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Squids.

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F1c is Fireman First Class. It is a designation no longer used in the US Navy. In the US Navy, enlisted personnel who have not yet made rate (promoted to Petty Officer 3rd Class), are designated as seaman (white hash stripes), airman (green hash stripes), or fireman (red hash stripes) depending on what rate they are 'striking' for. Years ago, a sailor could be Fireman 1st Class (F1c), Fireman 2nd Class (F2c), or Fireman 3rd Class (F3c). Today, the ranks are Fireman (FN; pay grade E-3), Fireman Apprentice (FA; pay grade E-2), and Fireman Recruit (FR; pay grade E-1), respectively.

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No, not since 1994, when we tested the watch out and found that it flooded after a couple weeks of diving as shallow as 25 feet. The watch is too bright for tactical operations, and is analog, where most of our guys where a digital watch because of its more precise timing. The most common issued watches are Suunto and G-Shock, but it is largely up to personal preference.

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BU Academy is currently seeking to fill between 40 and 45 spots in its ninth grade class. On average, the school receives about 200 complete applications for those spots. It is well known, though the school in some people's experience does not invest significant time in educating families, that the school serves a niche market of some exceptionally academically motivated students and some moderately gifted ones as well as some who are above-average academically; though most tend to be intellectually curious to some degree. For that reason, most students who stick through the application process are the BUA "type", with students looking for a more traditional setting withdrawing their application, so a standard acceptance percentage does not accurately portray the situation. For a specific acceptance rate, which does exist, contact the school directly and ask them to provide this specific information. They do have the exact figures.

You can find other helpful information on BUA's website www.buacademy.org. It also has a link to their Strategic Plan, which explains admission goals and plans for growth in the future. Additionally, you can find more answers by talking with parents who are currently enrolled, those who left the school and those who have graduated. Speak to parents in your community who have experience with private schools other than, but including, BUA. A school's web site, discussions with school staff, testimonies from current enrollees, etc. should not be the only source of information one should consider when evaluating this or any independent school.

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Navy EOD has been under the Special Operations umbrella for years and has recently moved under NECC, Navy EOD are the only trained and capable special operations bomb techs in the military.

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A GMGC is a Gunner's Mate - there are 2 types of GM's, a GMG, and a GMM.

GMG stands for Gunner's Mate (Guns); GMM stands for Gunner's Mate (Missile). The "C" stands for Chief Petty Officer (E-7). The rate/rank therefore stands for Gunner's Mate (Guns) Chief.

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The US Navy doesn't (and didn't) like small combatants in their inventory; especially wooden ones, like the WWII PT Boats. Close to 300 of those boats were intentionally destroyed (burned) in the Philippines at the close of the war. Wooden boats are a maintenance headache; wood rots, and the maintenance inventory of the US Navy was designed & organized to support steel vessels, not wood.

Secondly, the USN distains small boat combatants. Small boats are necessary for taxing personnel from vessel to vessel and conducting errands in bays, etc. But not the combatants. Combatants such as the WWII MTB (Motor Torpedo Boats-aka PT boats); and the USN's Brown Water Navy in Vietnam, which utilized a host of riverine craft such as the Swift Boats (PCF-Patrol Craft Fast), PBRs (Patrol Boat River), Alpha Boats (ASPB-Assault Support Patrol Boats), and the Monitors were only a "wartime necessity." And all save some PBRs and two Swift Boats were retained in the US (and the Swift Boats were salvaged from scrap yards by some veterans!).

There is no money in small combatants when defense budgets are rationed out to the military. The big money is in "big ticket items" such as warships for the navy, bombers for the air force and tanks for the army. That's where the big money is justified. The army, navy and air force fight for their share of the defense budget each year that it's being offered.

Only lately, since Operation Iraqi Freedom began it's campaign, and then only late in the game, has the US Navy become interested again in small patrol boats. So far, probably no more than a hundred such combatants have been placed into service with the USN. These are not the PTs & Swifts of days gone by, but in some cases inflatibles, and civilian appearing water craft painted up in military schemes. There is no more official Brown Water Navy, just some small patrolling in troubles regions over-seas. Coronado in California is training them, as they did during the Vietnam war; Mare Island used to used old Viet War PBRs (those were all fiberglass), but the Mare Island closed down in '95, and tranferred what they had left to Sacramento. Sacramento is surrounded by rivers.

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STG is the rate, or job, of that person. In this case, it is a Sonar Technician - Surface. They work on the sonar suite of a surface vessel (ie, a ship). The "C" gives that person's rank, which in this case is a Chief Petty Officer. If it was a Senior Chief Sonar Tech, they would be STGCS. If it were a 3rd Class Petty Officer, they would be STG3.

The Sonar Tech rating is actually divided between surface and submarine technicians. STS stand for "Sonar Technician, Submarines", where STG stands for "Sonar Technician, Guns", indicating a surface rate.

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NAVSOC is the acronym for the Naval Special Operations Command, which has also been known as Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM), and its current form, Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC).

NSWC is Naval organization attached to the United States Special Operations Command, which is tasked with coordinating all U.S. SpecOps forces.

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So you can tell if the liquid is too hot to drink. They were used in WWII and were called "watch mugs" and had no handles to keep the watch sailors' hands warm.

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They're not suited for Arctic weather, but for general cold/chilly weather, they're pretty good. Mine saved me when I was in Submarine school in Groton, CT, in the middle of February.

Of course just like anything else, what you're wearing under it is a big factor as well. If you're butt naked, it's not going to do much good, but if you're wearing dress blues or something else that's fairly good for cold weather they can be quite toasty.

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All sailors, regardless of rank or rate, begin receiving pay immediately upon reporting for duty to Basic Training. It continues until you separate from the service, and whether you continue to receive anything depends on your method of separation (retirement, disability, etc.).

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Naked Warriors. Men with green faces. Frogmen. Operators

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The designator is actually SWCC - it stands for Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen, and is pronounced "Swick". It is the warfare designator for the Special Warfare Boat Operator (SB) rate.

The SWCC's are the special boat operators for the Navy SEAL's, inserting and extracting them in hostile territory, in any conditions, using special skills and tactics. Trained in parachuting, first aid, radio, engineering, weapons, etc., they are who the SEAL's depend on to get them into and out of enemy territory with precision and speed.

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No because jet powered J7W2's were only a design concept and were never made. Yes if they did exist, and the F-22's were sitting on a runway without pilots.

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Only with a medical waiver. First, they dropped it to just mustaches, then to no facial hair at all. Of course it doesn't apply to SEAL's and other members who are working in a deep cover mission.

The primary reason is safety; along with the need to get a good seal with emergency breathing equipment (fires, breathing masks,etc.), there are a lot of things in a military environment that just don't go with facial hair.

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Yes you can go to OCS - Officer Commissioning School and be a Navy Officer or you can choose to enlist as a G.I.

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Base pay for all E-2's is the same but if married and living off base they will get a housing allowance adjusted to where they are stationed and a small food allowance. You can find all of the pay details by typing in military pay scales or military pay and allowances on the internet.

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The USS Constellation (CV-64), is currently decommissioned and is at the Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, WA.

The Navy sloop-of-war USS Constellation (IX-20) currently resides about 26 miles east of my front porch at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. After being declared unsafe in 1996, a 3 year, $9 million dollar restoration saw her return to her pier at the Inner Harbor in July 1999, about a month before I had to retire. I still remember watching as she was brought in to her mooring, accompanied by countless small vessels in the Harbor.

The Constellation currently exists as a museum ship and is a registered National Historic Landmark.

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No he was just a Navy diver. The Seals were not around until 1962 a few years before his accident that took his leg.

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The ranks of E8 & E9 were created effective June 1, 1958 with the first promotions becoming effective November 16, 1958.