Give leadership back to Chiefs

Give leadership back to Chiefs

Since 10-30-05

Sent: Friday, October 28, 2005 2:56 PM

Subject: Give leadership back to Chiefs

OPINION:

( Navy Times, 31 October 2005 Issue)

Give leadership back to Chiefs

I joined the Navy in 1966, when the Chiefs did run the Navy [“Chiefs should be leaders,” Sept. 26]. They were the closest to gods that mere mortals were allowed to become. No one was more respected than the division chief. He epitomized everything a sailor could hope to become. I was honored to join that august fraternity in 1983.

I was so proud to be a chief petty officer that I did not think the uniform shop stocked covers big enough to fit me. I was again honored in 1987, when I was selected for commissioning as a chief warrant officer 2. I continued to learn great things and leadership from my CPO, senior chief petty officer and master chief petty officer shipmates.

The CPO community began to lose its authority and esteem after the Tailhook fiasco in 1991. For some reason, Navy leadership began to take the attitude that CPO initiations were a threat to bring additional embarrassment to the Navy. The general rule became, “Don’t do anything you don’t want to see on the 11 o’clock news.”

Rather than circling the wagons and letting the CPO community clean its own house, and deferring to the integrity of the members of the community, the senior enlisteds decided that micromanaging the entire community and taking the decision-making ability away from the CPOs was the most efficient way to protect them from any unflattering publicity.

It did not take long for this unprecedented affront to every man and woman wearing khaki to ripple down through the ranks and result in hundreds, if not thousands, of CPOs taking the cue from senior leadership and deciding that the best way not to be held responsible for anything is to not make a decision on anything. [Chief of Naval Operations] Adm. Mike Mullen’s work is cut out for him.

He must convince many of the junior officers to relinquish some of their leadership to those who actually know what they are doing, and they must accept the fact that they can learn a tremendous amount from the CPOs. And those who have become senior officers over the past 15 years will have to recognize that those other people wearing khaki down at the deckplates might actually be able to make good decisions without micromanagement.

And the senior enlisted advisers will have to admit that their fellow CPOs have the intestinal fortitude to police themselves and are more than capable of assuming their leadership positions within every command, and amazingly, if given the authority to lead, they will actually take responsibility for their decisions. When he has accomplished these three goals, not only will the CPOs be back in a leadership position but he will stand at the helm of an even greater Navy.

CWO4 Terry Ody, USN(ret.)
San Antonio, TX

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In my 19-plus years of active naval service, to include five years commissioned under the limited-duty officer program, rarely if ever have I seen an officer, especially an LDO, “micromanage a CPO to the point of being ridiculous,” as stated by retired Chief Yeoman Bernard Michael Burawski [“Chiefs run the Navy,” Letters, Oct. 17].

What I have seen — and done as a chief myself — was tell an officer, “Sir, if you would like to do my job, I will be in the chiefs’ mess.” For an LDO, this is a wake-up call to remember where you came from and what your role is. For any other officer, it should be a lesson learned, something to put in their division officer notebook.

The new CNO says of chiefs, “Their historical function is to lead, train and mentor sailors and junior officers.” This is something I am sure, if he was initiated, YNC Burawski learned during his transition to the chiefs’ mess. Most LDOs know where they came from. We know who got us here. That is what makes the mustang community so unique.

If “the leadership responsibility of the CPO community has been greatly diminished by officers performing the role of the chief,” it is the CPO community that has allowed it to happen. Come out of the goatlocker, step up, take responsibility and train and mentor the sailors and junior officers. Run the Navy.

Lt. Robert E. Beaton, Corpus Christi, TX
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Contributed,
YNCS Don Harribine, USN(ret)