2018: A year in review

The 2018 new year rang in with the coldest days of winter. Many days, temperatures were dipping below freezing.

The water temperature along the Texas Gulf Coast became cold enough that the sea turtles were “cold stunned.” They became immobile, unable to swim against the strong currents, and they washed to the water’s edge.

Morale, Welfare and Recreation and Fire & Emergency Services personnel came to their rescue, as well as volunteers from the Sea Turtle Science and Recovery group.

We also saw the U.S. Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi move to their new home at Corpus Christi International Airport.

The Coast Guard had been housed in Hangar 41 for more than 67 years. The hangar is located in proximity to the airfield aboard the base and along Ocean, and enabled their missions which are frequently emergency response in nature. Established in November 1950, they were one of 13 Coast Guard units and responsible for all coastlines and waterways, theirs being between Port O’Connor, Texas, and the Mexican border. In May 2005, the group was commissions “USCG Sector Corpus Christi,” combining all air and sea assets in the region.

At the end of January, beginning of February, NAS Corpus Christi took part in the annual force protection exercise, Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield. It is held in conjunction with all Navy installations within the continental United States. It is a two-part anti-terrorism force protection exercise designed to enhance the readiness of Navy security forces and ensure seamless interoperability among the commands, other services and agency partners.

Construction continued – new construction due to growth aboard the base; repairs to the aging infrastructure; and continued repairs to due Hurricane Harvey, which hit the South Texas Coast in August 2017.

Construction continued on the Joint Care Car Center, which eventually replaced the Auto Hobby Shop and the Navy Exchange Tire Shop. Their location became part of the footprint of a Corpus Christi Army Depot expansion of their Dynamic Component Repair Facility.

“It will be a brand new building (Joint Care Car Center) with the same amount of car bays and the same capacity. It won’t lose any capability,” said Lt. Joshua Senecal, construction manager of the project.

Since February, the base has seen a steady stream of dirt trucks to raise the 155,000 square feet of land that is being used for CCAD’s new facility. Also in February, repaving began on the street outside the Fitness Center’s front doors.

One of our Sailors was selected to represent Commander, Navy Region Southeast, for the Navy’s Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence Award that honors the top air traffic control technician of the year. ET2 James Chiasson, of Ground Electronics, was named 2017 Air Traffic Control Traffic Technician of the Year.

Chiasson, a native of Perry, Oklahoma, was nominated because of his hard work restoring precision approach radar from multiple catastrophic casualties, including repairs beyond the air station’s scope of work, according to ETC Christopher Wilson, Ground Electronics leading chief petty officer.

“Additionally, he was instrumental in stowing for and recovering from Hurricane Harvey with minimal damages to ground electronics equipment,” Wilson added.

Sailors from NASCC, including Diversity Committee members, helped to clean one of Corpus Christi’s oldest and most visible parks in February. More than 26 Sailors assisted the city’s Parks and Recreation Department personnel in cleaning the park, collecting enough trash to fill up 15 large trash bags.

“We (Diversity Committee) wanted to honor Black History Month and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by giving back to the community we work and live in,” said RP1 Michael Clayton, who coordinated the event. “One of Dr. King’s principles was to serve in the community one small act at a time. Picking up trash at the park sounded like a simple way to do so.”

At the beginning of March, the NASCC Headquarters staff moved to the fifth floor of Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi. Hurricane Harvey (August 2017) had severely damaged one half of Building 2, where the offices had been located, so the staff temporarily moved to the second floor of the Navy Operational Support Center. Then, in March the offices moved to a more permanent location.

The Fleet & Family Support Center staff moved to the fourth floor of the health clinic and command staff moved into the fifth floor.

In March, a lot of “corporate knowledge” left the base. Our Safety Manager Carolyn Scheible retired from federal service with 43 years of service. Later in the month, the Deputy Public Works Officer retired from federal service with 32 years.

In April, South Texas lost a community leader. Rocco Montesano, former executive director of USS Lexington Museum on the Bay and NAS Corpus Christi commanding officer passed away. Montesano came to serve as commanding officer the summer of 1994. He received such a warm welcome from the community that he decided to retire here in 1998. After his 30-year Navy career, Montesano accepted the position of executive director of USS Lexington Museum, from which he had recently retired.

Base leadership joined together in support of sexual assault awareness and prevention. They kicked off a month-long awareness campaign with a proclamation signing held prior to a 2.2-mile run. Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month throughout the base and region included a teal-ribbon tying to show a unified support of solidarity and raise awareness about sexual assault and inspire participants to “step up and step in.”

In May, about 40 chiefs and first class petty officers from several commands aboard the installation came together to clean, straighten and level the headstones of veterans buried in the Old Bayview Cemetery. Many pioneer settlers and veterans dating back to the War of 1812 are buried there, the oldest federal military cemetery in Texas.

The Old Bayview Cemetery is about 3.5 acres tucked away in a quiet corner of the city adjacent to I-37, and was laid out by U.S. Army engineers during the encampment of Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor just prior to the American War with Mexico.

“These veterans paved the way, said then-HM1 Koleea Flagg, with Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi. “This is an honor. Veterans motivate us to do what we do in the military.”

YN1 Minda Perez, from Training Air Wing Four echoed Flagg’s sentiments. “It’s a noble cause, and a great experience linked to history and preserving their (veterans) existence.”

Hurricane Exercise Citadel Gale 18 was held in May, prior to the start of hurricane season. The exercise helps the Navy prepare to respond to weather threats to U.S. coastal regions and to maintain the ability to deploy forces even under the most adverse weather conditions. This year’s exercise consisted of two simulated tropical cyclones that developed and intensified to hurricane strength, then threatened the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean coastal regions.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecast a 75-percent chance that the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season would be near or above normal. The season runs from June 1 to November 30 each year. The South Texas coast was “spared” this year, but is still recovering from the August 2017 Hurricane Harvey.

Earth Day was celebrated May 17, aboard the air station. Approximately 140 personnel took part in a basewide cleanup, which collected about 3,160 pounds of trash. The volunteers were broken into 10 teams that cleaned various areas of the installation and Ocean Drive for several hours. About 800 of the pounds collected was by Defense Logistics Agency personnel.

Local military, veterans and community members came together June 4 to commemorate the Battle of Midway. Rear Adm. James Bynum, chief of Naval Air Training, was the keynote speaker of the event which was held on board USS Lexington Museum on the Bay.

Bynum said, “This year marks the 76th anniversary of the United States’ victory at Midway Island – that battle was a game-changer in World War II, shifting power in the Pacific, which Japan had held up until that point in the spring of 1942.

The Navy Exchange held a grand reopening in June, celebrating the completion of their 18-month Main Store renovation project. It was the first update of the store in nearly 20 years. The Main Store renovation followed the 2015 opening of five Micro-Markets located throughout the Corpus Christi Army Depot, the renovation of the Gas Station Mini-Mart in 2016, and the opening of Panda Express in 2017.

NAS Corpus Christi held their annual Independence Day celebration at Sunfish Beach on July 3. Morale, Welfare and Recreation personnel organized, planned, set up and ran the festivities that included water events, games, music, petty zoo, pony rides, food trucks, and more, which concluded with a spectacular fireworks display on the sea wall.

Naval Air Training Command held a change of command July 12. Rear Adm. Gregory Harris relieved Rear Adm. James Bynum as the CNATRA, which conducts and oversees all pilot and naval flight officer training for the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and international partners through five training air wings located in three states. It also oversees the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels.

The 56th annual Navy Regatta was held Aug. 4-5. It is a weekend of fun, sailing, camaraderie and community partnership with the military aboard the air station, the Corpus Christi Yacht Club and the Bay Yacht Club. Besides sailing across the bay, the regatta features a Titanic Cup race, in which teams compete in their homemade vessels constructed of anything but boat or aircraft parts.

A ribbon-cutting for the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Staging Area and Gate was held Aug. 17. In attendance were Corpus Christi city officials and representatives from the base, tenant commands, contractors and local elected officials.

The $1.1 million project was funded through the Texas Military Value Revolving Loan Fund and included a concrete parking area to stage up to 10 18-wheel trucks awaiting inspection; tree and brush clearing; lighting and electrical improvements; and fencing.

It began in the fall 2017 and was a joint effort with the city of Corpus Christi and the station’s Public Works Department. The South/Main Gate at NAS Drive is the designated point of entry for commercial vehicles and transport into the air station. Prior to the new CVI staging area, commercial vehicles would stage in an inbound lane of traffic, adding to congestion onto the installation during peak hours.

The NASCC Commissary spearheaded the annual Feds Feed Families food drive that began in August and ran through Oct. 15.

On a drizzly overcast morning, a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony was hale at NAS Corpus Christi Fire Station #1, paying tribute to those who lost their lives and honoring those heroes who responded to the tragedies that fateful day in 2001.

Nine first class petty officers joined the ranks of the Chief Petty Officers Mess in September. The nine Sailors were pinned as CPOs during a traditional ceremony Sept. 14.

Military members who died while serving their country were honored and remembered during a Bells Across America ceremony held Sept. 27. Bells rung worldwide during this third annual event held at the air station’s Protestant Chapel.

Hundreds of military and civilians took part in a Suicide Awareness and Prevention Run on Sept. 28. The event shows a mobilization of support for suicide prevention. Suicidal thoughts can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or background. Each year, more than 41,000 individuals die by suicide, leaving behind their friends and family members to navigate the tragedy of loss.

Rear Adm. Gregory Harris, CNATRA was the guest speaker at the NAS Corpus Christi Navy Ball held Oct. 11. The celebration marked the Navy’s 243rd birthday and was attended by service members, civilians, community leaders and family members reflecting on the theme “Forged by the Sea.”

“We acknowledge the history, customs and traditions passed down over 243 years to those of us serving today,” said YN1 Bridget Crawford, the event’s master of ceremonies. “We recognize that each day – even as we sit here tonight – Sailors on watch, on the ground and underway, are serving their country in much the same manner as our forefathers did 243 years ago.”

In keeping with a time-honored tradition, the birthday celebration ended with raising glasses in salute and expressing toasts of good wishes, followed by a cake-cutting ceremony with the oldest and youngest Sailors present.

Veterans Day had extra meaning this year. It marked 100 years since the stillness that fell across the battlefields of Europe on the 11th hours on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. Firing on the First World War’s Western Front ended Nov. 11, 1918. To commemorate this, NASCC held a bell ringing ceremony along with all installations across the military.

NASCC’s National Night Out was held in conjunction with MWR’s Spooktober event held Oct. 27. National Night Out activities included an NASCC dog handlers’ demonstration; NASCC firefighters demonstrating the jaws of life, Padre Island National Seashore park rangers’ sobriety station; CC police vehicles; Naval Criminal Investigative Service law enforcement agents; and more. Spooktober included activities for the entire family – haunted house, arts and crafts, bouncy houses, games, train rides, and trunk or treat.

Fleet & Family Support Center personnel held a Paws for Purple event at the end of October that included speakers and a “pet parade.” It is put together in support of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. According to Andrea Gutierrez, FFSC counselor, studies have shown that there is a link between animal abuse and domestic violence within a family.

Nov. 26, Blue Angel #7 visited Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and talked to air show committee members. Lt. Cary Rickoff, #7 pilot, also talked to local media upon arrival, stating that the team is looking forward to coming back to Corpus Christi. Next year, the Wings Over South Texas Air Show will be held aboard NAS Corpus Christi April 13-14.

The winter visit was in preparation for the team’s air show performance here in April. The Navy’s premier demonstration team will headline the Wings Over South Texas Air Show April 13-14, 2019.

December began with several MWR holiday activities – Breakfast with Santa, Texas Snow Party, Christmas Card contest, and tree lighting, to name a few.

And, the nation mourned the passing of former President George H.W. Bush. In addition to serving as our 41st president, he was also a former vice president and a World War II Navy hero. Bush is known as the youngest cadet to ever receive his Wings of Gold – here at NAS Corpus Christi.

By 1943, the Navy had lowered the age limit for cadets and began accepting qualified high school graduates. After graduating from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, George Herbert Walker Bush went through flight training and received his wings at Corpus Christi on June 9, 1943, three days shy of his 19th birthday.

Bush received the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery after his torpedo plane was shot down by the Japanese in the vicinity of the Bonin Islands in the Pacific on Sept. 2, 1944. During their attack, the Avengers encountered intense anti-aircraft fire; Bush’s aircraft was hit by flak and his engine caught fire. Despite the fire, he completed his attack and released bombs over his target, scoring several damaging hits. With his engine ablaze, Bush flew several miles from the island, where he and one other crew member bailed out. The other man’s parachute did not open. Bush waited for four hours in an inflated raft until he was rescued by the submarine USS Finback.

As 2018 comes to a close and we look back on the previous year, we should assess what the year meant to us. It’s important to remember the good times but also take stock in the lessons learned.

When we look forward to the new year, we know that it contains new beginnings and renewed felling of commitment. For the air station, we know construction and repairs will continue -- new construction due to growth aboard the base, and continued repairs to the aging infrastructure and the on-going “fixes” due to last year’s Hurricane Harvey.

Looking ahead, the new year is full of possibilities, resolutions, and things folks are looking to give up, get rid of, or stop doing.

No matter what you will strive for in 2019, we wish you the best of luck, and look forward to continue working with each and every one of you.