Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Change of Command Announcement


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve Parode has always been one of the stronger leaders. A man with good ideas and the wherewithall to carry them through. Thought he would have gotten the flag nod. The Alexander influence on navy flag matters has been extreme.

Unknown said...

I appreciate the compliment. I consider that I've been doubly blessed to have the opportunity to command our superb Sailors twice in my career! I'm looking forward to my next assignment as ADM Greenert's Senior Fellow on his Strategic Studies Group, where I hope to contribute to our Navy's future. I hope to see you on the 29th!

Unknown said...

While I very much appreciate the compliment, I value most that our leadership has entrusted Sailors to my command twice in my career. I look forward to serving as ADM Greenert's Senior Fellow on the XXXIII Strategic Studies Group and hope I can continue to contribute to the Navy's future. If you can make it on the 29th, please say "hi"!

Anonymous said...

I respect Captain Parode immensely as a man and my senior but he was ill matched to this command. NCWDG is a FAILED experiment on nearly every level. Some hold out hope that our new CO Captain Stewart will make a difference. If you know the history, you have seen intellectual after intellectual (Zellmann, Gronewold, Blackburn, Brown, etc, etc) flow through the various iterations of the command (G80, GX, NIWA, NSGA, NIOC, NCWDG). We need a leader now. Having a decent XO to back up the CO would be a good idea also. We have seen only a succession of FOS CDRs in that job. It demoralizes all of our NCWDG command members. For goodness sake, this is supposed to be the IW Community's R&D arm. We may believe it but I know that not a single person outside NCWDG believes that is the case. Most of us no longer believe it. I apologize for the rant but I have shared this with the leadership. While I hope for change, I don't expect it. I'll go to my next assignment knowing people won't respect where I came from. That is not a pleasant experience.

CWO4 Brian Ashpole, USN-Retired said...

I met Captain Parode way back in 1995 when he showed up from CRG Northwest during our COMTUEX. LT (now Captain) Frank Shaul and I were preparing our Kearsarge Cryptologic team for deployment.
He came aboard as senior evaluator from NSGA Northwest CRG. He didn't have much to do because we were prepared so it really was a very good professional exchange and learning experience for all.
We showed him we were serious and he took it to the bank. LT Shaul and I were proud to show him a professional team at work.

Kevin said...

Anon @ 1007,

Have to ask, what have YOU done to correct the situation at NCWDG?

Every command has its room for improvement. What have you done over this tour to put NCWDG on the map? I know I'm busting my butt to ensure my command is something to be proud of.

Anonymous said...

Adon @ 1007,

Sounds like you are a very unhappy, perhaps even disgruntled NCWDG insider. I'm not completely an outsider but I've been in the community for awhile and I know little of NCWDG or her predecessor organizations. Good OPSEC is hard to come by and I have a feeling that the intent is for outsiders not to know too much about the command and its operations. So if I were you I would own your inadequacies and not cast other people's perceptions of them in the light of a place that you came from that they know little about, really.

Additionally, I am very confident that there are senior Navy leaders that oversee the command and know exactly what NCWDG is doing and its importance to the Navy. Hearing the CNO laud NCWDG, and taking her CO to lead the SSG, convinces me even further that your 'failed experiment' comment is wrong.

Question: You clearly have a poor opinion of Navy CDRs whom are not selected to be Captain. You do realize that at some point just about every officer FOSs (unless they get out first). Do you really want to color all FOSed officers with the same brush?

If that question is to hard ... answer Kevins.

Ps. You owe the XO an apology.