Comment

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on November 3, 2009 at 2:53pm

Kathleen, Matt's email said "off the coast of England". I hope I hear from him today. I'm sure they'll get underway as soon as the weather settles down. Matt didn't get a chance to see England but they were in Scotland, Poland, and some other countries nearby.

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on November 3, 2009 at 1:29am

IA is volunteer. Here's an article from 2003 that really does a good job describing IA and how long it's been around. Last I heard the Navy has 14,000 Sailors IA.
There is not an excess of Sailors, with 2 wars at the same time the Army & Marines forces were being strained and that's how the program started.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=36208

Comment by KatK on November 3, 2009 at 12:28am

Just to get this straight-IA is volunteer and not mandatory? Also, is this a new program or something that the Navy has just started pushing and why?? Do they have that many sailors that they need to loan them to other services?

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on November 2, 2009 at 11:24pm

Tidbit from NavyTimes:

$2.25 MILLION

Cost to fill an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer’s 450,000-gallon fuel tanks using an algae-diesel biofuel that costs $5 per gallon.

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on November 2, 2009 at 10:39pm

I think a lot of our sailors will be going IA in the near future. My son wouldn't not have volunteered for IA, like he said, he was pressured. There are a lot of Sailors who go very willingly.

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on November 2, 2009 at 9:40pm

Mabel: IA stands for Individual Augmentee. A Sailor is taken off his command (like a ship) and sent to a war zone and embedded with the Army or Marines. Like taking a Sailor and making him a combat soldier. I think our Sailors go for a year. Not sure yet. I did find out they can go to Afghan, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. Now I wouldn't complain if my son was sent to Kuwait or Bahrain. Anyway, here's a the official Navy website for IA:

www.ia.navy.mil/

I've read a lot over the last months that IA may be one of 3 options for our Sailors to acheive promotion. hmmm

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on November 2, 2009 at 8:24pm

Is the Navy trying to drive me crazy??? Another email from Sailor son, they are stuck off the coast of England because of bad weather, Sailor is concerned about returning to Norfolk in time to fly home AND his other news - he was 'pressured' into signing up to go IA. 50 more gray hairs, instantly.

Comment by KatK on November 2, 2009 at 8:12pm

That's great news for you Melissa!

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on November 2, 2009 at 1:09pm

Hi All! Received an email from my son last night (He's on the Ramage, the ship that accidently fired 3 rounds into a Poland port last Wednesday) and he wanted to know who's all coming over for Thanksgiving! He wanted to know if he should invite one of his best friends that lives close by. It sounds like his leave will not be affected by the Poland incident. What a relief!

Comment by Melissa (Tucson) on October 31, 2009 at 9:18pm

Destroyer Accidently Fires on Polish Port

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/10/navy_ramage_shooting_102809w/

This is my son's ship, the Ramage. Hope he still gets to come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

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