by Matt Zullo, CTICM(ret.)
2001 OTRG award winner
OTRG Historian and Author
As many of you likely know, I published a pair of books in 2020 about our very own “On-the-Roof Gang,” the US Navy’s cryptologic pioneers. Thanks to you, these books have sold well and have garnered some amazing reviews on many online retailer websites. Since then, I have continued my research into the group, finding new information and new photographs that are pertinent to the story. I am very excited to announce that I have published a Second Edition of both volumes of the books.
In 1982, an insurance agent with a fascination for naval history and Cold War strategy sat down to write a novel. He had no grand expectations—just a hope that maybe 5,000 readers would buy his book. That writer was Tom Clancy, and the manuscript was The Hunt for Red October.
Continue reading “Tom Clancy and The Hunt for Read October”
Officer or enlisted, the question is usually the same: how did you end up a cryptologist when you had no idea what it actually meant? What’s your story?
Here’s my story:
Continue reading “The Day I Walked Across the Street – How did I become a Cryptologist”
By Admiral Charles Richard, U.S. Navy (Retired)
“Man Battle Stations! Dong Dong
Dong Dong! Man Battle Stations!”
Everyone who has served on board a ship, submarine, or squadron can remember being jolted out of the rack by that announcement, knowing almost instinctively what to do. For most, that knowledge never leaves. More than 20 years later, I am still pretty confident I could execute the Battle-stations Firing Point Litany in Control on board a submarine, at least as it was at the time, from any watch station in the room. I don’t think I’m unusual.
Continue reading “How Do You Know You Are Ready for Battle?”
By Jack Jones
In the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 1965, I sprawled face-down, struggling to breathe after scaling and leaping from the top of a tall, barbed wire-tipped fence behind the U.S. Naval Security Group operations building in Kamiseya, Japan. About a dozen of my shipmates crawled and wandered in dazed confusion around me.
Continue reading “Remembering The NSGA Kamiseya Fire”
“He kept fighting despite his painful wounds, continuing to repel the attack until his position was overrun. When last seen he was fighting ferociously against an overwhelming number of enemy soldiers,” according to his Medal of Honor citation.
Continue reading “The Only Medal of Honor the Government Kept Secret”
Station HYPO 