Author: captain1610

Boxing the Compass – Finding our True North and staying true to it

Most of us have come to understand that leadership is about character, not characteristics.  We know what our values are and sometimes struggle to stay true to those values when we see that our seniors continue to progress while not demonstrating that same strict adherence to our Navy core values.  
Some in our community have found strength in maintaining their ‘true North’ by creating something they have called their personal “Board of Directors” (BoD).  Entrepreneur Bill George has a decent book out called TRUE NORTH GROUPS.  He knows that, with the challenges we face these days, we require additional help to stay on track.  We cannot rely on just ourselves or our commands to help us stay on track.  We need Shipmates in ‘our circle of trust’  with whom we can have in-depth discussions and share intimately about the most cherished things in our lives and careers while we serve our country around the world.  
Whatever you choose to call it, you need to have Shipmates you can count on in the toughest of times – the people who will follow-through on things ‘because they said they would.’

The Role of the Chief Petty Officer in the Modern Navy

There have been a great many questions, examinations, re-examinations, and discussions of the role of the chief petty officer in the modern Navy. Commanding officers, junior officers, petty officers, and enlisted men are saying that chiefs just aren’t what they used to be. The “used-to-be” status referred to is that fabulous position occupied by the chief petty officers in the pre-war Navy wherein the chief’s word was law to subordinates and his ability to get things done a trade-mark to his superiors.

Proceedings Magazine
April 1957

You can read the entire text HERE.  Some things do not change – much.

OPNAV AO – you think you’re busy now, just wait!!!

The Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mark Ferguson said last week the Navy will continue to reduce its number of staff positions. After 10 years of war, the office of the chief of naval operations grew to 2,300 people. With the war ending, Ferguson said Nov. 19 during an Association of the United States Navy luncheon in Arlington, VA, the OPNAV staff will be reduced to 1,500 personnel. The service also reduced 35 flag officer positions and will announce seven more reductions in January, he added.

Writing

Writing is a skill that is improved through practice, so officers should seek every opportunity to write and therefore to improve their technical ability to write. Imagination and the desire for self-improvement play a large part in the effectiveness of an individual’s writing.
Some people know the mechanics of how to write, but they are not very good writers because they don’t have the imagination to add the appropriate descriptive phrase, adverb, adjective, whatever it is that makes this thing live A little, makes it more readable, more appealing. I don’t think you necessarily can teach just anyone to be a professional writer, but you can help them improve, I would encourage young officers not to draw away from the normal approach to writing tasks but to accept them as a challenge to create, just as any other artist does.

Rarely is rewriting unnecessary. Write it, read it, and, as a consequence of reading it, write it again and work it and rework it and get suggestions and get it critiqued.

General Barrow, NAVAL LEADERSHIP – VOICES OF EXPERIENCE

Command Excellence – Admiral Chester Nimitz

Fleet Admiral (FADM) Chester Nimitz created command excellence in every command he was a part of. He did not broadcast his expectations, but conveyed them subtly to his officers. He demanded excellence not for his sake, but for the sake of the men themselves and their own pride and self-fulfillment. Nimitz believed that sound strategy is based on knowledge, information and technical experience. He gave an order and relied on his men to do what they thought best under a given situation. He once said “horses pull harder when the reins lie loose.” Nimitz kept his door open to his men. He believed the best ideas did not come from the top, but often from the men. 

From: AN ASSESSMENT OF STRATEGIC NAVAL LEADER COMPETENCIES
Commander Michael A. Strano

“I’m still learning every day. I still try to do my best and refuse to worry about things over which I have no control.” 

– Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz

Example of virtue, honor, patriotism and subordination

All commanding officers and others in authority in the naval service are required to show in themselves a good example of virtue, honor, patriotism, and subordination; to be vigilant in inspecting the conduct of all persons who are placed under their command; to guard against and suppress all dissolute and immoral practices, and to correct according to the laws and regulations of the Navy, all persons who are guilty of them; and to take all necessary and proper measures, under the laws, regulations, and customs of the naval service, to promote and safe guard the morale, the physical well-being, and the general welfare of the officers and enlisted persons under their command or charge.

U.S. Navy Regulations, Article 702A (original)

The CHARGE OF COMMAND Reminder HERE.  Ignored by many.

CNO on Electronic Warfare

So establishing a better awareness (of the electronic environment), is number one. 

 Two, we have got to be more agile, and I kind of mentioned that. We’ve got to be agile in our systems, but we’ve got to be agile in our own operations, in our ability to move around this and understand it. That gets to, that’s strike packages, that’s using our radars, that’s building the radars that can use different frequencies and get out of frequencies when we should and invest in them right off the bat. 

It’s really putting cyber teams together that can be more agile. (VADM) Mike Rogers has done a fantastic job up at 10th Fleet/Fleet CyberCom, doing that. In fact he is leading the way in the overall CyberCom arena in that regard. And we’ve got to evolve this paradigm that I just kind of mentioned to you, how we are going to approach things in the future. If they say hey, so and so just developed a new missile. A lot of times the question is can we shoot it down? The real question I think should be can we jam it, spoof it, avoid it? Can we detect it? And then similarly, whenever we’re designing a new missile, a lot of people want to say bigger warhead, bigger boost. I would say what’s the [seeker] like? What can it do in a turn? How can it avoid things? It’s an entire change to that kill chain approach. 

You can read his extemporaneous talk with the Association of Old Crows HERE.

Submariners are not typically the Navy’s experts in EW so give the CNO some latitude here.