Subject: Jax Military Community News--16 July 2009
From: Buehn, Robert
[mailto:RBuehn@coj.net]
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 5:01 PM
To: Buehn, Robert
Subject: Jax Military Community News--16 July 2009
Jacksonville Military Community,
CVN MAYPORT
Most of you are aware that the decision
to homeport a nuclear carrier in Mayport, while supported by the Navy, has been
put into the Quadrennial Defense Review for consideration. The first
letter I have attached here is to Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, from Under
Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy discussing that decision. It will
succinctly give you the DOD view on this issue. The other letter attached is
from Gov. Charlie Crist to the Senate Armed Services Committee leadership (Sen.
Levin and Sen. McCain) urging that the $46 million for dredging the channel at
Mayport be preserved in the conference report of the final budget. The
dredging is one of the important steps on the way to making Mayport suitable
for a CVN. You will recall there was a dustup over this last month when a
Congressman from Virginia engaged in a little political theater and stripped
the dredging money from the defense authorization in the HASC.
Fortunately we have Rep. Ander Crenshaw who made sure the dredging money was
still in the appropriation side. The Congressional delegation, State of
Florida leadership and certainly Mayor John Peyton here in Jacksonville are all
very much aligned in support of homeporting a nuclear carrier in Mayport.
The informed guess from our people in Washington is that we should know this
fall what the QDR says on this issue. We’ll keep you posted.
CHANGES OF COMMAND
Congratulations to RDML (sel.)
Tim Matthews, who turned command of Fleet Readiness Center Southeast over to
Capt. Paul Sohl last Friday. FRCSE is the largest employer in Duval
County with a workforce of about 4,600 people. Tim, who was selected for
flag rank this spring, will be moving to Patuxent River, MD and will oversee
all the FRCs. Tim has been an outstanding commanding officer and a good
friend and will be missed here in Jacksonville. Congratulations to Paul
Sohl too, who has been Executive Officer of FRC for the last two years and who
is a Naval Aviator and test pilot.
Over at Mayport last week command
of Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing was passed from Capt. Glenn Doyle to Capt.
Carl Bush. Rear Admiral Richard O’Hanlon, Commander, Naval Air Force, US
Atlantic Fleet was guest speaker, and outlined exciting changes coming for the
helicopter community, including introduction of the new unmanned helo and the
MH-60R.
PURPLE HEART CEREMONY
For your calendars, the Military
Order of the Purple Heart will conduct a ceremony on Thursday, August 6, at 7
p.m. at the Memorial Wall near the stadium. Included will be remarks by a
91-year-old WWII Purple Heart recipient, John W. Testy, and a walk down the
Purple Heart Trail which ends at the Arena. All are invited, especially
anyone who has been awarded the Purple Heart.
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you
think would be interested. If you would rather not receive these emails,
or if you have someone to add, just let me know. The purpose of these
updates is to link the City of Jacksonville and our military community, and to
announce upcoming events and news, in our effort to be the “most
military-friendly community” in the country.
All the best,
Division Chief, Military Affairs, Veterans and Disabled Services
Recreation and Community Services Department
City of Jacksonville
City Hall, 117 West Duval Street, Suite 175
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Office: 904-630-7087
Cell: 904-309-4056