Just a side note about the sentence of NAS P'cola is where every Naval
aviator gets his or her wings. It is where every naval aviator and naval
flight officer gets their start in naval aviation. Only the naval flight
officers get their wings at P'cola. Naval aviators or pilots get their
wings at several other locations.
"Brad" wrote in message
...
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy air base in
Pensacola, Fla., suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damage
from Hurricane Ivan, the Navy said Friday.
Ninety percent of the buildings on base received
"significant" damage.
Naval Air Station Pensacola is where every Naval aviator
gets his or her wings. About 15,000 airmen aviators and crews are
trained there annually.
There were no reported deaths or injuries on the base.
Roughly 2,900 sailors were staying in local shelters and helping the
American Red Cross unload supplies and food, the Navy said.
Most of the base roads were impassable and power generators
were fueling only selected buildings Friday.
The base public affairs office, including the photo lab, was
destroyed. The Coast Guard station was also reported destroyed. The
Naval Air Technical Training Center was completely under water.
The naval hospital was intact, but lost 80 percent of its
roof. There were no reports of damaged aircraft.
Soldiers from the Florida National Guard were to arrive in
Pensacola Friday to help with relief efforts and Navy Seabees were
to assess construction and engineering efforts during the weekend.
Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba has not suffered serious
damage from any of the three hurricanes so far, a Navy official
said.