NORFOLK, Va. — Naval Air Station Norfolk, the sprawling home port of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, is among its other characteristics a living monument to the political clout of the late U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis of DeKalb, the late House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jamie Whitten of Charleston, retired House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery and current U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Pascagoula. It’s also a shining testament to the fact that, given the opportunity, Mississippi workers can produce world-class products.
I spent a few days last week touring NAS Norfolk with a group of Mississippi businessmen in the Employers Support of the Guard and Reserves program (ESGR). For a group of Mississippians, it was difficult not to take pride in what we saw.
We toured ships including the Wasp Class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, built in Pascagoula at Ingalls Shipyard — a landing ship for assault operations that carries a crew of 1,108 and a detachment of 1,894 combat Marines along with 42 Sea Knight assault helicopters, five Harrier attack planes and six anti-submarine warfare helicopters. The Bataan uses the new $22 million amphibious Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft for transporting soldiers, weapons, vehicles and assault element cargo from the well deck of ships like the Bataan onto land. While conventional landing craft can only land on 15 percent of the world’s coastlines, the LCAC can land on 70 percent of the world’s coastlines carrying a 60-ton payload.
Despite the $22 million price tag, the Navy has 36 LCACs at NAS Norfolk, 30 at NAS San Diego and six forward-deployed in Japan. As the son of a D-Day vet, I could only shake my head in amazement at the loss of life that could have been avoided had my father’s generation of soldiers had these landing craft available to them on June 6, 1944.
Two young Mississippians, E5 Petty Officer Timothy Bourassam a 1993 graduate of North Pontotoc High School, and E4 Petty Officer Robert Walker, a Yazoo City High School graduate, spend their days on regular Navy duty at NAS Norfolk maintaining and repairing these best-in-the-world hovercrafts that cost $3,000-per-hour to operate.
Bourassa is thinking of making the Navy his career and was home last year to visit his ailing father. Walker said at this time of year, he misses the crawfish and the late summer afternoon parties in the Delta with his friends.
They are commanded by no-nonsense Navy Capt. Lee Hackney, a former executive officer on the Bataan — and she, according to Bourassa and Walker, is a great skipper.
We also toured the Perry Class guided missile frigate USS Nicholas, which protects shipping and serves the Navy in anti-submarine warfare and convoys. The Nicholas is in its third incarnation. The second was the great World War II, Korean War and Vietnam Conflict destroyer that earned a total of 30 battle stars over the course of those wars before decommissioning after Vietnam.
The “new” Nicholas, commissioned in 1984, is a guided missile frigate that is armed with MK-48 torpedoes manufactured in Forest by employees of the former Hughes Aircraft plant, now Raytheon. The ship’s captain, Commander T.D. Payne, said the Mississippi-built torpedoes “never miss.”
But the success story of the trip came in the form of E7 Chief Petty Officer Myron Evans, 34, of Hattiesburg. Evans, by his own description, was “raised in the bottoms” in Hattiesburg and worked in a shoe store for three years after graduating from Hattiesburg High in 1983. He joined the Navy after hearing a recruiting pitch 16 years ago.
“The Navy has kept every single promise they made to me,” said Evans. “It’s been a great experience.”
How great? The former shoe clerk is now a Navy CPO with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology. He is close to completing his Ph.D.. “The Navy has paid a significant portion of my educational costs so long as I kept my end of the bargain and made my grades,” said Evans. He and his wife, the former Jackie Williams of Hattiesburg, adopted a son while they were stationed in Hawaii.
“My goal is to finish my doctorate and return to Hattiesburg to open a psychology practice,” said Evans. I wouldn’t bet against him making that dream a reality when his Navy career is over.
From ship to ship, from command to command and from enlisted man to enlisted man, the message was the same — the regular branches of the U.S. armed forces have been downsized to the point that the Navy, Marines, Army and Air Force can no longer effectively function without the continued readiness of the Guard and Reserves.
One strong reason that Mississippi receives far more in federal spending from the U.S. government than we pay out in taxes is the legacy of supporting a strong national defense fostered by Stennis, Whitten, Montgomery and Lott.
America squandered her military superiority in the 1970s, and Ronald Reagan led us through an expensive rebuilding. Under the administration of President Bill Clinton, America’s military is again in decline in both numbers and strength.
It’s not a mistake we as a nation should again make — and one that Mississippi absolutely can’t afford.
