Letter Writing

His courtesy was somewhat extravagant. When he encountered anyone as punctilious as himself their correspondence ended only with death.

I would have answered your letter sooner, but you didn't send one.

Or don't you like to write letters? I do because it's such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you've done something.

 ~Ernest Hemingway

Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

MONTH LONG CELEBRATION OF FCC/C10F HERITAGE AND INNOVATIVE FUTURE

FROM DVIDS NEWS:

U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. TENTH Fleet

Petty Officer 2nd Class David Finley

U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet (FCC/C10F), which is headquartered in the Frank B. Rowlett Building located at Fort George G. Meade, Md., celebrates its fifth year of operations since being established on Jan. 29, 2010. Its vision: "Fleet Cyber Command’s vision is to conduct operations in and through cyberspace, the electromagnetic spectrum, and space to ensure Navy and Joint/Coalition freedom of action and decision superiority while denying the same to our adversaries. We will win in these domains through our collective commitment to excellence and by strengthening our alliances with entities across the U.S. government, Department of Defense, academia, industry, and our foreign partners."

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. - U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet (FCC/C10F) is marking its fifth year of operations at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, from Jan. 29 to Feb. 28, during a month long celebration of both its heritage and innovative future.

Since its establishment on Jan. 29, 2010, FCC/C10F has carried on the legacy of the former Naval Security Group and Navy Network Warfare Command in unifying warfighting capabilities — cryptologic/signals intelligence, information operations, electronic warfare, network operations and space capabilities — and converging them with the cyber domain.  

The commissioning of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and reestablishment of C10F on January 29, 2010 closely followed the Navy’s 2009 acknowledgement of information’s centrality to maritime warfighting, known as Information Dominance. Information Dominance is defined as the operational advantage gained from fully integrating the Navy’s information functions, capabilities, and resources to optimize decision making and maximize warfighting effects. The three pillars of Information Dominance are assured command and control (C2), battlespace awareness, and integrated fires. Fleet Cyber Command is a key warfighting element in delivering on missions across those three pillars. 

FCC/C10F was created in 2010 as part of the Chief of Naval Operations' vision to achieve the integration and innovation necessary for warfighting superiority across the full spectrum of military operations in the maritime, cyberspace, and information domains.

U.S. Fleet Cyber Command reports directly to the Chief of Naval Operations as an Echelon II command and is responsible for Navy Networks, Cryptology, Signals Intelligence, Information Operations, Electronic Warfare, Cyber, and Space. As such, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command serves as the Navy Component Command to U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Cyber Command, and the Navy’s Service Cryptologic Component Commander under the National Security Agency/Central Security Service, exercising operational control of Fleet Cyber Command mission forces through TENTH Fleet (C10F). 

C10F is the operational arm of Fleet Cyber Command and executes its mission through a task force structure similar to other warfare commanders. In this role, C10F provides operational direction through its Maritime Operations Center located at Fort Meade, executing command and control over assigned forces in support of Navy or joint missions in cyber/networks, information operations, electronic warfare, cryptologic/signals intelligence and space.

Looking ahead, FCC/C10F’s vision is “…to conduct operations in and through cyberspace, the electromagnetic spectrum, and space to ensure Navy and Joint/Coalition freedom of action and decision superiority while denying the same to our adversaries. We will win in these domains through our collective commitment to excellence and by strengthening our alliances with entities across the US government, Department of Defense, academia, industry, and our foreign partners.”

The updated strategic plan to achieve this vision will be released at the end of February 2015.

LEADERSHIP

Sailors are growing fatigued.  You are going to have to show them what you are made of.  Show them some real leadership and make that tough decision.  They are waiting.

Kirby’s Rules

From: 20 Questions With John Kirby

From The Pendulum: Doctrine Man HERE

Always be:
1. Good to your family 
Nobody succeeds at this business alone. We all need help. Take time to appreciate everything your family does to support you. They’ll never ask for your thanks, but they darn sure deserve it.
2. Skeptical 
Don’t be afraid to question policies or programs. You have to be the sanity check. If it doesn’t make sense to you, you are going to have a hard time communicating it. Worse, it may be a bad policy.
3. Courteous 
Treat everyone you encounter as if they were at your grandmother’s dinner table.
4. Professional 
Nothing about your job is personal, certainly not your relationships with media. You are always a spokesman … always. Be able to separate personal from professional issues.
5. Able to take two steps back 
It’s all about context. Find ways to put things into perspective. That’s what we do.
6. Right 
We can’t afford to pass bad information … ever.
7. Responsive 
Reply to emails promptly. Get the phone before it rings three times. Make sure people know how to get hold of you at all times. Don’t be afraid to give out your home number.
8. Engaged
 Let people see you; let them know you are informed and interested in what they are doing. Stay ahead of issues, get out in front. Think strategically.
9. Curious 
Ask lots of questions; be willing to learn no matter how long you have been at any command. Nobody cares how you did it before or how successful you once were. Listen.
10. Circumspect 
People have to know they can trust you with information, both at the command and in the media. Know when to speak up and when not to. Be trustworthy.
11. Yourself 
Don’t try to fit someone’s mold. Be true to who you are and let that reflect in your work. A phony PAO can be spotted — and distrusted — a mile away.
12. Able to laugh 
Sometimes your sense of humor will be all that gets you through. Take the work seriously, not yourself.
13. Physically Fit 
You represent the military. Look the part. Workout regularly. Wear your uniform smartly.

A Sure & Certain Way to KILL Innovation ??

Create an innovation task force.  You can read about the SECNAV's plan HERE. A task force is a certain way to kill innovation.  Is SECNAV unhappy with the progress of the CNO's Rapid Innovation Cell?  Will the two groups be related?  Work together?  Surely they are already competing for scarce resources.  Are they duplicating efforts?

Somewhat better than - A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD

Courtesy of The Navy's Grade 36 Bureaucrat - the Navy's newest recruiting videos HERE.

The Long Gray (Navy/USAF/USMC/USCG) Online

"The compartmentalization of professional discussion is over. No longer will good ideas and fresh perspectives be restricted to a unit, post, or email chain. Today, chiefly due to the congruence of technology and the desire among a group of young field grades to have their voices heard, the institutional monologue has developed into a dialogue, with a variety of fresh, unique voices emerging above the fray. By consciously devoting themselves anew to the key tenets of reading, writing, and reflection, these officers and the Army (and I note, all the Services) are better for it."

You can read it all HERE.

Worth examining

"I am convinced that you and your organization, your unit, your group will never be EXTRAORDINARY in the long run without genuine concern for your people."

Leadership - What's Love Got To Do With It?
Colonel Art Athens
USMC - retired

Someone had to be first

Excerpts from the Navy Times:

Commanding Officer, Naval Station Guantanamo Bay was unceremoniously removed from command for unspecified "misconduct" Wednesday amid a Naval Criminal Investigative Service Investigation.

Captain John Nettleton was fired by Rear Admiral Mary Jackson, head of Navy Region Southeast, "due to loss of confidence in Nettleton's ability to command," the region said in a press release.

Nettleton is a prior-enlisted Marine infantryman who was commissioned as a helicopter pilot in 1989. He has deployed aboard the carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Saratoga, and is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. He took command of the controversial naval station in June 2012. Nettleton did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.

Nettleton is the first Navy commanding officer to be fired in 2015.

Just added this to my reading list

For more than two decades William S. Sims was at the forefront of naval affairs. From the revolution in naval gunnery to his development of torpedo boat and destroyer operations, he was a central figure in  preparing the U.S. Navy for World War I. During the war, he served as the senior naval commander in Europe and was instrumental in the establishment of the convoy system. Following the war his leadership as president of the Naval War College established the foundation of the creative and innovative Navy that developed the operating concepts for submarines and aircraft carriers leading up to World War II.

Despite his dramatic impact on the U.S. Navy, Sims’ books and articles are often overlooked. His lessons are especially important for a today’s military, facing budget cuts and missions in transition. This book is a collection of Admiral William Sims’ written work, and it investigates his relevance in addressing the questions facing today’s military personnel and policymakers.

LCDR Benjamin Armstrong, USN, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Norwich University and is a PhD candidate in War Studies with King’s College, London.  He has been awarded the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement and is the editor of 21st Century Mahan.

FCC/C10F STRATEGIC GOALS

While we wait for publication of Fleet Cyber Command/TENTH Fleet's new Strategic Plan, we can be certain that this will be included:

The value the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command team brings to Navy and Joint commanders moving forward will be measured based on our ability to:

• Operate the Navy network as a warfighting platform;
• Conduct tailored signals intelligence (SIGINT);
• Deliver warfighting effects;
• Create shared cyber situational awareness; and
• Establish and mature Navy’s Cyber Mission Forces.

You can read the latest from VADM Jan E. Tighe HERE.

This from fellow blogger George Ambler

Busyness kills leadership as:

• Busyness is fake work, it has the appearance of work, but doesn’t deliver results.
• Busyness gets you doing unnecessary work. When unnecessary work is done time is wasted.
• Busyness is seductive as it makes you feel important.
• Busyness traps you into using your time and energy for doing good work rather than investing it in your great work.
• Busyness robs you of the capacity needed to reflect and to think deeply about important issues and decisions of the day.
• Busyness keeps you reacting rather than responding and initiating.

His excellent blog is HERE.

Mark your calendar for 4-5 March. Free to the military - if you are in the area, you should stop by

American Society of Naval Engineers

ASNE Day (will be held for 2 days), the annual meeting of the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE), and the Marine Machinery Association Spring Meeting will be held March 4-5, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA. 

Right now, VADM Jan E. Tighe is a confirmed speaker on March 5, 2015 from 1330-1500. She'll be talking about Cyber Security.

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Cyber Security

Location: Potomac 6

Speaker: VADM Jan Tighe, Commander, Fleet Cyber Command, 10th Fleet (Confirmed)

Oddly, she will be competing with this session on Women In Naval Engineering scheduled for the same time.

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Women in Naval Engineering Session 3: Professional Development “Round Table” Panel

Location: Potomac 2

Track: Women in Naval Engineering

Moderator: Ms. Anne Sandel, SES, NAVSEA/Team Ships (Invited)
Assistant Moderator: Ms. Jennifer Lin, NAVSEA

• Ms. Robin White, SES, NAVSEA/05D (Confirmed)
• CAPT Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, USN, Commander, SWRMC (Invited)
• Ms. Lorena Farnsworth, NAVSEA/PMS 325 (Invited)
• Dr. Julie Christodoulou, SES, ONR (Invited)
• Ms. Joan Divens, MSC (Invited)
• Ms. Kathleen Cain, NAVSEA/PMS 377 (Confirmed)
• Ms. Jessica Kleist, NAVSEA/PMS 397 (PEO Subs) (Confirmed)
• Ms. Marianne Lyons, NAVSEA/PMS 317 (Invited)

Deadline fast approaching - CNO Rapid Innovation Cell - From NAVY NEWS

The CNO invites junior officers and enlisted Sailors to apply for the CNO's Rapid Innovation Cell for 2015. Applications are being accepted until Jan. 31. 

Successful applicants will develop innovative technology or processes as part of the CNO's Rapid Innovation Cell, or CRIC, established in 2012 to take advantage of opportunities outside the Navy mainstream, empowering innovators with flag leadership advocacy and financial resources to develop prototypes that can be rapidly transitioned to the fleet. 

Volunteers from a cross-section of Navy communities are sought to participate as a collateral duty without a geographic relocation or release from present duty assignment. This is an "additional duty" assignment. 

Successful applicants will join a group of successful current CRIC members. For more information, join the CRIC on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/navyCRIC, or via NMCI at https://www.nwdc.navy.mil/ncfi/CRIC/default.aspx. Application forms: https://www.nwdc.navy.mil/ncfi/cric/lists/application/newform.aspx . 

NWDC POCs are Lt. Jackie Kvinsland (jackie.kvinsland@navy.mil, 757-341-4687) and Cameron Cooper (cameron.cooper@navy.mil, 757-341-4731).

I am reminded

Getting no message is also a message.