Guest Speaker - Major General James F. Amos, USMC

by Mel Locke, GPS PAO

In honor of the 228th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, the Association of Naval Aviation, Grampaw Pettibone Squadron, organized a belated celebration.
LtCol Joe Ruthenbury, USMC (Ret.) presented the color guard from Orange High School,
JROTC. A brass quintet played the National Anthem and the Marine Hymn. After an opening prayer by Commanding Officer Bud Kretsinger, Col. Marv Garrison, USMC (Ret) led the pledge of allegiance. Guests of honor were Maj Gen James F. Amos, USMC, Commanding General of the 3D Marine Air Wing, Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar, California, and his wife Bonnie.

General Amos presented a program on Operation Iraqi Freedom. He indicated he was a fanatic on courage, heart, traditions, toughness, and not letting his country down. In answering his own question, "What did Marines fear most in Iraq?" he stated it was the fear of letting a fellow Marine down.

On January 17, 2003, the Marine Expeditionary Forces arrived in Southern Kuwait. One
hundred and six Navy vessels transported personnel, armament, aircraft, motorized vehicles, tanks, supplies, and fuel. They offloaded 49 million rounds of ammo, 60,000 U.S. Marines, 408 aircraft, and 87 vehicles and tanks. By 28 February 03, two 6000 foot dirt runways, 150 feet wide, were constructed with a concrete ramp 1300 feet by 1300 feet.

The Iraqi War started 18 March 03. In 28.5 days the Marine Expeditionary Forces moved 500 miles inland to Baghdad. In the action three Iraqi airports were seized. Highways were used as landing strips for C-130s carrying 5000 gallons of fuel.
Three carriers were located in the Mediterranean Sea and two carriers were located in the Persian Gulf. Two hundred and eighty AV8B Harriers and F18 Hornets flew missions
sometimes lasting 12 to 13hours. Total flight time was 25,600 hours.
After a question and answer session a video was shown which featured the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General M.W. Hagee. He indicated Marines are known for excellence in war fighting because of their speed, flexibility, and versatility. Marines are proud of their sustainable combat power, bold attacks, and being fully deployed.

During the cake cutting ceremony, Gen Amos used his Mameluke sword to cut the traditional cake. After taking the first piece, he then gave pieces to Col Chris Christensen, USMCR (Ret.), the oldest Marine present and Sgt Jude Gronethal, the youngest Marine present, who is the General's driver. Bonnie Amos and Betty Yount cut and served the remaining members and guests.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USMC!

The year is drawing to a close (too fast, it seems) and my time as your OPS-O is drawing to an end, too. I trust all of you have had a Thanksgiving in which we all reflect just how much we in this country have to be thankful for.

Our guest for December will be RADM. Steven R. Briggs, USN(RET), Program Manager for the F-35, and Air Combat Systems projects at Northrop/Grumman. Northrop/Grumman is one of the foremost companies developing the Unmanned Aerial Assault Vehicles for the military.

Steve is a UCLA grad and a former A-7 driver, having finished a distinguished 34 year Navy career as a Rear Admiral (Upper Half). Our January program will feature none other than CAPT Larry "Hoss" Pearson, USN(Ret), former Boss of the Blue Angels and a 26 year Navy veteran. "Hoss" currently heads up a company called ATSI, which, among other things provides Air Combat Maneuvers and flight training to Air Forces throughout the world, including our Armed Forces. As some of you may know, most, if not all of our active duty "Aggressor" Squadrons have been dis-established as "cost-cutting" measures by DOD. Hence, along came "Hoss" and ATSI! Should be a great
program.

That's all for now, I'd wish you all a Merry Christmas, but I don't want to rush it….sooo…Be Safe!

Danny

So, this is it! My last regularly scheduled column. It's been an interesting five and a half years, working with such people as Dick Martin, who taught me so much about contacting people as the Ops-O, following him as his XO and the incumbent jobs that he assigned to me, and then as your skipper over the last half of this year. There are others I'd like to thank; Bob Olds and Dave Newbro, who showed me how to talk to and write to Flag Officers; Jim Menees, your next CO, who took over the reins without warning when I was laid up and kept the ship afloat ; Danny Musselman, who had a mid-year private sector job change that required his working upwards of 14 hour days and still managed to line up speakers and put together several trips out to Fort Irwin. Mel Locke became a "double ace" with ANA, as he signed up over ten new members this year and still wrote up interesting "after action" reports on previous speakers. Hal McDonnel and Don Palmer, if it weren't for these two, the Op-Plan would never get published and lunch reservation could not and would not be made. Others include Tim Brown, Ray LeCompte, Doc
Helton, Fran Pieri, Cliff Nord, Chuck Howe, Bud Yount, Andy Andresen, Larry Lammers, the "proof readers', the "fold, spindle and mutilate" people who get out the Op-Plan each month; the list is nearly endless. I would also like the thank my wife Chris for all the prayers she wrote for me to offer at our luncheons. It takes all these folks, and more, to make this group, and squadron, THE BEST!

Last months speaker, MajGen. James Amos, CG, 3D MAW, did a magnificent job of presenting the United States Marine Corps in their best possible light. I'm sure Mel Locke will cover his presentation much better than I. It was a great pleasure to sit next to him and talk with him about Miramar, (my old station), the future of the military, and the Marines. Rather eye opening, I might add. I can tell you he's a man that puts you immediately at ease with his friendliness! The Marine Corps Birthday party. We had 170 in attendance! I have received many phone calls of congratulations regarding the celebration. I will tell you that wasn't my planning that did that. LCol. Joe Ruthenberg, USMC (Ret) and his cadet Marines from Orange High School, (weren't they outstanding?), the Commandant's video speech, the birthday cakes, the cake cutting ceremony, the Band, all that was done by your Ops-O, Danny Musselman. He made all the contacts, including Headquarters Marine Corps, to make sure everything was done per Marine Corps protocol. The corsage Mrs. Bonnie Amos was wearing was the thought of Mel Locke. When El Toro closed, the wife and I, along with many others, attended the impressive closing
ceremonies. I wrote a column then, as Ops-O, stating "Marines do it right!" That still holds true.

What a magnificent bunch of warriors! And it was good to see you there, Don.
This months luncheon will be the last that I preside over. We will induct four new members to the Fellowship for outstanding service to the Grampaw Pettibone Squadron. We will also salute the Sailor of the Quarter and Sailor of the Year from the Naval Weapons Station, Seal Beach. In passing, would like to make some observations. I have noticed an increase in volume in table conversations during the announcements. I have been approached by numerous members, who sit in the rear of the room, that they cannot hear what is going on from the podium during these periods. We open the doors early enough to allow friendly conversations to take place. I would suggest we try to "hold it down" during announcements. Some people are interested! Another is, during guest introductions, introduce your guest by name, service and dates, but refrain from passing the mike so the guest is obligated to recount his service record. This takes time from the Guest Speaker and from the question and answer period. And speaking of Q & A
periods, (1) Don't make your questions long while the Guest Speaker stands, waiting, and (2) don't put him "on the spot" by asking questions that are politically "unanswerable". These are just some observations and suggestions from where I stood.
It has been my honor to serve with such a great staff while in this position. They are the silent ones who deserve all the credit. All quarterbacks will tell you, you're only as good as the line in front of you. I had a great line in front of me!