Where's Bradlito?

Brad is the manly looking dude on the left. I don't know anyone else but I gave some of them names because I was bored and wanted to see if Brad would have to whoop some ass.





(From left) USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG 60), JS Setogiri, USS O’Kane (DDG 77) and Kitty Hawk steam in formation for the RIMPAC group photo off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands July 29. (U.S. Navy photo by MC3 Kyle Gahlau)


The ship at bottom left of this photo is the Rodney M. Davis--note she is flying her 'Battle Ensign' a rather large flag that is traditionally used to identify friend or foe during battle. It was also used to indicate whether the ship was still actively participating in said battle or was dropping out--known as 'striking the colors'.

She is a Perry class frigate and my pal Brad is currently serving aboard her. He is rated as an HT1 which if you ask him means he makes sure the officers crapper works right but I am sure it means he is some sort of one man invasion force that they secretly put ashore when some knucklehead needs straightening out.

Brad was part of an operation that netted the first ever maritime seizure of liquid cocaine. (see below)

He also tells me he just attended the re-enlistment ceremony for the USS Missouri.
Wouldn't that have been cool to see?


The first maritime seizure of liquid cocaine occurred April 25 when the USS Rodney M. Davis located the fishing vessel Emperador from Ecuador in the Eastern Pacific. A Coast Guard law enforcement team from Alameda boarded the Emperador and located 3,850 gallons of liquid cocaine. Each gallon of the liquid is the equivalent of 1.3 kilograms of processed cocaine. The Coast Guard boarding team detained the 17 crewmembers of the vessel. Sixteen of the crewmembers were from Ecuador, and one of the crewmembers was Colombian. The Coast Guard boarding team and crew of the USS Davis transported the vessel to Guayaquil, Ecuador, for further examination by officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Ecuadorian authorities. The majority of the liquid cocaine, 3,600 gallons, was turned over to Ecuadorian authorities for destruction. The 16 Ecuadorian crewmembers were transferred to Ecuador for prosecution. The Colombian crewmember is awaiting trial in the United States. A small amount of the liquid cocaine, 250 gallons, will be offloaded to prosecute the suspected Colombian smuggler.




I will post more pics and stories from Brad as they come in and maybe they can be a regular part of the blog. I for one find it exciting that my friend is sailing all over the place and has such cool experiences.