and Chesapeake. “It was a great day for a ride. We rode for about two hours with several stops along the way,” said Information Technician Chief Petty Officer Brent Robinson. The group traveled on interstates, highways, two-lane roads, and winding country roads. Despite the different driving environments, the group maintained a staggered formation with a road captain, a tail, and two road guards.

Fire Controlman First Class David Belt, a seasoned motorcycle rider, was among the Gonzalez riders. Belt who had recently been in a motorcycle accident when another motorist pulled into his lane unexpectedly commented, “When you ride a motorcycle, you may get in accident at some point. The Basic Riding Course [the Navy’s required motorcycle safety course] gave me a foundation to safely get on the road and mitigate an injury. The Basic Riding Course is a great training tool.” Gonzalez anticipates more group rides to continue to promote awareness and safety.

A Late Join to the Piracy Blogosphere

It has been an intriquing, interesting, and amazing week and a half for the United States Navy...and I mostly missed it all! My family and I took a week of leave (no internet, email, or television - only a cell phone in case of an emergency), and I returned to a inbox, blogosphere, internet and television full of anti-piracy successes, concerns, and questions. First of all (and I know it's a little late), congratulations from the men and women of GONZALEZ to CDR Frank Castellano, the crew of USS BAINBRIDGE (DDG 96), and the embarked SEALS on safely and professionally executing their mission tasking. Well done! As a former "Billy-B" Sailor on USS BAINBRIDGE (CGN 25), I was particularly proud to see a ship with such a strong heritage in the news. I was also a little amused at some of the initial commentary (well more than a week old now) which suggested that the current BAINBRIDGE was an "old nuclear cruiser." Reminded me of a day back in 1992 when I was touring the American History Museum in Washington DC and a young boy pointed to a model of the nuclear cruiser BAINBRIDGE in her original designation as DLGN-25 and said to his father, "Dad, look at the model of this really old ship!" BAINBRIDGE was indeed some 30 years old at the time, and having overhead the conversation, I couldn't help but point out that "she wasn't that old and that I happened to live right there (pointing to the model) on the O-2 level aft." I always thought it was funny that my first ship in the Navy was actually on display as a model in a Smithsonian museum while she was still in commission. Anyway...


Naturally, as Commanding Officer of a ship which has previously been involved in an actual exchange of fire with pirates off the coast of Somalia in 2006 (although I was not in command), my family and friends were interested in my thoughts and opinions on the Navy's role in countering piracy. For my GONZALEZ family and friends and other readers of our blog, you know by now that I have never considered our blog as the appropriate forum while I am in command for my personal commentary on Navy missions. I will offer something for consideration though to put into perspective the tenacity, resiliency, and professionalism of GONZALEZ husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters and all Navy shipmates.


Consider the angst of the average sports fan who grimaces each time his or her favorite athlete strikes out, misses a putt, drops a ball, fumbles, misses a free throw, or doesn't achieve a specific standard, particularly when the pressure is on and a national/international audience is watching. Many professional athletes get paid millions of dollars for what they do. Some of them have been playing their particular sports since the time they started walking. They train, practice, and rehearse the same basic fundamentals of pitching, catching, putting, throwing, kicking, passing, etc., over and over and over again. At the end of the day, athletes play games for the competition and our entertainment. Now, I am a sports fan myself, and of course have my favorite professional athletes and teams, but consider this....Navy Sailors don't get paid millions of dollars for what they do and the average Sailor has only been doing his or her job for a very short time, usually just a few years. Many of the missions we are assigned, we have never specifically trained for or at a minimum have only limited training. Sometimes we only get one or no rehearsals. The broad, generalities of our training don't necessarily cover detailed specifics like working with FBI negotiators or picking up parachuting SEAL Team members or working with SEAL snipers. And as the recent piracy coverage validated, we always have a significant national/international audience watching and commenting, particularly if it goes wrong. These are often complex and challenging missions and the pressure of having lives on the line is very real. But we do these missions, and we do them with style and professionalism. Everyday. Many of them we do so we can continue enjoy the freedoms we do in our great country, like sitting on the armchair to watch our favorite sporting events.

A very welcome home to the Captain and crew of the Maersk Alabama, but let us not forget, BAINBRIDGE and her crew are still on station, still executing the missions to which they are assigned.

GONZALEZ Underway Again!

GONZALEZ finally got underway again this morning! It was only a short journey from the BAE shipyard back to the Norfolk Naval Base, but it nice to head back up the Elizabeth River and put downtown in the rear view mirror.

GONZALEZ Sailors Attend the 2009 Blessing of the Fleets at the Navy Memorial

Yesterday, afternoon a group of the best Sailors in the Fleet made an early drive up from Norfolk, Virginia to our Nation 's capitol to participate in the 2009 Blessing of the Fleets Ceremony at the Navy Memorial. This year marked the 18th iteration of the event held annually in conjunction with the Washington DC Cherry Blossum Festival. GONZALEZ Sailors proudly manned the fountain ring as Sailors from the Washington DC Ceremonial Honor Guard charged the fountains with waters from the seven seas. Afterwards, we took an opportunity to pose with the Memorial's signature Lone Sailor statue and even managed to get a photo with 94-year old Ruthanna Weber, a World War II Veteran and former WAVE. Stars and Stripes put together a nice article on the ceremony and Ruthanna's visit. Although it was a very long day, weather in Washington DC could not have been better as evidenced by some of the largest crowds I

have ever seen in the city. In the end, GONZALEZ Sailors had a chance to show off Navy excellence, briefly tour the capitol and even make a few new friends. - Captain

Ship of War 101

Fighting Freddy's time in the shipyard is almost complete, and we will soon be ready to return to our home at the Norfolk Naval Base. While critical to maintaining our ship in top fighting form, maintenance availabilities also provide unique and challenging opportunities for both me as Commanding Officer and my Sailors. So one of the things we have done each week while we have been in the shipyard is to host a weekly Captain's Call every Friday just before lunch. Of course, my Sailors would probably tell you it was just a chance each week for me to work on my improv routine, but I found it was a great way to communicate both weekly successes and challenges before we put down Aloha Friday liberty call. With so many strategic events happening in the Navy (both on the operational and personnel sides of the Fleet), it has also proven to be an opportunity for me to address our schedule, future operations, training, upcoming events, and weekend safety. My favorite part of each weeks Captain's Call though has been the "Friday Follies."


Starting week one of the shipyard period, I used the Captain's Call to recognize top performers from each Department, but also point out things in which we didn't do so well - the point being to learn from our less than successes. After all the top performers and follies were recognized, I selected a single Sailor from the list of top performers to recognize with a command coin. That Sailor also received a large, framed piece of rusted deck. Rusted deck? Yep, rusted deck! The purpose of the framed piece of rusted deck was to remind everyone of our purpose for being in the shipyard - to take care of GONZALEZ. The winning Sailor then had to proudly display the framed rust in his or her workspace for the week.

At last week's Captain's Call, I also issued a completely different, but even more important reminder to my crew. I reminded them of the first line in our Command Philosophy: "GONZALEZ is a ship of war, designed to sail into harms way, dominate an enemy, and win our Nation’s wars." I reminded them that our shipyard period was coming to an end, we had friends and shipmates conducting important national security missions all around the globe, most recently highlighted by ships on station in the Pacific Rim and off the Horn of Africa, and that we needed to be ready if called. After many weeks in the shipyard, it just seemed like to right time to remind myself and my crew of our mission - Ship of War 101.

America's Heroes

I have previously served on ships named for great American Naval Officers, Bainbridge, Ingersoll, and Nimitz, and ships named for historic battles, Lake Erie and Port Royal. Of course, I currently have the pleasure to command a warship which bears the callsign of a great American warrior and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Marine Sergeant Freddy Gonzalez. I will always remember the day, I learned I was to command Gonzalez. I was working on the Joint Staff in a Pentagon office with officers from representing every military Service. As soon as I announced the name of my future ship, the Marine Corps Officer in our office immediately told me all about Freddy Gonzalez. He didn't have to look anything up on the internet. He just knew. I've always admired that about Marines.

I got an email the other day from that same Marine and thinking about his own personal knowledge of American heroes and Medal of Honor recipients made me think of an article which has been making it's way around the internet recently. I copied it below with an accompanying link (make sure you see the link - it will give chance to pause) for Gonzalez family and friends and any readers of our Fighting Freddy blog. I know I already have links to Freddy's Congressional Medal of Honor Citation on the blog but I added his own citation at the end. In concert with the excellent article below, when it comes to real American heroes, we should all pause to read their citations, over and over again. - Captain
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Who Are America's Heroes? http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2009/0309_moh/presentation.html
By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2009—The challenge issued by a flight attendant during a recent commercial air flight seemed innocuous enough: Name just one of the five Medal of Honor recipients from the current engagements in Afghanistan or Iraq, and get a free drink coupon. But the passengers’ response – more specifically, the inability of all but just one to respond – revealed how little the average American knows about its military heroes.

Bombarded by superhero lore almost from birth, many Americans grow to revere fictional heroes as well as sports and celebrity icons. But silence descended over the cabin of a flight bound from Jacksonville, Fla., to Baltimore when the conversation turned to those who had earned the nation’s highest honor for valor – even when a free cocktail hung in the balance. Dale Shelton, an Annapolis, Md., resident who served five years as a Navy intelligence specialist, was the only passenger to press the button over his seat to beckon the attendant. Shelton’s response: Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, the first Medal of Honor recipient in the global war on terror, and in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Smith received the highest military honor for valor posthumously on April 3, 2005, two years to the day after saving more than 100 soldiers in the battle for Baghdad’s airport. His young son and widow accepted the award on his behalf during a solemn White House ceremony. The flight attendant gave free drink coupons to Shelton, as well as his wife Jean and two other traveling companions. Then he returned to the crew area to announce over the intercom that only one person had correctly answered the challenge.

This time, the attendant offered a second challenge: name an American Idol winner. The cabin lit up like a pinball machine as 43 passengers scrambled to push their attendant call button. Passengers named various Idol winners. The attendant announced that he wasn’t going to award drink coupons for that answer, telling the passengers that "naming an Idol winner was not worth a free drink," Shelton recalled. "He concluded his announcement with the question: ‘What’s wrong with our country when out of 150 passengers, only one can name a Medal of Honor recipient, but 43 can name an American Idol winner?’"

Later during the flight, Shelton shared with the attendant his own frustration over "the current lack of appreciation of our military heroes." The attendant asked Shelton if he knew the names of the other four Medal of Honor receipts from the current military operations. Shelton said he was able to name three: Navy Lt. Michael Murphy, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor and Army Spc. Ross McGinnis. All were killed sacrificing themselves to protect their comrades during enemy attacks. Murphy, a Navy SEAL, died June 28, 2005, trying to save his team members during Operation Red Wing in Afghanistan. Monsoor, also a SEAL, died in Iraq Sept. 23, 2006, using his body to absorb a grenade blast that likely would have killed two nearby SEALs and several Iraqi soldiers. McGinnis died Dec. 4, 2006, after throwing himself on a hand grenade in Iraq to save four fellow soldiers when insurgents attacked their Humvee.

Shelton said he regretted that he had forgotten the name of Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham. Dunham died April 15, 2004, using his body to shield fellow Marines in Iraq from a hand grenade. The flight attendant didn’t hold Shelton’s memory lapse against him. "He gave me all the remaining drink coupons he had in his possession and shook my hand," he said.

Congressional Medal of Honor - Freddy Gonzalez

CITATION:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as platoon commander, 3d Platoon, Company A. On January 31, 1968, during the initial phase of Operation Hue City, Sgt. Gonzalez' unit was formed as a reaction force and deployed to Hue to relieve the pressure on the beleaguered city. While moving by truck convoy along Route No. 1, near the village of Lang Van Lrong, the marines received a heavy volume of enemy fire. Sgt. Gonzalez aggressively maneuvered the marines in his platoon, and directed their fire until the area was cleared of snipers. Immediately after crossing a river south of Hue, the column was again hit by intense enemy fire. One of the marines on top of a tank was wounded and fell to the ground in an exposed position. With complete disregard for his safety, Sgt. Gonzalez ran through the fire-swept area to the assistance of his injured comrade. He lifted him up and though receiving fragmentation wounds during the rescue, he carried the wounded marine to a covered position for treatment. Due to the increased volume and accuracy of enemy fire from a fortified machine gun bunker on the side of the road, the company was temporarily halted. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Sgt. Gonzalez exposed himself to the enemy fire and moved his platoon along the east side of a bordering rice paddy to a dike directly across from the bunker. Though fully aware of the danger involved, he moved to the fire-swept road and destroyed the hostile position with hand grenades. Although seriously wounded again on February 3, he steadfastly refused medical treatment and continued to supervise his men and lead the attack. On February 4, the enemy had again pinned the company down, inflicting heavy casualties with automatic weapons and rocket fire. Sgt. Gonzalez, utilizing a number of light antitank assault weapons, fearlessly moved from position to position firing numerous rounds at the heavily fortified enemy emplacements. He successfully knocked out a rocket position and suppressed much of the enemy fire before falling mortally wounded. The heroism, courage, and dynamic leadership displayed by Sgt. Gonzalez reflected great credit upon himself and the Marine Corps, and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.