11644: A Four-Star First.

From The New York Post…

Historic promotion for Navy hero

By Kate Briquelet

She has fought pirates, commanded warships and was the first African-American woman to achieve a Naval rank of three stars.

Now, Vice Admiral Michelle Howard, 53, is set to become the first woman and first African-American in Navy history to achieve a fourth star, pending Senate approval.

President Obama on Friday tapped Howard to be Vice Chief of Naval Operations — a historic nomination that would make her the Navy’s second-ranking officer.

The 5-foot-2 hero is no stranger to breaking barriers. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to command a Navy ship, the USS Rushmore.

“Men have the luxury of being average,” Howard told Time magazine when she commanded the USS Rushmore, a 15,000-ton assault vessel. “When you walk in as a woman, that assumption does not come with you — you need to prove yourself.”

Howard helped to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips, who was held hostage by Somali pirates, in 2009 when she was just three days into her new job as head of a strike force in the Arabian Sea.

From aboard the USS Boxer, Howard helped direct a Navy destroyer to the pirates’ lifeboat. She knew the captain would be done for if they reached Somalia.

“We were getting more and more concerned that … they might actually kill [Phillips],” she said.

After two days of failed negotiations, Howard called in a team of Navy SEALs to shoot the pirates and bring Phillips home.

Born to an Air Force sergeant and his British wife in Aurora, Colo., Howard dreamed of joining the Navy from age 12. At the time, federal law blocked women from military schools. Still, she graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., in 1982 and became the first graduate of her class to attain the rank of admiral. She’s been married to retired Marine Wayne Cowles for most of her storied career.

She served in the Persian Gulf War, during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and was deployed to peacekeeping missions in the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

Last year, as she was promoted to three stars, Howard offered advice to female officers following in her footsteps: “You have to keep your sense of humor,” she said. “You have to develop stamina and you need to be adaptable.”

11290: Seeking Navy’s First Black Pilot.

From The New York Daily News…

Retired veteran heads to North Korea to find remains of Navy’s first black pilot, Jesse Brown

Thomas Hudner is heading to North Korea’s Jangjin Reservoir with hopes of finding the spot where the Navy’s first black pilot, Ensign Jesse Brown, died during the Korean War.

The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — Two years after he made history by becoming the Navy’s first black pilot, Ensign Jesse Brown lay trapped in his downed fighter plane in subfreezing North Korea, his leg broken and bleeding. His wingman crash-landed to try to save him, and even burned his hands trying to put out the flames.

A chopper hovered nearby. Lt. j.g. Thomas Hudner could save himself, but not his friend. With the light fading, the threat of enemy fire all around him and Brown losing consciousness, the white son of a New England grocery-store magnate made a promise to the black son of a sharecropper.

“We’ll come back for you.”

More than 60 years have passed. Hudner is now 88. But he did not forget. He is coming back.

:::

Hudner, now a retired Navy captain, heads to Pyongyang on Saturday with hopes of traveling in the coming week to the region known in North Korea as the Jangjin Reservoir, accompanied by soldiers from the Korean People’s Army, to the spot where Brown died in December 1950.

The reservoir was the site of one of the Korean War’s deadliest battles for Americans, who knew the place by its Japanese name, Chosin. The snowy mountain region was nicknamed the “Frozen Chosin,” and survivors are known in U.S. history books as the “Chosin Few.”

The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir lasted for 17 brutal days. Some 6,000 Americans were killed in combat, and thousands more succumbed to the cold. Brown and many others who died there are among more than 7,910 Americans still missing in action from the war.

Though the fighting ended with an armistice signed 60 years ago July 27, North Korea and the U.S. remain technically at war. Efforts to recover remains have come in fits and starts, with little recent progress.

Next week’s mission is to pick up where search teams have left off by locating the exact spot of Brown’s crash. Armed with maps and coordinates, they hope to work with North Korean soldiers to excavate the remote area, a sealed site controlled by the North Korean military.

Approval for the unusual journey comes as North Korea prepares for festivities marking the upcoming armistice anniversary. Pyongyang is expected to use the milestone to draw international attention to the division of the Korean Peninsula as well as to build unity among North Koreans for new leader Kim Jong Un.

Hudner does not plan to stay for a massive military parade expected on July 27. But he said he hopes his visit will help to foster peace and reconciliation on the tense Korean Peninsula.

Read the full story here.

8818: News & Nonsense.

Entertaining stupidity in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Disney opted to drop its SEAL TEAM 6 trademark application after the U.S. Navy filed an application as well. News sources indicated Disney withdrew its application “out of deference to the Navy.” Plus, Disney probably realized it was not smart to mess with the guys who put a bullet in Osama Bin Laden’s head.

• Former NFL player Tiki Barber compared himself to Holocaust victim Anne Frank in a Sports Illustrated article. Barber was discussing moving with his girlfriend into the attic of his agent’s home. “[My agent is] Jewish,” said Barber, “and it was like a reverse Anne Frank thing.” The major difference being Frank’s diary has been read worldwide, while Barber’s literary efforts usually head straight to the bookstore remainder bin.

• MSNBC personality Ed Schultz was suspended for one week without pay for calling conservative radio host Laura Ingraham a slut. “I used vile and inappropriate language,” said Schultz. “I am deeply sorry, and I apologize. It was wrong, uncalled for, and I recognize the severity of what I said. … I have embarrassed my family, I have embarrassed this company… I have been in this business since 1978 and I’ve made a lot of mistakes. This is the lowest of low for me.” The man is such a media and attention whore.

8316: Men Behaving Badly—Albeit Typically.

Monday Morning MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Navy is investigating videos showing the crew of an aircraft carrier engaging in hijinks replete with gay slurs, suggestive shower scenes and more—starring the ship’s second in command. Navy Cmdr. Chris Sims declared that the videos “were not acceptable then and are not acceptable in today’s Navy.” No word yet from Village People.

• ESPN broadcaster Ron Franklin was yanked from the air after referring to ESPN sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards as “sweetcakes” during an off-air confrontation. The tiff began at a pre-production meeting including Franklin, Edwards and ESPN announcer Rod Gilmore. While talking about Gilmore’s wife being elected mayor of Alameda, California, Edwards tried to join the discussion but was clipped by Franklin. “Why don’t you leave this to the boys, sweetcakes,” Franklin told Edwards. “Don’t call me sweetcakes, I don’t like being talked to like that,” replied Edwards. Franklin snapped, “OK then, asshole.” No word yet regarding the full extent of Franklin’s punishment. However, the Navy will likely express interest in hiring him to call games.

7779: Naval Gazing.

The Photoshop® work in this ad is not exactly shipshape.

6728: Saluting Moms.

The Navy has a site exclusively for mothers with children in the Navy and moms who have questions about Navy life for their children. This isn’t exactly a shipshape ad, however, as it appeared at first blush to be recruiting moms for military service.