I'm excited because I get a weekend visit from my sailor...my son Aidan...we've got some golfing planned for this perfect fall weather, too! Here are a few Naval facts you may or may not have known:
- The U.S. Navy has more than 381,000 sailors on active duty, including more than 53,000 officers and 323,000 enlisted sailors.
- The Navy has more than 158,000 personnel on ready reserve.
- The U.S. Navy boasts more than 300 ships and more than 4,000 operational aircraft.
- The Marine Corps has more than 154,000 troops and more than 18,000 officers.
- A naval "Air Wing" will normally consists of one fighter squadron, three strike fighter squadrons, an Airborne Early Warning squadron, an Air Reconnaissance Squadron, an Air anti-submarine Squadron, a Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron and an Electronic Warfare Squadron.
- The Marine Corps follow two parallel chains of command, one service and the other operational. The service chain begins with the president, through the secretary of defense, and continues through the secretary of the Navy and the commandant of the Marine Corps. The operational chain runs from the president, through the secretary of defense, directly to commanders of combatant commands.
- Go Navy!