This came from Al's link to the e-mails collected from his son Jeremy--Jeremy sends along a forwarded announcement from the captain (executive officer?) of the amphibious assault ship "Kearsarge":

-----Original Message-----
From: Parent, Luke CAPT
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 8:19 PM
To: Kearsarge



Subject: Bogus e-mail messages

Shipmates,
We received information today from our Ombudsman that a couple of our spouses have received bogus e-mail messages. One claimed the KSG had been sunk with no survivors and another claimed her husband was MIA...

Clearly this is bogus, but as you can imagine a message like this can be very upsetting...
Please e-mail your spouse and ensure they are aware of these false claims via e-mail. If they receive anything along these lines, advise them to NOT "reply" personally. The right thing to do is forward to;
cmc@kearsarge.navy.mil

We're working with CPG-2 back at the beach to investigate... Again, they shouldn't respond to confirm or deny anything regarding the ship, and more importantly, infer that they are home alone.

The CO is updating the Careline to ensure everyone is aware of the issue as well.
R/XO



I can't think of a book big enough to throw at someone who pulls something like this. I wonder how many other family members of men and women on other ships are getting hit with something like this.