Officer Retention with VADM Moran & CDR Snodgrass, on Midrats

As over a decade of major combat operations ashore winds down, economic & budgetary stresses grow on defense spending, a strategic re-alignment combined with a generational change are coming together in a perfect storm of challenges to the effort to keep the intellectual and leadership capital our Navy needs.

What are those challenges? What lessons can be drawn from past retention problems, and what is different this time? Is this institutional or generational? What steps can be made in the short term to address this, and what longer term policies may be put in place to mitigate the systemic problems that are being looked at? Are their opportunities to be found in the challenges the Navy faces?

Our guests this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern for the full hour will be, Vice Admiral Bill Moran, USN, Navy Chief of Naval Personnel, and Commander Guy Snodgrass, USN, Prospective Executive Officer of Strike Fighter Squadron ONE NINE FIVE. We will use as a stepping off point to our talk CDR Snodgrass's Navy officer retention study, Keep a Weather Eye on the Horizon.

Vice Admiral Bill Moran, Chief of Naval Personnel, is a P-3 pilot by trade, having commanded at the squadron, wing and group levels. As Chief of Naval Personnel, he oversees the recruiting, personnel management, training and development of Navy personnel. Since taking over in August he has focused on improving communication between Navy leadership and Sailors in the Fleet.

Commander Guy "Bus" Snodgrass is a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Pilot slated for a command tour with Strike Fighter Squadron 195, forward deployed to NAF Atsugi, Japan. A native of Colleyville, TX, Snodgrass has served over the skies of Iraq, taught as a TOPGUN Instructor, and as a department head in Japan. He is a 2012 graduate of the U.S. Naval War College and, most recently, served as Speechwriter to Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the 30th Chief of Naval Operations. His recently released paper, "Keep a Weather Eye on the Horizon", takes a hard look at the factors influencing sailors to leave military service, and explores opportunities to keep our talented men and women in the Navy.

Join us live if you can with the usual suspects in the chat room and offer up your questions for our guest, but if you miss the show you can always listen to the archive at blogtalkradio.

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