Meritorious Unit Commendation
While the Observation Island was stationed at Port Canaveral, adjacent to NASA at Cape Kennedy, Florida, in the very week Apollo 11 was launched from the Cape, the ship also made history by beginning its mission to achieve "the first successful at-sea firing of the POSEIDON Fleet Ballistic Missile." (Admiral E.R. Zumwalt Jr., 1971). The commendation was earned by the 1969 crew and was awarded in 1971 while the ship was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for various range survey duties. In later 71 (or 72?) she was decommissioned for awhile, though later she reappeared for other missions as a USNS ship (see above). The success of the mission earned the ship and crew the Meritorious Unit Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy. As taken directly from the Commendation letter sent to crewman SD2 Rolando S. Caparas, (along with cover letter from Commanding Officer, Captain W.C. Dotson), Admiral Zumwalt wrote of the Commendation:
| “ | The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in representing the MERITORIOUS UNIT COMMENDATION to USS OBSERVATION ISLAND (AG-154) for service as set forth in the following Citation: For meritorious service from 1 July to 16 December 1969 during at-sea operations in connection with the first successful at-sea firing of the POSEIDON Fleet Ballistic Missile. Throughout this period, the officers and men of USS OBSERVATION ISLAND carried out the required afloat tests and conducted complex and demanding operations in the essential support functions of POSEIDON flight testing, with exceptional competence and resourcefulness. The timely and highly successful conclusion of the at-sea test phase was a significant achievement expediting the availability to the United Sates of the most advanced and potent deterrent system. The teamwork and dedication to duty displayed by the officers and men of USS OBSERVATION ISLAND reflected credit upon themselves and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service." | ” |
The Meritorious Unit Commendation is considered to be equivalent in importance to the Bronze Star (this sentence is incorrect). Photocopies of both letters are inserted below.
Read more about this topic: USNS Observation Island (T-AGM-23)
Famous quotes containing the words meritorious, unit and/or commendation:
“Arrogance on the part of the meritorious is even more offensive to us than the arrogance of those without merit: for merit itself is offensive.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“A continual feast of commendation is only to be obtained by merit or by wealth: many are therefore obliged to content themselves with single morsels, and recompense the infrequency of their enjoyment by excess and riot, whenever fortune sets the banquet before them.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)