Things I Should Have Updated Earlier

I assume that most of my visitors also visit The Sub Report to keep up-to-date with the latest submarine news, so I sometimes find myself not updating my earlier blog posts when the issue I was screeching about gets resolved or becomes OBE. But, since some of you might not head over there on a daily basis, I figure I should make some stories current.

** Last Wednesday, I wrote about how a California judge had issued an injunction against the use of sonar during RIMPAC. Later last week, the Navy reached an agreement with the National Resources Defense Council to do a lot of things they were probably planning on doing anyway, so the surface ships can start ensonifying the water looking for subs, which will be plodding along right where they're supposed to be so the surface ships can find them.

** The first court-martial of a Sailor accused in the USS Columbus hazing incidents was found guilty (of 3 of 7 counts, from what I can tell) and busted to ET2, along with losing some pay and liberty. The Kitsap Sun's Military Life blog seems to be the best source for information on this story. The thing that jumped out at me was that the jury for the court martial didn't have any submariners on it; I guess Navy Region Northwest must be the convening authority -- which, I found out after a little research, they are. From the article on the court martial in The Kitsap Sun (really annoying registration required) the public learns way too much about the culture on Columbus that led to the charges:

Though the panel did not find Garza guilty of setting the jacket alight, members did find him guilty of hitting Cool in the groin. Prosecutors had argued that on one occasion, Garza punched Cool so hard as he was walking by that Cool fell to the ground.
A medical corpsman assigned to the Columbus had testified that Cool came to him in February complaining of groin pain and impotence, though no bruising or swelling was visible.
On cross-examination, Chief Petty Officer Michael Sexton said Cool eventually mentioned participating in ball-tapping — roughhousing that involved sailors hitting one another in the groin.
"He did say: ‘Me and my shipmates play this ball-tapping game,’" Sexton testified.
Garza’s defense attorney, Lt. Ben Robertson, argued in his final statement that Cool was a willing participant in ball-tapping and other horseplay in a division that was like "a big locker room."

I personally spent way too much time in the shipyard, but I never heard of divisions playing roshambo to pass the time. As demonstrated by everything getting this far, it looks like there was something way out of the ordinary going on there.

** I'm eventually going to post my trip report for my visit to Bangor, as soon as I get motivated enough to download the pictures from my camera.