Front Burner

Table of Contents

 

 

 

F
IRST AND FOREMOST, a ship is a reflection of its crew. In a singular moment in time, USS
Cole
and its crew became part of the Navy's history and long heritage of unswerving devotion to our nation and the freedom of its citizens. The war on terror started with us. All the sailors of USS
Cole
chose a life of consequence in service to the nation and are heroes for what they endured that horrific day and in the weeks that followed. Those who lost their lives will always be remembered in our thoughts and prayers. It is my honor to have been given the unique and humbling opportunity to command the officers and crew of USS
Cole
.

The writing of
Front Burner
has been a long overdue, painstaking process, not just of capturing in writing the heroic acts of a crew as they saved USS
Cole
and their shipmates, but also a reckoning for me in facing up to what happened to my ship and crew as the sole accountable officer—the Captain. For years I pecked away at the story, constantly outlining and reworking the project in my mind. It wasn't until after retirement that I felt ready to begin addressing the challenge in earnest. For years, people
throughout the Navy, Department of Defense, FBI and NCIS, and elsewhere gave me information, paperwork, documentation, pictures, confidential insight into conversations, and material that slowly allowed me to flesh out the larger and more detailed picture of what really happened before, during, and after the attack. To each of those who quietly contributed but must remain anonymous, you have my deepest gratitude and thanks.

Immediately after the attack, I was quietly encouraged to retire and—like many in the military who had undergone a unique experience—pump out a book and leverage the experience for financial gain. My sense of dedication and desire to continue to serve the nation thankfully stopped me from giving in to that temptation to make an insincere career change. While I gave serious consideration to writing in 2002 when my career appeared derailed, thanks to some very sage advice and counsel from a great friend and Naval Academy classmate, Rear Admiral Frank Thorp, USN (Ret), I chose to forego a book then and instead continue my military service. The
Front Burner
I might have written years ago would never have measured up to the book it is today.

I also owe a great deal to another classmate, Captain Stephen Metz, USN (Ret). Reacquainted again when he was selected to oversee the demanding task of reconstructing USS
Cole
, Steve also became my most stalwart and vocal source of encouragement for continuing my career following the attack. I will always appreciate his friendship and unwavering support as a sounding board for my ideas, frustrations, and plans for the future.

As time went on and especially following retirement, there was a growing sense that what had happened to USS
Cole
and the crew was being lost; not just relegated to history, but truly lost, with no actual accounting of what happened. Over the years, the crew and I were approached by a number of interested authors, but none pursued the project past the talking stage. The pressure to write began to hound me more and more. Why I felt that I had to be the one to capture the event, in my own words and from my unique vantage point as the CO, remains unexplained even to myself, but I felt that without that perspective, the full scope and context
of how the Navy reacted to the event would never receive the full examination it needed. The attack on USS
Cole
was an act of war. It was also an inexcusable intelligence failure on the part of the U.S. government. Sadly, neither the Navy nor the nation did anything to respond and the wheels of the nation's destiny were set into motion, culminating in the attacks of September 11 eleven months later.

When I finally did decide to capture that moment in our nation's history, I quickly realized that, as a naval officer, I did not really know how to write a book. I felt overwhelmed and not up to the task. Thanks to Captain Mike McDaniel, USN (Ret), and some brilliant historians at the Navy's History and Heritage Command, specifically, Randy Papadopoulos, Robert Schneller, John Sherwood, and Jeffrey Barlow: they convinced me that I had what it took to write a book. I will always be particularly thankful to Randy, who became my first editor and gave me those initial frank critiques that helped form the basis of what eventually became
Front Burner
. I will always be grateful for their faith and confidence in me to do what few have done successfully in making history come alive.

As I began to write, the telling became the reliving, and with it came the familiar anxiety that accompanied the experience itself. Many times, I pushed away from the desk unable to write another word. Reliving the challenges and horrors of the event minute by minute, second by second sometimes proved too much to deal with. Still, I kept at it—the story had to be told.

While this is my story, it is by no means the definitive account. More can and should be told by those who feel drawn to share their perspective and experience with others. Before my journey into writing began, I had been introduced to Peter Osnos, the founder of PublicAffairs. For this telling, he paired me with a superb journalist, Bruce Nelan, who showed an amazing capacity to draw out the story in a series of interviews that I used extensively in writing my account. Throughout my fits and starts putting pen to paper, Peter showed a remarkable and unwavering confidence in my ability to write a powerful account of the attack. His patience
over the intervening years is a testament to his commitment. While my ability to survive the attack may have come from years of at-sea experience, it is because of Peter that
Front Burner
is finally a reality for people to share in.

It wasn't easy, though. I will never forget his comment to me after I turned in the initial draft. “Kirk, here's the reality of your situation. You have given us a great narrative that has superb documentation, and you are a very good naval officer, but that doesn't necessarily make you a good storyteller!” While both of us got a good laugh, it was through his introduction to his friend Craig Whitney, a retired foreign correspondent and editor, that
Front Burner
truly came alive. It is through Craig's unsurpassed skill and ability that he could take my lengthy prose and deftly help me craft it into the story you will soon read. It may be my story but it is his skill in the art of writing that showed me how to bring out the events surrounding USS
Cole
in a way that puts that life-changing event and its searing images at the forefront of history and the war on terror.

I also learned that no finished book is the work of just a few individuals. I owe a great deal of thanks to those who helped me make the book a successful reality in the unfamiliar world of publishing, including Susan Weinberg, Brandon Proia, Jaime Leifer, Anais Scott, and Collin Tracy. I also owe a great deal of thanks to Theresa Yates. Her skill as a transcriptionist and her ability to listen to sometimes very emotional and powerful descriptions of what happened to individual crew members as they recounted and shared their experiences with me gave her a profound insight into what happened to us.

In an insightful moment of introspection, I came to realize that had I not been given the tools gained over eighteen years of experience, there was no way I could have led my crew through that event. Those experiences were best learned from the commanding officers I was privileged to serve under throughout my career, including Captain Robert Powers, USN, Captain Andrew Fosina, USN, Captain Carl Anderson, USN, Rear Admiral Phillip Dur, USN, Vice Admiral John Morgan, USN, Captain Lyal Davidson, USN, Captain John Russack, USN, and Captain Paul Schultz,
USN, all retired. Without their leadership and astute experience to guide me in how to manage and lead, I would have never been able to keep my crew motivated and ship afloat when the burden of command weighed most heavily on me.

In command of USS
Cole
, I was also blessed with a phenomenal squadron commodore, Captain Mike Miller, USN (Ret), whose confidence in me put the pieces in place for our future success and survival in an unforeseen combat scenario. I will always be grateful for his quiet and incisive counsel and hands-off approach to leading the COs in Destroyer Squadron Twenty-Two. His relief, Captain Gary Holst, USN (Ret), also gave similar latitude in leading the COs in his charge.

USS
Cole
is afloat today thanks to the myriad forces that came together after the attack to support our survival. In particular, I am grateful to two of my squadron mates, Rear Admiral J. Scott Jones, USN, and Captain Matthew Sharpe, USN, who provided for my crew, supported visits to their ships of not only the crew but the investigative teams as well, and were kind enough to allow me the opportunity to share my thoughts with them when they visited the ship. To all those who participated in Joint Task Force Determined Response, know that each of you had a hand in history and should be proud of your contribution in keeping USS
Cole
from becoming a trophy for the terrorists who sought its destruction. Bravo Zulu and well done.

It also cannot go without mention that without the dedicated work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the terrorists would never have been held accountable for their heinous act. In particular, Don Sachtleben, Mark Whitworth, Tom O'Connor, Kevin Finnerty, John Adams, Cathy Clements, and Mike Martz made contributions above and beyond the call of duty both on USS
Cole
and in the years that followed.

Captain Barbara “Bobbie” Scholley, USN (Ret), Chief Warrant Officer Frank Perna, and the divers of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two faced the difficult task of recovering our shipmates with a steely resolve as they also ensured that damage to USS
Cole
was properly assessed in preparation
for making the ship seaworthy to leave port. Ken Baggett and the volunteer shipyard workers from Norfolk Naval Shipyard also demonstrated an uncanny ability to adapt to our circumstances, and with gritty determination helped us keep USS
Cole
afloat. Each of them is a hero in their own right for their contribution to history.

Lastly, there is one person who stood beside me from before the moment of the attack until
Front Burner
was complete, Nicole Segura. As the person closest to me, she has truly kept me grounded and focused on never losing sight of what it means to serve the nation and honor my crew. Her friendship and support helped me appreciate and enjoy some of the highest moments of service and get past the darkest moments of my life. Nicole gave me the encouragement to stretch myself and grow beyond what I thought possible.