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During my career, the Naval Security Group had commands that over time had become known as the crown jewels of the NSG. U.S. NSGA Edzell, U.S. NSGA Misawa and G80/GX/NIWA immediately come to mind. What would you consider to be the crown jewels among the commands of Fleet Cyber Command/TENTH Fleet today?
Edzell no longer exists, Misawa is on its way out and G80/GX/NIWA is the last of the group but transformed into Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group (NCWDG - Nick Wedge). NIOC Georgia and NIOC Ft Meade are gaining prominence. But, are they the crown jewels? You call it.
19 comments:
My thoughts are that there are four horses in this race: NIOCs HI, GA, TX and MD. The horse taking up the rear would be TX, not b/c they lack effort or quality of Sailors, but b/c SOUTHCOM and C4F are the little ponies when compared to the other COCOMs and #FLTs. In recent history, GA was prob the lead horse due to all the action in the CENTCOM and C5F AOR (OIF, OEF, etc); however, with the 'Pivot to the Pacific' the spot light is on NIOC HI to take the lead. Will they, we will see. The wildcard here is NIOC MD, b/c of the EUCOM/AFRICOM and C6F fall below PACOM/CENTOM and C77/C5F; however, the National Support that NIOC MD provides is quite amazing in volume of Sailors and where they work/what they do. Great topic for debate.
I may see this differently than most. FCC/10F is the crown and the many NIOCs are the jewels. Larger NIOC - larger jewel. Obviously, 400 Sailors will have more impact than 50-100. All add value to the crown. The mistake FCC/10F makes is in choosing who he allows to command the jewels. He has appointed some dubious caretakers. The command screening process ignores character (in my anonymous opinion) because we don't want to have the difficult discussion. Gentlemen see their own weaknesses and don't have the courage to address the weakness in others, perhaps for fear of revealing their own. Fortunately the community has very STRONG women and its not been an issue with them.
Size/volume is not a good indicator of quality/value. You get more bang for your buck from some of the smaller NIOCs and the sets.
Not ALL of the women in the community are STRONG as mentioned by anon @ 0743. There is currently a rising-star 1810 (not at one of the aforementioned "crown jewels") who is not keen on seeing, or addressing, her own weaknesses. It IS affecting the command.
The value of crown jewels is in their positive impact to the Fleet. Weight (size) can have a value all on its own but there are other characteristics that are ever so more important. Shore commands haven’t pulled their weight since the FOSIF/CSG teams went away. We haven’t had a ‘crown jewel’ outside this context since the fall of the wall.
However, There is one place where the 1610 (ok 1810) is virtually alone and unafraid and can truly shine (when detailed properly). The CSG/ESG is the crown jewel of the Navy and the CRC is our communities shining face. (Sorry N39/(D)IWC is not there yet.)
Personally I don't think any one command is better than the other, its what you do at those commands that make them great. Each command has its own mission and the number one mission is to support the warfighter in each theater. I would add our folks from CID as well.
For the folks bashing their commands the navy has plenty of options to voice your concerns NAVY HOTLINE use it, and if you use your name you will get answer.
CDR Wilkes
CDR Wilkes,
We don't often disagree but there is NO QUESTION that some commands are better than others. I don't mean that the command is perpetually better but better at a given point of time. The Navy has criteria to evaluate for Battle E and many other awards as well as 'best ship in the Pacific' etc with the Spokane Trophy. Some of this is certainly subjective and while a particular command may not objectively be the best, there is little question that it is "better".
While your experience at any given command is largely dependent on your contribution, there are clearly commands which do a better job of preparing their Sailors for greater success and increased responsibility.
I don't think there is much genuine interest is who is better. Good is good enough.
Best language program command - NIOC Georgia.
Best environmental stewardship - NIOC Sugar Grove.
Best EW - NIOC Whidbey.
Best retention - NIOC Ft Meade.
There's enough for everyone.
And, then there is the BEST of the BEST.
Though I have always thought of the position to which I was assigned at any given point in time as a crown jewel, “The” crown jewel is not a command, nor is it a billet. It remains the leaders who contribute well beyond their position, the commands that create opportunities to lead beyond their lifelines, and the teams who choose to create meaningful interdependencies in favor of prideful self-sufficiency. As far as the commands with the most significant opportunity (without assessing as to whether or not they are taking full advantage of said opportunity) to do all three, there is no question in my mind that it is the Center for Information Dominance. The opportunity to shape a culture at the point of accession, to personally interact with every Sailor joining our team, and to equip our greatest assets with the foundational knowledge, skills, and abilities to accomplish the mission is second to none.
CDR Heritage
Yes, the Center for Information Dominance won the:
Green "T" - Training Production Management
Gray "TS" - Planning and Programming
Black "T" - Curriculum Management
Gold "T" - Information Technology
Thanks CID PAO! Though I have no idea what those awards are, I do hope the team takes great pride in them. Over the course of my career, I continue to be reminded that the most significant contributions we make cannot truly be measured and therefore are not formally recognized. Instead of pretending to value the things we can measure, I'd like to see us find ways to celebrate the things we really value.
The question Captain Lambert poses here is a great one. What makes any one command more significant than the next? Is it the awards hung on the quarterdeck? Is it the promotion rate of those assigned to the command? Is it the retention rate? It may be some, all, or none of that. My time in command at NIOC Pensacola makes it a crown jewel in my book, but for none of those reasons. I believe the measure of a great command is what happens at the command five years after you leave, what contributions the alums of that command make at their future duty stations, and what relationships are maintained after "graduates" are spread across the Fleet.
Certainly, it is not the command itself that is the jewel but her Sailors and their leadership.
CID should be the crown jewel as CAPT(Sel) Heritage indicates, but it's not. The NETC awards are not an indication of actual valued-added to the IDC and have become so watered-down as to be almost meaningless in the NETC. CID misses more opportunities to succeed in the three areas CAPT(Sel) Heritage lists than it actually achieves. There is a dearth of leadership (top-to-bottom) and common-sense (mostly at the top) within the CID domain that really needs to be fixed, and fixed soon.
Comparing system capabilities to afloat performance gets me to the same conclusions. We are failing our sailors, and by extension the fleet.
Sir I agree with your assessment of awards that awarded that says your better than the other for that particular period in time. Very rarely or at least in my research do I see a command that wins consecutive awards.
I like the comments, it's the people, that is all commands are. The people and what are they doing to make their command and mission succeed.
As always I appreciate this blog and the ability to contrast other opinions. The one thing I do not like is people bashing commands or leaders who they have no knowledge of and do not understand the big picture. yet remain anonymous.
R CDR Wilkes
NCWDG? Never heard of that command. Can't find their website. Help please.
These are not the DROIDS you seek.
NIOC GA gets the nod from where I sit. Captain James Brokaw and crew set the bar very high. The return to standards is welcome. We have matured as a command a lot in the past two years. I am very proud to be a part of something great again. Something much bigger than our individual performance. We've come together as a team. Haven't seen anything like it since I was in Japan.
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