From the shores of Tripoli

I guess that it should have been done during WWII - but that is OK; better late than never. This is a good and right thing to bring these shipmates home. If the Libyan situation opens a door for a short period for us to do it - then by all means let's do it.

More than two centuries after they died off the coast of present-day Libya, the remains of the first 13 Navy commandos in U.S. history - in the words of one supporter, the “earliest Navy SEALs” - are one step closer to coming home.

The U.S. House of Representatives, brushing off prior opposition from Defense Department officials, voted last week to insist the Pentagon get them back.

House lawmakers attached the directive to the annual defense-policy bill that cleared the chamber on Thursday, with backers saying it was time to honor the daring men as fallen heroes.

“The United States has an obligation to leave no member of our military behind, regardless of how long ago they were killed,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican, who visited the grave sites in Libya in 2004 and co-sponsored the legislation with Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo, New Jersey Republican. “Bringing the remains of those brave members of our military home and giving them a proper military funeral will finally end a tragic story that has lasted far too long.”

The commandos were part of President Thomas Jefferson’s war against the Barbary pirates, who terrorized shipping off the coast of North Africa in the early 1800s. The commandos died while on a stealth mission to infiltrate Tripoli's harbor and sail a flaming ship into the enemy fleet that lay anchored there, trying to destroy it and force the release of U.S. sailors the pirates imprisoned on land.

First thing - I don't think it was wise to bring this public this early. Gadaffi loyalists may get ideas - as things can happen in that part of the world.

Their ship, the USS Intrepid, caught fire prematurely either by accident or because it was hit by a shot from the enemy, and all 13 men perished.

The commandos’ bodies were recovered by the residents of Tripoli.

According to accounts, the remains were fed to dogs, then the U.S. prisoners of war were forced to bury what was left.

One final note that was brought up by a colleague that is spot on; stop using the term SEAL when talking about these Sailors.

I'll let the hyperbole of the author of the article using the word "stealth" go by - but these Sailors are just that, "Sailors."

Before leaders were overtly risk adverse and hyper-focused on narrow specialization - and at a time when "battlemindedness" was assumed and "hybrid Sailor" made as much sense as "wet water" - such missions are what Sailors did when called on.

Throwing the SEAL term around does a disservice to today's SEALS, the Sailors from over two centuries ago - and for that matter all Sailors serving today.

A lot of people harumphed last decade at the concept of a "Naval Infantry Battalion" to help out in Iraq (it could have been useful for USN should have taken control of the Al-Faw/ Umm Qasar area with such, taking the BA/NMP from shore positions and civilian bloat, as we have had "Naval Infantry" within living memory - but such is life) - but for thousands of years Sailors have done such missions.

They didn't need a fancy title - funny little things to pin on their uniform or anything as patronizing as that - all they needed was a good officer to give them the best kit he could and say, "Follow me."

So, stop with the silly SEAL and commando references. These are Sailors - that should be good enough for us. It was good enough for them.

The anti-Memorial Day

Want a peek at just a hint of the foam-specked attitude many have towards those in the military?

Well, tax-payer supported Kirk Savage has some thoughts. You really should read it all - but here is a taste.

If our permanent state of war can ever be suspended long enough to allow new war memorials in the capital to go forward, the realities of injury and trauma may emerge front and center. Traditionally, American war memorials avoid the wounded and idealize their soldiers (think of the statues at the Korean and Vietnam memorials). Perhaps in the future, the figure of the disabled soldier will become a new icon for monument designers.

It is also possible that enough time may pass for us to begin to recognize the injury and trauma that have been unleashed on other people in the wars we have fought across the globe. If we are ever authorized to build a monument to the war in Afghanistan or Iraq, I hope we will have the wherewithal and heart to honor their losses — the countless Afghani (sic) and Iraqi civilians dead, wounded and orphaned, caught in the crossfire of our global war on terror. For all our differences in culture, history and allegiance, we share with them the fundamental human cost of war.

What a hate filled, little man. As we go through Memorial Day, remember that a not-small part of the US population are in alignment with Savage. Wait until you have to do a job interview with one and they ask you how broken you are for having served. No, I'm not kidding.

Honor the fallen

By face and name.

It could be a worse Kennedy

It was understandable that the previous USS KENNEDY (CV-67) was named what it was when it was.

In the decades since then, we have a more nuanced and accurate view of the man. We could have taken a pass - one Carrier should be enough for that family's ego - but alas. Given the powers that be and the silly game politicians have made of naming ships - I am not shocked. They are focused on their games - not the Navy and the nation it serves.

Of course ENTERPRISE, SARATOGA, etc .... they mean nothing.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today the next Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier will be named the USS John F. Kennedy.

The selection John F. Kennedy, designated CVN 79, honors the 35th President of the United States and pays tribute to his service in the Navy, in the government, and to the nation.

“President John F. Kennedy exemplified the meaning of service, not just to country, but service to all humanity,” said Mabus. “I am honored to have the opportunity to name the next aircraft carrier after this great Sailor and inspirational leader, and to keep the rich tradition and history of USS John F. Kennedy sailing in the U.S. Fleet.”

I'm not sweating it though - with each passing year I have less and less respect for the political class. Wait - no; I have the same amount of respect for them as they show for our Navy.

Hey - it could have been named after Teddy.

Memorial Day Weekend Midrats

This Memorial Day weekend, I can think of few shows we have had that fit better.

Going back to September, our guests will be Eddie LeBaron and Lanier Phillips - so join us today at 5pm EST.

Though known as four-time Pro-Bowler, quarterback for the Washington Redskins in the 1950s, Tom Landry's first quarterback in Dallas, and Don Meredith's mentor; he was also a USMC lieutenant in the Korean Conflict; decorated with the Purple Heart and awarded the Bronze Star.

Our second guest will be a trailblazer for all Sailors. In October of 1941, at the age of eighteen, Lanier joined the Navy. He was a survivor of the February of 1942 sinking of the USS Truxtun. He was not just any Sailor though, he later took a step with confidence like he did during the shipwreck that put him in an raft - he asked to be treated as an equal and was the first black Navy sailor to become a sonar technician.

Even though this is a pre-recorded show, join us live if you can, but if you miss the show you can always listen to the archive at blogtalkradio - but the best way to get the show and download the archive to your audio player is to get a free account and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Listen to Midrats on Blog Talk Ra

Sunday Funnies

95% of the reason I did not go to the Milblog Conf. this year was due to the paying gig. There were other, ahem, reasons as well .... (click for larger).

Did you serve with CAPT Honors?

If so, you need to click here and show him some support.

Fullbore Friday

They're all Fullbore. Ponder this weekend.

These pics are from my personal collection from my travels; from the infrequently visited, but beautifully kept Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, The Netherlands.

They remember.

Yes, jackbooted government thugs

I bring this up about once a quarter - it is time again.

Let me repeat - it is a blight on our national honor that we have "Serve & Protect" police who like to dress up like what they think special forces are supposed to dress like and wage war on the American people.

If they want to be a soldier - then they should join the National Guard or regular Army.

Police have zero reason to dress like some South American paramilitary death squad. Visuals matter.

Dressing like you just maxed out your credit card on adds from the back of Soldier of Fortune magazine doesn't make you tough or effective.

It makes you look like an perfect example of the abuse of police power that we largely fought the American Revolution over.

SWAT team initially claimed that Guereña fired at them while they were serving a warrant — as he slept. They claimed that his bullets hit the bulletproof shield that the entry team hid behind, and that the barrage of bullets they fired back was in self-defense.

Only, Guereña never fired his weapon. Awoken by his wife with screams that men with guns were invading his home and threatening his family, Jose Guereña armed himself with a AR-15 rifle and crouched in the hallway. The SWAT team unloaded upon Guereña on sight. He apparently recognized the home invaders as police. He took 60 rounds, but never — as the Pima County Sheriff’s Department was forced to admit — took off his weapon’s safety as he was being killed.

Pima County sound familiar? Sure it does.

It was, you’ll recall, a claim Dupnik made in the wake of Jared Loughner’s bloodly rampage at a “Congress in your Corner” event at a Safeway supermarket in Tucson, where six were killed and 14 others were injured — including, gravely, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Dupnik was attempting to blame the conservative Tea Party movement for the shooting when he made the comment. And even after it was revealed that Loughner’s few known political views had been described as “quite liberal,” and were in fact muddled at best, he refused to retract his slur.

All of this from a mindless "war on drugs" executed my mindless "public servants."

A Marine veteran of Iraq that had the discipline not to fire — a discipline that a trigger-happy SWAT team which has now killed three men in less than a year cannot itself exercise?

Not only has the Pima Sheriff’s Department tried to justify firing 71 shots at one man in a small hallway, hitting him (thankfully, just him) 60 times in a home where his wife and child were present. They’ve attempted to justify their refusal to let a team of paramedics treat Guereña, who was still miraculously alive after being sprayed mercilessly with bullets. It takes a competent SWAT team just a handful of minutes to “clear” a residential home during a raid. Dupnik’s SWAT team refused to declare the scene “clear” for an agonizing one hour and 14 minutes, and not until Jose Guereña had already died.

This is personal too. In a house full of women in an area of the country with high crime - you break in my home without telling me who you are and run up the stairs - I'm getting a gun too.

Not content to blame the victim for his own death, they attempted to insinuate he was a drug dealer, even though they were forced to admit under direct questioning that no drugs were found in his home, and that a clumsy cop falling down may have triggered the bloodbath.

Vanessa Guereña claims that neither she nor her husband heard the officers announce themselves as police. As anyone who has ever seen an episode of any popular police reality show knows, no entry team waits 15 seconds after announcing themselves to batter down a door and rush the inhabitants — as Pima County Lt. Michael O’Connor claims his SWAT team did. Identical scenes of immediate entry upon announcement (or after breaching), without giving those inside a chance to react, is a standard tactic captured again and again.

Bob Owens has it just about right.

Jose Guereña’s death was entirely preventable. Over-armed, over-amped law enforcement is causing far more harm to the public than other tactics and techniques possibly could.

The over-militarization of law enforcement agencies and over-use of SWAT teams is an idea that needs to be revisited in a sane society. Too many good people have been traumatized, and too many killed, under the flimsiest of circumstances.

After surviving two tours of duty in Iraq, only to lose his life in an encounter with Clarence Dupnik’s keystone cops, Jose Guereña was buried with full military honors.

Be a policeman - not a member of a death squad.

Hat tip Mike.

Gen. Dempsey, good luck

General Martin Dempsey, USA it is.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey is the Obama administration's choice to become the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeding Adm. Mike Mullen, who will retire Oct. 1, ABC News has learned.

An administration official confirmed the White House's surprise selection of the veteran officer who became the Army's top officer last month.

Dempsey's selection finishes out the realignment of the Obama administration's Pentagon team brought on by the retirements of Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Leon Panetta, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, will replace Gates as defense secretary when he leaves his post June 30.

I've seen him on many a VTC, know his work in AFG, and have no strong feelings either way about him, but he is a solid choice. Enough time in DC to know where the minefields are - but not too much time in DC to be of DC.

On a superficial level, it was time for an Army CJCS. I do not agree with those who think that it will be bad for advancing the best military for tomorrow's challenges (which are mostly air & sea) by having an Army guy at the top. No - I am willing to give Dempsey the benefit of the doubt that he will focus on the priorities that are best for our nation and its military. Give him a chance, he deserves it.

Dempsey joined the Army in '74. That is a good data point for the next CJCS. As a JO he saw post-Vietnam up close and personal. His will be a tour with similar issues. Our nation's military needs someone with an understanding of the war we are in and a perspective to help us prepare for a decade of tremendous budget pressures.

Don't panic, I think we are setting up nicely. As for Admiral Mullen's tour - we'll discuss that later. For now, good luck General Dempsey, congratulations!

Before you leave as Army Chief of Staff - could you get rid of Shinseki's "everyone-gets-a-trophy" stoopid berets? Now get to work.

Watch your blood pressure Marine

Seriously. I mean, seriously. If there was ever a group in dire need of a good Marine NCO - this would be it.

Bad enough to fit the cliche that Sailors can't stand in formation better than over caffeinated ferrets - but this is one of the pictures sent out by the Navy News Service.

Why would you ever feel a need to put out a picture of such a sloppy formation? Would the PLAN put out such a picture?

Why? The mind boggles ..... but have fun anyway. I can't make up my mind if I like the Sailor with the towel over the shoulder or with his arms crossed better. So many options. Spot your favorite Sailor in need of quality 1-v-1 time with the Gunny. Click for a larger view, if you want to.

110520-N-GS507-791 PENSACOLA, Fla. (May 20, 2011) Staff and students at the Center for Information Dominance (CID) Corry Station participate in morning colors during the command's sixth annual Cultural Diversity Day. CID Corry Station oversees career management and training for officer and enlisted students of the U.S. military and allied forces in the fields of information warfare, information professional, cryptologic and information technology. (U.S. Navy photo by Gary Nichols/Released)

Diversity Thursday

Why not Esperanto? From a Fleet Spy - redacted where needed to protect the insane.

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 13:57
To: __ALL PERSONNEL
Cc: _OFFICERS; _ALL ENLISTED; _FCPOA; _ALL CPO
Subject: Commander's Suggestion Box

All,

Based on your feedback and so you have an ability to communicate directly to our Admiral, there's now a Commander's Suggestion Box and CMEO Box (see SEPCOR from CPO XXXX for you to confidentially recommend new ideas and/or general concerns.

The Commander's Suggestion Box is for everyone to use and is located beside the CMEO box in the rear vestibule of Building N-23. There are temporary suggestion forms (yes, the forms that arrived with the boxes are written in English and Spanish) for your use (name is optional) however, if you only have time to drop a piece of paper in the box, that too will suffice.

Very Respectfully,

REDACTED

___________________________________________
CMEO BOX EMAIL:

ALCON:

The CMEO Concerns box has been placed in the vestibule in the rear of the building near the refrigerator. Please utilize it as an anonymous means of addressing any CMEO issues or concerns you may have. I am standing by for any questions.

V/R

Aren't we all.

USS SPRUANCE (DDG-111) Update

From someone inside the loop, good news and concerning news - Admiral Adama is not happy:

DDG 111 and following ships in the class, as well those receiving the "DDG Modernization" package (DDG 51, 53, and more on the way) there is a new Machinery Control System with all new consoles (Universal Control Consoles (UCC) with flat plasma screens, pull-down menus, controlled with a ball tab and a keyboard. There are no buttons to push. These consoles replace legacy PACC, EPCC, and SCC consoles. The entire plant (yes, ALL of it), electrical and/or propulsion can be run from ANY location.

So far there have been few issues with the MCS of significance, just the occasional glitch you expect to have with any new system of this complexity. The Universal Engine Controllers (UEC) were in place years ago, with the UEC+ starting in DDG 102. The "plus" designation of UEC+ is for the addition of digital fuel control.

A few more details about the incident Friday:
-Ship's force was not operating the gear. (BIW has the engineering plant until ships force moves aboard next month).
- This was not a failure of EOSS, tagout, or procedures. True, BIW does not follow USN procedures, they are expert engineers who follow OSHA safety rules, and when they are underway, they follow merchant mariner engineering standards. No issues with them from a safety POV - BIW is a great shipyard.
-There were no injuries. Fire was fully contained in the exhaust uptake.
-Only minor damage. No impact on ship's schedule, training, LOA, or sailaway.
-Root cause analysis is still in being done.

Good thing this incident occurred in the shipyard where the experts are on new DDG's construction. Engineers from BIW, SUPSHIP Bath, NAVSSES, and appropriate vendors from General Electric (they own the GTEs), and Lockheed Martin (they own the UECs) are investigating this incident, doing data reduction, and figuring out what happened to each electron involved in the plant.

It could be a failed component, or perhaps a needed software/firmware fix. Thing about the DDG-51 program, the infrastructure is in place for rapid discovery, analysis of the best solution, development of the fix, and rapid distribution of that fix to all of the ships affected.

Things happen with new construction. It isn't the "oops" that matter - it is how you react to it. All indications are the BIW are doing this right.

'48, '68, or '17?

The Islamist nature behind much of the Arab Spring and a deep understanding of Popular Front tactics in many ways makes me a pesimist ... but ... could demographics help explain what is going on here?

SPIEGEL: Monsieur Todd, in the middle of the Cold War, in the days of Leonid Brezhnev, you predicted the collapse of the Soviet system. In 2002, you described the economic and imperial erosion of the United States, a global superpower. And, four years ago, you and your colleague Youssef Courbage predicted the unavoidable revolution in the Arab world. Are you clairvoyant?

Todd: The academic as fortune-teller -- a tempting idea. But Courbage and I merely analyzed the reasons for a possible -- or let's say likely -- revolution in the Arab world, an inexorable change, which could also have unfolded as a gradual evolution. Our work was like that of geologists who compile the signs of an imminent earthquake or volcanic eruption. But when exactly the eruption takes place, and its form and severity -- these things cannot be predicted in an exact way.
SPIEGEL: On what indicators do you base your probability calculation?

Todd: Mainly on three factors: the rapid increase in literacy, particularly among women, a falling birthrate and a significant decline in the widespread custom of endogamy, or marriage between first cousins. This shows that the Arab societies were on a path toward cultural and mental modernization, in the course of which the individual becomes much more important as an autonomous entity.

SPIEGEL: And what is the consequence?

Todd: That this development ends with the transformation of the political system, a spreading wave of democratization and the conversion of subjects into citizens. Although this follows a global trend, it can take some time.

AW1, you're going to have a rough preflight .....

... scratch one of very few P-3s.

Dressed in black and armed with AK-47 rifles, grenades and rocket launchers, they crept up to the back wall of Mehran Naval Station in Karachi, keeping clear of security cameras. Then, with just a pair of ladders, they clambered over the wall, cutting through barbed wire at the top, to launch a 17-hour siege that would renew disturbing questions about the Pakistani military's ability to defend sensitive installations, including its nuclear arsenal.
...
The team, believed to consist of four to six militants, destroyed two U.S.-supplied maritime surveillance aircraft and engaged security forces in hours of pitched firefights. It was not until late Monday afternoon that Pakistani forces regained full control of the facility.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said 10 Pakistani security personnel were killed and 15 were injured. Four militants died and two were believed to have escaped, he said.

Actually - I am surprised it has taken them this long. I've been red-hat'n these scenarios for almost a decade now - except it was for CONUS bases.

I never figured a team going after P-3s of all things - but you want to go after soft-underbellys and easy targets. Looks like they succeeded.

Is this a test run? With this level of success - I know what my J-3 would say.

Some would say this is time to consider what may happen to Pakistani nuke facilities. Not my bucket of goo - but I would presume they are a bit more difficult.

No, I would concern myself with our bases here.

I think I'll shut up now. No red-hat service for free, or on the interwebs by me.

Listen to the CINC - or look at the numbers

For a non-engineer, I sure like me some numbers. Facts are powerful things. We liberal arts types can talk a mile - but, a pithy technical guy can shut us up pretty fast if anyone will listen to them.

Case in point via Jake,

In an effort to satisfy those arguing he needs to seek congressional authorization to continue US military activity in accordance with the War Powers Resolution, President Obama wrote a letter to congressional leaders this afternoon suggesting that the role is now so “limited” he does not need to seek congressional approval.

“Since April 4,” the president wrote, “U.S. participation has consisted of: (1) non-kinetic support to the NATO-led operation, including intelligence, logistical support, and search and rescue assistance; (2) aircraft that have assisted in the suppression and destruction of air defenses in support of the no-fly zone; and (3) since April 23, precision strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles against a limited set of clearly defined targets in support of the NATO-led coalition's efforts.”

A senior administration official told ABC News that the letter is intended to describe “a narrow US effort that is intermittent and principally an effort to support to support the ongoing NATO-led and UN-authorized civilian support mission and no fly zone.”

“The US role is one of support,” the official said, “and the kinetic pieces of that are intermittent.”

Well, as usual I have to go to the UK press to get actual journalism on the USA. Eeek, from The Guardian of all places this time. Read it all, it has some good hard truth about the Arab contribution - and a quirky note about our Viking friends finding their inner-battleaxe.

As for backing up what the Obama Administration has to say - I'll just let the graphic speak for itself; click the pic for larger - or go here for the fine details.



Just like the post below, one simple request; can we please act like adults and speak honestly with each other? This is just insulting.

---

UPDATE: The Senate is moving - but again, it just emphasized the complete lack of candor on Libya. Remember when this had nothing to do with removing Gadaffi?

Top Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed Monday on a resolution backing limited U.S. involvement in the NATO-led military campaign against Libya, days after the expiration of the legal deadline for President Barack Obama to seek full-blown congressional authorization.

Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, introduced the non-binding resolution along with five other Republicans and Democrats.

The measure supports the limited use of military force and concurs with Obama that the stated goal of U.S. policy "is to achieve the departure from power of Moammar Gadhafi and his family, including through the use of non-military means, so that a peaceful transition can begin to an inclusive government that ensures freedom, opportunity and justice for the people of Libya."

That in response to the President's letter,

"While we are no longer in the lead, U.S. support for the NATO-based coalition remains crucial to assuring the success of international efforts to protect civilians from the actions of the Gadhafi regime," Obama wrote. "Congressional action in support of the mission would underline the U.S. commitment to this remarkable international effort. Such a resolution is also important in the context of our constitutional framework, as it would demonstrate a unity of purpose among the political branches on this important national security matter."

Better late than never, I guess.

In this case, I am in full alignment with Sen. Lugar, (R-IN).

Lugar argued that the administration's inability to engage with Congress "has left the American people without a clear understanding of the U.S. interests at stake in Libya and how they relate to the other important challenges we currently face as a country. Nor do the American people understand what costs they will be asked to bear in connection with our Libya operations, and what other priorities will have to be sacrificed to support these operations."

It's not asking for much.

NATO Channels Baghdad Bob

Being a PAO is never easy - it is harder when you are trying to describe a "make it up as you go along" military effort.

This is just sad. It isn't clear, it isn't logical, and we are all a lot dumber by reading it.

NATO has defended its decision to bomb eight docked Libyan warships following fears over Gadhafi's increasing reliance on the navy. NATO asserted that its ongoing airstrikes have successfully weakened Gadhafi's regime.

NATO has defended its airstrikes on eight docked warships belonging to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's navy after the vessels were bombed in the night to Friday.

In a statement released Friday, NATO said the bombings were part of a series of coordinated precision airstrikes against pro-Gadhafi regime forces in the ports of Tripoli, Al-Khums and Sirte. This included strikes against eight warships stationed in these ports.

NATO also reported that it had intercepted an oil tanker that the alliance had reason to believe was delivering fuel to Gadhafi's military forces.
....
Defending the action, military spokesman Mike Bracken told reporters in Brussels that NATO's command in the western port of Misrata had intercepted boats laying land mines and found an inflatable boat carrying a ton of explosives, capable of sinking another ship.

"Should we have waited until somebody else had been killed or should we have taken action? I suggest we took action to enable us to stop and reduce that risk to the civilian population," Bracken said.

"Our aim was not to destroy those ships, but to remove their ability to turn their military weapons on the civilian population, humanitarian assistance or NATO vessels," he added.

Really Mike. Really? Read that again.

It is impossible to attack a ship without destroying it. That is about the same thought process that says police didn't mean to kill someone when they opened fire on them.

It is just insulting to hear. Shipmate - we'll give you a Mulligan on this one. You're better than this, I guess you just had a bad day. Go beat up on the CJ-3, he needs to give you better things to work with. They are trying to have you pound a square peg in to a round hole.

We decided those ships were a threat. We removed the threat. Is it that hard?

Well, actually in NATO it is - as some nations needs to keep their lies to their people more than others.

In a larger sense, we need to be honest about what we are trying to do in Libya.

We are not there yet. I feel intellectually insulted by it all.

Hoss over the side

I told you last FEB .... and so it has come to pass via Noah,

As recently as last month, Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright was known in Washington as “Obama’s favorite general,” a leading candidate to become the country’s top military officer, and one of the biggest tech fiends ever to pin four stars to his shoulders. Now, Cartwright has been definitively ruled out as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pentagon sources tell Danger Room — the apparent victim of a nasty Beltway whisper campaign.

I don't care too much for tracking who or who may not be the next CJCS - frankly I am just not that interested in palace politics.

My concern with Cartwight has nothing to do with the rumors. I was aggressively neutral towards Gen. Cartwight until FEB10 when, to be frank, he came off to me as having a very unhealthy view of the role of the military in our representative republic.

There is more than that to have concern with. First, there is the strange fact that after a nation has been at war for a decade you have a someone near the top of the chain in a land-combat branch with no combat experience at the Tactical Level - or Operational Level for that matter. You can't have that much "bad luck" from the detailer, can you?

No harm, no foul I guess - but at this point someone from the Army or Marine Corps who lacks combat experience should be in a supporting position to someone who has. We, thankfully, don't have a General Staff system - and so that much DC time just to me at least is off-putting.

That is minor anyway - there are plenty of additional substantive reasons to want Cartwright's as CJCS,

He lobbied to give the Vice Chairman’s office unparalleled power over decisions about which weapons the Pentagon should buy. He worked with Vice President Biden to come up with alternatives to the surge in Afghanistan, even when the buildup was accepted Pentagon wisdom.

He pushed to kill the F-22 Raptor and scrap new testing for the country’s nukes. In Air Force circles, he’s blamed for paring back plans for a new, strategic bomber fleet.

Ungh. Talk about smelling like the Potomac. I think I disagree with him pretty much on "all of the above."

As for who will take Admiral Mullen's place - there is something funny going on this time around in the selection. I am not going to share details - but there are more rumors out there about other potential candidates than just Cartwright that are finding their way to my inbox.

If someone has done something - either bring him up on UCMJ charges or keep him in the mix and shut up. No one should be hung out to dry on rumor. If rumor is known as fact - and if an E5 did it he would be going to Mast - then refer the General to the JAG and let's move on. Have we really reached the point where people could have done all these things through 4-stars and then "poof" it becomes an issue? If so - shame on us - but don't blame the person, blame the institution.

Who knows - I could be totally wrong about Cartwright - and if I am and he is pulled off because of rumor - then what a complete blight on DC and everyone involved. Petty people not worthy of the positions they hold, gossiping like a bunch of bitter old women. There are plenty of substantive reasons to oppose Cartwright - the fact that he had a bunch of unnaturally attractive female Aides should not be one of them. Also - if having marital problems with your wife is an issue - then you can get rid of half your GOFOs.

There is some nasty Ottoman Court stuff going on in DC right now that I am just not interested in playing. I'll comment after the fact. Anyway, if it isn't Mattis (and it won't be) I'll be a bit depressed regardless of who it is.

Sunday Funnies

I don't know. Back home we call that "rapture ready." Click for larger.

Tag-out? What tag-out?

Skipper Westbook is having an interesting day.

Via Tim Colton's blog,

The future USS Spruance, (DDG 111), recently returned from sea trials, sustained extensive damage yesterday when the engine controls failed during a test and poured fuel into a hot engine.

Not an easy business. Seems like everyone is OK though.

Good new is - you can't buy training like this!

I think we could have a caption contest on this. Mmmm. OK, this is the image that the CHENG saw as he looked up from his crackberry while heading to the ship. The CHENG said, ......

Hat tip Byron.

---

UPDATE: From a couple of people in the know, I think we have the two ends of the spectrum WRT what effect this will have on the ship.

1. From the good end: It will just clean the living h311 out of the turbines like what my dad did when he "cleaned out the carbon" of our 1973 Cadillac's 472/7.7L when heading down I-10 at about 90mph with me laying down on the flat area under the rear winshield.

2. From the "no one killed" bad end: Spaces possibly involved in a fire of that size; besides the turbine module and the adjacent equipment in the after engine room (#1): CCS has an adjacent bulkhead to the intake uptake space (both go through a plenum that extends from the main deck up through to the 0-2 level where the intake ends and the uptake goes just about to the top of that stack); engineering log room; mess decks (after bulkhead); Medical is close by, forward and to starboard. A bunch of offices to port and forward of the plenum. Aft CHT and pump room (5th deck). The engine room (from the size of the fire, hot yellow flames that far above the source of the fire is not good) could have extensive damage to it.

... and thanks to Byron for the tech assist.

---

UPDATE: More updates coming across the transom.

Approx. 1230 today, GTM 2A was lit off and started to run. Soon thereafter, a fire developed somewhere between the engine and uptakes. The result was a large flame out of the uptakes to about 30 or 40 ft. Attached is the remarkable photo. NO ONE WAS INJURED. The flame lasted for a couple of minutes. We do not know if there was operator intervention to shut down the fuel oil quick closing valves at this point but SUPSHIP/company are investigating. There appears to be damage to the uptakes including director #2 cabling, lagging and possibly director #2 itself. It's our understanding that this happened during shipbuilder (vice crew) testing/operation. Investigation in process.
________________________________________________
All,

Below is a brief summary of the events that occurred today on DDG111 with UEC2A

Around 10:30 I was called out for a report of a loss of communications between the Universal Control Console 4 (UCC 4) and the Data Interface Unit (DIU) in MER2 for propulsion/ auxiliaries. BIW was able to resolve this issue quickly, however it was noticed that a second communication problem was present between the UEC 2A and the UCC4 DIU. The connection between the UEC 2A and UCC4 DIU would timeout resulting in loss of control and monitoring of the engine. The engine was not running at this time. Rebooting the UEC Plus would correct the problem for around 5-10 minutes before the UEC would stop responding. BIW engineering and electricians continued troubleshooting the problem and setup data collection devices to monitor network data between the UEC and DIU. While this data collection was ongoing, the GTM 2A was started from UCC4 to support conduct of GTM water wash stage testing. The engine began to spin up when communications were lost between the UEC and the DIU. The operator issued a stop command from UCC4 when the loss of monitoring was noticed. He indicated that it took several seconds before the engine began to ramp down. Less than 1 minute later the abandon ship alarm sounded. No one in the engine room understood the cause of the alarm. It was not until leaving the ship did we understand what happened.

From the preliminary data downloaded from UEC Plus onboard data collection, it appears the GTM reached approximately 1800 RPM before it shut down. Fuel on, ignition on and flame on states do not appear to be reached during this sequence. T5.4 did not increase during the start sequence. Aside from the loss of communications, the operators did not report any other anomalies during the start. These data points are preliminary at this point, but are confusing because they are inconsistent with the damage that occurred. Much further analysis is required to determine the cause. I have requested that Lockheed Martin and BIW make the UEC Plus data available for analysis. BIW will resume troubleshooting on Monday.

Lawfare & the Long War - on Midrats

Never in our history have we fought a war where law, lawyers, and layers of legalese have impacted all levels of the war; Political, Strategic, Operational, and Tactical.

Why do we find ourselves here and in what direction are we going?

From Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and even domestically, the legal definition of the use of military power is evolving.

Join EagleOne from EagleSpeak and me this Sunday, 22 May at 5pm EST to discuss the impact of Lawfare for the full hour with David Glazier, CDR USN (Ret.).

David is a Professor of Law at Layola Law School in Los Angles. Prior to Layola, he was a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law and a research fellow at the Center for National Security Law, where he conducted research on national security, military justice and the law of war. He also served as a pro bono consultant to Human Rights First.

Before attending law school, he served twenty-one years as a US Navy surface warfare officer. In that capacity, he commanded the USS George Philip (FFG-12), served as the Seventh Fleet staff officer responsible for the US Navy-Japan relationship, the Pacific Fleet officer responsible for the US Navy-PRC relationship, and participated in UN sanctions enforcement against Yugoslavia and Haiti.

David has a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, an MA from Georgetown University in government/national security studies, and a BA in history from Amherst College.

Join us live if you can and join in with the usual suspects in the chat room where you can contribute your thoughts and observation - and suggest to us questions for our guests.

If you miss the show you can always listen to the archive at blogtalkradio - but the best way to get the show and download the archive to your audio player is to get a free account and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Listen to Midrats on Blog Talk Ra

Take a powder, hopey-changy kiddies

Wait until they figure out that on top of it all - they are the ones who will have to pay off all the trillions of dollars of debt he has brought on.

Reality hurts.

A very large proportion of recent university graduates have soured on President Barack Obama, and many will vote GOP or stay at home in the 2012 election, according to two new surveys of younger voters.

“These rock-solid Obama constituents are free-agents,” said Kellyanne Conway, president of The Polling Company, based in Washington, D.C. She recently completed a large survey of college grads, and “they’re shopping around, considering their options, [and] a fair number will say at home and sit it out,” she said.

The scope of this disengagement from Obama is suggested by an informal survey of 500 post-grads by Joe Maddalone, founder of Maddalone Global Strategies. Of his sample, 93 percent are aged between 22 and 28, 67 percent are male and 83 percent voted for Obama in 2008. But only 27 percent are committed to voting for Obama again, and 80 percent said they would consider voting for a Republican, said New York-based Maddalone.

That’s a drop of almost 60 points in support for Obama among this influential class of younger post-grad voters, who Maddalone recruited at conferences held at New York University and Thomson-Reuters’ New York headquarters.

The bad news for Obama was underlined May 19 with a report by a job-firm Adecco that roughly 60 percent of recent college-grads have not been able to find a full-time job in their preferred area. One-in-five graduates have taken jobs far from their training, one-in-six are dependent on their parents, and one-in-four say they’re in debt, according to the firm’s data.

I feel their pain.

Welcome to Realville. No one can start a company without capital. No one ever gets a job from a poor person - and when you have a government that is hellbent on stopping anyone from building personal wealth to be invested - then no one is going to hire you.

Fullbore Friday

Excuses.

People like making excuses for themselves and others. We all have short comings and are human - those with character and maturity know this and accept their problems and move on. "No excuse, sir." Cliche, perhaps - but it speaks a lot to the person you say it to, as they know very well that things happen - they have been there too.

Via Jennifer Bowen at BND.com - we have the words of one man who speaks for many. His story and his ship. Good for perspective,

Seaman 1st Class Eccles in 1941 was a machinist's mate on the USS Smith, a 1,480-ton Mahan class destroyer. He was on the Smith throughout the war.

"I was seasick for the first two times I went out," Eccles said. "And that was no excuse. If you had a shift, you'd better be there, no excuses. If you were puking, you'd better bring a bucket. On a destroyer, if you weren't attacking someone, you were defending yourself. And if you weren't doing one of those, you were on watch. We were so busy we didn't have time to make excuses."

The USS Smith was in the Pacific patrolling the Santa Cruz Islands with a fleet of other destroyers, carriers and cruisers, Eccles said. His job was to keep the engines running, but like everyone else aboard ship, he was also a gunner and assigned to man the guns on the gunnery deck.

He had been assigned to those forward guns until, for some reason unknown to him, he was moved to a different location around the beginning of October 1942.

On Oct. 26, 1942, the fleet was attacked by Japanese planes. A carrier was sunk. A cruiser was sunk.

A flaming Japanese torpedo plane was going down, so the pilot aimed it into the USS Smith. It crashed into the gunnery deck Eccles had occupied just two weeks earlier.

"Here I am, I didn't have a scratch on me, and my buddies were flying through the air with their clothes on fire," he said. "We took the dead men and wrapped them up properly and slipped them overboard and then we went to New Caledonia to drop off the injured men."

The dead had to be buried at sea, he said, because on a destroyer there wasn't a spare square foot to properly store bodies.

Twenty-nine men were killed on the USS Smith that day, 28 were missing in action and 12 wounded.

One-hundred and forty Japanese planes were destroyed during the Battle of Santa Cruz.

"They say combat changes people," Eccles said. "That day definitely changed me."

Thank you Mr. Eccles. Fullbore.

---

Just a note - the Mahan Class was a little under 1,500 tons. Less than half a LCS. Look at the punch she carried;

TORPEDO BATTERY
Twelve 21-inch:
l One quadruple centerline mount between the stacks
l One quadruple wing mount on each side of the main deck abaft the after stack

MAIN GUN BATTERY
Four dual purpose 5-inch/38:
l Two forward in shielded pedestal mounts (Dunlap and Fanning only: enclosed base ring mounts)
l Two aft in open pedestal mounts

ANTI-AIRCRAFT BATTERY
1938: Four .50 cal machine guns
1945: One 40mm twin; six 20mm singles

I thought it was because they could wear heels?

Ahem. Don't hate.

Women prefer taller men because they are better at fighting, scientists claimed yesterday.

A study has shown men hit hardest when striking downwards and the blows of a taller man are more powerful than the thumps of a short man.

In evolutionary terms, that makes them more useful for women, said researcher Dr David Carrier.

He added: ‘From the perspective of sexual selection theory, women are attracted to powerful males, not because powerful males can beat them up, but because powerful males can protect them and their children from other males.’

So, why does Skippy prefer Japanese women then? Wait - don't ask questions you don't want answered.

Diversity Thursday

I can hear you now, "Sal, you are killing me! Why use up so much space .... ungh ....."

Well, this is just a snapshot of the burden the sectarian cult of Diversity places on our Fleet. There is so much here to comment on - but I am going to let you find the fetid piles yourself. Feel free to share your favorite bits in comments

A little peak behind the curtain. The banality of the racialist mindset supported by intellectual cowardice.

Behold all that is unclean!

----------Minutes from the ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 03May2011-------

Attendees: CAPTs Antonio, Spencer, Dexter; CDRs Lopez, Malone, Christensen; LCDR Mlynarski; LTs Cena

Discussion:
(1) reviewed the diversity accountability survey and made changes suggested by DWG members, and changes suggested during last years' "free text" input. The diversity accountability survey is an annual web based survey for Active and Reserve component, ED Captains (including selects) and Commanders (including selects). Results are briefed at the all Captain seminar, posted on NKO, used in community briefs to the CNO on diversity policy accountability. This is a mandatory survey for the CDR/CAPT as described above that will be pushed out to the mentor groups SEPCOR. Summary of changes:
- expanded the demographic portion to allow multiple race codes, or "other" category where respondents can write in a demographic
- deleted questions on diversity/mentoring training within the last year as the policy does not have a periodicity requirement concerning training. The question remains...have you read the diversity and mentoring policy within the last 12 months, as a significant re-write of the diversity policy occurred in 2010.
- expanded questions in the mentoring section to include "informal" mentoring. The mentoring policy addresses "formal" mentoring only, but every year there are considerable free text comments concerning informal mentoring. The policy does not define "formal" mentoring, but an effort was made to define formal mentoring in the ED diversity/mentoring training on NKO. Formal mentoring is conducted by CDR and above... by the mentor group assigned mentor, and includes a review of the career planner, DAWIA qualifications, and general well being of the mentee. The policy recommends formal mentoring be accomplished face to face on an annual basis. In last years' survey, only ~ 67% of ED CDR and CAPT reported being formally mentored during the last 12 months. This is an area of focus for us this year...to work to ensure every ED has an assigned formal mentor. During the ED senior course...about 3 of 10 CDRs report to the visiting Flag that they do not have a mentor.
- added free text portions in the mentoring section of the survey to encourage anyone with a better idea, or best practice to share.
(2) hot wash from VADM McCoy telcon (~313 participants across the community). The audio was less than optimum, and I will continue to work to improve the capacity and quality of the audio. The DWG is considering the next all community telcon topic. Anyone with topic ideas...please shoot me an email. Under consideration:
- Jun/JUL timeframe...detailer brief.
- Late Aug/Sep - summary of all Captain seminar briefs
(3) career planning tool brief. CDR Phil Malone briefed the LCMG career tracker tools. Where the mentor group monitors the health of the mentor group by monitoring the qualifications, experience of the candidates for the LCMG crown jewel jobs. Similar trackers exist in the SURFPACK, and IMG. DWG recommends that the retention pillar brief the other mentor groups on a optional basis...providing this tracker as a best practice discussion. Concern from the DWG that a tracker of this nature may be too cumbersome for a mentor group as large as the IMG. Some goodness may be extracted by the mentor groups agreeing on definitions of "green" or healthy status of crown jewel jobs (i.e. how many candidates have the training, qualification, experience to compete for the job). DWG did not recommend as a mandatory process for the mentor groups.

Notes:
- need training, and recruitment pillar groups nominations for the diversity award committee
- I have recvd one ED junior diversity award nomination, and one senior award is in the works.
- attached document is the hot wash from the FIRST robotics competition the ED community supported, author is LCDR Scott Thompson
- upcoming diversity conferences:
-- ANSO (Association of Naval Services Officers), San Antonio, TX, 2-6May. CDR Lee Short attending for DWG
-- NNOA (National Naval Officers Association Conference), San Diego, CA, 1-5Aug. Looking for a volunteer
- upcoming diversity awards:
-- AISES - American Indian Science and Engineering Society Award. The AISES mission is to increase substantially the representation of American Indian and Alaskan Natives in engineering, science and other related technology disciplines. Civilian and Military eligible, OPNAV POC LCDR DeWuan Booker, 703-695-3868, due date for award submission: 01 JUN 2011, conference dates: 10-12 NOV 2011, Minneapolis, MN, website: www.aises.org
-- HENAAC - Hispanic Engineer National Achievements Awards Corporation. HENAAC identifies, honors, and documents the contributions of outstanding Hispanic American science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals. Civilian and Military eligible, OPNAV POC LCDR DeWuan Booker, 703-695-3868, due date for award submissions: 03 JUN 2011. Conference dates: 6-8 OCT 2011, Lake Buena Vista, FL. Website: http://www.greatmindsinstem.org/henaac/nominations/faqs.php
-- SHPE- Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers The STAR (SHPE Technical Achievement Recognition) Awards honor undergraduate students, graduate students, professionals, companies, educators, and STEM leaders. Civilian and Military eligible. OPNAV POC, Miriam Cardenas, 323-725-3970 x118. Award submission due date: 01 JUL 2011. Conference dates: 26-30 OCT 2011, Anaheim, CA. Website: www.shpe.org
-- BEYA - Black Engineer of the Year Award. Recognize the significant accomplishments of African Americans in science, engineering, and technology. Civilian and Military eligible. OPNAV POC LCDR DeWuan Booker, tel 703-695-3868. Award submission due date 01 AUG 2010. Conference dates: 17-19 FEB 2011, Washington, DC. Website: www.blackengineeroftheyear.org

Next telcon: 17May

v/r, Beth
----------------------------------------Minutes from the ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 05Apr2011--------
Attendees: RDML Moore, CAPTs Elkin, Spencer, Dexter, San Pedro, Debus, Lagdon; CDRs Weeks, Bush, DeSoto, Lopez, LCDR Lapointe; LTs Biediger, Freas, Cena

*****save the date**** Next all community telcon 19Apr (Tuesday) 1300-1400 Pacific, or 1600-1700 Eastern. VADM McCoy will be the briefer from the WNY auditorium. Any topics that you want VADM McCoy to address...pls pass to me NLT COB 07Apr. Details on phone bridge and DCO link will be sent SEPCOR. Topics for consideration (if you like any of these better than the next, pls let me know):
- Flag road show (all or portion)
- diversity - are our efforts paying off?, and how are we doing
- feedback from customers on how EDs are performing
- ED involvement in Japan (humanitarian and recovery from nuclear plant problems)
- IA prognosis (more billets, same, or reduction), AFPACK hands update, rules update discussion
- Continuing Resolution impacts
- Total ownership costs in acquisition (PEO Ship, sub, carrier, IWS- one slide each)
- changes coming in procurement/contract administration after recent indictment of NAVSEA employee
- SURFMEPP
- billets in cybercom
- Information Dominance Warfare Pin (do you recommend for EDs without URL warfare qualification working in the C5I mission area? Note: the IDWO pin already applies to EDs in the space mission area. IDWO instruction does not allow 14XX officers (except in the space mission area) to obtain qualification, so would require a waiver or an instruction change to allow 14XX officers to qualify.)

Discussions:
(A.) DWG tracking team pillar update (Capt Dexter lead)- see attached file
-- tracking team provides the metrics/data for the DWG and diversity briefs. Summary of data collected/provided annually:
--- option survey- web based survey of ED options to determine (1) if they have been contacted by their geographic ED mentor, (2) if they intent to exercise their option to become EDs. Typically, only 30% of the total option candidate pool respond to the survey. Of the respondents, 85% indicate they have been contacted by their mentor, and ~90% will become EDOs. FY11 option survey is ongoing, and will be complete by 21 Apr. Action to LCDR Mlynarski to send an email to geographic mentors to (1) let them know the survey is ongoing, (2) gently encourage the option candidates to complete the survey.
--- accountability survey- in the Apr/May timeframe each year, where the CDRs and CAPTs in the community are surveyed to determine if the community is actually doing what we say we should be doing as outlined by the diversity and mentoring policies. Respondents are asked (1) do they formally mentor EDs, (2) are they formally mentored, (3) do they make an annual visit to a school (local high school/middle school, or NROTC unit), (4) do they belong to diversity affinity events, (5) attend diversity events, (6)have they attended diversity or mentoring training, etc.
--- demographics (ED community Vs USN officer, and Vs. Science and Engineering graduates), accession demographics (lateral transfer and options)
--- retention data (resignations-total number by grade and demographics)
--- prepare the new Captain and all Captain briefs. New Captain brief is focused on the mentoring and diversity policies. All Captain brief is a presentation of data and analysis, and area where additional focus/effort is needed.
--- in conjunction with detailer and community manager, prepare the ED community diversity accountability brief for CNO
--- provide the following to mentor groups: list of NROTC units for visits, minutes of DWG, diversity planner (list of diversity events with engineering or scientific focus recommended for ED participation), list of diversity awards, diversity event attendee instructions and POCs
--- coordinate the all community telephone calls

(B) Retention pillar way forward (Capt Spencer and Capt SanPedro lead)- continuation of discussion from last DWG telcon (summary slide attached)
discussed the tasking of the Mentoring (MPT) and Retention (RPT) Pillar Teams, based upon the following sources:
(1) DWG Charter of 16 Oct 2008.
(2) ED Diversity Policy of 6 Oct 2010.
(3) ED Diversity WBS (2006).
(4) DWG MPT update to DWG of 22 Feb 2011.
(5) DWG RPT update to DWG of 22 Mar 2011.
(6) CAPT Spencer discussion with RDML Moore of 29 Mar 2011.

- agreed that the following task should be shared between the MPT & RPT:
(1) NPS/MIT Student Visits/Contact.

- agreed that the following four tasks should be RPT responsibilities:
(1) ED Career Planning Tool development/rollout (to be briefed to the DWG on 03May)
(2) Exit surveys (determined the detailers and community manager should retain this function after discussion with the DWG)
(3) Annual ED Diversity survey.
(4) Diversity Awards/Recognition [formerly a MPT task].
(5) ED All-Community Telcon planning/logistics/execution [formerly a CO EDO School task].

(C) DWG awards committee discussion (to review submissions for the ED community diversity awards...nominations due 30Apr)
-- each pillar will nominate 2 DWG members for the committee NLT 30Apr, and RDML Moore/Capt Dexter will select the committee from the folks nominated.

(D) Hotwash from the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) conference (CDR Weeks lead)- hotwash attached.
- great forum to meet engineers
- teamed with Navy Recruiting District (NRD) at their booth. Nuclear community and CEC had a very active presence at the conference.
- EDO could have used more attendees.
- we need to team with NAVSEA to capture engineers who already have masters degrees interested in working with the Navy. No interest in starting at the Ensign level in the Navy.
- action item for the all Captain seminar brief on diversity to include Capt Spencer for a discussion of what happens at diversity conferences
- action Capt Dexter pass this hot wash to our next conference attendee (FIRST)

Next meeting 03May.

Notes:
- CNO Strategic Diversity Working Group recommended diversity reading list:
"When Generations Collide" by Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman
"Harvest of Empire - A History of Latinos in America" by Juan Gonzalez
"Generations at Work" by Ron Zemke, Claire Raines, and Bob Filipczak
"Monday Morning Mentoring" by David Cottrell
"Managers as Mentors" by Chip R. Bell
"Whistling Vivaldi" by Claude M. Steele (Groundbreaking findings on stereotypes and identity)
"The Speed of Trust" by Stephen M. R. Covey
"Good to Great" by Jim Collins

----------------------------------------Minutes from the ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 22Mar------------
Attendees: RDML Moore, CAPTs Antonio, Spencer, Dexter, San Pedro, Rodriguez; CDRs Hawks, DeSoto, Masten, Christensen; LCDR Lapointe; LTs Biediger, Rice

*****save the date**** Next all community telcon 19Apr (Tuesday) 1300-1400 Pacific, or 1600-1700 Eastern. VADM McCoy will be the briefer. Same arrangements with DCO and telephone bridge. I am still working to confirm the telephone bridge...so stay flexible. I wanted to get the date/time out as early as possible.

(1) update from retention pillar (Capt San Pedro lead).
- discussed charter, members, past accomplishments and future state recommendations
- data from community resignations (historically 6 per year) and last year's "health survey" indicate that retention is not an area for concern
- retention team recommended disbanding or placing the health survey, and retention team efforts in a monitoring status going forward
- after discussion among the DWG, a consensus developed that the retention team was needed to be consistent with the CNO and ED diversity policy major tenants (recruit, mentor, retain). As the mentoring and retention pillars have many overlapping or common initiatives, an action item was given to leads of the retention and mentoring pillar to recommend a path forward where the teams combine, or another option(s). Recommendations will be discussed during the next DWG telcon 05Apr.
- the retention update slides will be included in the minutes after the telcon on the 5th.
- community needs a consistent policy on the exit interviews for resigning officers. Our policy says we will conduct them, but in practice we do not due. We need to change the requirement in the next policy revision, or start interviewing.
(2) awards committee discussion tabled until next telcon
(3) Sea Service Leadership Association meeting in San Diego (and EDO breakout session hosted by Network of ED Women) hotwash provided by LT Rice. Over 1300 sailors, marines, airmen attended the conference. VADM Greenert was the principle speaker, and he highlighted the need for "engineering duty officers and acquisition professionals" (the EDs in attendance cheered). He also highlighted the critical need to "provide capabilities to the war fighter." 14 personnel attended the ED break out session and lunch, including RADM Orzalli and RDML(ret) Rodriguez. One Surface warfare officer with a masters from MIT in mech eng is a confirmed recruit from the conference and will be applying to the lateral transfer board. Well done to LT Rice to set up the break out session.

- Notes:
-- 07Apr 1130-1300 the Network of ED Women will have the first WNY lunch event. Watch the NKO web page for details.
--{ Mentor groups action }the CNO diversity working group list of award opportunities is attached (closing an action item from 22Feb). The "non DoD" worksheet has most of the awards that would applicable for EDOs. ****The near term award nomination deadline is the SWE (Society of Women Engineers). Awards recognize contributions of women at all stages of their careers as well as successes of SWE member and individuals who enhance the engineering profession through contributions to industry, education and the community. Civilian and Military are eligible. POC telephone and email: 312-596-5223 - awards@swe.org. Deadline for nominations: 31 MAR 2011. Awards presented: 13-15 OCT 2011, Chicago, IL.
-- mentor groups...don't forget to nominate folks for ED community diversity awards (ED diversity award policy forwarded in previous minutes. Deadline for nominations is 30Apr. Mentor group members of the DWG would be great candidates.
-- ED DWG survey of ED option candidates went out via email this week. Deadline for completing the survey (applies to options only) is 21Apr.
-- ED volunteer for the 24-26 Mar, Albuquerque, NM, NAISEF (American Indian Science and Engineering Society) http://www.aises.org/Events/NAISEF had to drop due to mission requirements. This is a CNO diversity calendar event, the diversity directorate is looking for junior officers to be science fair judges. Anyone interested shoot me a note. Sorry for the last minute notice.


----------------------------------------Minutes from the ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 22Feb------------
Attendees: RDML Moore, CAPTs Antonio, Elkin, Spencer, Dexter; CDRs Kuhn, Masden; LCDRs Mlynarski, Desoto: LT Cena

(1) update from Mentoring pillar of the DWG (Capt Antonio lead) - attached (these will be posted on NKO on the EDO DWG page)
- Capt Francis Spencer has relieved Capt Antonio as the pillar lead effective today
- recurring theme in pillar discussions...how do we pull diversity aspect into mentoring? Ans. Communication, established junior/senior mentor relationship, ensures common career advice is available to all.
- looking for new members to join the pillar if anyone interested.
- pillar developed a word document for formal mentoring which summarizes the requirements(from the mentor policy). Will be provided SEPCOR to the mentor groups.
- recommended developing a master list of diversity award opportunities to pass to the mentor groups. Capt Dexter action to interface with CDR Roe (OPNAV diversity directorate) to determine if the list already exists.
- pillar has for action to draft a combined mentoring and diversity policy, and route to the DWG for comment.
- recommended polling all the mentor groups to determine who does not have a mentor...before the annual survey. Recommend mentor group secretaries go out by email and ask who does not have a mentor so that we have time for corrective action before the annual survey. Good action noted from mentor groups in updating career planners of senior leaders on NKO, and working their mentor trees for updates.

(2) Next quarterly telcon scheduled for April. Topic- VADM McCoy update to community via DCO and telephone bridge. Capt Dexter action to work with SEA00 EA to find a date. Capt Crowe/Bob Klocek provide a draft brief for RDML Moore review mid-march.

(3) DWG update for ED Flags. Each pillar group has for action to provide one slide to Capt Dexter for consolidation. 5-7 slides total. Include membership and planned actions. Request inputs NLT 07Mar.

(4) ED community diversity awards. Deadline for submitting awards is 30 Apr. Attached instruction outlines the criteria and process for nomination. The award committee, makes a recommendation to the ED Flags at their JUN Flag meeting for final approval. Award is presented at the All Capt seminar (if the recipient is in the DC area), or I'll work with the Flags to make a presentation at the individual's home turf if they are an "out of towner".

Notes:
-Congratulations to LT Sarah Rice (SSC Pacific San Diego) as the Joy Bright Hancock Leadership Award winner in the junior officer category. She was selected out of over 90 packages submitted. Her award will be presented at the Sea Service Leadership Association (San Diego) meeting on the 15th of Mar during the awards luncheon.
- ED community diversity awards. Deadline for submitting awards is 30 Apr. Mentor groups pls pass to your folks for consideration/action. Attached instruction outlines the criteria and process for nomination. The award committee makes a recommendation to the ED Flags at their JUN Flag meeting for final approval. Award is presented at the All Capt seminar (if the recipient is in the DC area), or I'll work with the Flags to make a presentation at the individual's home turf if they are an "out of towner".
- NAVADMIN 059/11 announced the Fleet Diversity Council meeting in San Diego on 17Mar. "ONE SESSION JOINTLY HOSTED BY CHIEF OF NAVAL AIR FORCES N01D AND OPNAV N134 WILL BE HELD FROM 0830 - 1130 AT THE NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND (NASNI) BASE THEATER. THE PURPOSE OF THE FLEET DIVERSITY COUNCIL IS TO EDUCATE SAILORS, OFFICERS, AND CIVILIANS ON THE VALUE OF LEVERAGING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION TO ACHIEVE MISSION SUCCESS. FLAG OFFICER OPENING REMARKS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY WORLD-RENOWNED KEYNOTE SPEAKER, DR. SAMUEL BETANCES. COUNCIL ATTENDANCE IS HIGHLY ENCOURAGED FOR ALL NAVY PERSONNEL,FROM ALL RANKS, RATES, GS LEVELS, AND BACKGROUNDS AND SPECIFICALLY TARGETS PARTICIPATION FROM NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, NAVAL BASE CORONADO, NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO, NAVAL BASE POINT LOMA, AND NAVAL MEDICAL CENTER BALBOA. COMMAND-FUNDED TRAVEL FROM OTHER AREAS IS AUTHORIZED. ALL AVAILABLE PERSONNEL ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND...."

Next telcon: 08Mar - Retention pillar update

----------------------------------------Minutes from the ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 08Feb---------------------------------

Attendees: CAPTs Antonio, Cuellar, Debus, Elkin, Kan, Lagdon, Pietras; CDRs Christensen, DeSoto; LCDRs Mlynarski, LaPointe; LTs Freas, Bily

(1) CAPT Elkin provided a quarterly update from the Training and Education Pillar Team.
Key points from the brief:
- Annual Diversity Survey for O-5s/O-6s: Question asking if annual diversity training has been completed does not correlate with Diversity Policy which does not require annual training.
- The team recommends professional diversity training for ED School instructors either en-route to school or bring in a trainer every couple of years in order to get a single session with the entire staff.
- Free text comments (quantity and level of understanding) from last O-5/O-6 survey do not indicate a significant weakness in current diversity awareness and training level.
- For the years in an ED's Career between ED Basic, ED Senior, and EDCTS, the NKO Website has a great refresher opportunity. Go to E-Learning and Mandatory Training. Scroll down to section titled "For DON Service members" and you'll find the link "Diversity for All Hands Training". A note below that reads "RECOMMENDED for all DON Leadership Personnel which we believe applies to all EDs. This is a great refresher that includes personal comments from the CNO.
- NAVSEA HQ at WNY always has a great lineup of diversity speakers and events which certainly would satisfy any continuing education requirements. For many field activities, getting guest speakers for special events is a big challenge.
- The mentoring team has posted a very comprehensive list of training resources to aid in executing our mentoring process in their section of our DWG web-page on NKO.

(2) I asked the team to get input to you on the ED Handbook by this week if they had any. I personally took a look at it and it looked fine. As long as we keep this current with the latest edition of the Diversity Policy signed out by the senior ED, we should be OK.

(3) LCDR Mlynarski is onboard with running the ED Option survey by the end of February. He's working updates monthly and does appreciate getting help with editing contact information as that information becomes available.

(4) looking for a volunteer (located vicinity of Washington DC) to attend the Black Engineer of Year Awards (BEYA) Conference in Washington, DC. Information sent SEPCOR to the mentor groups.
a. 17-19Feb11
b. Washington, DC
c. Website: WWW.BLACKENGINEEROFTHEYEAR.ORG


Conference Volunteers since last telcon:
-NAISEF LCDR Kyle [redacted]
-NSBE CDR Gus [redacted]
-ANSO CDR Lee [redacted]

--------------------------------------minutes from the ED Diversity Working Group telcon 25JAN2011 ----------

Attendees: RDML Moore, Capt: Antonio, Spencer, Dexter, Mullarky, Langdon, Mcginnis; CDR: Masten, Christensen; LCDR: Lapointe, Mlynarski; LT Bily

Discussion:
(1) all community telcon (energy brief by RADM Cullom). Estimate of 250-350 people participated in the brief. 49 sites logged into DCO and all 80 lines of the telephone bridge were in use. ~50 people attended at the WNY. DCO chat function worked well, but the videos were difficult. DCO seemed to work well at remote sites, but two different sites notified ED School of getting a black screen after following the DCO link. Not everyone got the word to download the videos ahead of time, and the audio was out of synch with the video. Recommendation to send the Power Point brief ahead of time to all mentor groups so that those only dialing into the telephone bridge can follow the briefing, and limit video use for future briefs. Next brief will be the VADM McCoy brief to community in early Apr. Action to DWG to pick a date and prep the presentation. Mentor groups are encouraged to provide any lessons learned, or suggested improvements to Capt Dexter.
(2) Recruiting and outreach pillar brief to the DWG on charter and planned action for the year. Main focus (in addition to the current NROTC and STEM High school/middle school visits) will be outreach to the Asian and Pacific Islander technical degree undergrads. DWG pillar will partner with NOMA (Naval Officer Mentoring Association-http://www.navalofficermentorship.org/index.cfm?sec=home ) which is a relatively new affinity group focused on providing mentoring support for API naval officers. API represent about 4-5% of the general population, but 13% of engineering degree holders. Last year the ED community recruiting efforts (option and lateral transfer) recruited 2-3% API officers. Discussed specific plans to team with Capt Grocki at University of Hawaii, CDR Dufer (sp?) at the University of Guam, and California schools awarding science and engineering degrees in large numbers to API students.

Upcoming events: (looking for volunteers/participants, mentor groups please get the word out)

- 15-16Mar, San Diego, CA, SSLA (Sea Service Leadership Association) http://www.sealeader.org/ This is a CNO diversity calendar event, the Network of ED Women (NEW) will be sponsoring an ED break out session the afternoon of the second day. Working to arrange ED Flag participation. Contact the NEW (link off EDO home page on NKO) for additional information.

- 23-27Mar, Saint Louis, MO, NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers) http://www.nsbe.org/ This is a CNO diversity calendar event, the diversity directorate is looking for six NAVSEA junior officers to attend engineering workshops.

- 24-26 Mar, Albuquerque, NM, NAISEF (American Indian Science and Engineering Society) http://www.aises.org/Events/NAISEF. This is a CNO diversity calendar event, the diversity directorate is looking for junior officers to be science fair judges.

- 2-6May, San Antonio, TX, ANSO (Association of Naval Services Officers) http://www.ansomil.org/ This is a CNO diversity calendar event, Youth/Navy day is Thursday (5th of May).

- the updated diversity planner is attached. Any questions or suggestions, please shoot me an email.


------------------------------------minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 11Jan2011----------------
Attendees: RDML Moore; CAPTs: Pietras, Dexter, Elkin, Antonio, Cuellar, SanPedro; CDRs Christenson, Masten; LCDRs Mlynarski, LaPointe: LT Cena

Discussion:

(1) All community telephone call: 20Jan (Thursday) 1530-1630 (Eastern), 1230-1330 (Pacific). Dial-In: 1-877-923-4047 Passcode: 8885644#. Focus of the call will be Navy energy initiatives. Principal speaker will be Rear Admiral Phillip Collum -Director of the USN Energy and Environmental Readiness Division. VADM McCoy will kick off the discussion, and then RADM Collum will brief for 30-40 min, and then will take questions from the audience. The dial in number is an 80 line phone bridge for the audio portion of the presentation. VADM McCoy/RADM Collum will be briefing in the NAVSEA auditorium (bldg 197). ****The expectation for WNY EDOs...is that you will attend the presentation in the auditorium, and the 80 lines will go to remote sites****. Please get this out to your mentor groups. RDML Moore is discussing the feasibility of inviting all of NAVSEA to the discussion with Mr. Persons.

(2) ED geographic option update. LCDR Mlynarski has forwarded an updated list of option contact information to the affected 0-6s. He is waiting for confirmation from the mentors that the information is current from their perspective, and then he will post to NKO. [amount of information on NKO will be reduced from previous postings for PII] In the Feb timeframe, the DWG will survey the option candidates to find out there inclination toward ED, and whether they have had any contact from their assigned mentor.
(3) hot wash from CNO annual diversity working group summit. Capt Pietras summary notes are attached- fyi. Message from the CNO diversity working group is essentially "steady as she goes". The ED community was not specifically addressed in any of the forums. From review of the information provided, consistent with the previous content and direction. Most interesting to me was the summary of the Career Intermission Pilot.
(4) DWG pillar briefing schedule. Recruit and Outreach (25Jan); Mentoring (22Feb); Training and Education (8Feb); retention (01Mar). Call me to adjust if needed and I'll fill in with tracking/metrics
(5) discussion concerning FIRST robotics competition and potential involvement of NPS. I'll discuss with Capt McGinnis. More on this later

Notes:
(1) welcome aboard LT Jeremy [redacted] as the junior Subba Bubba member of the DWG
(2) LT Freas and LT Le will accompany Ms. Easter for high school STEM outreach in TX. Thanks to all the volunteers and mentor groups for a quick turn on this request.
(3) Navy ship or submarine embark process (i.e. how to recommend a civilian for a ride on a ship/sub). Here is how the embark process works (email from LT Stegherr follows):

------
1. Diversity officers are encouraged to recommend people to embark on a ship or sub. Once a nominee has been identified to me, I create a unique username and password for them on the Navy's embark database, https://www.chinfo.navy.mil/embark/default.aspx. Using this logon info, the candidate can then log on to the system, and input their data (including personal information, contact info, emergency contact, medical restrictions, etc.) This information is screened by CNAF to determine an individual's eligibility to embark. In general, embarkees must be at least 18 years old, in good physical health, and able to withstand the rigors of the embark (flying to the ship, climbing stairs, etc.)

2. Once an embark opportunity has been established by CNAF, I and/or CNAF PAO then notifies embark candidates of the opportunity. (And as their information is already populated in the system, this will increase the efficiency of the process.) If they are able to attend, and approved by CNAF, a confirmation will be sent to them by CNAF with further instructions on their arrival, and other details on the embark (see attached Welcome Package). Embarks are scheduled based on ships' operational schedules and are subject to change based on operations and berthing availability. Embarkees are responsible for the cost of getting to San Diego/Norfolk and a small daily fee for food (about $40).

3. Once the embark is completed, embarkees are asked to return to the database to rate their embark. They will also be asked if they want to continue to receive information about the Navy and other contact about future outreach opportunities (this is another great feature of the embarks database).

Like I said during my brief at the SDWG Thursday, the goal is to identify diversity leaders and COIs early on who would be good embark candidates. We ran into an issue filling the last diversity embark because we were given a short timeline to get candidates through the approval system, and as a result, we came a few slots short of what we were allotted. Thus, leveraging the connections our diversity officers have made, I'd like to continue to populate the database with candidates so when we are given an embark, we have plenty of potential embarkees. What I have found is that due to their busy schedules, it's often due to schedule conflicts that COIs are unable to embark.

Finally, if you are speaking to potential candidates about this opportunity, guidance I have given to others is to explain that this is an opportunity (and it is not definite and they are not approved until approved by CNAF), and embark schedules are based on individual's eligibility and ship's schedules, and that establishing themselves in this database is the first step.

[edit]
------

v/r, Beth

-------------------------------------minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 14DEC------------------

Attendees: RDML Moore; CAPTs: Spencer, Dexter, Langdon, Mullarky, Elkin; CDRs Christenson, Masten, Hawks; LCDRs Hoskins, Mitchell, Mlynarski; LT Bily

Next DWG telcon: 11Jan (Enjoy the Holidays, Merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year)

Discussion:
(1) ED option questionnaire approved. Send out in Jan (web based survey) after LCDR Mlynarski updates the email addresses and geographic mentor assignments. Action item for LCDR Mlynarski to brief 11Jan the current status of option emails, geographic mentor assignments, letters to options from VADM McCoy (at option selection, and after warfare qualification). For geographic mentors...if you have not touched base with your assigned options- plan to accomplish in early Jan. The NEW socials in San Diego/Norfolk are good examples of social opportunities to engage options (see notes).
(2) Pillar briefings- start 25Jan and complete by Mar. Priority to brief the Recruiting and Outreach pillar as early as possible. Capt Dexter work with pillar leads to finalize the briefing schedule. Game plan for briefing is to lay out planned action items for the year....with the goal to support a conclusion/brief at the all captain seminar in Aug.
(3) pillar membership updates. Tracking, retention, and mentoring updates complete. Recruiting and training/education in progress. Two pillar leads (Capt Antonio, Capt Elkin) two year assignment end in the Spring. Capt Spencer has volunteered for the mentoring pillar lead. Capt Elkin working with Subba Bubbas to ID his relief.
(4) all hands call in Jan. Capt Dexter working timing with Admiral Collum's (Director of USN Energy and Environmental Readiness Division) staff, tentatively looking at 20Jan, 1530-1630 Eastern. Working to arrange the NAVSEA auditorium as well. Same game plan as the last all community telcon with a combination of Direct Connect Online (DCO) for slides and 80 line telephone bridge for audio. Length of telcon = 1 hour. Wardrooms will be encouraged to dial into to telephone bridge so that we can maximize the number of people/locations. Focus of the telcon will be Navy energy initiatives. Principal speaker will be Rear Admiral Phillip Collum (30-40 min presentation, and ~15 minutes of questions after).
(5) Training for Navy Recruiters on the ED community. Capt Crowe has arranged for community to provide a brief at the Navy Recruiter annual meeting in Memphis, Feb2011.
(6) option selection criteria- Bob Klocek is putting together a summary of the selection process (by Naval Academy, Navy recruiters, etc) to provide to the community for information.
(7) Capt Pietras attended part of the CNO's annual diversity working group summit in Washington, and he will provide a narrative during the next telcon as a hot wash. Capt Dexter action to put together a series of slides from the briefs to forward with discussion to mentor groups.

Notes:
- Welcome aboard to LT Cena (PSNS) who will be relieving LCDR Hoskins as the junior LCMG rep to the DWG.
- thanks to CDR William (Ben) O'Neal for volunteering to attend the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Conference, 17-19Feb.
- Network of ED Women socials... next one in San Diego. From the NEW:
Come join us for some free Prime Steak Sandwiches and a beverage at
Donovan's Steakhouse in La Jolla at 1700 on Thursday 16 DEC. Donovan's is
located at 4340 La Jolla Village Drive (In The Golden Triangle) La Jolla, CA
92122 and their phone number is (858) 450-6666. They serve complimentary
Prime Steak Sandwiches from 4 to 7 PM, and have complimentary valet parking
in their private lot. More information can be found at their website:
http://www.donovanssteakhouse.com/la-jolla-steakhouse.html. Please RSVP to
LT Moneé Freas at 619-246-5222 (cell) or rosemary.freas@navy.mil if you plan
to attend. ROTC Students, please join us! There will be FREE food!


v/r, Beth

-------------------------------------minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 30Nov------------------

Attendees: RDML Moore; Capts: Spencer, Dexter, Crowe, Langdon, Mullarky, Antonio, Elkin; Cdr Masten; LCDRs LaPointe, Hoskins, Desoto; LT Bily

Discussion:
(1) Hot Wash from the ED community diversity accountability brief to the CNO by RDML Moore (final version attached for info). CNO pleased with community progress and efforts. No follow up action items assigned. BZ and well done to the DWG, mentor groups, and leadership of the community for all the execution of all the efforts outlined in our mentoring and diversity policies. CNO interested in the implementation of the diversity and mentoring policies through the DWG/pillar leads and mentor groups, and how the community has a cross section of ranks/mission areas looking at diversity. Discussion of shipyard leadership positions prompted the CNO to say that the line community does not give the NSY's enough credit in delivering readiness. Discussion initiated by the Vice Chief on the size of the ED community- is it large enough to take on the acquisition challenges of the future.
(2) All community Telcon. Will be TBD in Jan. Same game plan as the last all community telcon with a combination of Direct Connect Online (DCO) for slides and 80 line telephone bridge for audio. Length of telcon = 1 hour. Wardrooms will be encouraged to dial into to telephone bridge so that we can maximize the number of people/locations. Focus of the telcon will be Navy energy initiatives. Principal speaker will be Rear Admiral Phillip Collum - Director of USN Energy and Environmental Readiness Division. Capt Dexter action to liaison with his staff for a 30-40 min presentation, and ~15 minutes of questions after.
(3) discussion on Asian and Pacific Islander engineering student demographic outreach. In comparing the demographics of science and engineering degrees awarded (2000-2008) to the demographics of accessions via the option program....we need to "do better" in the outreach to the Asian and Pacific Islander demographics. 13% of science and engineering degrees were awarded to API students, but we only accessed 2% in the API demographic from the option/lateral transfer processes last year. Looking at going to universities without NROTC units to recruit API engineering students. Coordination will be required with Navy recruiters so that our efforts are viewed as assistance rather than interference. Action to the recruiting and outreach pillar to get with CDR Jose to discuss a strategy or feasibility of our plan.
(4) ED option survey- DWG agreed to survey the options annually. Last year's survey questions are attached. DWG review and comment- will put on the agenda to discuss at the next telcon.
(5) Recurring theme from the last three diversity conference hot washes - recruiting command lack of knowledge about the ED community. Action item for the training pillar/Capt Crowe to discuss potential courses of action.
(6) draft a "precept" for selection of options- Capt Crowe action to discuss with Capt Nardi and get the current guidance/process. Discuss next telcon.

NEXT DWG TELCON: 14DEC

-------------------------------------minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 16Nov------------------

Attendees: Capts: Spencer, Dexter, Crowe, Langdon, Mullarky, Cuellar; Cdr Masten; LCDRs LaPointe, Mlynarski; LT Freas

Discussion:
(1) all community telcon currently scheduled 07Dec 1230-1330 (Pacific). Topic approved from last meeting: Navy energy initiatives, Total Ownership Cost (TOC) initiatives specific to ED led PEOs, Secretary Carter memo. Discuss requirements for advertising to community, and prepping brief. 80 line phone bridge is approved/arranged. Wtg for monthly Flag meeting discussion to determine the viability of the currently scheduled date. May move to Jan.

(2) diversity events: discussed lesson learned (hotwash) from recent conference attendance (attached), and discussed the attendee expectations (attached-generic example). All the DWG recommended events are selected from the CNO diversity calendar (so supported by larger Navy), and are STEM focused. The main lessons learned- make contact as early as feasible with the OPNAV action officer (the action officer name and contact information will be provided by Capt Dexter) to coordinate your participation. Based on your rank, they will make available all the appropriate forums for you (career fair, dinners, receptions, etc.). Once you arrive, be outgoing and talk about STEM opportunities in the Navy (military and civilian) and specific to the ED community. At the larger conferences, continuity of Navy attendees has some benefits- mentor groups maybe adopt a conference?. A common finding at the conferences is that the Navy recruiters have a low knowledge of the ED community (what we do, etc). Maybe an action item here to brief the recruiting command on EDs.
(a.) diversity events updates:
-FIRST volunteer: LCDR Scott [redacted] (approved)
- SHPE 2011 volunteer- CAPT Spencer (approved)
- NSPB volunteer - Capt Langdon (approved)
- AAEOY volunteer- Capt Cuellar (approved)
-HESTEC hot wash CDR Rochford. Feedback forwarded to DWG
-SWE hot wash CDR Silsdorf- I/P
-SHPE hot wash CAPT Spencer- attached
- AISES hot wash LT Marron- attached

- Looking for volunteers:
(b.) Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Conference
a. 17-19Feb11
b. Washington, DC
c. Website: WWW.BLACKENGINEEROFTHEYEAR.ORG
(3) welcome new members to the DWG: LCDR Cara LaPointe (SEA05D)
(4) Walk on items
- Network of ED Women are planning the West Coast annual meeting in coordination with the SSLA (Sea Service Leadership Association), San Diego, Mar14-16 http://www.sealeader.org/
- discussed outreach pillar tasker to discuss with Navy recruiters how we engage the Asian and Pacific Islander engineering student demographic.

Thanks for all the efforts out there to volunteer- to promote the Navy and STEM.


v/r, Beth

-------------------------------------minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 02Nov------------------
Attendees: RDML Moore; Capts: Mullarky, Dexter, Kan; CDR Hawks; LCDRs Desoto, Mlynarski

Discussions:
(1) hot wash of the CNO diversity accountability brief to VADM McCoy. Brief currently scheduled for CNO on 30Nov.
- overall pleased with content of the brief
- lots of discussion surrounding the Diversity Planner that lists STEM related diversity conferences for EDs to target attending. The STEM conferences from the planner are excerpts off the CNO's annual diversity calendar (so supported by the larger Navy). VADM McCoy wants to meet with the last two conference attendees (Capt Spencer, CDR Rochford) to hear their take on the value of attending the conferences, what they did, etc. Dan Rochford's hot wash report is attached for information. Capt Dexter action to develop a form/playbook for diversity conference attendees outlining expectations:
a. email/call the OPNAV action officer for the specific conference let them know EDs will be attending, and offer to assist if they need an engineer. For many of these STEM related conferences, they are looking for science fair judges, Officers to work with recruiters and explain what type of work EDs perform, etc. I'll provide the OPNAV action officer name and contact information in the initial email from the DWG (along with the expectations).
b. bring a laptop with the ED recruiting video downloaded (from NKO)
c. print ED tri-folds (from NKO)
d. Attend appropriate forums (ex. Job fair/career day -sit at OPNAV or NAVSEA booths). Appropriate forums can be determined through discussions with the OPNAV action officer and reviewing the conference agenda.
e. Explore the possibility of an "ED break out session" with conference organizers (the OPNAV action officer can help with this), where you are on the agenda to discuss ED community specific issues. NKO has an ED recruiting video and ppt presentation for download
f. if you are in an ED concentration area, advertise the ED break out session for local EDs to attend if possible. You can get the word out through the detailers, or local ED command leadership.
g. provide a hot wash, or lessons learned from your conference attendance. Address the following:
- do you recommend EDs attend this conference in the future
- what parts of the conference did you attend
- who did you mainly interface with (students, professionals, etc)
- how could we improve ED visibility at the conference in the future
- what did you learn
- have any fun?
VADM McCoy disappointed in the percentage of EDs that had completed diversity training in the last year. DWG discussion ensued about the frequency of training required by the policy and OPNAV N134 expectations. Email will be forwarded SEPCOR with the training requirements outlined, and where to get the training.

(2) discuss the community wide telcon ideas (listed in minutes below)
a. DWG discussion led to 4 community telcons per year using the phone bridge/Direct Connect Online (DCO) combination:
aa. Apr timeframe reserved for VADM McCoy
ab. Dec timeframe: Navy energy initiatives, Total Ownership Cost (TOC) initiatives specific to ED led PEOs, Secretary Carter memo. RDML Moore has action to arrange Flag participation
ac. February timeframe: Detailer brief to include (IA, AFPACK hands, Information Dominance Corps impact on the ED community)
ad. Jun timeframe: Mentoring/diversity training
Capt Dexter action to arrange the Carrier Team one phone line for early December telcon.

(3) retention pillar discussion of "all community survey"
a. DWG determined a survey for retention was not needed this year based on last year's results, and current resignation data. Trigger for future surveys would be higher than average (6 per year) resignations from the community.

(4) approved DWG pillar briefings for FY11. Retention (1st quarter), mentoring (2nd quarter), Training and education (3rd quarter), Recruitment and Outreach (4th quarter)

(5) upcoming diversity conferences from 2011 diversity planner.
- Society of Women Engineers 4-6Nov (CDR Beth Silsdorf)
- American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Conference, 11-13Nov10 (no volunteers to date) Capt Dexter to reach out to our NM contingency to solicit interest.

Thanks for your efforts out there.

v/r, Beth

-------------------------------------minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 19October[corrected]-------
Attendees: Capts: Mullarky, Spencer, Crowe, Dexter; Bob Klocek; LCDRs: Hoskins, DeSoto, Faulkner, Mlynarski: LT Freas

Discussion:
(1) reviewed draft ED Diversity Accountability brief to CNO (scheduled November 2010)
--discussed "measure of success" for mid career hot runners to be competitive for crown jewel positions. Previous briefs used the promotion statistics as the measure of success, but the promotion statistics (while still tracked by detailers) were removed as a community benchmark. Discussed how mentor groups track the available pool of qualified candidates for crown jewel jobs with minority officers identified in the pool. Mentor group leads discuss available candidates with Flags. Best idea was to calculate the [number of minority officers qualified for crown jewel jobs divided by total number of officers qualified for crown jewel jobs. This percentage can then be compared to the minority population in the associated grade.] Minority officers in qualifying positions for crown jewel jobs are highlighted in the brief. Discussed the effect of nuclear experience on the Flag selection potential- and discussed mid-career efforts to provide the necessary experience by sending conventional officers to NSY.
-- DWG recommends moving the historical Flag pool slide earlier in the brief to highlight the nuclear experience needed for the majority of ED Flag jobs
-- changed the "who we are today" slide by removing US census data, and adding B.S. Engineering degree demographics
-- added current diversity benchmarks to the notes page of slide 2 (BLUF)
-- identified that the last slide in the brief (lateral transfer data) needs update or x axis title change. Detailers reviewing, but we don't refer to this data anywhere...recommend delete from the brief.
-- ****attached brief incorporates recommended changes and updates (with the exception of the last slide lateral transfer data).
-- overall consensus with the message and content of the brief
-- will discuss with RDML Moore later in the week in preparation for brief with VADM McCoy on OCT 26th.

(2) discussed possible topics for community wide telcon. Deferred voting to next DWG telcon due to lack of time. Topics suggested to date listed below.
-- AFPAK hands
-- Secretary Carter memo
-- What are the impacts to our military medical/dental benefits under the new healthcare bill that was passed by Congress? How will our Tricare benefits change when this bill goes into effect? What about veterans who are covered under the VA?
-- current events (each Flag provides a highlight slide from their focus area) for 1/2 of telcon, and other half one of the other topics suggested
-- Total Ownership Costs - We (the ED's) are not doing enough to reduce total ownership costs; whether for in-service ships or future ships. As a community, the ED's represent the single most talent in the Navy who can, and should reduce TOC. We have been working in this area for several years now and still on the fringes of what could be done.
-- Energy savings - An offshoot of TOC but with a directed area of focus. Again, we should be out front and leading the way. Things like waterless urinals have application for energy savings in both buildings and on ships (less water usage, less sewer usage in building and less water usage and less pump usage on ships which equates to less load on the electric plant which equates to less fuel being burned). Again, we have been working in this area for several years now and still on the fringes of what could be done.
-- impact of Information Dominance Corps on the ED community (IDC warfare qual recommended for EDs working in the C4I side of the business??)

------------------------minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 05Oct--------------------------------

Attendees: RDML Moore, Capts: Antonio, Spencer, Dexter, CDRS: Masten, Lopez, Kun, LCDRS: Faulkner, Desoto, LT Freas

Discussions:

(1) Flag officer diversity conference Participation. RDML McMahon spoke at the MAES conference 01Oct. Scheduled via the OPNAV diversity directorate with relative ease. N134 assigned him to an appropriate forum at the conference, reserved lodging, etc. Ready to roll for future Flag engagements.
(2) diversity conference update:
---NAVADMIN 329/10 CNO FLEET DIVERSITY COUNCIL Wed, 03NOV in Norfolk, Va. 0810-1120 at the NAS Oceana base theater. All military and civilian in the NORVA area are encouraged to attend. NNSY is listed as one of the commands specifically targeted to attend this meeting. http://www.npc.navy.mil/channels
--- SWE: LCDR Kriewaldt had to drop due to a schedule conflict, DWG approved CDR Beth Silsdorf as a replacement
---HESTEC: CDR Rochford mission complete
--- SHPE: Capt Spencer ready to roll. Waiting go ahead from DWG on FY11 funding
--NORVA area science fair judges request- sent SEPCOR to mentor groups. CDR Feliciano has volunteered and submitted paperwork, CDR Salinas has also volunteered
(3) CNO diversity calendar (NAVADMIN 292/10) has been reviewed and STEM related conferences have been plugged into the ED 2011 planner (attached). DWG has approved with the addition of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) National robotics championship in St Louis 27-30 April2011. Regional champions progress to the national championship in ST Louis. DWG members have had some experience with regional championships (PHNSY- has been previous participants), and would be an opportunity for any active/reserve officer to fulfill the annual school visit requirement. http://www.usfirst.org/. I'll send more details on this sepcor.
(2) mentor group NROTC assignments have been forwarded by detailer shop to all the mentor groups. In addition to the mentor group assignments, a group of Captains have been assigned universities without NROTC units. These geographic assignments will be targeting universities that graduate significant numbers of engineers with Asian and Pacific Islander demographics. ***Action**** for the Recruitment and Outreach pillar to discuss with Navy recruiting command how we partner with them to visit engineers at these universities- and pass this info to the O-6's tasks with visiting the non-NROTC universities.
(3) Capt Antonio and mentor pillar have proposed an updated mentoring sheet for use during formal mentoring. Mentoring pillar looking for feedback from DWG, and has the action to streamline to one page with additional issues potentially on the back page. Concept is to offer the updated mentoring sheet as "optional" during the current mentoring cycle, but mandatory during next year's cycle (May '11). Feedback from DWG was positive based on initial draft.
(4) next community wide telcon (date TBD) topics will be discussed at the next DWG telcon. Of the 4 quarterly telcons, two will be permanently assigned (1) "All Hands" by COMNAVSEA, and (2) detailer/community manager update. Remaining two topics are TBD based on community interest. TBD topics suggested to date: AFPAK hands, Secretary Carter memo.

Notes:
- the diversity and mentoring policy updates are in the NAVSEA front office for signature.
- welcome to LCDR Kris DeSoto- the Wizards new junior diversity rep, and LCDR Greg Mitchell- new course director at ED School, and new DWG member
- next meeting is 19Oct. Community diversity brief to CNO will be reviewed during DWG telcon. SEA00 read ahead NLT 20Oct

Thanks for the good ideas everyone.

v/r, Beth

--------------------------Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 24Aug-----------------------

Attendees: RDML Moore; Capts: Dexter, Antonio, Pietras, Spencer, Esmele, Crowe; Cdrs: Masten, Kan, Hawks; LCDR Faulkner; LTs Freas, Rice

Discussion:
- NEW outreach to women submariners (to network, not to recruit- as the ED community has women ED Dolphins/EDO(N). RDML Moore has taken the action to discuss the idea with URL Flags and VADM McCoy prior to any further effort on this concept.
- Capt Antonio (mentoring pillar) discussed an email he is drafting for mentor group leads and exec secretaries to encourage Captains to post their career planners on NKO. He will forward SEPCOR to mentor groups.
- action items:
-- next meeting: 07Sep Capt Crowe/Dexter submit the DWG budget request for RDML Moore review
-- Capt Pietras will attend the CNO diversity council annual F2F meeting in DC 9/10Dec
-- Capt Dexter draft an email for Flags outlining DWG recommended diversity events
-- DWG members review the diversity conference "playbook" draft forwarded by Capt Esmele. Submit comments to Capt Esmele. Agenda item for next meeting.
-- DWG approved LT Rice to attend the Women in Defense National Conference.
- Discussed the diversity events the DWG is targeting for the remainder of the year.
-- NEXT 5 conferences:
--- HESTEC (Hispanic Engineering Science and Technology Week) 27Sep-02Oct. CDR Rochford senior ED
--- MAES [The Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists, INC] Symposium, 29Sep-03Oct, Anaheim, CA
--- NACME [National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering] is a partner with Lockheed Martin in hosting the "USA Science & Engineering Festival" in DC. 23-24Oct
--- SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) 28-31Oct. Capt Spencer senior ED
--- SWE (Society of Women Engineers) Conference, 4-6Nov, Orlando, FL

Looking for volunteers from mentor groups to attend all 5 conferences. Senior EDs have volunteered for HESTEC and SHPE, need senior ED action officers for the MAES, NACME, SWE (web links below). Action officers are responsible to coordinate with the N134 action officer an ED break out session if possible. The DWG will recommend to the ED Flags which diversity events to attend (science and engineering related), and coordinate via ED Flag off-site for them to sign up/attend. Capt Dexter draft an email outlining diversity events for Flag consideration.

(1) MAES [The Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists, INC] Symposium, 29Sep-03Oct, Anaheim, CA http://maes-natl.org/
N134 action officer: LCDR Cesar Plaza 703-614-5334, email: cesar.plaza@navy.mil
(2) NACME [National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering] is a partner with Lockheed Martin in hosting the "USA Science & Engineering Festival" in Washington, DC. 23-24Oct http://www.usasciencefestival.org/
Expo on the National Mall and surrounding areas: October 23 & 24, 2010 The Inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival, hosted by Lockheed Martin, will be the country's first national science festival and will descend on the Washington, D.C. area in the Fall of 2010. Opening on 10/10/10 with a gala concert of amazing science songs performed by over 200 children and adults at the University of Maryland, the Festival promises to be the ultimate multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States. The culmination of the Festival will be a two-day Expo in the nation's capital that will give over 500 science & engineering organizations from all over the United States the opportunity to present themselves with a hands-on, fun science activity to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
(3)SWE (Society of Women Engineers) Conference, 4-6Nov, Orlando, FL http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/
N134 action officer: LCDR Kim Cota-Robles 703-614-5185, email: kim.cotarobles@navy.mil

--------------- Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 10Aug----------------------------

Attendees: Capts Dexter, Spencer, Esmele, San Pedro, Crowe, Langdon: LCDR Mlynarski, LT Freas

Discussion:
- Recruitment pillar- the mentor groups will tasked with visiting NROTC units only. The universities that award the largest number of S&E degrees to API, AA, and Hispanics (that do not have NROTC units) that were on Capt Malone's list will be tasked to commands based on geographic location. LCDR Mlynarski has the action to divide the list between the mentor groups and geographic commands. Capt Langdon has provided a geographic list of RC EDs that will assist in visiting schools without NROTC units. The challenge with the non-NROTC visits...is to gather the correct audience (S&E students). Some interface with the school of engineering, etc., will be required to coordinate visits. Based on the demographics of current S&E graduates, compared to the demographics of ED options- our largest shortfall is in API.

- discussed LT Norgaard's hot wash from the NNOA/ANSO conference in Norfolk, VA. Several EDs who attended expressed disappointment with the fact that no ED Flags attended. Our role as the DWG is to arrange breakout sessions at the conference, advertise internal to the ED community, and then invite the Admirals to attend. The NEW breakout sessions are a model for future success. Capt Esmele took the action to develop a "playbook" for the senior ED attending- to lay out expectations for setting up an ED breakout session, contacting the OPNAV diversity directorate action officer to get allocated a spot in the Navy recruiting area, what to take with you (laptop with recruiting video, extension cord, ED banner), and lessons learned from previous conferences. Capt Dexter took the action to develop the 2011 planner which targets which conferences to attend. Goal is to identify senior ED action officer earlier...in order to have time to learn the playbook (continuing with the sports analogies). No busts on previous conference attendees, we are learning as we go-in terms of what will work, and what will not.

Attached file has the OPNAV action officers for all Navy supported diversity events (more than the DWG is targeting to fund). This file is found on the Navy Personnel Command website: http://www.npc.navy.mil/CommandSupport/Diversity/ click on the right hand side "diversity events matrix". Anyone can call the action officer and volunteer to be a science fair judge, etc. Many of the diversity events are STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) outreach as well. POC at the OPNAV diversity directorate is CDR Lori Roe (703) 695-3856/DSN 225 or email Lori.Roe@Navy.mil.
-- NEXT Two conferences:
--- HESTEC (Hispanic Engineering Science and Technology Week) 27Sep-02Oct. CDR Rochford senior ED
--- SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) 28-31Oct. Capt Spencer senior ED

Notes:

- sent out a notification sepcor, but looking for a BIG conference attendee 16-20Aug.
- congratulations to CDR Matt Hawks for being the Senior ED Diversity award winner. VADM McCoy presented his award during the all Captain seminar in Washington. Well done Matt, we are proud of you!
- welcome to CDR Joe Kan as the newest member of the DWG.

-------------------Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 27JUL------------

Attendees: Capts Dexter, Spencer, Elkin, Langdon; CDR Lopez, LCDR Mlynarski; LT Freas

Discussion:
- [recruitment pillar- Capt Malone lead] - reviewed the attached (sepcor) list of school visits. Consensus was that DWG does not recommend the mentor groups be tasked with visiting universities without NROTC units. Recommend the NROTC locations be assigned to the mentor groups, and the other universities listed be part of TBD outreach process. Without the NROTC unit, we will need to develop a method to get an audience with the S&E graduates. I have the action to discuss with OPNAV diversity directorate outreach offices. I'll work with LCDR Mlynarski to divide up the current list, and get the NROTC units assigned to mentor groups.

Notes:
- DWG F2F meeting will occur during the All Captain seminar as targets of opportunity arise. DWG determined no agenda required face to face discussions other than to meet each other.
- approved Capt Spencer as the community rep to the SHPE Conference 2010 in Cincinnati, OH, Thurs-Sat 28-30 October 2010.
- congratulations to LT Monee Freas for being the recipient of the ED Community Junior diversity Award. RDML Berkey (CPFLT N43) presented the award to Monee in San Diego on the 22nd. Well done Monee...we are proud of you!


-------------------------Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 13JUL----------------------
Attendees: Capts Dexter, Spencer, Malone, SanPedro, Elkin, Crowe, and LT Freas

Discussions:
- Free text comments (sent sepcor). RDML Moore approved including in the summary of the Diversity Accountability survey. DWG discussed some of the suggestions, and consumed most of telcon in these discussions. Final action for DWG related to suggestions...email Capt Dexter if you have an opinion on the suggested improvements not reflected in the "Take Aways" (I.e. recommended actions are listed in the "take away". No action is planned on other listed suggestions unless the DWG votes to pursue.) Recommend the option selection criteria be reflected in written guidance (similar to precept language for admin boards), and promulgated to community.
- Draft "all Captain" diversity brief forwarded for review and comment. Email Captain Dexter with suggested improvements, or changes.

- [action DWG- vote by email]we need to agree on a time/date/location for the DWG face2face meeting. The "all Captain" portion of the seminar is the 4th and 5th of Aug. An ED social is planned for the afternoon/night of the 4th (eliminating meeting the afternoon of the 4th as an option). Remaining Options:
(1) no need for face2face meeting (accomplish via telcon)
(2) meet WNY, 5th AUG 1600 (Thursday)

- NROTC visits update- I will forward SEPCOR the proposed school visit plan from Capt Malone

- DWG approved CDR Rochford to attend the HESTEC conference.
- {mentor groups} looking for a junior officer to attend the BIG conference 16-20Aug in Kansas City. Link in minutes below
- (mentor groups) LT Freas has completed her 2 yr assignment to the DWG (wizards) and is looking for a relief. Capt SanPedro has for action to engage the mentor groups.

Thanks and have a great week.

v/r, Beth


--------------------Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 29JUN------------------------------

Attendees: RDML Moore, Capts Dexter, Spencer, Antonio, Malone, Langdon, SanPedro, Elkin; LCDR Jones

Discussions:
- recruiting pillar (Capt Malone lead)- update on review of NROTC visits. 61 of 74 scheduled visits were accomplished by Mentor groups (82%). 3 ROTC units have never been visited (Marquette, Michigan, Nebraska) and will be a focus for next year's assignments. Feedback from mentor groups has suggested visiting the NROTC units on a "every other year" periodicity vice the current annual visit schedule. Retention pillar is working up the list of schools to visit per mentor group, with the goal of completing by the Capt seminar 2-5Aug. Capt Langdon will work with Capt Malone on the reserve integration aspect of the visit.
-Tracking pillar (Capt Dexter lead)- update on the diversity policy accountability survey. Reviewed the revised slides, and discussed the "free text" comments. Current plan, consider including a praeto type representation of the comments. Goal to reflect the number of people with a specific opinion Vs. the total population of respondents. Capt Dexter has for action. Discussion topic for next agenda. Capt Langdon and CDR Cox working reserve input on the free text comments requesting expectation for reservist on (1) attending diversity events, (2) school visits.
- retention pillar (Capt SanPedro lead)- brief to Flags completed for the "all community survey". Several look ups assigned. Volunteers needed to work with Matt Hawks on developing recommended community approaches to the attrition drivers. Looking for volunteers from DWG and mentor groups. Contact CDR Matt Hawks directly if interested. Initial thinking is to meet on a monthly basis.
- mentoring pillar (Capt Antonio lead)- revised policy is in administrative completion phases. Thanks to all who provided input.

Diversity conferences:
- ANSO/NNOA conference attendee will be LT Pete Norgaard from NNSY (funded by DWG). Capt Malone will also attend, and will engage event organizers to determine if we can establish an "ED booth".
- BIG (Blacks in Government) conference, Kansas City, MO, Aug 16-20. http://www.bignet.org/ Capt Tim Kelley will attend. Looking for a junior officer volunteer to accompany him.
- still looking for volunteer to attend HESTEC (Hispanic Engineering Science and Technology) week, Edinburg, TX. Career Expo is Oct 1st (companies and booths to engage college students) http://hestec.utpa.edu/?page=careerexpo

Notes:
- Revised diversity policy is in Flag review.
- all captain seminar diversity brief is being updated. I will send sepcor for review during the next telcon.
- welcome LCDR Phil Mlynarski as the junior ED detailer, and member of the DWG team. HOO YA

Next Telcon 13JUL.

Have a wonderful 4th of July holiday. You all are great American patriots, and it's a privilege to work with you every day.

v/r, Beth

-------------------Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group Telcon 15JUN------------------

Attendees: RDML Moore, Capts Dexter, Pietras, Antonio, SanPedro, Elkin, Malone; CDRs Hawks, Lopez

Discussions:
- [mentoring pillar - Capt Antonio] ED mentoring policy update is working. Minimal input received (outside of the DWG), but will forward to RDML Moore Friday. Any mentor groups or individuals who have an input...pls send soonest, but Friday is the last opportunity. Policy is ~30-40% changed. Recommendations: mentoring/diversity training on NKO is either retired (no longer accessible), or not specific to the ED community - recommend ED community specific training be generated. Reviewed the mentor group pages on NKO, and lots of variation on bio/planner availability for senior leadership of the mentor group. Some have bios posted, some have planners, will work with secretaries to make what's available more consistent. Action for Capt Dexter to send the ED school slides on mentoring to Capt Antonio.
- [tracking pillar- Capt Dexter]- reviewed the results of the diversity accountability survey (CAPT/CDR, RC and AC). Topic for next meeting to discuss the free text comments approach options (post to NKO, address in brief, don't address in brief, etc). Problem associated with free text comments is they represent the opinion of one person, and difficult to determine if the opinion is widely held (so should be addressed) or the opinion of one person (potentially does not need to be addressed). Preliminary recommendations: data indicates we are doing what the policy requires, and trends are generally upward/improving. Areas where improvement needed: STEM school visits (we are doing ok on NROTC visits, but only 35% of the community is meeting the requirement to visit a school - HS, elementary, etc), formal mentoring (fundamental obligation of leadership, want a higher percentage for completion. Percent completing annual training in diversity and mentoring is too low. Need to clarity reserve expectations for school visits and diversity event attendance (questions from free text). Primary focus areas for next year (STEM school visits, and formal mentoring).
- [retention pillar- Capt SanPedro}- retention survey results will be briefed to Flags at the next meeting (June). Will send analysis to the mentor groups and post to NKO after the Flag review.
- {NEW} update provided by RDML Moore. 16 women attended the ED break out session. Included was a SWO interested in ED community. VADM McCoy and RDML Moore (and panel) fielded questions for 90 min (~30 min on women specific issues, and 60 min on community issues- maintenance, etc).
- [recruiting pillar- Capt Malone] working with mentor secretaries to update the list of NROTC visits. Looking at schools that have historically produced ED options, as well as under represented demographics. Any inputs or suggestions, pls contact Capt Malone. Lots of free text inputs during survey about reserve coordination of visits...so any ideas are welcome. LCDR Echols will provide option data to pillar.

Notes:
- ANSO/NNOA conference attendee will be LT Pete Norgaard from NNSY (funded by DWG).
- looking for volunteers to attend the BIG (Blacks in Government) conference, Kansas City, MO, Aug 16-20. http://www.bignet.org/
- looking for volunteer to attend HESTEC (Hispanic Engineering Science and Technology) week, Edinburg, TX. Career Expo is Oct 1st (companies and booths to engage college students) http://hestec.utpa.edu/?page=careerexpo


Next telcon is 29JUN. Thanks everyone, and have a good weekend.

v/r, Beth

------------------------Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 01JUN-------------------------------

Attendees: Capts Dexter, Esmele, Elkin, Patterson, SanPedro, Pietras, Crowe, Malone; CDRs Masten, Lopez, Hawks, VanSlyke; LCDR Jones; LTs Freas, Hoskins

Discussions:
- [recruit and outreach pillar action- Capt. Malone lead] to review assigned NROTC units and mentor group assignments
--compare existing subset against all NROTC units, and National Science Foundation metrics for university degrees awarded in Engineering, math, physics and computer science and recommend the list of universities to visit for the 10-11 school year.
-- make a recommendation on how to improve the coordination of visits between junior/senior and active/reserve. Discussed an idea of arranging the visits by quarter so that everyone in a geographic area would have visibility of a visit...not just the assigned mentor group. All ideas welcome.
-- update the excel spreadsheet with current data for visits completed using the mentor group secretaries information
-- timeline for completion should have the approved list of visits out to the mentor groups in Aug
- Network of ED Women (NEW) East Coast break out session planned 3JUN. See the NEW weblink (off the EDO home page on NKO) for details. On track with Flag support from VADM McCoy and RDML Moore and panel members.
- [retention pillar- Capt SanPedro lead] to put together cross functional team to review community top attrition drivers (family separation, IA, AFPAK hands, FITREP process, working hours) and make recommendations on specific action items for the community to address. Ideas discussed include the fact that the requirement cannot be changed, but how can we work to address the specific complaint. Feedback from IA working lunches is that families are being ignored by the command while member is on IA. During 3 year AFPAK hands, Flags have determined that the losing command will have oversight responsibilities (as AFPACK is a PCS assignment). Community needs to raise the visibility of the AFPAK hands EDOs. Currently 3 officers assigned to AFPAK hands (LCDR Drew Grant, SPAWAR (Boots on ground), LCDR Eric Williams, NNSY (DLI) & LCDR John Anderson, SSFA Chantilly (Sept fill). This represents first round. Within a year from now, we will have 9 officers in this program. Recommend cover them in the next newsletter, and put their pictures on the ED web page, etc. FITREP issues cited in the survey were related to IA assignments (away on IA during the majority of the reporting period, and being marked below the RSA due to lack of visibility) and can be addressed at the all Captain/new Captain seminar during FITREP discussions. Anyone (DWG, mentor groups, community at large) who wants to work on the team to develop actionable items based on the attrition drivers...contact Capt SanPedro.
- [tracking pillar- Capt Dexter lead]- the diversity policy accountability survey is closed/complete. 475 of 534 Capt/CDR (active and reserve) responded for a 89% completion rate. Well done to the CO's and mentor groups for participation. No further action WRT the survey is required by the mentor groups. I'm looking at the data now, and should have the metrics ready to review at the next meeting. DWG discussed the free text comments, and concurrence reached to post redacted (names removed where cited) comments on the NKO page for alcon to review. I'll pass the comments to RDML Moore to review, and if he concurs...I'll post with the data. Capt Dexter took an action item to ask if diversity funds could be used to fund visits to NROTC units.
- [mentoring pillar- Capt Antonio lead]- annual update to the mentoring policy is attached (clean and track change copies). Request DWG and mentor groups review and comment by 15JUN. Reply direct to Capt Antonio. NEGs not required.

Notes:
- next diversity conference on our 2010 planner to target EDO attendance is 25-30JUL, Portsmouth, VA...National Naval Officers Association (NNOA) and Association of Naval Services Officers (ANSO). Websites: www.nnoa.org; www.ansomil.org Looking for mentor groups to nominate potential attendees for the DWG to fund the travel. LCDR Rich Jones attended the ANSO conference last year, and can provide some lessons learned. An EDO break out session for recruiting may be possible if we coordinate with the conference early enough.
- HENAAC (Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation- which is changing their name to "Great Minds in STEM") conference 7-9Oct, Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL. Award Nominations are due 4Jun2010 via the website: http://greatmindsinstem.org/. The conference agenda and registration can all be found on the website. NAVSEA, SPAWAR, and USN are all sponsors of the conference. http://www.greatmindsinstem.org/henaac/nominations/categories.php explains all the award nomination categories. Awards can be submitted via the webpage (100% paperless). Mentor groups and commands are requested to submit qualified ED candidates for recognition. I know of one ED submission in the pipeline.
- Asian Pacific American (APA) Leadership Forum, Wed. 9 June, at the Pentagon Conference Center. To register, please rsvp via email to: Ms. Melanie Jacobson: melanie.jacobson.ctr@osd.mil and cc: lornamae.devera@navy.mil.
- Asian American Government Executive Network (AAGEN) day conference, Asian Pacific American Leadership - Strategic Paths to the Top, Thursday, June 10, 2010 Doubletree Hotel, Crystal City-National Airport, 300 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202. Link to FREE registration for conference (a $295.00 savings): To register, click on link below, then click on the "DoD" button:
https://ww2.eventrebels.com/er/Registration/StepRegInfo.jsp?ActivityID=4995&StepNumber=1 To review AAGEN conference agenda, click on:
http://www.aagen.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=27Sj%2f2GOTBk%3d&tabid=54&mid=373

Next DWG meeting: 15JUN

-------------------Minutes from telcon 18May---------------------

Attendees: RDML Moore, Capt Antonio, Capt Esmele, Capt Dexter, CDR Masten, LT Hoskins

- Retention pillar updated brief of the "all community survey" results attached. Retention pillar has some final polishing to complete, but represents the 95% final product. Action for DWG to work recommended actions for attrition drivers. Retention team has the lead to pull together representatives from all areas of the community/DWG. Timeline: brief to all Flags in the Jun timeframe, and Captains at the all captain seminar in Aug.
- ED diversity award committee has reviewed submitted packages and made recommendation(s) to RDML Moore. Winners will be announced after Flag review.
- ED diversity accountability survey (CDR and CAPT active and reserve) is officially closed as of the 15th. Site will remain open one additional week (until the 22) in an effort to get stragglers to complete the survey. 84% of the target population completed the survey (as of the 17th). Well done to mentor groups and Commands on participation.
- DWG mentor pillar is in the process of updating the community mentor policy. Revised policy will be sent to DWG and mentor groups for review/comment prior to forwarding to Flags for approval.


Thanks for everyone's efforts, and I'll talk to you in two weeks. Next telcon: 01JUN v/r, Beth

----------minutes from telcon 04May------------------------------

Attendees: RDML Moore, Capts Elkin, Pietras, Dexter, Malone; CDR Masten

Discussion:
- draft diversity policy has been approved by the DWG. Capt Dexter action to forward draft (including approved comments/input) to RDML Moore for Flag approval. Summary of significant changes: (1) benchmark metrics, (2) option mentoring paragraph will be removed from the diversity policy and included in the mentoring policy only, (3) Network of ED Women (NEW) added. Action items from policy update discussion:
-- Capt Dexter to update the mentor policy (add NEW, and option mentoring). Draft will be forwarded to DWG pillars and mentor groups for review/comment.
-- future DWG agenda item to review NROTC units assigned to mentor groups. Determine the % visited of current list by mentor groups.
- 5 community diversity awards are in the pipeline (4 junior, 1 senior) IAW the EDO diversity award instruction. DWG award committee selected (Capt Malone-lead, Capt Elkin, CDR Lopez). Award committee will review submitted packages and make a recommendation to RDML Moore by 18 May.
- Retention pillar is analyzing the "all community survey" completed in Apr. Analysis of results will be briefed to RDML Moore 11May, and to DWG on the 18th, Flags during May Flag meeting, results will be posted for community review after the Flag review.

Notes: all pillars and mentor groups focus on getting the word out:
- 12Apr-15May all community diversity survey is active via web (surveymonkey). Participation is mandatory for all CDR/CAPT EDOs (Active and Reserve). As of 29Apr, 301 EDOs had completed the survey. Reminder that the mentor group secretaries are maintaining the accountability of the active participants, and reserve participants accountability is being maintained via the Navsea Reserve program office (CDR Cox). Link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BVVCW8G and the password is "edo"
- Network of ED Women (NEW) East Coast meeting is 3JUN. See NKO web link (off EDO main page for details)
- HENAAC (Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation- which is changing their name to "Great Minds in STEM") conference 7-9Oct, Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL. Award Nominations are due 4Jun2010 via the website: http://greatmindsinstem.org/. The conference agenda and registration can all be found on the website. NAVSEA, SPAWAR, and USN are all sponsors of the conference. http://www.greatmindsinstem.org/henaac/nominations/categories.php explains all the award nomination categories. Awards can be submitted via the webpage (100% paperless). Mentor groups and commands are requested to submit qualified ED candidates for recognition. I know of one ED submission in the pipeline.
- next diversity conference on our 2010 planner to target EDO attendance is 25-30JUL, Portsmouth, VA...National Naval Officers Association (NNOA) and Association of Naval Services Officers (ANSO). Websites: www.nnoa.org; www.ansomil.org Looking for mentor groups to nominate potential attendees for the DWG to fund the travel.


--------------------------------------minutes from 20Apr DWG phoncon---------------------------------
Online Capt San Pedro, CDR Masten, LCDR Faulkner, and LT Freas, so we had a mini-Retention Pillar group discussion addressing your agenda items. Specifically,

- NEW Hotwash
(1) At both the NEW Friday night social and Saturday breakout session, had 15 participants (about 25% of the total attendance for the 17 APR Academy Women Conference). Participants for the NEW events include men and women, EDOs and guests.
(2) Feedback: Lots of excitement for the organization. A big desire for monthly informal gatherings and a monthly newsletter. The informal gatherings would primarily be for junior officers to get together and share experience; senior officers, however, are welcomed. Interaction with senior officers would occur at formal events such as conferences.
(3) Two potential recruits: One female SWO, weighing options to resign her commission, spoke with CDR Dolloff about becoming an EDO. An enlisted Aviation Tech spoke with LT Freas about becoming an officer/EDO.
(4) Next: (a) Getting ready for SSLA, with participation by LCDRs Faulker and Kriewaldt.
(b) Initiating informal monthly events
(c) Publishing monthly NEW newsletter

- Quick reminders for completing Diversity Survey, All Community Telcon, and submission of comments for draft diversity policy.
- Other items on the agenda (awards and conference attendance) were not discussed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group telcon 23Mar

Attendees: RDML Moore, Capts: Dexter, Elkin, SanPedro, Spencer, Pietras, Esmele, Patterson, Langdon, Malone; CDR Masten; LCDR Rich Jones; LT Freas

Discussions:
(1) Retention pillar update: CDR Masten briefed the retention pillar quarterly update. [EDO School will post on NKO] Summary of major points:
- accomplishments: initiated the retention team survey, and completed initial survey run. Established the Network of ED Women, and is organizing the East Coast and West Coast break out session for the NEW. Developed a notional career path plan for the LCMG
- retention survey has completed/closed. Target participation of 50% has been exceeded. Well done to the community. Data is being analyzed by the pillar team. Outbrief to the DWG in May, followed by brief to Flags 20May, and brief at "all captain's seminar" in Aug. Lots of good feedback via the free text capability, and good representation from all aspects of the community for those that completed the survey. Entire survey (including free text comments will be released via NKO for community review)
- NEW update. The NKO site is being populated with career planners, bios, and contact information for senior women...as well as the flyer advertising the NEW break out sessions has been posted. RADM (ret.) Paige has provided her planner and is lending support to the site. Current focus is making the break out sessions on East and West Coast a success. Looking for any input that will make the website better, and looking for reserve participation. NEW briefed the ED Flag leadership at the last monthly Flag meeting. Capt Dexter will function as the advocate/link to the ED Flag leadership for any issues/recommendations from the NEW.
- Notional Career path plan for LCMG is a pilot project for mentor group leads to monitor the health of the ready locker of candidates for various crown jewel jobs, and for the individual a notional career path that outlines a variety of command opportunities.

(2) Training and Education pillar brief: Capt Elkin briefed the T&E quarterly update. [EDO School will post on NKO]
- pillar group has developed a pre-event checklist (prior to attending diversity conference, STEM event, NROTC unit) and will pass to RDML Moore for review and eventual posting on NKO.
- developed an after action report standard format for those attending diversity conferences, etc. Same comments as above.
- recommended "train the trainer" diversity training for EDO School. Pillar review of training confirmed the adequacy of the EDO School Basic/Senior Courses, and Captain Seminar to meet the diversity training requirement. 2-3 day training by DEOMI for EDO School instructors was approved by the DWG, and is under review. [EDO School action]

(3) 22 April will be next quarterly telcon. VADM McCoy will kick off the Flag Road show at the WNY, and he will be broadcast live via DCO and 80 line telephone bridge to the remainder of the community. Detailer email has the specifics....get your folks registered in DCO (wait until after the 28th of Mar because DCO is doing system upgrades), and group together by wardroom/geographic area to maximize the phone line use...and allow those in more remote locations to have priority for the lines.

(4) Capt Esmele discussed the San Diego Fleet Diversity Council meeting 6/7April in San Diego. Dr. Betances will be speaking April 7th at the Naval Station 0800-1100, and at the Naval Air Station from 1300-1500. Good speaker for those looking to attend a diversity event.

(5) Discussion intiated by Capt Spencer on the STEM outreach he is participating in the DC area associated with SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers). Several members of the DWG chimed in on STEM outreach efforts. A target rich environment for improvement in all geographic areas of the country. ED School is working to post STEM presentations on NKO for those tasked with outreach...can use previously prepared material (if desired).

That's all for this week. Next telcon 06Apr. Thanks for everyone's efforts out there.

V/r, Beth

-----Original Message-----
From: [REDACTED], Mary CAPT EDO School, CO
Subject: Minutes from ED Diversity Working Group 09Mar

Attendees: RDML Moore, Capt(s) Pietras, Patterson, Antonio, Elkin, Lagdon, Esmele, Dexter; CDR(s) Hawks, Masten, Lopez; LCDR Jones; LT Freas;

Discussions:
(1) Capt Dexter briefed the tracking mentor group Quarterly update. Approvals and action items resulting from brief:
- Action Capt Dexter: route draft diversity policy update to DWG for adoption of changed benchmark metric. After DWG chop, forward to RDML Moore for discussion with Flags
- Modify diversity policy benchmark metrics as follows [approved by DWG]:
a. drop: promotion selection rates (detailers continue to track, but will not be a diversity benchmark metric), increased recruitment of S&E women and minorities (will be tracked as part of accession metric); increased retention of women in the Navy (will be included as part of retention metric)
b. keep: Retention (monitor by grade, ethnicity, gender as well as currently by reason)
c. add: Accession diversity (lat transfer, option, other); Demographics of community (Vs. USN officer overall, Vs. S&E graduates-technical curricula BS+MS); Diversity policy accountability (annual school visits, annual training -mentoring+diversity, mentoring)
- fyi Annual diversity survey (12Apr-30May). [DWG approved]:
a. same questions as last year
b. survey method will be survey monkey vice individual email. Lots 'o discussion on this point, and Capt Dexter has the action to discuss with mentor groups the expectation that everyone will take/complete the survey. Looking for mentor group recommendations on how best to accomplish this accountability.
c. will start week 12 APR and run through May. Report out findings to DWG in JUL, report out at the All Captain's seminar in Aug.
- fyi the NROTC tracking sheet (list of NROTC schools to visit/assigned to mentor groups) has been updated to reflect NROTC units that are top ethnic/gender S&E graduate producers as determined by the National Science Foundation. For BS awarded in engineering (2007 data from National Science foundation)...18% are female, 81% male, 12% Asian, 5% African American,
7% Hispanic, < 1% Native American (2) LT Freas briefed the Network of ED Women -NEW (formerly known as the Women's Professional Network). DWG approved a. break out sessions (meetings) for EDO to discuss Career planners, mentors, discussion forum. Open to all EDOs, but discussions will be focused on women's issues. DWG intent is to fund registration costs at these conferences (Capt Dexter verifying with comptroller) - East Coast Sea Service Leadership Association, Hilton Hotel, Connecticut Ave, 2-3Jun Washington DC. POC LCDR Hannah Kriewaldt. Break out session confirmed for Thursday, 3JUN afternoon. RDML Moore, or VADM McCoy will provide Flag support. Capt Patterson has volunteered to mentor, speak, etc. CAPT Patty Gill will be the keynote speaker. For registration/agenda visit: http://www.sealeader.org/ - West Coast Academy Women Spring Leadership Summit, 17Apr, Admiral Baker Club, San Diego, CA. POC(s) LT Monee Freas, LT Sarah Rice. Break out session will be on the 17th (Saturday)in the morning. RDML Moore is working Flag support (requesting RDML Browne). EDOs will host a Friday night social 1700, 16Apr (costs $15 per person at the door) in San Diego at the Sizzler National City (thanks to Capt Esmele for coordinating this). Open to all EDOs, and attendance is not limited to Academy graduates. Presentations will be focused on women's issues. For registration/agenda visit: http://www.academywomen.org/events. Request Capt Reina send a personal note to ED options in the geographic area inviting them to attend. Capt Dexter will be the keynote speaker b. FYI NKO web page established (link from EDO home page)...looking for suggested improvements/content. Concept is EDO women career planners/contact information/bios for folks to pull mentoring as needed/requested c. Action for NEW to prep brief to Flags on the NEW, and post "break out session" advertisements on the NKO web page. Need a reserve POC (Capt Dexter to forward Capt Grocki's email to NEW- cc'd above). d. [action DWG pillars mentoring and recruit/outreach] need reps for the NEW team. Need reserve reps as well. (3) [action mentor groups] Capt Antonio/Syring are looking for some motivated volunteers (from mentor groups) to populate the "mentoring pillar". Anyone interested contact Capt Antonio. Capt Dexter action to pass to mentor groups. (4) [action DWG] Quarterly pillar group updates are due from retention, mentoring, recruit and outreach, training and education. Recommend: retention and training and education brief on 23Mar, and mentoring/recruit and outreach on 06Apr. (5) [action mentor groups] seeking volunteers to attend the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Convention 31Mar-04Apr, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Visit: www.nsbe.org for information. ****PASSPORT*** required to attend. (6) [action DWG] determine date, time for face to face meeting. I propose we accomplish prior/during the "all Captain seminar" (4/5Aug WNY). RDML Moore will be attending Capstone, but he has given permission to proceed without him if this is the best time for a meeting. If you have a better suggestion...email me, but otherwise I will work to find a time around the Captain seminar. Next telcon 23Mar.

-----Original Message----- From: [redacted], Mary CAPT EDO School, CO Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 15:49 Subject: Minutes fromr ED Diversity Working Group 23Feb Attendees: Capts Patterson, Elkin, Spencer, Esmele, San Pedro, Dexter; CDR Masten; LCDRs Walsh, Kriewaldt; LTs Hoskins, Rice Discussions: (1) DWG approved Capt Gill, and LCDR Jones as DWG attendees to the NAISEF conference. (2) Capt Pietras volunteered. RDML Moore looking for max representation from the community. Capt Dexter to draft a note to the mentor groups. (3/4) Capt SanPedro updates: a.) all community survey: 524 responses to date (represents ~40% of total community-active, reserve, options). Target is 50% of community. Capt SanPedro to draft an email for RDML Moore to send out to all mentor groups thanking everyone for participating and encouraging max participation. Survey closes 19Mar. b.) LT Sarah Rice briefed slides drafted by LT Rice and LT Faulkner on "Female EDO retention" issues/ideas. Outcome of the brief - DWG has approved EDO break out sessions at the Annual Sea Services Leadership Association (SSLA) Women's Leadership Symposium in Washington, DC 2-3 June. Recruitment and Outreach pillar has the lead, but support is required from mentoring, training/education, retention pillars. LCDR Kriewaldt/Capt Malone have initiated contact with the conference organizers and have requested an EDO break out. RDML Moore indicated ED Flag support would be available to address the EDO session. - DWG approved an EDO break out session for the 17Apr Academy Women (open to past, current, and future female officers, not just academy graduates) conference in San Diego 17 April. http://www.academywomen.org/events.php?id=3LTs Rice/Faulker are working a draft presentation for DWG to approve. - DWG approved a womens mentoring page on the ED diversity web page. Women 0-6 career planners/contact information will be posted to the site with contact information so that anyone could pull mentoring advice as requested/desired. LT Rice is working this with EDO School. An email will be sent to women ED 0-6s asking for career planners and contact information. (5) action for Capt Dexter with pillar leads to determine who will brief first during the next telcon 09Mar (date incorrect on original email) (6) discussion about the need for a diversity speaker at the All Captain's seminar. Capt Dexter to investigate availability of the Navy Diversity Directorate picking up the cost associated with one of the speakers. Also discussed the possibility of using diversity funds to fund more recruiting at conferences/events vice funding a diversity speaker. Anyone with an opinion can email Capt Dexter. (7) DWG "face to face" meeting plans need to be fleshed out for the year. Capt Dexter action (8) Tidewater Science Fair 13Mar. LCDR Walsh will be serving as a judge. (9) LCDR Kriewaldt was contacted by a local school looking for a robotics competition judge on the 6th Mar. Anyone in the Norfolk area interested please contact LCDR Kriewaldt. Email in the cc line: tel# 757-836-[redacted] (10) Capt Esmele briefed a Federal Asian Pacific Council Quarterly Leadership series lecture on "mentorship" in the San Diego area. Anyone interested may contact him for further information. Tel# 619-524-[redacted] That's it! Thanks for all the hard work out there. There are some cool ideas out there- keep charging. Next telcon: 9Mar. R. med

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