R. Lee Ermey's SOUND OFF Forum

[Batman47]

FOIA REFORM; Who or What Constitutes Media under the FOIA?
http://rleeermey.org/viewtopic.php?t=10036

I have retained an attorney, Scott A. Hodes whom has petitioned Ms. Doris Lama, Head, DON PA/FOIA Policy Branch, Chief of Naval Operations (DNS-36) 2000 Navy Pentagon, Washington, DC 20350-2000 and Special Access and FOIA Staff, National Archives and Records Administration, NWCTF-Room 6350, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740 under the FOIA to disclose on the internet information relating to US Aircraft Carrier Foreign Water Fleet Deployments, all classification, by earliest dates and time of arrival and departure from September 1945 to present and foreign ports visited.

The two requests can be seen here:

Download nararequest.pdf
http://thefoiablog.typepad.com/the_foia_blog/files/nararequest.pdf

Download navyrequest.pdf
http://thefoiablog.typepad.com/the_foia_blog/files/navyrequest.pdf

http://thefoiablog.typepad.com or http://www.infoprivacylaw.com/foia.htm

I am an honorably discharged Navy vet, and I've compiled a great deal of historical data relating to U. S. Aircraft Carriers and deployments of our nation's fleet of aircraft carriers from September 1945 to present, illustrated at
http://www.uscarrierhistory.com and in particular this chart: http://www.uscarrierhistory.com/charts/chart48.pdf

After four years of research comprising 16-books of the most accurate accounting of historical facts, narrative summaries, etc. of U. S. Aircraft Carrier history, I have been unable to acquire an accurate accounting of U. S. Aircraft Carrier Foreign Water Fleet Deployments from public records, to include present disclosed reports by the U. S. Navy presently available to the public.

As of November 4, 2006, I yet to here from my representatives or the US Navy’s final response:

The following are letters I received:

[Batman47]

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[Batman47]

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[Batman47]

Since I can always submit another FOIA Request I'm going to wait for the official US Navy response in hopes they will count there carrier deployments and list foreign port visits by carriers while on deployment.

Having spoken to one of Senator Gordon Smith’s representatives in the Portland Office several weeks ago, I was informed that you Senator Gordon Smith can do nothing more then to write a letter to Doris Lama and Special Access and FOIA Staff, National Archives and Records Administration inquiring as to whether they intend to reply to my request, and given the fact that my attorney will follow through on my request, I need no one follow up on my request.

I was hoping for Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Senator Gordon Smith’s support in honoring those who have served, by once and for all, making available information to the public that is not presently available, short the summary aircraft carrier reports the U. S. Navy list on their web site. USS John F. Kennedy’s historical record is possibly the most complete of all carriers with the exception of those carriers sunk in World War II, carriers decommissioned at the end of World War II and a hand few of other carriers like USS Coral Sea (CV-43) in which I spent 3 ½ years of my life when I was young.

Related Topics:

FOIA REFORM; Who or What Constitutes Media under the FOIA? http://community.fox6.com/forums/thread/891284.aspx

Letter to Alan P. Goldstein CIV CHINFO THREAD http://community.fox6.com/forums/thread/654650.aspx

Letter to Alan P. Goldstein CIV CHINFO WASHINGTON DC, CHINFO http://community.fox6.com/forums/post/654650.aspx

Letter to Armed Forces News Service in reference to Alan P. Goldstein CIV CHINFO WASHINGTON DC, CHINFO http://community.fox6.com/forums/post/664173.aspx

2nd Letter to CIV CHINFO in Response to FHTNC, Norfolk, Va. letter to Batman http://community.fox6.com/forums/post/669171.aspx

U.S. Aircraft Carriers Safest International Transit projected until years end http://community.fox6.com/forums/thread/683259.aspx

U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER AND THE CARRIER INDUSTRIAL BASE AS OF 2006 http://community.fox6.com/forums/thread/683253.aspx

U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER AND THE CARRIER INDUSTRIAL BASE AS OF YEARS END 2006 & 2007 http://rleeermey.org/viewtopic.php?t=9284

USS Kennedy Decommissionig And CVN-73 In Japan By 2008
http://rleeermey.org/viewtopic.php?t=9717

COMMISSIONED U. S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER STATUS AS OF 2006 http://www.uscarrierhistory.com/charts/chart11.pdf

[Batman47]

My second response from the US Navy illustrates the possibility that they may not want to count their Aircraft Carrier Deployments from September 1945 to present.

Refereeing me to well know links on the web is nothing less then a slap in the face since they are in complete, simply amazing.

I have instructed my attorney to force the US Navy IAW the FOIA to respond with either a denial or submission of my request.

A denial means administrative review through appeal and then court if necessary.

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[Batman47]

Historical Data on U.S. Aircraft Carriers

Order of Battle for Carriers and Carrier Based Squadrons in the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) and Vietnam (1964-1975)

Order of Battle for Carriers and Carrier-based Squadrons during the Korean War

Order of Battle for Carriers and Carrier-based Squadrons during the Korean War (download as .pdf file)

Carrier Designations and Names

Attack carriers: CV, CVA, CVB, CVL, CVAN and CVN
Escort carriers: AVG, ACV and CVE
Carrier Deployments, 1991-2005

Evolution of Aircraft Carriers (out-of-print monograph downloadable as .pdf files)

Order of Battle for Carriers and Carrier-based Squadrons during the Gulf War

Order of Battle for Carriers during the Gulf War (download as .pdf file)

Aircraft Carrier Bibliography

Carrier Deployments by Year (1946 to 1990) (92 kb file)(download as a .pdf file)
http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-vol1/Appendx3.pdf

Carrier Port Visits during Deployments to Vietnam, 1964-1975

Certain files now are being saved and made available to you in Adobe's "Portable Document Format" (.pdf) which preserves formatting and greatly compresses their size for quicker downloading. You will need the Acrobat Reader, downloadable free from Adobe, to view them.
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org4-6.htm

Naval Aviation Publications

United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995 (Chronology Section)

United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995 (Appendices)

Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons, Volume 1, The History of VA, VAH, VAK, VAL, VAP and VFA Squadrons

Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons, Volume 2, The History of VP, VPB, VP(HL) and VP(AM) Squadrons

Naval Aviation in World War I

U.S. Naval Aviation in the Pacific (requires Adobe Acrobat)

The First Flight Across the Atlantic

Evolution of Aircraft Carriers

Naval Aviation Statistics - World War II (requires Adobe Acrobat)

A History of U.S. Naval Aviation (1911-1925) (requires Adobe Acrobat)

Space the the United States Navy

Naval Aviation Training, Volume 1 of a Commemorative Collection

Pistons to Jets, Volume 2 of a Commemorative Collection

U.S. Naval Air Reserve, Volume 3 of a Commemorative Collection

Kite Balloons to Airships...the Navy's Lither-than-Air Experience, Volume 4 of a
Commemorative Collection

U.S. Marine Corps Aviation, Volume 5 of a Commemorative Collection

A History of Naval Aviation up to the late 1970s published in the Naval Aviation News
magazine in 17 parts during the years 1977 and 1978. A History of Sea-Air Aviation, Wings Over the Ocean by John M. Lindley.

Naval Aviation 1911-1986 A Pictorial Study

A Collection of articles on Naval Aviation in World War II
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org4-23.htm

[Batman47]

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[Batman47]

Of significant note,

While the NARA for Historical Information does not want to compile or research aircraft carrier foreign ports visited, the Naval Historical Center made available Carrier Port Visits during Deployments to Vietnam, 1964-1975 (Includes CV CVA CVA(N) & CVS - NO LPH) in 2003.
http://www.history.navy.mil/a-record/vietnam/car-dpv.pdf

I knew of this report and used it which made me believe a complete list should be provided publicly.

[Batman47]

Simply amazing. The U. S. Navy doesn’t know how many times its aircraft carriers visited foreign countries from September 1945 to Present.

I think that makes my report the only accurate account. The future will no doubt be bright. I’m closer to my goal and how sweat it will be to one day know the facts.





or http://www.uscarrierhistory.com under:

FOIA Request to the US Navy & NARA Honoring those who have served onboard US
Aircraft Carriers

Current letter from the Naval Historical Center denying my FOIA Request on behalf of those who have served onboard U. S. Aircraft Carriers requesting the U. S. Navy to disclose on the internet information relating to US Aircraft Carrier Foreign Water Fleet Deployments, all classification, by earliest dates and time of arrival and departure from September 1945 to present and foreign ports visited.

[Batman47]

December 13, 2006
Judge Advocate General
General Litigation Division (Code 14)
1322 Patterson Avenue SE
Suite 3000
Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5066

FOIA Appeal - Request 200700143

Dear Judge Advocate General:
This is an appeal of my request on behalf of my client, Bruce Henion, to the Department of the Navy’s Naval Historical Center. The Naval Historical Center assigned this request number 200700143.

By letter dated September 26, 2006, I submitted a FOIA request, on behalf of my client Bruce Henion for a copy of all U.S. Naval Aircraft Carrier Foreign Water Fleet Deployments, all classifications, by earliest dates and time of arrival and departure from September 1945 to present and all foreign ports visited by each deployment.

By letter dated December 6, 2006, the Naval Historical Center denied this request. The Naval Historical Center stated that it “has not compiled data that would capture the information you are seeking. Accordingly, we are not able to provide information regarding all carrier group deployments since 1946.”

My client appeals this response. Initially, please note that Mr. Henion is a disabled veteran of the United States Navy. He has assembled a chart of U.S. Naval Aircraft Carrier Foreign Water Fleet Deployments, a copy of which is located on the internet at http://www.uscarrierhistory.com/charts/chart48.pdf. However, much of the fleet information is missing or may not be entirely accurate on Mr. Henion’s chart. Thus, Mr. Henion made his request in order to provide as accurate history of U.S. Naval Aircraft Carrier Fleet Deployments as possible.

We believe this search was inadequate. The Naval Historical Center states that it received the request on December 6, 2006. It then wrote its letter denying the request. It is evident that the Naval Historical Center did not do any meaningful query of its records to see if it had any records that may be responsive to my client’s request.

Furthermore, as the Naval Historical Center stores a great deal of archival records concerning the U.S. Navy, it is surprising that it doesn’t have any records that would be, at the very least, partially responsive to my client’s request. Nor did the denial letter provide any information that would allow my client to make his request more specific to match the type of records the Navy Historical Center does have. While the Navy Historical Center may have no duty to answer questions in response to a FOIA request, they can’t just state they have no records in response to a FOIA request because they believe their records aren’t compiled in a way that they believe is not responsive to the request. In other words, an agency can’t just construe a request so narrowly that they are able to say we have no responsive records, which is what I believe has been done in this case.

Thus, I ask that you have the Naval Historical Center conduct an adequate search for records responsive to my request. Further, if no responsive records are then located, I ask that we be provided information concerning the requested deployments that the Naval Historical Center does have (outside what is on its website) so that my client can resubmit a request consistent with Naval Historical Center records.

If you have any further questions concerning this request, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.


Sincerely,
Scott A. Hodes

[Batman47]

FOIA Appeal - Request 200700143

Judge Advocate General response, paving the way so that U. S. Aircraft Carrier deployments can be counted can be found in pdf format at:

FOIA Request to the US Navy & NARA Honoring those who have served onboard US
Aircraft Carriers http://www.uscarrierhistory.com

[Batman47]

My brothers and sisters, fellow veterans and active duty service members, the accomplishment of a life time is about to be fullfilled.

While most Americans care little for historical excellence and even less are inspired to take the time to remember the sacrifices so many un forgotten patriots have made, we here at Mail Call and so few bloges and an inspiring number of communities chatting on forums are laying down history and honoring those that have served in our Armed Forces.

The news reports selected well deserved patriots such as Retired Maj. Bruce Crandall Vietnam War, Army helicopter pilot of Manchester of most recent.
http://rleeermey.org/viewtopic.php?p=151273

Service members who have served on board U. S. Carriers will one day be able to count there deployments by FWFD.

Maybe one day a more comprehensive deployment summary of all deployments will be made available, totally dependant on whether one day someone is willing to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars, a million dollars most likely, i.e. fifty cents for one sheet of paper (daily ship deck logs) x 2 a day.

The following represent my date/time/port call verification U. S. Aircraft Carrier deployments necessary to be 100 percent accurate in order to establish FWFD's.

Do you think the fee should be waived in order to clarify these historical dates, etc.?

Do I own history?

Have I not shared publicly full disclosure of U. S. Aircraft Carrier History?

Publication of my books will be postponed and when there published will be sought after by libraries as my audience among Americans is very limited, yet a new method of publication on line for authors is under development and once launched will allow authors world wide to distribute there work of authorship.

While I have freely made available my work of authorship to the public, 70 percent has not been disclosed.

Petition:

On behalf of those who have served onboard U. S. Aircraft Carriers I would like the U. S. Navy to disclose on the internet information relating to US Aircraft Carrier Foreign Water Fleet Deployments, all classification, by earliest dates and time of arrival and departure from September 1945 to present and foreign ports visited.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/547160195

I am an honorably discharged Navy vet, and I've compiled a great deal of historical data relating to U. S. Aircraft Carriers and deployments of our nation's fleet of aircraft carriers from September 1945 to present, illustrated at http://www.uscarrierhistory.com and in particular this chart: http://www.uscarrierhistory.com/charts/chart48.pdf

CORAL SEA SHIP'S PERSONNEL PHOTO http://www.uscarrierhistory.com/charts/chart52.pdf

[Batman47]

Aircraft Carrier Deployments Dates Verification Report

Date of departure verification required.

“USS Boxer (CV-21) with CVAG-19 embarked departed San Francisco California ____? September 1945 for Guam as flagship of TF 77 in the Western Pacific, on her first Westpac traveling to Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines and China” (Ref. 1-Boxer 8, 29 & 72).

Date of arrival verification required.

“On 10 September 1946, USS Boxer (CV-21) with CVAG-19 embarked arrived San Francisco California, ending her first Westpac, stopping at Guam as flagship of TF 77 in the Western Pacific from September 1945 to 23 August 1946, visiting Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines and China” (Ref. 1-Boxer 8, 29 & 72).

“USS Boxer (CV-21) returned to San Francisco 10 September 1946 and operated off the west coast engaged in normal peacetime duty with CVAG-19 embarked during 1946” (Ref. 1-Boxer & 72).

Date of departure verification required.

“USS Philippine Sea (CV-47) with Air Group 20 embarked departed Quonset Point, R.I. ____? September 1946, on her Shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea operating with the United States Atlantic Command (Atlantic Fleet) under the direction of the 8th Fleet” (Ref. 1-Philippine Sea & 72).

“USS Leyte (CV-32) with CVG-18 embarked departed Norfolk, Va., 16 September 1946, on her southern Atlantic and Caribbean Sea deployment, joining up with Wisconsin (BB-64) on a good will cruise down the western seaboard of South America” (Ref. 1- Leyte and 72).

CV-47 and CV-32 may have departed the same day, therefore, time of departure may be necessary.

Date of departure verification required

“USS Philippine Sea (CV-47) departed Boston, Mass. ____? January 1947, on her South Pacific deployment in the Antarctic, via either the South Atlantic or Caribbean Sea (Panama Canal) operating with the United States Atlantic Command (Atlantic Fleet) under the direction of the 8th Fleet, she will conduct Operation Highjump, the Navy's Antarctic Expedition operating with the Pacific Fleet (Ref. 1-Philippine Sea & 72).

Time of departure verification required.

“USS Shangri-la (CV-38) with CVAG-5 embarked departed Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington __? March 1947, on her first “Westpac” deployment operating with the Pacific Fleet and tour of duty with 7th Fleet” (Ref. 1-Shangri-la & 72).

Time of departure verification required.

“USS Antietam (CV-36) with CVAG-15 embarked departed San Francisco Calif. 31 March 1947, on her second “Westpac” deployment operating with the Pacific Fleet and tour of duty with the 7th Fleet in the Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea” (Ref. 1-Antietam & 72).

Time of departure verification required.

“USS Tarawa (CV-40) with CVG-1 embarked departed San Diego, California 1 October 1948, on her first World Cruise operating with the Pacific Fleet and transfer to Norfolk, Va., her first Yellow Sea, South China Sea, Indian Ocean via straits of Malacca and Persian Gulf voyage operating with the 7th Fleet, her first Mediterranean Sea voyage operating with the 6th Fleet via the Red Sea on her first Suez Canal transit where she will travel through the North Atlantic reuniting with her former home port operating with the United States Atlantic Command (Atlantic Fleet) under the direction of the 8th Fleet” (Ref. 1-Tarawa & 72).

Time of departure verification required.

“USS Princeton (CV-37) with (CVG-13) embarked departed San Diego, Ca. 1 October 1948, on her second “Westpac” deployment operating with the Pacific Fleet” (Ref. 1-Princeton & 72).

Time of departure verification required.

“USS Midway (CVB-41) with CVBG-17 embarked departed Norfolk, Va., 4 January 1949, on her second Mediterranean Sea deployment operating with the 6 th Fleet” (Ref. 1- Midway and 72).

Time of departure verification required.

“USS Philippine Sea (CV-47) with Air Group 7 (CVG-7) embarked departed her home port 4 January 1949, on her third Northern Atlantic voyage since she explored the lower rim of the Arctic Circle in a cold weather operation designed to test planes, ships, and equipment in November 1948 operating with the United States Atlantic Command (Atlantic Fleet) under the direction of the 8th Fleet and second Mediterranean Sea deployment operating with the 6th Fleet” (Ref. 1-Philippine Sea & 72).