Eye On The Prize

Their eyes were always on the thing that would lead to command. . . .they were born to command and this was the objective, and anything else was a diversion.


Rear Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Jr.
(son of Fleet Admiral Nimitz)

A Crew Will Want to Know

"In every position, a commander's crew will want to know how much you care for them far more than they will ever care how much you know."

Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, USN (ret)
Chief of Naval Operations
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Center for Naval Cryptology - Established on 28 April 2003 - 6 Years Young Today

Center for Naval Cryptology Is No Secret

"This is a great time to be a Sailor, this is a great time to be in the cryptology field," said center Commanding Officer, Captain Edward H. Deets III upon the initial commissioning of the Center for Naval Cryptology at Corry Station - Pensacola, Florida. "We have the best and brightest Sailors. They are very smart and highly motivated. For their service, we must ensure they are given all the tools and opportunities they need to succeed. The Center for Naval Cryptology is sharpening the point of America's spear."

Captain Connie Frizzell is the FIRST female Commanding Officer for the Center for Information Dominance and is the YOUNGEST Commanding Officer in the command's history. She was recently recognized by her high school when she was inducted into the school district's wall of distinction during ceremonies at the Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

She will be relieved as commanding officer by Captain Gary Edwards on 26 June 2009. Her follow-on assignment is with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

INTELLIGENT AGENTS FOR INFORMATION SYSTEM OPERATIONS

This paper discusses new information operations concepts related to the use of intelligent agents. The basic agent concept involves dispatching a group of processes across a network to service a user’s request at remote locations and to return selected results. With the growth of high bandwidth backbones, networks, and the expanded use of mobile computing, agents fill an essential niche as extensions of the user.

Agents assist users in coping with the ever-increasing extent of information available from a host of heterogeneous sources including the internet. Agents operate autonomously, have rules that constrain their operations, and are reactive to changes they detect in their environment. Advanced agents interact and collaborate with other agents and learn from their experiences. Other advances include increasingly sophisticated abilities to adapt their behavior. In networked environments, agents can be mobile to seek the information they need or to follow their user. For mobile users who only connect to a network periodically, the intelligent agent can act as a surrogate representative. Agent technology depends on the use of standards and technologies to support requested services.

In this thesis, 21st century aspects of this technology are discussed, including concepts for information acquisition, protection, processing, transport, and management.

Susan K. Cerovsky-Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy
B.S., University of South Alabama, 1984
Master of Science in Information Technology Management-June 2000
and
Evan A. Hipsley, Jr.-Lieutenant, United States Navy
B.S., Old Dominion University, 1993
Master of Science in Information Technology Management-June 2000

Can We Have A Reasonable Uniform Policy

I VIEW THE PROHIBITION AGAINST THE WEARING OF CLEAN, NEAT WORKING UNIFORMS OR DUNGAREES TO AND FROM WORK AS UNWARRANTED AND I NOW DIRECT THAT IT BE SUSPENDED FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF ALL CONCERNED.

TO STANDARDIZE CURRENT PRACTICES, WORKING UNIFORMS, DUNGAREES, AND FLIGHT SUITS ARE AUTHORIZED IN ALL NAVAL COMMISSARIES. EXCHANGES, SNACK BARS, DISPENSARIES, DISBURSING OFFICES, AND OTHER SERVICE TYPE FACILITIES, AND NO ONE WILL BE DENIED ENTRANCE FOR BEING IN THE "IMPROPER" UNIFORM, ASSUMING THOSE WORN ARE CLEAN, NEAT, AND IN GOOD CONDITION. BASE COMMANDERS WILL REVIEW SIMILAR RESTRICTIONS APPLICABLE TO DEPENDENTS AND ADOPT REGULATIONS CONSISTENT WITH CURRENT FASHIONS.

Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Chief of Naval Operations
Z-gram # 57 (Elimination of Demeaning or Abrasive Regulations), 10 November 1970

Upon his death, President Clinton said "He is the Sailor who never stopped serving his country, never stopped fighting for the men and women in uniform, never stopped being the conscience of the Navy. His earthly voyage is now done. And now he sails beyond the farthest horizon, out of the home port where at last he is safe from all storms."

CNO Directs That ...

“Commanding Officers and officers in charge:

Use Navy history to educate and motivate our Sailors.

In line with my 2009 guidance and our Navy ethos, Commanding Officers are the front line in communicating our mission, spirit, and heritage.

We are a profession with common goals, common purpose, and strong culture that is a force multiplier.

Each year, Sailors face change; they grow, develop, lead, and move on to new challenges. the mission, the culture, and the bonds of service remain.

Commanding Officers lead development of those ties to professional esprit de corps.”

Better get to it.

Petraeus Outlines Basic Leadership Tenets

When it comes to strategic leadership, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan boils his philosophy down to four basic tenets:

1. Get the really big ideas right.
2. Educate – and if necessary, sell -- your subordinates on those ideas. Ensure everyone shares a common command vision.
3. Execute them (the big ideas) together. Once everyone is on the same sheet of music, the next step is to work together as a team to put those big ideas into action.
4. Then, identify lessons learned and best practices to improve the whole process. You have to feed them back in to refine the big ideas -- which then have to be transmitted to the subordinate leaders to change the way you are executing.

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus
Commander, U.S. Central Command

A Promise That Must Be Kept

"And I promise you this: From the minute you put on that uniform to the minute you take it off, and for all the days of your life, this country will stand behind you and will be here for you, because we know that you will be there for us."

Barack Hussein Obama
President of the United States of America
in his discussion with U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen at the White House


I am not exactly sure what this means but it sounds incredibly meaningful.

FY10 Information Warfare Officer Captains

CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE FINE OFFICERS

Mickey Batson - NIOC Suitland
Joe Boogren - Commander, 6th Fleet
David Carson - Commanding Officer - NIOC Menwith Hill Station
Susan Cerovsky - Information Warfare Commander - CCSG 12
Stone Davis - Commanding Officer - NIOC Texas
Eric Dietz - Commander, 3rd Fleet
Justin Kershaw - Commanding Officer - NIOC Yokosuka
Tim Rohrer - Commander, 2nd Fleet
Frank Shaul - Commanding Officer - NIOC Pensacola

Charting A Course To Command Excellence

In the Model for Command Excellence, between the inputs and results, were factors the model termed intermediate outputs. The intermediate outputs of superior commands also distinguished them. Sailors in the command had a sense of mission. They were motivated and committed to the command. Morale, pride, and teamwork were evident throughout the command. Attitudes and values of Sailors on board reflected this. These intermediate outputs directly affected the final outputs.

What accounts for the differences between them in superior and average commands?

Three areas make a difference between the results of superior and average commands:

• the Sailors in the command,
• the relationships between them
• the activities they perform

"Sailors" refers to the different people in the command. This includes the Commanding Officer (CO), the Executive Officer (XO), the Wardroom, the Chiefs Quarters, and the Crew.

"Relationships" refers to the relationships between different groups of Sailors and the ways these groups of people interact with each other. "Activities" include those things that people do that make the biggest differences between average and top commands.

Five activities were identified:

• Planning
• Maintaining Standards
• Communicating
• Building Esprit de Corps
• Training and Development

Ensign and Lieutenant Seed Corn

From NAVY TIMES

Captain John Schultz, head community manager at Navy Personnel Command, uses the farming analogy of “seed corn” for junior officers, a valuable resource for future needs.

“One of the things we’re working today is clearly defining what that agriculture base should be. We put a lot of emphasis on the control-grade work, but you don’t get people in the control grades unless you have a healthy O-1 to O-3, the seed corn,” he said.

My thoughts:

The Navy uses the farming analogy later on when these seed corn grow into O-4s and O-5s. They call it sorting the wheat from the chaff. And later, when they are O-6s, the Navy puts them out to pasture. This is all too much farm talk about Sailors as far as I'm concerned.

Sailors are our most important asset, maybe we shouldn't refer to them as an agricultural base. Makes me worry about them being tilled under (E7-E9 continuation boards) to produce a stronger crop.

Weaving the Threads of Leadership - VADM James Bond Stockdale

There are few topics in the Navy that are debated, studied, or written about as much as leadership. Navy leaders are said to be on a career-long leadership continuum that begins with recruitment and in many cases ends following retirement. Various Chiefs of Naval Operations have asserted that “every Sailor is a leader.” The history of the U.S. Navy is draped with the rich fabric of the threads of leadership – trust, judgment, authoritative speech, strengthening of others, optimism, enthusiasm, resolution, and positive example. No one in the Navy has woven these threads of leadership into a stronger fabric than CDR James Bond Stockdale during his nearly 8 years as a Prisoner of War in Hoa Lo prison in North Vietnam.

The heroics of this Medal of Honor winner while imprisoned in the infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ in Vietnam are legendary. The naval officers who have earned the inspirational leadership award in his name are extraordinary – though, to a man, I believe each would deny they were. Most of the winners that I contacted denied it outright – all acknowledged their crews’ contributions to command successes. These men uniformly displayed humility and a genuine willingness to self-critique; each considered himself to be an “ordinary man”. (To date, no woman has won the award and only one has been nominated – Captain Babette Bolivar, USNA 1985; 2006 Pacific Fleet Finalist.)

My article on The Extraordinary League of Officers and Gentlemen who have won his leadership award.

USS STOCKDALE was commissioned on Saturday, 18 April - my #1 son's birthday.

The Navy Believes. . .

in putting a man in a position with a job to do, and let him do it – [and] give him hell if he does not perform . . . We . . . capitalize on the capabilities of our individual people rather than . . . make automatons [out] of them. This builds the essential pride of service and sense of accomplishment. [And] if it results in a certain amount of cockiness, I am [all] for it.”

Admiral Arleigh Burke

Small Minded Men

There are plenty of small-minded men who, in time of peace, excel in detail, are inexorable in matters of equipment and drill, and perpetually interfere with the work of their subordinates.

They thus acquire an unmerited reputation, and render the service a burden, but they above all do mischief in preventing development of individuality, and in retarding the advancement of independent and capable spirits.

When war arises the small minds, worn out by attention to trifles, are incapable of effort, and fail miserably. So goes the world.

Archduke Albert

What Is In Store for the Information Warfare Community?

The Information Warfare community has the challenge and the opportunity to define, recruit, train and sustain the Navy's Cyber force of the future. We are already making significant progress in this area as the world and technology continue to change. I am confident the IW community will be successful in defining the Navy's Cyber Strategy, and Computer Network Operations will get us there. Our traditional roles in Signals Intelligence will remain our core competency.

Captain James Hagy
Commanding Officer
Navy Information Operations Command Hawaii
in the SPRING Edition of INFODOMAIN (90MB file)

In Praise of 360 Degree Feedback

Military officers operate under powerful incentives to conform to senior officers’ views, even if those views are out of touch with reality. Our organizational culture of conformity is likely to allow these arguments to go unchallenged. Our senior leaders are not bad people, but they work in a bad system that rewards the wrong behaviors.

If we desire creative intelligence and moral courage from our officers, Congress must create a system that rewards these qualities. Civilian graduate education, especially in the social sciences, humanities, and languages, can strengthen the intellectual caliber and cultural literacy of our officer corps. Three-hundred sixty degree evaluations are more likely than the current system to identify morally courageous and innovative leaders. Our subordinates judge us every day, but we’ve created a system to make sure that promotion boards never hear those judgments, and our officer corps is worse for it. Some fear that 360 degree evaluations will become ‘popularity contests’ but in my experience those fears are unfounded. Troops admire leadership and despise pandering, and have a much better record than promotion boards of distinguishing between the two.

Read the entire article by clicking below.
Colonel Paul Yingling
Irregular Warfare and Adaptive Leadership
Presented to US Army Command and General Staff College on 2 April 2009.

FY10 Information Warfare (IW) Flag Officer Selection Announcement

is imminent. Last year's list was published on 1 April. This year's list can't be too far away.

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense News Release

On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/ Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public contact: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. XXXX-09 April XX, 2009

Flag Officer Announcements Your favorite Information Warfare (IW) Captain has been selected for Rear Admiral Lower Half (RDML). Someone between these two guys was selected. ------ INFORMATION WARFARE (161X) ------ SR INITIAL ELIGIBLE - BERGMAN, R. G. 017596-00 01 FEB 06 JR INITIAL ELIGIBLE - BARKSDALE, C. A. 018324-00 01 OCT 06

Fighting in Cyberspace in 2030 - Strategic Studies Group XXVI

Not sure what the plan is in the near term, but back in 2006 the Chief of Naval Operations' Strategic Studies Group looked at fighting in cyberspace in 2030. This study ordered 2 1/2 years ago "looks to the future and tries to predict where we will be engaged in warfare in the information age." The SSG's task was to generate revolutionary naval concepts to ensure (we have) Navy capabilities in this emerging warfare domain.

Somewhere in the process the SSG provided the CNO with a high-level blueprint as well as a roadmap with immediately actionable steps - operational, process, and technological that our Navy can take to begin developing the capabilities.

Has anyone seen the results? Please leave a comment.

Chief Among His Monumental Achievements - RADM James S. McFarland

1. Commanded large overseas shore station - NSGA Misawa. Earned Gold Anchor Award two years in a row. Won Travis Trophy and Meritorious Unit Commendation.
2. Commanded the Naval Security Group Command, Washington, D.C.
3. First Officer in Charge of the Cryptologic Support Group Rota, Spain.
4. Created a whole new approach to command screen/selection process. Used a participatory process with people - not just records.
5. Identified ways and means to disseminate Combat Support Intelligence directly to those who need it.
6. Created a school for cryptologic officers.
7. Paying more attention to our Sailors and showing more concern for their families. Staying in touch with the officers, Chiefs and Sailors in the community.
8. Never compromised my integrity.
9. Not afraid to say - "I made a mistake, let's fix it."
10. Created new alliances with our coalition forces during Desert Shield/Storm.
11. Believe and practice participatory management.
12. Keep my balance. Like to order my priorities.

RADM James S. McFarland's achievements in his own words (ranked in importance to him).

SEVEN PRINCIPLES

"I believe there are a handful of fundamental principles that, when followed, can lead to success in the intelligence profession. These principles, I believe, apply to all members of our business, regardless of Service, specialty, personal or professional background and skills, paygrade, position or seniority.

What are the fundamentals? They are:

• professional competence,
• relevance,
• dedication,
• sense of urgency,
• attention to detail,
• leadership and
• maintaining the highest ethical standards."

Vice Admiral Jack Dorsett
Director of Naval Intelligence (OPNAV N2)

Christ is Risen

Leadership Secrets of Jesus Christ - Happy Easter

1. Jesus was a problem solver.

2. Jesus believed in his product.

3. Jesus never misrepresented his product.

4. Jesus went where the people were.

5. Jesus took time to rest.

6. Jesus took time to plan.

7. Jesus knew he did not have to close every sale.

8. Jesus had something others needed.

9. Jesus was concerned about people’s finances.

10. Jesus was willing to go where he had never been.

11. Jesus never allowed what others said about him to changes his opinion of himself.

12. Jesus understood timing and preparation.

13. Jesus developed a passion for his goals.

14. Jesus respected authority.

15. Jesus never discriminated.

16. Jesus offered incentives.

17. Jesus overcame the stigma of a questionable past.

18. Jesus never wasted time answering critics.

19. Jesus knew there was a right time and a wrong time to approach people.

20. Jesus educated those he mentored.

21. Jesus refused to be discouraged when others misjudged his motives.

22. Jesus refused to be bitter when others were disloyal or betrayed him.

23. Jesus networked with people of all backgrounds.

24. Jesus resisted temptation.

25. Jesus made decisions that created a desired future instead of a desired present.

26. Jesus never judged people by their outward appearance.

27. Jesus recognized the law of redemption.

28. Jesus was a tomorrow thinker.

29. Jesus knew that money alone could not bring contentment.

30. Jesus knew the power of words and the power of silence.

31. Jesus knew when you want something you have never had,
you have to do something you have never done.

32. Jesus permitted others to correct their mistakes.

33. Jesus knew his worth.

34. Jesus never tried to succeed alone.

35. Jesus knew that money is anywhere you really want it to be.

36. Jesus set specific goals.

37. Jesus knew that every great achievement requires a willingness to begin small.

38. Jesus hurt when others hurt.

39. Jesus was not afraid to show his feelings.

40. Jesus knew the power of habit.

41. Jesus finished what he started.

42. Jesus was knowledgeable of scripture.

43. Jesus never hurried.

44. Jesus went where he was celebrated instead of where he was tolerated.

45. Jesus constantly consulted his heavenly father.

46. Jesus knew that prayer generates results.

47. Jesus rose early.

48. Jesus never felt he had to prove himself to anyone.

49. Jesus avoided unnecessary confrontations.

50. Jesus delegated.

51. Jesus carefully guarded his personal schedule.

52. Jesus asked questions to accurately determine the needs and desires of others.

From - The Leadership Secrets of Jesus by Mike Murdock; published by Honor Books, Tulsa OK; 1996

A Nation's Flag - A thoughful mind

“A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation’s flag, sees not a flag only, but the nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, be read chiefly in the flag of the government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the nation that sets it forth.”

Henry Ward Beecher

“The National Flag,” 1861.

What Counts Most In The Navy

“I believe in what counts most in the Navy – the officers and enlisted men – the man behind the gun, the man in the engine-room, the man in the conning tower, the man, whoever he is, who is doing his duty.”

President Theodore Roosevelt

All Captains Are Different

"All captains are different. Some can govern effectively from the relative obscurity of an Olympian detachment. I think of a captain more as a servant than as a master, so I must know the needs of the crew. The best way to learn the needs of the crew is from their mouths to my ear, through conversation in the thousands of unlikely quiet (and not so quiet) corners that make up a U.S. Navy warship ."


Admiral James Stavridis
DESTROYER CAPTAIN

This new thinking - Smart Power

"This new thinking will take us from a culture of war to a culture of war and peace, from a culture of moving people and materiel to one of moving ideas. Essentially, I think it is really not about soft power or hard power, but rather what some have called 'smart power,' which is the ability to dial between the poles of hard and soft. After all, life is a rheostat, not an on-off switch."

Admiral James Stavridis, Commander SOUTHERN COMMAND

Stavridis is something of a new breed among commanders. He has gained a reputation for being less wedded to convention, more open to engaging with the news media and the public, an advocate for creating civilian and even private partnerships for the military. And as a military chief, he is an outspoken believer that "smart power" can trump traditional firepower.

From the Associated Press Wireservice

Looking Forward

In a cyberspace environment of constant change, the Department must continually review its posture. It is clear we cannot accomplish all we desire in this evolving domain without significant assistance from a broad range of partners from academia, industry, and other governments.

Collectively, with the support of Congress, the Department will:

• Continually assess emerging threats and existing vulnerabilities.
• Exercise our abilities to anticipate, predict, prevent and respond to cyberspace attacks.
• Build capacity and capability to take advantage of the opportunities and limit challenges inherent to cyberspace.
• Organize ourselves, within the U.S. Government, to defend national interests and advance national policy through cyberspace.

From the QUADRENNIAL ROLES AND MISSIONS REVIEW REPORT

Necessity for Discipline Never Changes

"This military training teaches one of the greatest problems of success: discipline . . . War methods change, but the necessity for discipline never changes."

Admiral Arleigh Burke (in a grade school essay)

Purpose of the Navy

“The purpose of the Navy,” says Vice Admiral John Bird, commander of the Seventh Fleet, “is not to fight.” The mere presence of the Navy should suffice, he argues, to dissuade any attack or attempt to destabilize the region.

“I am a disciple of Adam Smith,” he says wryly. “Peace can be reached by free trade, but free trade requires that the sea be policed by a strong navy.”

No Longer Sick of Uniform Changes?

According to an article in The Seahawk, the newspaper at U.S. Fleet Activities, Yokosuka in 1984, the fifth Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Sanders told a group of Sailors that the CNO had made it a major priority to work for uniform stability. "The CNO has been around the Navy for a long time and is just as sick of all the uniform changes as you are," said MCPON Billy Sanders.

Everyone in the Navy must own the new NWU, they just can't wear it - in the Pentagon, off-base, in the combat zone, after normal duty hours, while riding public transportation, while exiting their cars, etc, etc. Edward Ziegler, a spokesman for Naval District Washington said, "It's just a matter of common sense."

I believe the Navy doesn't think Sailors have any (common sense).

IO in Combat

Integration of Information Operations in Combat

This study concludes that the both organizational and information theories help explain how and why military commanders integrate IO successfully into combat operations insights drawn from this study include: without the proper command atmosphere, the integration of information operations will simply not occur.

Commanders who do not believe in the usefulness of IO will focus on kinetic operations instead of a full spectrum view using all the elements of combat power; and The increased speed and reliability of information that passes from the human network (physical) to the computer network, and from the tactical to the strategic levels, allows commanders and staffs alike to understand and integrate IO into combat operations more effectively.

INTEGRATION OF INFORMATION OPERATIONS IN COMBAT
Christopher R. Quick
Major, United States Army
Naval Postgraduate School Masters Thesis

Mentoring, counseling, and coaching

Today’s leaders have the critical responsibility to develop future leaders who are prepared to meet tomorrow’s challenges. An essential component of this development is mentoring. The term mentorship refers to the voluntary, developmental relationship between a person of greater experience and a person of lesser experience that is characterized by mutual trust and respect.

Mentorship impacts both personal development (maturity, interpersonal and communication skills) as well as professional development (technical and tactical knowledge and career path knowledge).

The goal of mentorship is to assist the lesser-experienced person in reaching his/her personal and professional potential. It is critical to understand that mentorship is not any one behavior or set of behaviors, but rather includes all of the leader development behaviors (that is, counseling, teaching, coaching, and role modeling) that are displayed by a trusted advisor.

The strength of the mentorship relationship is the fact that it is based on mutual trust and respect. Assessment, feedback and guidance accelerate the developmental process and enhance performance. When this occurs within a mentoring relationship, even higher performance results.

Mentoring requires taking advantage of any opportunity to teach, counsel, or coach to build skills and confidence in the mentored. Mentoring is not limited to formal sessions but can include every event from quarterly training briefs to after-action reviews to casual, recreational activities.

One of the most important legacies that today’s senior leaders can leave on the Navy is to mentor junior leaders to fight and win future conflicts. Mentoring develops great leaders to lead great Sailors.

Happy Birthday CPOs

Chief Petty Officer Ratings established on April 1, 1893
Seamen Master-at-Arms Boatswain's Mate Quartermaster Gunner's Mate	Artificer Machinist Carpenter's Mate	Special Yeoman Apothecary Band Masters

Artwork by Suzanne Frie

MCPON's CPO Birthday Message: Anchor Up Chiefs ** (See note at the bottom)
Story Number: NNS090331-04
Release Date: 3/31/2009 9:47:00 AM

From Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON)(SS/SW) Rick D. West

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- On the occasion of the chief petty officers' 116th birthday, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) (SS/SW) Rick D. West sent the following March 30.

"On April 1st, our entire mess will pause to celebrate the 116th birthday of the United States Navy chief petty officer. Traditionally, this is a time for each of us to look at the honored traditions of our mess and the heritage associated with it.

In the days leading up to our birthday, I've taken some time to read up on many of my predecessors. One I'd like to discuss with you this year is our fifth Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, MCPON Billy Sanders.

Twenty five years ago, MCPON Sanders was leading an enlisted force that was gradually downsizing, and he was stressing a need to keep our ranks filled with the best possible people.

He turned his attention to the senior enlisted and said that there was no room for mediocrity. He addressed the entire group and told the master chiefs, senior chiefs and chiefs that, "it's clear from your years of service that you have made a career decision to remain in the Navy — that's not enough. It's time to be a professional military man or woman."

"It's time," Sanders wrote, "to be Navy."

What a statement, and look at how relevant it is today as we reach the end of a time where our force has grown smaller. Leadership at the CPO level has never been more important, and Sanders' words still apply.

I'd recommend each of you take the time to read up on the history of our mess. I think you'll find, as I did, that the lessons from our past have remained current to this day.

Happy birthday shipmates. I really appreciate the hard work you do every single day.

Don't forget those who have gone before us and the standards they set for us all. Keeping our heritage alive is a Mess responsibility.

Thank you for your leadership.

Anchor up ** and hooyah Navy chiefs!!"

** NOTE: The phrase "Anchor Up!" first appeared in print as a call to Chief Petty Officers to step up and reclaim their mess in an article I wrote called "Anchor Up, Chiefs! - Reset The Mess" which was published in USNI PROCEEDINGS several years ago. I am pleased that the MCPON has picked up the phrase - and then dropped it like a hot potato.