Rewriting the code - Discipline lapses inspire a new conduct initiative

Since 12-22-05

From: Waspscpo@aol.com [mailto:Waspscpo@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 5:21 AM
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Subject: Rewriting the code -- Discipline lapses inspire a new conduct initiative

• Pride and professionalism.

• Operational excellence and safety.

• Sailor relations.

• Substance abuse.

• A culture of fitness.

“A few may perceive this as a passing matter. It is not,” Nathman wrote in a Sept. 16 “personal for” message sent to all Fleet Forces units and coordinated with Pacific Fleet, Naval Forces Europe, Naval Education and Training Command and Commander, Navy Installations, and released to Navy Times.  “My experience has taught me that the ships, submarines and squadrons that have sharp, motivated sailors are most often the same units that are operationally ready and effective.

“Simply put, the standards you maintain are the outward reflection of your command and its readiness to fight.” It was just more than a year ago that at least several of the admirals commanding the Navy’s six air, surface and submarine fleets simultaneously sent out scathing messages expressing deep concern over sailor conduct and seeking feedback from commanding officers on how to improve it.

“I have noted an apparent decline in the traditionally high standards of professional and personal excellence,” Vice Adm. Terrance Etnyre, then the two-star commander of the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force and now commander of Naval Surface Forces, wrote in his Oct. 4, 2004, message to commanders obtained by Navy Times. “This assessment encompasses a broad range of issues, including safety, operations, military smartness and personal behavior.”

He said he’d seen an “increasing trend” in the number of domestic violence and sexual assault cases, some of them of the sailor-on-sailor, or “blue-on-blue,” variety. In 2004, the fleet saw a number of high-visibility blue-on-blue crimes, including at least three murders. And while the problems “are down significantly from what they used to be,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen told a group of sailors at Naval Base Ventura County, Calif., on Dec. 5, “they’re still not down enough for me.

“Every single one of those incidents is a tragedy in somebody’s life and I cannot abide just sitting back and watching that happen,” said Mullen, who sees a “police blotter” of Navy-related serious incidents each morning. “Nobody stands by to watch that happen.”

Setting an example
If Mullen and Nathman have their way, any “standing by” will be a thing of the past. In his message, Nathman has thrown down the gauntlet to Navy leaders to help promote the new standards up and down the chain of command. “We need to help our people internalize these standards and, where necessary, clearly remind them of these standards through direct intervention,” Nathman wrote in his message. “Leaders — officers, chief petty officers and leading petty officers, led by you — should set the example on standards and be held accountable for instilling them.”

Force Master Chief (SS/SW) Dean Irwin of Naval Submarine Forces agreed. “You can’t just sit there in the CPO mess and figure out what’s going on,” the senior Submarine Forces sailor said. “You’ve got to talk to the young sailors. … You’ve got to use a continuous communication plan. And hopefully, we’ll start to see some benefits from that.” Sailors interviewed last fall seemed to agree with the high-level assessment that behavior and conduct were slipping, particularly in the failure by some to show respect to superiors.

Nearly all personnel maintain that such problems seem nearly nonexistent while underway. Senior officers, however, seemed reticent to tackle the question of why discipline became an issue. Mullen and Etnyre declined through spokesmen to comment on the new policy or on whether they perceived an improvement in behavior and conduct over the past 12 months. Mullen referred queries to Fleet Forces Command. Nathman shared his fleetwide message and provided a statement to Navy Times.

But his office declined to share any of the feedback gathered by Etnyre and others, instead granting an Oct. 12 roundtable-style interview on the policy with Irwin and two other Norfolk-based fleet and force master chiefs. During the roundtable, Fleet Master Chief (AW/SW) Jonathan Thompson of Fleet Forces Command took a shot at the underlying cause, saying he feels that the Navy “got out of phase a little bit” in recent years.

He said the large number of administrative and operational changes over that period — such as the Fleet Response Plan, Human Capital Strategy and Sea Warrior — may have diverted leaders’ attention from their deckplate leadership responsibilities. “I wouldn’t pinpoint it as one thing,” Thompson said. “But I will say that over the last three, four, five years, again, with the amount of information and the technology, I think we’ve, as a Navy, with so many things changing and information coming from every direction, we kind of dropped [synchronization] on some of the basic core responsibilities of leadership.”

And it is the Navy’s top sailors, Nathman said, who need to lead. “The fleet master chief and the other command master chiefs will be key to this effort,” Nathman wrote in his statement, adding that he has made Standards and Conduct a “priority.” Senior enlisted leaders, he said, “have been directed to outline an informative process to uphold the professional standards and the personal conduct we expect of our sailors.”

But making those talking points sink in will require reinforcement by sailors up and down the ranks, he and other senior sailors said. “It’s not just the chief’s job,” said Force Master Chief (AW/SW) Rick Kennedy of the Atlantic Fleet Naval Air Force. “It’s the first classes, the second classes, standing at quarters in the morning or at shift change, reading the message. So it’s not a big secret.” “This is not an enlisted thing, this is not a chief thing, this is not an officer thing,” Thompson said. “It’s a Navy thing.” Staff writer Gidget Fuentes contributed to this report.
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Contributed,
YNCS Don Harribine, USN(ret)

Any man or woman who may be asked in this century what they did to make life worthwhile in their lifetime....can respond with a great deal of pride and satisfaction, "I served a career in the United States Navy."