September always makes me take stock. Kids go back to school. The summer is over. My birthday is this month, so I have to grapple with the impact of another trip around the sun. The September Proceedings is the naval aviation-focused issue, timed to coincide with the annual Tailhook Association symposium in Reno, Nevada.
I attended Tailhook 2017 and reconnected with former squadron- and ship mates. As a naval intelligence officer, almost all my sea duty was spent on board aircraft carriers—as the air intelligence officer with Strike Fighter Squadron 87, as an air wing intelligence officer, and later as a strike group N2. I even spent a few months on carriers during my tour with a SEAL Team in the early 1990s as the SEALs developed tactics to integrate with carrier strike groups. Those early tours, especially the tour with VFA-87, had a profound impact on me. In that one squadron I worked for: Commander “Timbo” Keating, Lieutenant Commanders “Shortney” Gortney, “Brick” Nelson, Roger Welch, “Micro” Buesser, and “Sponge” Walsh; Lieutenants “Roto” Reuter, and “Sterno” Stearney; among others. Captain Joseph Prueher was our CAG. Several of those aviators rose to be four-star admirals. Sterno is now Commander, U.S. Fifth Fleet. In the late 1980s, I just thought they were a bunch of great guys I would follow to hell and back.
A constant theme in Proceedings for nearly 100 years has been the role(s) and importance of aircraft carriers to the fleet. Those energized by this debate will enjoy Captain “Barney” Rubel’s article this month— “Use Carriers Differently in a High-End Fight.” Barney points out the Navy’s growing reliance on Tomahawk land-attack missiles in strike warfare, especially against heavily defended targets. The rise of sophisticated adversary antiair and antisurface weapons will push carriers out of the strike warfare mission and force them back into greater antisubmarine, antiair, and antisurface roles. Two things are certain in the perennial carrier debate—the Navy will have carriers for decades to come, and as long as it does, the argument about their centrality to the fleet will continue.
Aviators and non-aviators will enjoy Barrett Tillman’s article “The Tondern Raid: Strike Fighter Centennial” on pp. 48–52. Royal Navy Sopwith Camels (first generation strike fighters) launched from the HMS Furious on 19 July 1918 for the first strike-warfare mission in the history of carrier aviation.
There are many great articles in this issue, but one of my favorites is Marine Corporal Nicolas Swain’s essay “To Retain Innovative Marines, Promote on Merit.” It took 3rd prize in our 2018 Enlisted Essay Contest and pulls no punches in answering a question the Marine Corps Commandant has been asking. “Why can’t we retain more innovative Marines?” Taking stock this September, Corporal Swain reminds me of two traits the pilots in VFA-87 exemplified to Ensign Hamblet 30 years ago: be articulate and be passionate.
Bill Hamblet
Captain, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Life Member since 1993