Published Quarterly by the USS Tullibee SSN 597 Association (www.usstullibee.org) Bill Keel Association Commander, 815-715-9966, [email protected] 14 April 2020 Commander’s Corner ARE WE REACHING Eternal Patrol Listings and Updates Hi shipmates! OUT OUR I hope that all of you SHIPMATES WHO I have recently added and your families are well. several people to our Eternal These are unprecedented times ARE NOT IN MY Patrol list. I have received and no doubt very tough on all DATABASE? phone calls from widows and of us. Quarantining now is friends to report our shipmates nothing like it was when we I am thankful that through on EP. Please look at the list went to sea. Then, I had email and our Facebook page in this newsletter. If a shipmates to talk to, play that we can reach out to shipmate should be there and cards with, interact with. shipmates and include them in is not, please let me know so Today, I have my dogs. Tullibee events and memories. we can properly honor him. If Hopefully, as we progress Unfortunately, we have only you have the date of EP and a further into the summer, we scratched the surface in link to his obituary, we cam will be able to break quarantine locating our crewmates. make that a part of the boat’s and get back to a somewhat Forward this newsletter to any webpage. normal way of life. In the shipmate you have in your meantime, stay safe. Follow contacts, email or social media. protocol, social distance, Not sure if they are already sanitize, you know the drill. receiving it? I’m sure they We will start planning for the wont mind getting an extra 2021 reunion soon, and I am copy. looking forward to seeing many of you there! --Bill WEBSITE INFO REUNION 2021 help to maintain funds to It’s time that we ensure reunions and We recently start looking forward to perpetuate the memory of discovered that our the next Reunion of the the SSN 597 and those website, Crew of the USS Tullibee associated with her. www.usstullibee.org and SSN 597. Traditionally, If you are not a member, www.ssn597.org (both we gather somewhere on please consider joining. addresses direct to the the east coast every same site) was down. other reunion. The The reason for this was reason is obvious: it was that, evidently, I failed our homeport and most of to verify a page from the our Tullibee veterans live host. George Houk and there. But, it is not set his friend Jason Skipper in stone. Our objective got the situation resolved should be to have a and it is up and running. location that affords the We have updated the greatest number of our membership roster and I shipmates the opportunity am working on the Eternal to attend. If you have a Patrol list. If a shipmate suggestion for a reunion MEMBERSHIP DUES ARE notices that he is not on site, please let me know AVAILABLE the Association so we can start membership list, or if considering our next The membership rates are anyone notices a shipmate location. Once we below and are based upon is not on the determine a location, we the age of the member at Eternal Patrol list but can look at dates so we the time the membership should be, please let me can start making plans. is purchased: know. Age 65 and Over: $50 USS TULLIBEE Age 60-64: $75 SSN 597 ASSOCIATION Age 50-59: $100 Are you a member of the Age 49 and under: $150 USS Tullibee SSN 597 Association? Being a Yearly dues are just $10 member is not essential in per year. order to get newsletters, attend reunions, or enjoy the camaraderie of ----- Pride Runs Deep ---- shipmates, but it does 4 more Theodore Roosevelt sailors with COVID-19 moved to hospital, 1 in ICU J.D. Simkins (Navy Times 4/14/2020) Four more sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt have been hospitalized in Guam, with one of the four taken to the intensive care unit “for increased observation due to shortness of breath,” Navy officials said Tuesday. The sudden surge in hospitalizations comes one day after a sailor assigned to the 4,800-person ship died due to complications related to COVID-19, becoming the first active duty member to succumb from the virus. Approximately 85 percent of Roosevelt’s crew has been evacuated from the carrier in the wake of a COVID-19 outbreak on board that sidelined the ship in Guam nearly three weeks ago. On March 24 the Roosevelt first reported that three of its sailors had tested positive for COVID-19. The infected crew members were airlifted off of the ship as a precaution, but within one week confirmed cases in the ship’s tight quarters spiked to nearly 100. Navy officials ordered the carrier to port in Guam just over two weeks after the Roosevelt visited Da Nang, Vietnam. The decision to continue as scheduled with the Vietnam port call was made at a time when the country had only 16 confirmed cases, all of which were reportedly confined to the northern city of Hanoi, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said. Pierside, former commanding officer of the sidelined aircraft carrier, Capt. Brett Crozier, penned a letter pleading for urgent assistance from military leaders. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” he wrote. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.” Crozier was fired by former Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly within 48 hours of the captain’s letter being leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle. Modly then resigned following his infamous speech — the audio of the speech was obtained by Military Times — onboard Roosevelt in which he told sailors that their commanding officer was either “too naïve or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this.” As of Tuesday, 589 Roosevelt crew members have tested positive and moved into quarantine in Guam, Navy officials said. The sailor who died Monday was initially discovered to be unresponsive on the morning of April 9 by other quarantined sailors. The individual passed away four days after being moved to an intensive care unit. Speaking to reporters last week, Air Force Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that in addition to medical professionals checking on Roosevelt sailors twice a day, crew members continue to use a buddy system to monitor one another’s health. “It’s not just waiting for the medical folks to come out every 12 hours. They’ve got buddies that are around all the time,” Hyten said. Concern has spread throughout the fleet, meanwhile, that similar outbreaks could be festering in the close confines of other ships. Hyten told reporters that “it’s not a good idea to think that the Teddy Roosevelt is a one-of-a-kind issue. To think that it will never happen again is not a good way to plan.” Along with the Roosevelt, at least one sailor each from the aircraft carriers Ronald Reagan, Nimitz, and Carl Vinson have tested positive for the coronavirus. As a precaution, Navy officials ordered the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, which just completed a deployment to U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation, to remain at sea in an effort to keep sailors protected from exposure to COVID-19. “After completing a successful deployment we would love nothing more than to be reunited with our friends and families,” said Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle, commander of Carrier Strike Group 8. “We recognize that these are unique circumstances and the responsible thing to do is to ensure we are able to answer our nation’s call while ensuring the health and safety of our Sailors.” Veterans groups step up efforts to help with coronavirus financial challenges and isolation Leo Shane III (Navy TIMES 4-14-2020) As veterans across the country cope with the ongoing effects of the coronavirus outbreak, veterans organizations are scrambling to find ways to help. On Tuesday, officials from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America announced an expansion of their Quick Reaction Force program, designed to connect veterans with local resources who can answer benefits questions, job issues and other challenges. The move was originally planned for later this summer, but the coronavirus crisis moved those plans up. “We saw a big increase in use in the first quarter, and we imagine that need is going to continue to rise,” said Sean Ullman, chief development officer for IAVA. “Right now our biggest issues are job loss and navigating benefits, related to coronavirus.” Similarly, this week officials from the American Legion reconfigured their Buddy Check program launched last year to refocus on the current pandemic. Local posts are being tasked with outreach to veterans throughout their communities, to ensure individuals are healthy and still connected despite illness-mandated isolation. “Legionnaires are using the phone, email and social media to safely find out how these veterans are doing and what we can do to help them,” American Legion National Commander James W. “Bill” Oxford said in a statement. “They might need something from the store or pharmacy. Sometimes, for a veteran who is alone and on orders to stay home, the most important thing is a phone call.” Other groups have adopted a direct financial assistance approach to the current crisis. Last week, officials from Wounded Warrior Project announced they will award grants up to $1,000 for groceries, rent payments, and other essential expenses to injured veterans hurt by the ongoing pandemic.