New leadership for Zappers

Friday, SEPT. 3, 2010 • Northwest Navigator > WHIDBEY EDITION
www.NORTHWESTNAVIGATOR.com
Page 3
New leadership for Zappers
By Lt. John Moss
VAQ-130
After a successful tour
of command of Electronic
Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130
Cmdr. Jeff Hammer handed the lead to Cmdr. Robert
Coughlin, Aug. 12, while
airborne over USS Harry S.
Truman (CVN 75).
Hammer commanded
the Zappers since May
2009 and led them through
a seemingly endless Fleet
Readiness Training Cycle
that included detachments
to Air Wing Fallon (parts
1 and 2), TSTA, JTFX,
COMP2EX, COMP3EX,
and COMP4EX. With his
command tour now complete he travels to the Joint
Forces Staff College for training and then to the Defense
Security
Cooperation
Agency, Washington, D.C.
“The Zappers are the
most professional, motivated, and dedicated team
I have ever had the pleasure
of serving alongside,” said
Coughlin. “They run hard
because they want to, not
because they need to. “They are focused and
driven to be the best, and
in my opinion they truly
are the best of the best,”
said Coughlin. “I am proud
and honored to be given the
privilege of commanding
the Zappers and excited for
their future.” Taking command of the
Zappers is Coughlin, a
Chicago native who began
his naval aviation career
enlisting as a Sailor with
the VS-32 “Maulers” at NAS
Cecil Field, Fla. He deployed
to the Mediterranean on
USS America (CV 66).
Coughlin later then participated in the Enlisted
Education Advancement
Program and the Enlisted
Commissioning Program,
graduating in March 1993
from Auburn University
with an aerospace engineering degree.
Designated a Naval
Theodore Roosevelt (CVN
71) flying missions in support of Operations Southern
Watch
and
Provide
Comfort.
Most recently Coughlin
reported to the Joint Special
Operations Command at
Fort Bragg, N. C., serving
as a Joint Staff Officer until
May 2009 when he joined
the Zappers as executive
officer.
VAQ-130 is currently
conducting
operations
in support of Operation
Enduring Freedom, and
will remain focused on this
very important mission
until all squadron person-
nel and aircraft are back at
Whidbey Island. Following
deployment, the squadron
will transfer their jets to the
remaining EA-6B war fighting squadrons, and begin a
new chapter in the Zapper’s
history with the transition to the world’s most
capable AEA platform, the
EA-18G. This transition
will be the fourth since the
squadron’s inception in
1959.
“I am confident the
Zappers will meet this challenge as they have so many
others in the past,” said
Coughlin. “With Zapper
pride!”
VAQ-130 photo
New VAQ-130 Zapper skipper, Cmdr. Robert Coughlin, shortly after
an airborne change of command ceremony Aug. 12 over USS Harry
S. Truman (CVN 75).
Aviator in August 1995,
he served his initial fleet
assignment with the VAQ-
130 “Zappers.” He deployed
to the Mediterranean Sea
and Arabian Gulf on USS
Navy Dental Corps closing in on 100
NHOH Public Affairs
The Navy Dental Corps,
established in 1912, celebrated
its 98th birthday on Aug. 22.
Naval Hospital Oak
Harbor’s nine dental officers
and civil service dentists,
including general dentists,
a dental surgeon, periodontist, endodontist and prosthodontist, gathered Aug. 20
to celebrate their heritage
with a cake-cutting ceremony at Naval Hospital Oak
Harbor.
Letters of congratulations from the Navy Dental,
Medical and Nurse Corps
chiefs and the Navy Medicine
force master chief were read
to those in attendance.
In keeping with tradition,
the oldest and youngest
Navy Dental staff members,
Cmdr. Marisa Leandro and
Lt. Michael Nguyen, respectively, cut the cake to cap the
celebration.
The Dental Corps was
established when the
62nd Congress passed an
act, signed by the 27th
President, William Howard
Taft. The Secretary of the
Navy was given authority
to appoint no more than
30 acting assistant dental
surgeons to be part of the
Medical Department. In
World War II, that number
grew to more than 400 dental officers.
Today, the Dental Corps
boasts 1,119 billets in more
than a dozen specialties that
support war efforts, as well
as humanitarian missions in
Haiti, South America and
Southeast Asia.
Sharon McIntyre
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Cmdr. Marisa Leandro
and Lt. Michael
Nguyen, oldest and
youngest members
of the Navy Dental
Corps staff at Naval
Hospital Oak Harbor,
do the honors to cut
the cake celebrating the corpsí 98th
birthday.
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