Navy flight training accident

Should NOT have been posted on any social media until an official release.
If you feel that strongly, I guess you should contact RADM Bill Kelly, Superintendent, since he officially notified the "CGA Community". I haven't posted any information other than my interaction with my DS.
 
I really don’t think it’s the time or place to discuss the rights or wrongs of communication that has been initiated by a Coast Guard Officer. We don’t know what permissions were or were not given prior to any communications.

To return to the real point of this post post. Two people who decided to serve their country have unfortunately passed away. This one hit a little close to home as my own DS wants to become a Coast Guard pilot. You never know when your time may be up and you need to live your best life. My thoughts and prayers are with the casualties family and friends and I hope that they get comfort from the fact that their loved ones were doing something they obviously loved.
 
If you feel that strongly, I guess you should contact RADM Bill Kelly, Superintendent, since he officially notified the "CGA Community". I haven't posted any information other than my interaction with my DS.
I’m quite familiar with the “different rules” for flag officers. Some years ago when I was in special operations I had a real world mission canceled at the last minute for some reason. A week later I opened a magazines and found out why. There was an interview with a SEAL 1 star in which he discussed the mission and blew OPSEC. As an Army O-3 had I done this I would have been out of SPECOPS with a bad fitness report the same day. He probably got a book deal.
It doesn’t make it right.
 
I really don’t think it’s the time or place to discuss the rights or wrongs of communication that has been initiated by a Coast Guard Officer. We don’t know what permissions were or were not given prior to any communications.

To return to the real point of this post post. Two people who decided to serve their country have unfortunately passed away. This one hit a little close to home as my own DS wants to become a Coast Guard pilot. You never know when your time may be up and you need to live your best life. My thoughts and prayers are with the casualties family and friends and I hope that they get comfort from the fact that their loved ones were doing something they obviously loved.
Information was posted on a social media site before an official DOD release... so yes. It does, unfortunately, become a topic.
 
While this is small comfort to anyone actively grieving a loss, my DH told me long ago that he knew the risks every time he stepped into the cockpit. He went on to say if anything were to ever happen to him in a military aviation-related accident or incident, he was doing what he loved to do, and he was at peace with death coming to him in that manner. And then we put it out of our minds, and before either one of us deployed or left on a trip or went off to fly, we always made sure there was a loving good-bye. We agreed if either one of us had to deal with a sudden loss in that manner, we trusted the other to be strong enough to get through it. We could not take up precious time in the present to worry about the risks of military life.

I loved flying (especially when I didn't have to pay for fuel or maintenance), and I'm right in step with how your DH feels about it, @Capt MJ.
 
I'm exactly like CaptMJ's DH. I told my parents...they'd known since I was a small child that flying was in my blood, and it would be my life. I even told my mom one time "Hey, if something happens...then you'll know I finally found something I couldn't do in a jet! And that's okay because I've loved every minute of it!"

I married an AF pilot, and worried about her...I've lost good friends in flying accidents, I almost lost me once...unfortunately it happens. There's a great quote you see about aviation; it acknowledges the risk taken daily by our sea-borne brethren: "Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. but to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect."

I grieve for the families...I acknowledge my fellow aviators lost with a "tradition" from USAFA...when we lose a classmate...we remember the third verse of the Air Force Song...there's a line of memorial in it...it begins "Here's a toast, to the host, of those who love the vastness of the sky..."

Tonight I raise my glass...in their memory, and simply say: "A Toast!"

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
There was recently a fire aboard the USCGC Waesche on 7th fleet ops. The CG released a statement to the CG community regarding the fire. They didn't need to wait for a statement from the DOD.
 

Page 2-19.
CG NOK notification and public release of names. Very similar to DOD individual Service policy and procedures. 24-hour delay after NOK notification.

All the armed services generally follow the same procedure in death or missing cases, in terms of NOK notification. It’s important to note that exceptions can be granted to the 24 hour delay after NOK notification in release of names. In this case, I am sure it was well-coordinated with the chains of command and counterpart Navy and CG personnel command branches. It may well have been the official NOK notification was very quickly accomplished, the cat was out of the bag so to speak, and a coordinated decision was made to release the name before the mandated 24 hour window.

Death case protocols differ from non-death case incidents due to the procedures relating to NOK notifications and public release of names.

It has long been the practice of the armed services to send a Casualty Assistance Officer and a chaplain in person to notify the next of kin, and in subsequent visits, coordinate all the necessary details. “Radio silence” was imposed on everyone who knew, so that the news could be respectfully and formally conveyed to the family in person. Before social media, notifications were made between 6 AM and I think 10 PM. I, and I suspect other veterans on this board, have done their share of sitting in a govt sedan with a chaplain at oh-dark-thirty, reviewing the case notes, checking the required protocol and rehearsing the formal notification statement, before going with a heavy heart in a dress uniform to ring a doorbell at 0600.

With the advent of social media and “TMZ mode,” there has been a rash of heart-breaking situations where “helpful” people with knowledge of a death, perhaps fed to them by someone at the scene or at the command, go right to social media to post “thoughts and prayers” messages of condolence to the bereaved - who had no idea they were bereaved until they saw it on a screen from someone they barely knew. I saw it happen at USNA some years ago when a mid told parents, parents went to class FB page, and the deceased mid’s parents got the news that way. Commands have cracked down in recent years, giving direct orders to military members to not post/call/email specific casualty information.

It’s a matter of pride and professionalism that casualty assistance procedures are accomplished with care and respect for the NOK. If a military member is assigned as a Casualty Assistance Officer, he or she drops everything else, and that is their sole duty, to support the NOK and ensure everything is done properly.

I went into detail to describe this for family members unfamiliar with how this works. I served as a Casualty Assistance Officer several times, and oversaw the command program as a collateral duty at other times. If the casualty is in Pensacola, the command assigns someone there, and an entire system kicks into gear for assigning a CAO and chaplain at the NOK residence, no matter where they are. Reserve officers and chaplains play a key role in this, especially if no military bases for that service are nearby.

Lastly, if you haven’t watched the movie “Taking Chance,” I recommend it. Tissues required. It is a well-done story of how a deceased military member is handled and accompanied every step of the way.

I am always saddened when members of the military family are killed in the line of duty. There is a compulsion to ensure “everything is done right,” as a matter of duty and respect.
 
In this case, I am sure it was well-coordinated with the chains of command and counterpart Navy and CG personnel command branches.
Agreed - I would like to think that RADM Kelly's statement to the USCGA family was coordinated properly. It should not be assumed that he acted improperly.
 
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I'm exactly like CaptMJ's DH. I told my parents...they'd known since I was a small child that flying was in my blood, and it would be my life. I even told my mom one time "Hey, if something happens...then you'll know I finally found something I couldn't do in a jet! And that's okay because I've loved every minute of it!"

I married an AF pilot, and worried about her...I've lost good friends in flying accidents, I almost lost me once...unfortunately it happens. There's a great quote you see about aviation; it acknowledges the risk taken daily by our sea-borne brethren: "Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. but to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect."

I grieve for the families...I acknowledge my fellow aviators lost with a "tradition" from USAFA...when we lose a classmate...we remember the third verse of the Air Force Song...there's a line of memorial in it...it begins "Here's a toast, to the host, of those who love the vastness of the sky..."

Tonight I raise my glass...in their memory, and simply say: "A Toast!"

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
Hear, Hear to @flieger83

A verse from the Navy Hymn:

Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky,
Be with them always in the air,
In dark'ning storms or sunlight fair

Another Toast to all that serve and have served.
 
It was released by the Coast Guard. Ensign Morgan Garrett, CGA Class of 2019. Very sad for her, her family, her friends and her classmates.
 
Hear, Hear to @flieger83

A verse from the Navy Hymn:

Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky,
Be with them always in the air,
In dark'ning storms or sunlight fair

Another Toast to all that serve and have served.
A bit more of the Coast Guard verse....


Eternal Father, Lord of Hosts

Watch o'er the ones who guard our coasts

Protect them from the raging seas

And give them light and life and peace.

Grant them from thy great throne above

The shield and shelter of thy love.​
 
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