Author: captain1610

Navy icon passes away – CWO4 Exum died on Monday 19 August 2013

CWO4 Exum – Sailor rest your oars

Born on 10 May 1927, Wallace Louis Exum remains the embodiment of true Navy leadership. He was a man who lived his life richly in our Navy’s history, has performed bravely in battle, written lovingly about our Navy’s past and has prepared so many young men and women to lead our Navy’s future.

The Navy brought onto its rolls an improbable leader and a truly remarkable individual in an underaged 16 year old Seaman Recruit named Wallace Louis Exum in September 1943. Born in Akron, Ohio and raised mostly in the Los Angeles, California area by his two very loving parents, “Wally” Exum knew he had to perform his patriotic duty and join his young friends fighting the war in the Pacific.

Seaman Exum had not been in the Navy long before he strayed from his true course. More than once, he ran afoul of the Navy’s rules and regulations. Somewhere early-on he earned the nickname “Bigtime” for his easy-going manner, his extra thick Navy mattress and his home-of-record — Los Angeles. More than once he had some difficulty in finding his way back to his ship on time. But, he never did anything seriously wrong and NEVER ONCE did he ever do anything with malice against anyone.

17 February 1945 marked one of the many milestones in his life when he was wounded in battle as his Landing Craft Infantry (LCI-457) came under fire during the battle for Iwo Jima. On 17 February 1945, Landing Craft Infantry vessels supported underwater demolition teams (UDT), which conducted beach and surf condition surveillance and neutralized underwater obstacles. Japanese coastal batteries heavily damaged 12 of the vessels, resulting in 38 killed and 132 wounded. At 18 years old, Wally was among those many young men wounded who earned the Purple Heart Medal. The skipper of his LCI, a Lieutenant, won the Navy Cross.

Having won the war on both sides of the world, the military released many young men from the service. Wally Exum was among those men. But, somehow, he always found his way back to the Navy. He served in the Navy during the Korean War, Vietnam and throughout the Cold War. 

Over his career he found himself at sea for 18 years and gave the Navy and the nation 42 years of selfless service. His service took him around the world. He continues to serve the Navy in retirement today as a “Goodwill Ambassador”; his wonderful books tell the Navy’s story – and a wonderful story it is.

In 1981 at 55 years old, he was the first (and only) Chief Warrant Officer assigned as an instructor to the Navy’s Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Newport, Rhode Island. Somehow, the Chief of Naval Personnel, VADM Lando W. Zech had a personal hand in assigning CWO3 Exum to OCS. As a Celestial Navigation instructor, he would prepare hundreds of young men and women for successful careers as Naval officers – showing them all how to “navigate life – steering one’s true course”.

VADM Zech was certain that CWO3 Exum was the right man to develop these young men and women into professional Naval officers. VADM Zech sent exactly the right man. By all reports CWO3 Exum was an excellent navigation instructor.

With few (if any) exceptions, the officer candidates loved their instructor. Frequently he would spend many extra hours in the evenings with the officer candidates, teaching them the finer points of using a sextant to “shoot the stars” – absolutely essential to celestial navigation.

His evening lectures always ended with the same admonition to the young people trusted to his care. “Remember, ladies and gentlemen”, he would always say, “you can shoot the stars but we never shoot the moon.” The groans from the officer candidates would follow him all the way back to the parking lot where he parked a beautiful convertible Cadillac that his “even more beautiful” Joyce (one of the two loves in his life – the other being his daughter Marilyn) had given to him.

Without their realizing it at the time, Warrant Officer Exum was teaching these young people how to navigate their lives – not just celestial navigation. He taught them good manners, courtesy, honesty, patience, teamwork, integrity and so much more. He taught hundreds of young men and women to be good Naval officers. Those officers went on to lead thousands of Chief Petty Officers and Sailors in our great Navy. It is reasonable to say that CWO Exum impacted the lives of tens of thousands of Sailors through his good work and leadership in Newport, Rhode Island. He helped produce countless Navy Captains and certainly a few Admirals for the Navy. Not too bad for a 55 year old Chief Warrant Officer who was originally uncertain about his ability to get the job done for his friend and mentor, Vice Admiral Zech.

Following duty as an instructor and Company Officer at Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, CWO4 Exum was assigned as the Security Officer at the Fleet Activity Sasebo, Japan. Once again, he was challenged to put Sailors on their true course. He had no idea that he would be providing course corrections for his Commanding Officer. But, it didn’t matter. The CO was off course and it was CWO4 Exum’s duty to bring him back to the right course. Turns out the CO was violating Navy Regulations by allowing bulk sales of alcohol to Sailors during all hours of the day and was not attentive to many security issues confronting Fleet Activities Sasebo. Besides being against Navy Regulations, these bulk alcohol sales were creating all kinds of discipline problems among the Sailors in Sasebo – a lot of Sailors and a lot of alcohol are not a good mix. CWO4 Exum tactfully and discretely let the CO know that the bulk alcohol sales were prohibited by Navy Regs and were causing some discipline problems among the Sailors, as well as some black- market issues with the Japanese. CWO4 Exum also informed the CO about a number of security issues the base faced. The CO wouldn’t hear any of it. CWO4 Exum knew he had to get the CO on course to protect the CO from himself and to protect the Sailors. He told the CO he would take it up the chain of command. Anyone who knows anything about the Navy understands this put CWO4 Exum in a really tough spot. No one enjoys telling their CO that he’s wrong. And the CO sure doesn’t enjoying hearing it. But CWO4 Exum had long ago committed himself to “steering a true course”. CWO4 Exum filed his report and the CO promptly sent the Chief Warrant Officer to the psychiatric ward at the Naval Hospital Yokosuka, Japan. It was readily apparent to the doctors examining CWO4 Exum exactly what the CO had in mind. They kept CWO4 Exum aboard for a short period and released him back to Sasebo “fit for full duty.” Somehow the bulk alcohol sales ended soon thereafter and CWO4 Exum got the attention of the right people in the chain of command to the correct the many security deficiencies aboard Sasebo. Once again, this part of the Navy was back on its “one true course.”

And that is what his life is all about. You’ll find him teaching celestial navigation in the middle and high schools in Washington State from time to time. I am sure those students haven’t figured it out yet but ‘ol mister Exum is teaching them how to navigate life. Those kids are still getting lessons in courtesy, teamwork, honesty and so much more. Count on CWO4 Exum to make sure all the charts are current, we’re steering by the stars, we’re taking the whole crew and everyone is steering “one true course”.

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a lesson in manliness.

This short piece won the “2010 LESSONS IN MANLINESS” contest sponsored by THE ART OF MANLINESS blog.

Seven truths about leadership success

1. There aren’t any shortcuts – Do the work.  Read.  Study other leaders.  Find a mentor.
2. Great leaders started by being great followers – Learn to be a good follower and you’ll learn what it takes to be a good leader.  If you never learned to follow, leading may be a challenge for you.
3. There’s no mysterious secret to leadership – An honest effort to help others reach their potential is useful.
4. You already know what it takes to be a good leader – Be nice. Play well with others. Say please and thank you. Do what you can to help others. Of course you have to mature and apply those fundamentals in adult ways like being transparent and authentic with others.
5. The difference between management and leadership is overrated – Leaders have to manage and managers have to lead. Learn to do them both well because they are much more similar than they are different.
6. Leaders aren’t special – If you view leadership as service, which I happen to do, you should consider your team members more important than yourself. Get your ego out of the way and you’ll be on your way to success.
7. Leadership is much more about who you are than what you do – If you want to be a successful leader, your primary focus should be on the inner work that is required, not on behavioral tricks or techniques.
From Randy Conley, Trust Practice Leader for the Ken Blanchard Companies.

Lean out of the boat

I am an unabashed fan of the Information Dominance Corps leadership and here’s why.

Much of the Navy’s time is spent on Risk Management of all types (i.e., Liberty Risk, Operational Risk Management, Health Risk, Safety Risk, and the list goes on nearly without end.)

As Seth Godin has stated: “The purpose of the modern organization is to make it easy and natural and expected for people to take risks. To lean out of the boat. To be human.”

In many Navy commands, the opposite is happening.  Risk is avoided at all costs.  Much time is spent avoiding that “one mistake” that takes you out of the promotion cycle.  Godin calls this “institutionalized cowardice”  Too many Sailors have the opportunity to say “that’s not my job.”  Don’t be one of them.

What we are seeing more and more of in the IDC is that senior leadership is providing a platform for bravery instead. It’s been awhile since the messenger has been shot.  Even VADM Card has taken the message to the CNO personally for the community.  The IDC is embracing new ideas every day and the best chance you have of getting your idea adopted is to share it.  Put it down on paper and send it up the chain – VFR direct, if you have that much courage.  I check with N2N6 and FCC/C10F staff officers regularly and I can tell you – the messengers are all ALIVE and WELL and so are the thinkers and doers. 


Go ahead, your leadership has made it natural and easy – BE BRAVE – share those ideas.  Lean out of the boat.

Standards for Commanding Officers

Below are the high standards expected of Commanding Officers nominated for the VADM James Bond Stockdale Leadership Award.
The most important criteria will be a judgment of the command’s overall excellence, which can be attributed to the CO’s personal initiatives and performance. Time-honored principles of leadership are well known: setting an outstanding example, motivating subordinates, and enforcing standards. High standards of military behavior, courtesy, demeanor, and appearance have always been the hallmarks of a well-led command. An overall tone of positive achievement is conducive to combat readiness, discipline, and high performance.

Truly effective leaders know the weapons system and how to fight it to maximum advantage. They know their personnel and take care of them. In fulfillment of these duties, the CO’s conduct is governed by a special set of moral, ethical, and behavioral standards that distinguish the military leader from civilian managers in society at large.

These are indeed high standards but they should be the MINIMUM standard against which our Commanding Officers are evaluated.

CPO 365 hits a snag

From Navy Times…

In the wake of reports of “unprofessional behavior” during CPO 365 Phase II — formerly known as chief induction — Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (AW/NAC) Mike Stevens has ordered a two-day standdown to allow commands to re-evaluate how they’re conducting the training of chief-selects. 

The pause in training started at 7 a.m. Monday and ends at the same time Wednesday. 
“I’ve had two anonymous reports of unprofessional behavior happening during CPO 365 Phase II,” MCPON Stevens said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s important to give every CPO Mess a moment to take time and review the CPO Guidance, ensuring that all are operating within the guidelines that were prescribed.”
Today, Thursday 15 August 2013, the CPO 365 training has recommenced.

Captain Doug Powers assumes command of Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command

Captain Douglas A. Powers relieved Captain Alan F. Kukulies as Commanding Officer of Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command (NCDOC) on 9 August 2013.

Kukulies, who assumed command of Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command July 22, 2011,led the command through the complex and challenging planning for a successful move from JEBLCFS, Virginia Beach, Va., to the Global Network Operations and Security Center in Suffolk, Va., scheduled for late 2013.


“It truly has been a privilege to serve with the professional men and women of the NCDOC team. Their commitment to our mission and to our nation will remain with me as a memorable source of pride,” said Kukulies, reflecting on his time at NCDOC.


NCDOC is responsible for around the clock protection of the Navy’s computer networks. It evolved from the Navy Computer Incident Response Team which was established in January 1996 as part of the Fleet Information Warfare Center. NCDOC was commissioned as an Echelon IV command under Naval Network Warfare Command in January 2006, and moved under Fleet Cyber Command in 2011.

Taken from Navy News.

This Moment

This is from an article in HBR by Peter Bergman but the point has been made by Commander Sean Heritage and I repeatedly in a number of our blogposts.

“So here’s the question I’d like to propose you ask yourself throughout your day: What can I do, right now, that would be the most powerful use of this moment?

What can I say? What action can I take? What question can I ask? What issue can I bring up? What decision can I make that would have the greatest impact?

Asking these questions — and answering them honestly — is the path to choosing new actions that could bring better outcomes. The hard part is following through on the answers and taking the risks to reap the full benefits of each moment. That takes courage. But it’s also what brings the payoff.”

Peter Bergman
HBR