 It is my pleasure to introduce Admiral Jonathan Greenert, our 30th Chief of Naval Operations. A native of Butler, Pennsylvania, Admiral Greenert has served at every level of command to include command of USS Honolulu, 7th Fleet, US Fleet Forces Command, and now as our Chief of Naval Operations. Following command of USS Honolulu, Admiral Greenert was presented the Admiral Stockdale Award for Visionary Leadership. Being CNO is our Navy's 13th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. McPon Stevens was born and raised in Montana. Following graduation from high school in May 1983, he immediately entered the US Navy and became an aviation structural mechanic. McPon Stevens has served in a multitude of operational commands and prior to assuming duties as McPon served as Fleet Master Chief for Commander, US Fleet Forces Command. Our Navy could not be in better hands. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Admiral Greenert and McPon Stevens. All right, welcome. Hello, everybody. How y'all doing? Y'all may be thinking, you guys can kind of relax for a minute and we'll give the oath here. You're saying, well, what's with it? These two clowns come into town and it's freezing cold. You ought to be happy. Last year when I came for what is really, I'm here for the Naval League dinner tonight, we had a snowstorm. So you're actually getting a small, nobody thought that was funny at all. Say, we're not laughing because it's cold and I'm still cold. I don't know about you from being outside. So y'all reenlisting? Y'all ready to go? One more time. Y'all ready to reenlist? Friday afternoon. Okay. So without further ado, tell you what, I'll come over here and that way you can be there, McPon. Please attention to oath. We will administer the oath for the reenlistment. Raise your right hand. Repeat after me. Aye. Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the officers appointed over me in accordance with regulations and the uniform code of military justice. So help me God. All right. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. What's your name? John Anderson, sir. Anderson? And where are you from? Mejia, Texas. Mejia, Texas? Yes, sir. Is that near Dallas? It's close to Fort Hood, sir. Fort Hood? So you don't care about sports teams or anything like that? No, sir. Okay. Well, you're honest. That's good. That's always good. Congratulations. Letty, what's your name? Foreman. Foreman. Where are you from? Las Vegas. Las Vegas. Is this your family? Oh, he's got his family. We've got to take another picture. Hi. Very nice. Where'd you say you're from again? Las Vegas. Las Vegas? Did you meet him in Las Vegas? No? You wouldn't admit it if you did, would you? And who would this be? Elijah. Elijah? How you doing, buddy? Yeah, it's good to see you. So where are you from, then, miss? New York. New York? So where'd you guys meet? Sassabodja, Japan. Sassabodja, Japan? Okay. It all came together. That makes total sense to me. I see. Well, let's get a picture here, and then we'll come back and get that one. Photographer, you ready? All right. Got that? All right. Excellent. You got that? He's got the mick pond's head in the way. Who cares? So you got it? That's the one that matters. Okay. All right. Where are you from, miss? I'm cutting right in front. You're from this area? Did you meet here, then? Yeah. All right. Who's this? Hi. Your name? Okay. Here's a coin, buddy. All right. Okay. You want a picture of the mick pond? Sure. Why not? What are you going to say? No, I don't want him in here. Go ahead. You don't have a choice. Yeah, why not? The wives do all the work around here. That's right. I need my coin. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Good manners. Congratulations. How are you doing, buddy? I'm coming. Where are you from? Florence, South Carolina. Florence, South Carolina. Are you married? Kind of rich, aren't you? You got a little money? You wish. You wish. You got hobbies, right? We won't talk about that if that's all right with you. Okay. That's good. Hi, buddy. Where are you from? What's your name? I'm sorry. Lee? Where are you from? Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles? Very nice. Are you like a Lakers fan or any of that stuff? You don't want sports? Too busy. Professional. Study, study, study, right? Okay. I gave you a coin, right? Okay. Great. Hey, chief, how are you doing? Where are you from? Georgia. Are you a dog fan or any of that stuff? You don't like sports either, right? I'm striking out here, ladies and gentlemen. I'm dying up here. Very good, man. You got a lot of warfare device. You're a busy person, huh? Very good. So you grew up your whole life down there? All right. Very good. Hey, what? These coins. Oh, I didn't give you a coin? It must have been that whole thing. I was just mystified that you didn't have any hobbies or your hobbies are... You're broke. You're broke. Okay. Well, thank you all very much. Thank you for our re-enlisting. You all can sit down if you like. All right. You're going to do some sort of magic that... Yes, sir. Hey, guys. Good. Okay. Attention to award, the President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Bronze Star Medal Gold Star in lieu of second award with Valor to Chief Special Warfare Operator Charles Fung, United States Navy for heroic achievement in connection with combat operations against the enemy as Senior Enlisted Advisor and in direct support of Operation Enduring Freedom from September 2012 to June 2013. Demonstrating outstanding leadership and resolve under fire, he led his team during 210 combat patrols and 15 well-organized insurgent attacks. On 27 September 2012, Chief Fung bravely coordinated the defense of his remote operating base against heavy rocket mortar and automatic weapons fire during a complex enemy attack from multiple elevated fighting positions. While bounding between defensive fighting positions and simultaneously engaging the enemy, he tactfully maneuvered his fireteams ensuring the swift medical treatment of a wounded teammate. During a combat reconnaissance patrol on 17 October 2012, Chief Fung displayed exceptional courage against an insurgent ambush. He led his element through a fast-flowing river and rugged terrain, drawing overwhelming enemy fire away from his isolated sniper element, creating relief and enabling the safe egress from their vulnerable position. His combat leadership and decisive actions ensured the overall safety of his team and the overwhelming success of the mission. For the President, B. L. Losey, Rear Admiral, United States Navy. President of the United States, please present the Bronze Star Medal with valor to Chief Special Warfare Operator Scott M. Latelier, United States Navy for heroic achievement in connection with combat operations against the enemy as Senior Enlisted Advisor in direct support of operation and during freedom on 5 November 2012. During a combat reconnaissance patrol, Chief Petty Officer Latelier led a 34-man force through highly kinetic and enemy-controlled terrain. Along the route, his element discovered a 30-pound improvised explosive device at which time he quickly cleared the area and relayed the threat to the ground force commander. He displayed exceptional bravery and combat leadership against a vicious insurgent ambush from three elevated fighting positions. He immediately engaged the enemy while maneuvering his fireteams in a decisive counter-attack. Upon identifying that his element had sustained a casualty from the effective machining gunfire, he left his place of cover, ran to the down man, dragged him to cover and assisted in providing critical combat casualty care. While still under relentless incoming fire, he took control of two F-16 fighter jets and conducted three gun runs against the entrenched enemy. His actions allowed for the egress of the casualty while suppressing the enemy threat and enabled the safer turn of all friendly forces. For the President, Biel Losi, Rear Admiral, United States Navy. Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Combination Medal to Master and Arms First Class, Harry St. Felix, United States Navy. For meritorious service while serving as Security Department Leading Petty Officer at Jeb Little Creek Fort Story from October 2012 to September 2013. Displaying exceptional skills and resourcefulness, Petty Officer St. Felix's singular efforts resulted in his selection as Jeb's 2013 Sailor of the Year. Demonstrating comprehensive knowledge and exceptional leadership, he guided and skillfully managed 88 military and 64 civilian law enforcement officers responsible for providing force protection and law enforcement services within the Mid-Atlantic region. For the Secretary of the Navy, F.E. Hewlett, C.A.N.T. Congratulations. You were running out of room for a Navy achievement medal, so this is a good thing. Congratulations to you. I got a coin here. Where are you from? Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn, New York? Man, we were like drunk on New York up here, aren't we, huh? Guys, look over there. We'll get a picture. Good? He's getting nervous holding my hand. Okay. Thank you. How are you today? Good to see you. The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in presenting the Navy achievement medal to electronics technician in third class, David Velazquez, United States Navy for professional achievement in the superior performance of his duties while serving as work center supervisor and color guard coordinator at Jeb Little Creek Fort Story from October 2012 to September 2013. Displaying exceptional skills and resourcefulness, F.E. Hewlett, C.A.N.T. Velazquez's singular efforts resulted in his selection as Jeb's 2013 junior sailor of the year. His direct leadership ensured the flawless supervision of 65 audio-visual setups supporting both the staff and 130 resident commands while also professionally coordinating over 50 color guard ceremonies throughout the Mid-Atlantic region for the Secretary of the Navy, F.E. Hewlett, C.A.N.T. Navy. Good job. Congratulations to you. Where are you from? Jersey, St. George. Man, we can't get away from this area. I think the NFL is up here advertising the Super Bowl in New York here and they got all these guys out here. Anyway, please proceed. Sir. Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in presenting the Navy achievement medal to Basterd Arm Seaman, Austin Mumford, United States Navy for professional achievement in the superior performance of his duties while serving as work center. Hewlett, C.A.N.T. Navy for professional achievement in the superior performance of his duties while serving as Armory ready for issue custodian at Jeb Little Creek Fort's story from October 2012 to September 2013. His display of exceptional skills and resourcefulness resulted in selection as Jeb's 2013 blue jacket of the year. His diligence while managing the mid-shift Armory resulted in the flawless daily accountability of 334 M9 pistols, 60 M4 rifles, 43 M500 shotguns, 11 M11 pistols, 9 M240s and 238 calibers with zero discrepancies. For the Secretary of the Navy, F.E. Hewlett, C.A.N.T. Navy. Where'd you grow up? Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania where? Harrisburg. All right. Well, at least we're out of New York. Equals. Oh my God. You guys are going to have a fight right up here. Hi, officer. How are you? Good to see you. Commander, joint expeditionary base, Little Creek Fort's story takes pleasure in commending Police Major William Johnson for professional achievement in the superior performance of his duties as Security Operations Officer and Acting Precinct Commander from 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2013. You consistently performed your demanding duties in an exemplary and highly professional manner which resulted in selection as Jeb Little Creek Fort's story 2013 civilian of the year. Throughout this period, your outstanding performance, dedication and duty and personal involvement in command operations significantly contributed to the overall mission of Little Creek Fort's story. You were instrumental in the management and oversight during the extremely successful higher headquarters operational assessment, NCIS, military working dog inspection and explosive safety inspection, all of which were outstanding. You also managed to furlough periods significantly impacting over 20 personnel signed F.E. Hewlett, Captain United States Navy. Congratulations. Thanks, sir. You don't want that coin. That's another one. I'll give you this one. There we'll get a picture. Where'd you grow up, sir? Jackson, Tennessee. Jackson, Tennessee. Very nice. So what is the, you know, these guys got medals for being, you know, sale of the year and all that other stuff and action. What do you get for being civilian of the year? Your coin? You're this guy, a parking spot or something, a Starbucks, a month of something. I'll tell you what, Skipper, you got to do something here. I'll let you take that on, okay? All right. Then drop me an email when we figure out what we do to this fine gentleman. Wait. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. Ladies and gentlemen, the Chief of Naval Operations, Andrew Grader. Okay. Please have a seat. We're trying not to bunch up and down so much. That would be good. Well, given these awards, it reminds me of the kind of the vast amount of duties and jobs and missions and you guys are out and about. And it's been that way for well over a decade, a decade and a half here. So it's great for the McPawn and I to be here in Little Creek and see all you the very disparate commands. I love the green uniforms or they all just kind of fit in very well. You guys got the comfy kind of jackets on, whatever I call it. I'm thinking of shells, I guess, there. And I guess we can talk about that some other time. Just a couple of words for me. And I'll ask the McPawn if he wants any. But what we get out of this more than anything is listening and learning. And I know we're streaming out there. So we say hi to all of you out there on Webland that are listening here and what we're going to talk about today. For the families, I see some families here. We had some up here. I see civilians. Remember, you guys are our shipmates. For the families, you're the wind underneath the wings of those of us that get the opportunity to serve. And I thank you very much for what you do. Those folks up here that were reenlisted, it doesn't happen without your support. So thank you all very much. For you civilians who are out, I saw you some out there. Some of you out there, sorry, in the back of the auditorium, the theater here. Thank you for what you're doing out there. You are truly our partners in all this. It's been a tough year. I mean, we had a continued resolution. Then we had sequestration. Then we shut down. We furloughed. It was awful. And, of course, we froze. So we're still cold. But all of that taken up. It's very regrettable. But I want to thank you for what you're doing. You're a major, major part of the team. So now as we look ahead, what do we have out there in the future? Well, there's this commercial that's kind of popular out there about, I think it's about direct TV. If this, if this, if this, if this. And it's kind of humorous. We have a stable budget now. We have a budget. And we're going to have a budget next year, an agreement, a number. And when you get that, and when you have a stable budget, then you can plan ahead. And you don't have to furlough. And you don't have to do hiring freezes. And you know where the ships can do maintenance. And then you can plan maintenance. And when you can plan maintenance, the company can plan maintenance. And therefore, you don't pay a premium for that. And you'll get more work done in the shipyard. And when you have a budget, you can plan on training and not just the next employers. So you can get ready for that and get that going. When you have a budget that is very, very close to what you asked for, then you can continue your civilian hiring and get some of the backlog on your basis done. So we have a lot to sort of look forward for in 14. It's all relative. I'll give you that compared to where we were in the last 18 months. But it's looking much further up. For those of you that do amphibious operations and expeditionary operations, the spearhead just left. And we got the Choctaw here getting ready to go at some time in the future. And we'll have another joint high-speed vessel shortly. We have a mobile landing platform. Some of you may not know what that is. I didn't bring pictures today. But it is a huge sea-based support ship that provides lots of volume of ship-to-shore equipment and material. And she's going to do her shakedown this year. And she'll be on deployment about one year from now. We have a second one of these large ships. They're almost as big as a big-deck amphib. And we have another one that we'll commission here next Saturday. We have a third. We have an afloat forward staging base, which is almost as big. And the afloat forward staging base I'm talking about has an enormous flight deck, almost as big as a big-deck amphib, but it's not a big-deck amphib. It's a sea-based support ship. That's 50% done, so that's coming on. We'll commission this year, I'm sorry, we'll deliver here coming up in the near future, the DDG-1000. And that is the zoom wall. Very, very high-tech forward reaching of one of our destroyers. We'll get also an SSN this year, so we're going to have a lot of ships delivering this year. Our shipbuilding account in fiscal year 14 with the bill that we got fulfills all that we asked for. We were looking a little ragged there before the Congress took action, so our shipbuilding account gets kind of back on track for those things that we needed. When it comes to the personnel accounts and the pay and all that, we did fine this year in fiscal year 14. The assistance will remain like it was in 13. That is full-funded as we go into that. We want to look at your CPAY, and we are studying that to see what is the proper amount of CPAY. The chief naval personnel has put out some information on that, blogs, you'll see it on sites. We want to basically increase the CPAY to keep up with inflation over the vast number of years, almost a decade, more than a decade of time that it has sort of atrophied, and we want to catch that back up. So we're working on that. So there's a lot going on out there. We still have this challenge that sits on the front burner that we have got to continue to work on called sexual assault. We are making progress in there, but we are not. We are near being done. But I ask you to keep the focus on that. Remember what we need to do. You deserve a good command climate, one of dignity and respect. Remember that our leaders, that are part of that team, I expect you to maintain a climate of dignity and respect and continue to push on that and make sure we are doing the right thing by our sailors. You want to say anything before we take Q&A? It's great to be at Joint Expeditionary Base, Little Creek Fort Story. Congratulations once again to our re-enlistees and our re-enlistees families. Thank you for raising your hand today and to our awardees. Congratulations to you and your awards. Pretty darn impressive and very much appreciated. We look forward to your questions today. This is how we keep our finger on the pulse as being out here having conversations with a fleet. If I know if I don't get the opportunity to do this, then I can quickly become detached and not really understand all the challenges, the issues, and just as importantly the best practices every day to lead your folks. So I look forward to a good all hands call and I'm ready to get started. OK. Who's up? How you doing, sir? Good. Ask Jeff how you doing. MA2 Bradley, Coastal River Range Squadron 4. I have a simple question really relates to Naval Expeditionary Combat Command. Basically, I'm just trying to wonder where do you see NECC going within the next couple years? Since our footprint and everything getting smaller in the Middle East and whatnot, do you see us shifting towards Africa more or are we just like kind of just going to not really have any more missions coming our way? No. You have a lot of missions. There's an insatiable appetite out there that comes in from all the Geographic Combat Commanders. Southcom would like to see a lot more of you down there along that coastal river especially to work with the local navies down there to maintain river security in and around South America. AFRICOM has a big request in as well. CENTCOM continues that. So as we consolidate and make you the combat riverine force then that will continue at pace. As we continue to adjust the size which means it will get a little bit smaller but the skill sets that NECC has today we need to maintain. I don't want to get rid of anything. There's a couple of small but anything adjustment we make has to be able to be reconstitutable. That means dialed back up in relatively short order. We need to build continue to replace some of the boats that we had and make them good and lethal and so we'll continue with that. So it will be adjusted which means it will be a little bit smaller it will. That's just a fact but it's not like there's no mission. Thank you sir. Good afternoon Admiral. Good afternoon CNO. Sorry. I know what you mean. Go ahead. I have a two part question. In lieu of the two incidences involving military aircraft in the area has that had an adverse effect on our military pilots and what preventive measures have been implemented to eliminate or lessen another tragic incident like that in this area? The helicopter and the jet incidences. Those are the two you're referring to? Yes sir. Well we're doing investigations to find precisely what happened but it would appear to be as we look at it very very sketchy that one was material probably the helicopter. It appears that way whereas the jet there was another wingman if you will another individual doing a 1v1 they were doing some training and it didn't appear that there was a failure of material failure so we're looking at two different things. One might have been a material failure in a helicopter doing some basic training off the coast one was two strike fighters doing a training an event that they both knew about. I got a left hand and right hand we think they're sort of different but we've done safety stand down and said okay everybody just to make sure you get the very basics because safety is first that's one and then we're moving as quickly as feasible to understand the cause. It's a tragic thing and it's in this community that we lost those lives. That's awful and we owe it to make sure that we look very closely into this what the cause was. Thank you sir. Good afternoon sir. I have a question. I understand the concept of placing Navy members according to the big Navy's needs. However, why is it that after a period of time once most qualifications are exceeded or met do we allocate subject matter experts to different commands that are irreverent to the previous training? So, why do we move people once they become experts so quickly? Yes sir. Well, I think what you're saying why not keep people aboard a unit longer? That is true sir. Does that sound about right? Yes sir. Conceptually speaking I'd love to do that but if you do that you upset a seashore rotation because there's a place for somebody to go after a sea tour and that's predominantly what I think we're talking about. Some people may want to extend and take another sea tour. Some can stay on a unit, others would move somewhere else. Kiddo, what we like to do is give you a broad breath vast spectrum of experiences and if you stay a long time on one given unit that may or may not be good for the unit. If you're a great sailor that skipper will never let go with you. But somebody needs to come in behind you that you need to train and they need to grow and you need to move on to another area. You say well why not longer? Well, we're looking at longer sea tours but that gets arduous depending on what unit you're on. So some people would love it and some people wouldn't and that gets a little bit back to when I opened up and say how do we compensate people for sea duty? Is it about right and what is the right balance? So we're looking at that. Do you want to say anything on that? I agree. Most of our communities are a sea-centric organization. Most of our billets are sea billets. You take the surface force for example. They're simply not an opportunity if you don't rotate people out of there to give folks an opportunity to go to shore and get a little down time to some degree. So we've answered that question before and when I do all hands call I say exactly what you just said. It's about opportunity and if we don't rotate folks through that opportunity. Thank you, sir. I got to tell you it's rare that I get somebody to come up and say could we stay at sea longer? I know that's not what you said personally. Please go ahead. Hello, Miss. After you've seen and I'm asked Chief BM2 Lamour from USS Woodby Island my question is in relation to retention efforts and the process. I know PTS has gone through a change and is now Seaway with new ships coming out. Those who were forced due to PTS to convert or get out what are their kind of chances of trying to get back into their previous rates to try and like man up those newer ships? Yeah, well I'll tell you I can speak to you more theory than the actual because there is no exact program to go back but if people moved to another rating as a result of PTS the one they left was over man. I mean that's why they did it. They wanted to re-enlist they said look we're over man in the rating you are especially in that rate I'm sorry in that rank and so folks went to another one that another rating that where they were really needed to come back if that is now kind of lesser man or there's a need for it theoretically we could do that theoretically we ought to be looking at that when you would come up to re-enlist in this other rating that makes sense to you but to cross-rate again I don't know that there's a process to do that right now you heard that? Yeah, so the way she's describing it Right and when sailors as the CNO just said when a sailor was separated through PTS because their rate was over man but if you remember before they separated they were afforded opportunities to cross-rate into other fields if they qualified so in order to be separated through PTS what that really means is that the person for whatever reason was not able to convert into one of those open rates so if they got out of the Navy and they wanted to come back in there's a high probability that they'd be asked to come back in into one of those rates that they didn't qualify for when they separated unless their ASVAP scores went up or they had a medical condition they were able to resolve so this would really be a case-by-case basis because when you come back in you come back in as a navet as a former sailor and there's a whole other process for coming into the Navy under that process I haven't really I haven't heard of anybody who's came back in after being PTS or have gone home through the PTS process but probably a good question to ask Admiral Moran our CMP So there's somebody writing down all the questions not your name just the question and we go back and we look through these to see if there's policy changes needed so we got that piece of it I misheard your question I thought you were saying somebody who re-enlisted into another rating to come back into the rating not separated forgive me My question was more geared towards those for who had to change more change rates who are still in the Navy Okay so to come back into the rating Yes I think it again it would be a request to cross-rate again and it would be what is the situation in the rating you left you're saying well it may open and I was saying okay we'd have to take a look at that Okay Thank you sir Good afternoon sir McPawn Buddy Officer of First Class Ryan Gauss Coast River Marine Squadron 4 I was curious will the current standard for the retirement program be around and remain in place for the next 10 years The you mean the the retirement program as you know it Yes sir Yeah absolutely in fact there are kids in Great Lakes today there are kids in high school frankly when you go to Great Lakes and enter the Navy any new retirement program will be grandfathered to the one if you have a uniform on that's your retirement program I mean that's the deal if you will where we as the chief say look we're going to change your retirement program where we stand is those that are in came in with a covenant and that's maybe the reason you joined although I don't know if you all know it but about 17 out of 100 ever stay for 20 years so there's there's 100 here there's only 17 here that it would apply to that's not my point my point is that it should be available to you so the answer to your question is yes Thank you sir I'm just taking a stab at it but I think you probably have about 10 years in the Navy Just over eight Master Chief Good afternoon sir My question is how will an increased Arctic presence affect appointments in one time I know that we are going to be in the newest guard with goings on in the Arctic region I was just wondering how that's going to affect our deployments Did you say Arctic? Yes sir It feels like it today I bet I don't know yet I don't think it will be that big and here's where I'm coming from I asked the oceanographer of the Navy so that we could understand where the heck we're going on Arctic operations number one show me the scientific evidence studies that are done and how big the ice will be smaller so that was one and he did that and I don't have any slides here today so but if you go to the website our website and you fish around there you should find the Arctic slide we have it posted but here's the deal yes it gets smaller okay so what are the transit lanes in the Arctic that we'd want to watch and there are three general ones one runs through what's called the Northwest Passage in Northern Canada one is called that is north of Canada if you will but not on the Russian side so there's three basic routes but the number of weeks a year that they are truly ice free in 2025 is not that extraordinary it's not like half the year number two or three as you look at it how deep is the water in those areas it's actually not all that deep in certain parts 50, 60 feet maybe well how deep draft how much deep draft you go down to Norfolk and you look at those big container ships their draft is 50 feet in some cases and so if it's not going to be a deep enough draft for those folks to go up and use that route they're not going to use it so there are a lot of factors here that need to be worked out what kind of security is needed up there well what kind of security threat do we have is it as simple as the South Atlantic where there's no threat and ships go back and forth or is it as complicated as say where we have pirates although I'm not saying pirates would be up there but you get my point we would need security we're still working through that right now I'm not overwhelmed with a requirement but I will leave you with the point you made we have to support the Coast Guard if something goes bad up there and so we have to be sort of a supporting element and we have to we have to be able to respond to go up there but I don't have a lot of patrols kind of laid out in the years ahead of 2025 but we are watching what does it take to operate there what kind of systems communications what kind of clothing do you need all of those things we are working on thank you sir good afternoon sir make fun Q and one memory EWTG land sir my question is are there any plans in the future to revise the way that we the Navy does compute the BCA do you have any ideas no master chief if you got some I'm willing to listen to them there's really only a couple of ways of doing it right there's the tape the height weight there's a skin fold caliper and there's kind of a tank that you can weigh people in and we get whatever we decide we need to do or we have to be able to do it everywhere a sea a shore overseas right so that kind of puts the tank out of the process too expensive I looked at the skin fold caliper online I was curious about it so I went to to YouTube it I would encourage you if anybody has thought about using a skin fold caliper to go to YouTube and look and see how it's done it's a pretty complex complicated process that I would I would think that we would get a lot more complaints on that than we would on the tape so right now I think unless someone comes up with something better for the foreseeable perfect but it's the best thing we have that gets us kind of in the middle because the other two options right now unless there's something else I don't know about kind of seem a little bit more difficult or challenging like messy thanks sir good noon sir mcpon I seem to trust their logs group to I got a question with the the whole continuing of the battalions being deconed for seabies again would you see the future for the seabies in the next 10 years well I can't speak to the you're talking within the seabee community the cross-rate forcing yes sir okay to balance out the ratings I guess in there well the deal is the cost to maintain the number of battalions active and reserve and the demand in the future again it's an insatial appetite what we thought was balanced we adjusted the reserve bottom line as we put more battalions into the reserve retired a few I think we're about stable where we are now so if you're saying are we going to go visit this in the future I don't see it right now the things that you said the cross-rating that kind of stuff help balance it out there's some issues that need to be taken care of in the reserve battalions you know the chief naval reserve Admiral Braun is looking closely at that with her folks getting that thank you very much sir sure good afternoon C&O McPine hey GMC Ward CO team 18 my question falls more along the lines of training and readiness and records management right now we have about seven different systems to track records from bupers on line flea temps djrs nerm like seven different systems is there any plan in place to compile that down to one or maybe even two even systems so that we don't have to go through seven different systems to try to find one piece of data so what I gather from your comments and your tone is you're pretty satisfied with where we're at right not necessarily it's it's kind of it's kind of challenging isn't it one could even say that it's a mess you know C&O not too long ago charged one of our senior flag officers with taking a look at this very problem that you mentioned and some other things and we call it it's the rad effort reduction of administrative distractions and I've had a chance to look at this list of things that they've put on there that make our lives more difficult than they need to be because the Navy's very good about we've been since I've been very good about taking two but we're not always good about taking away right and at some point you've got to say okay where are we and that's what they're doing right now they put this list together and what I'll share with you is what you just said is one of the priorities on that list to look at how do we get all these systems into a one, two or three area of program but we've got to be careful not to put it all in one area because then you have a single point of failure that shuts down everything shuts down and so there's a need to have more than one but we don't know how many right now and so they're working on it and at some point they're going to come back to the CNO and say here's what we recommend and we'll take it from there that's just is that the 21st century sailor the naval personnel command put together when we got rid of PTS that too is the part of bringing e-knowledge online and all that together so there's a two-fold thing get rid of the junk and bring together a common system for your record your career so you can go to one place this is going to take a few years it's going to take a few years but if you're asking is somebody looking at it yes we are for sure thank you okay let's go over on the left because we haven't done that good afternoon CNO Hi MechPon CTN3 Robertson Navy Information Operations Command my question is with the creation of the cyber protection team and the increase of the CTN rating how much more do you see the cyber field being integrated into the rest of the Navy how much more do I see cyber as a field big time throughout sequestration and all these things I opened up with we got slowed down all that that was an area we didn't slow down at all the monies that we made sure we invested in that so that the cyber teams that you spoke to continue to grow they had a the initial operational capability and we're looking at final operation these cyber warfare is going on right now I know you live it and so we cannot stop we have to forge ahead okay sir thank you okay we'll go Port Starboard afternoon CNO MechPon QM2 Wilson Little Creek Port Ops last time I saw you guys I was on the way to city so it's good to see you guys again how about that last November yeah November we've been hearing a lot of speculation about our BAH and I was just wondering should we be expecting any changes at all to that it's hard to say but let me tell you what I mean by that what it has to happen if there's going to be a change it will be in the president's budget which we would submit and I think the first week in March is when that schedule to go up to the hill we are looking at compensation as a broad package the feeling is today that we spend about 50 cents out of every dollar little more than 50 cents out of every dollar on compensation and it's more more importantly the rate of growth has been somewhat extraordinary and as we look at it we say we don't think we can continue this especially in view of the other budgetary reductions and the other costs so what do we do about this and the sense is well if we slow the growth now I didn't say reduce so it's not taking it down it's slowing the growth that we spoke to so if you look at BAH BAH has gone up between 4 and 5% every year and that's based on rent and the demand because that's what it's aligned to people bring their rent shifts so the feeling is if we slow the growth in BAH as it goes out there now if you have let's say you live here and you have a lease or a mortgage as long as you are here hooked to that mortgage with that lease we're not talking about okay click you know we change it on you but when you move and you go to another location the BAH that you get in that location would be different than if we continue the growth see what I mean so if the ones that you're on you would stay on the ones meaning the agreements are you with me so far yes sir so it's about slowing the growth so how does it look like it's coming out of your pocket if you assumed it was going to continue to grow and you assumed you were going to continue to pay the rent or mortgage that you had when you move to another location then yeah it would be less than that extrapolated that difference but it's that would be the slowing of the growth that's kind of the BAH story that is under consideration we have to figure out what we want to submit then the congress has to approve it thank you sir okay if it makes sense to you okay I left I'm sorry good afternoon sir a hudlin up here that's the chief always one Arthur James I would test the ECRC Norfolk my question is what would be the timeline for adding female listed sailors on board on submarines okay you had me there for a minute I'm going okay divers the timeline is in 16 on two submarines the Texas and the Virginia and we will have female enlisted on those crews so we've got to prepare those that want to volunteer and come in and go through boot camp and get that in those of the two timelines so you know I was at the gas station filling up to get ready to go back to DC this afternoon and I think there's someone in the audience they didn't know when they were pumping gas because they said that they had to go to this all hands call and it was two young female officers talking and one of them said hated you here there's a flash he said that there's a going to be openings for females on attack submarines are you in the audience where are you at I can't come on down take your time ma'am no you can just come up here I just wanted the C and O to see ya so is that where you're headed that what you want to do that's what you want to do you got good grades you got to go to new school you know hey I made it through anybody to make it through trust me they give you second chances I know well good congratulations I hope you get what you want what do you do now CRG too alright great the moral of the story is master chiefs are everywhere thanks it took guts to come down answer your question thank you ok left right I'm sorry go ahead good afternoon admiral master chief thanks very much for coming out to talk to us my name is Lieutenant Justin Dargan I'm a naval flight officer here at TACRON 2-1 my question today stems from something that was asked earlier about the navy training people for a specific job and then forcing them to change jobs change commands specifically in my experience in the aviation community I've seen a lot of my friends and colleagues who become very adept at doing their job in the cockpit in the plane but then one of two things happens to them either one they don't make rank and are forced out of the navy or two they do progress up the chain 05 make command and they lament that they are no longer able to really fly consistently my question to you is do you know if the navy would ever consider something like a career flyer program for people who don't need to progress in rank but could continue doing the job that they were paid to do yeah I gotta tell you kiddo we we looked at that hard because it's expensive as you well know to send you to I don't know the war college or anybody right and then you come back and then you gotta get the FRS right and we gotta train you up and that's pricey but we don't have when we looked at the luxury to set aside a group that hey you guys just fly and then somebody else kinda comes in and goes out and does the other things those that fly have to lead also in the future and those leaders if I don't have somebody that understands combat cockpit and all that goes with it it's really hard to find them to go be to be acceptable or big deck amphib or an air boss you know on that they haven't done it and to and I've talked to my counterpart frequently the first sea lord and they have engineers say on their especially in their nuclear power I was on a submarine talking they got their engineers and they got their operators and so you know never the twain there's like a membrane between them so these guys up forward don't know what the heck's going on back there and if there's a casually it's quite unnerving entities and they can't cross thread you know what I mean I think if we had if we were in the older days where we had F-4s we had A-4s where we had single kind of mission aircraft and a lot of them rather than the multi-mission aircraft we have today we may have had to go in that direction does that make sense to you there are some folks that actually they come out of the cockpit and they volunteer to go back in and they actually sort of get away with it although they don't in other words they could go back to back and there are a gaggle of them but not many but that's the deal it's the rounding of the officer in preparation for when you stand in front of me and the day you come in raise your right hand I got to prepare you for 05 come in I just make that assumption so everything I do for that when the seaman comes in I'm thinking chief you know mcpon and I to do but we do study it trust me does it make sense the Israelis do it and they do it quite effectively but they have a different need in their service understandable sir thank you thanks for the question yes sir good afternoon sir Mass Chief GM13 Jeb Little Creek Fort Story just wondering if there was any talks in the near future of changing the winter PT gear I've been in clothing and cars and things like that it seems like it always comes full circle right so we build these old cars and we get rid of new ones and now you see all these like throwback cars coming around well that's what we're thinking with the navy PTU right I think we're only about a year away from it being back in style right sweat gear yeah the sweat gear the pajamas right but it's a great question and I asked you know they brought in this winter PT gear and said hey this is what we're gonna try out we're gonna test it and so they took it to RTC and did all this test wearing and not too long ago I said hey where's this winter gear at and they came back and said yeah we did the test wearing it didn't work very well I said okay where are we at and there we are nowhere right so it's really something that we've gotta start back up Roger thank you that Master Chief sir that was a good answer right it's not a good thing it was an answer sir Master Chief BM1 Bay and J.B. Lil Creek port operations I have a two-part question starting February 1 Hampton Roads is putting tolls on all the tunnels going to Portsmouth for the Naval Hospital and that's the only ER besides Langley on this side sir wondering if that we were gonna get an incentive because we gotta pay time we gotta go to the ER or would there be a possibility of an ER coming to Sewell's Point or here a boom clinic sir I don't know I was gonna ask how often do you plan on going to the ER yeah I'd have to give that some thought well I tell you what I do we're gonna give this to the local folks but there there is a program started years ago and it involved commutes and the you're talking about subsidizing commutes in other words helping your commute yes and I don't know where this fits in and in Washington DC and some other areas if you take rapid transit you get subsidized because you're off they get you off the road it's you know gas energy yada yada I don't know where tolls would fit into something to help regulate or enhance your commute I couldn't tell you but that's probably about the best idea or concept that we look at to do but there's a gentleman up here locally because it would have to be looked at what is the deal and it's it's a state thing so we have to check it out locally thank you sir good afternoon sir good afternoon master chief M.A.S.A. Smith based security I was curious as to after the attack the active shooter situation in the DC Navy Yard I was very surprised that most of the response came from civilian law enforcement I was curious if any was looked into increasing our training due to we have the equipment we have the personnel if we could get the training and start forming it up to have our own to maybe quicken the response time if something like that happened on another base sure well I mean sure I understand your question so let me tell you the answer that what was going on at the Navy Yard and in almost all bases well you know this and frankly the response by people like Navy people then we had people who were hired to do security and they have a certain piece of that then we have people who are actually civilian police federal if you will police then we had the DC folks respond so the response was per the agreement so what you saw and who got where and how they task organized right there you just saw what was on the camera there was a lot of other response it was because the whole base had to be ascertained for the threat we knew about building 197 but what about the rest of it so I think you see what I'm talking about there so what else that's all ripe fruit and in some cases depending on the agreement that local agreement the MA if you will the military force does more than but you're saying no we want to we want to increase our capability we'll ask the question but if we needed it I think we would kind of do it if that makes sense plus we got a main you got to prove that you can do this we can't train you say okay Billy looks good if they ever need you you'll just be able to it's like people go to the driving course you went to the driving course didn't you not yet sir you didn't well those that do they always want to try out their driving and I get driven around sometimes and so but you get my point you got to be proficient and that would be part of the issue local law enforcement a lot of times they are that's the things that they do to protect the community understood sir thank you you're welcome yes sir sir Master Chief Senior Chief Basil SEAL Team 18 for the last 40 years or so we've been in all volunteer force and our our time was increased and our families as we all know today what is the plan with the commissary programs which we are going to be eliminated and MWR for example this theater here is an MWR function because that's very very important to our families while we're gone it gives them something to be able to do quality of life issues help keep their quality of life better have more dollars to go in their pocket so what's the plan at this point okay so let me talk to you about the commissary thing there's this commissary there isn't an option to shut commissaries the option is to look at the way commissary management so this is the DECA and I can't remember what DECA stands for Navy exchange I'll go to them first they have a certain amount of subsidy the federal government gives them for they get tax free land they usually get real estate to build and they don't have to pay for it it's a business and they make profit and that profit goes into MWR as you know so now you go over to the DECA if you will they too get subsidized and when we looked at it we would be the government and it would be the people done in the department of defense staff that look at broadly they say we sure are subsidizing you a lot and we think you could be much more efficient based on what you do so we would like you to be more efficient we're going to take away some of the subsidy as manipulated to some early plans and I really underlined early would be well if we get your subsidy reduced my output will reduce and since since not all of our commissaries make money many lose money frankly they don't have enough folks but they're still open and they're subsidized by others for example you probably do pretty well here the commissaries around here probably pretty busy make money and that gets rolled over to some of the remote sites that aren't very busy you with me so the early reports were well these remote sites will close them and we're saying no that's not the deal Deca you need to come and show us your business plan so this is the back and forth that is going there's no early there's no intent to close commissaries follow what I mean is to reduce and make them why can't you guys do it now they have some handicaps if you will the commissaries they're required to put certain kind of certain levels of meats certain brand name products yada yada yada and they say hey man I got a stock high if you will high end stuff so if you could give me a little leeway on if you want olives do you just want olives or do you have to have this kind of olives I would submit to you that is a that is an exception because in the fiscal year 13 I rattled off all those things that happened and we were on our knees all the way we were shut down so how do we keep anything open when you're literally shut down and when you have sequestration I don't expect to see that this year I expect to see MWR to restore to normal and I'll be keeping my eye on it thank you yes sir hello good afternoon mcpond cnc fellows joint expeditionary base little creek fourth store my question to you sir is our navy is truly a global force and as we continue to draw down from the over decade of war that we've been in and out right in Afghanistan my question to you is I continuously hear about a focus on the pacific can you speak to that for us sir and tell us within the five to ten years what actually will be the focus for us as a navy in the pacific okay there's four categories of what we call the rebalance to the pacific it was originally started with the term pivot but frankly we've been out there quite a bit so we kind of call it a rebalance number one forces and that's airplanes and ships that's how we speak mostly so what you'll see is four little combat ships being forward station in Singapore that will happen within the next two and a half years okay so that's an increase you'll see an increase today there's about 50 of our ships in the western pacific by the end of this decade you'll see closer to 60 ships in the western pacific that increase of four the joint high-speed vessels that you have here you're getting the first of them they'll be others on the west they'll go out there the mobile landing platform in the western pacific area we will when we send JHSVs and other new kind of ships that are as I said they're expeditionary they're not amphibious assault they will help free up amphibs that we would like to send to the western pacific to help support the lift they'll provide the lift to marines and darwin and we owe that that's our part of the darwin initiative you've heard of that that will be to the western pacific have you ever heard of the triton the broad area maritime surveillance it's a global hawk UAV big big big wings and all that flies for many many hours and it takes a lot of pictures and all that that will deploy that will be out in 17 that will go to the western pacific so there's a lot of high-end stuff there two capability so that's forces two is capability we benchmark all our capability from warfare to counter missile to counter ballistic missile ASW to the western pacific it's got to work there when we buy it three we you've probably heard we are shifting home ports 60 west 40 east yes sir that's under way we're at about 57 percent now so we still got to continue that and then lastly I call it intellectual capacity that's kind of jargon washington jargon for we're going to do more high-end exercises I spend more time visiting my counterparts discussing where we're going and have more dialogue and richer richer more significant dialogue so let me give an example Japan we have really stepped up where we want to go with Japan operations together ASW together our P-8s are operating out there now P-8 is a tricked out 737 very very nice replaces the P-3 so we do that we're we're an interface with China more than we have been for a long long long time my vice-CNO our vice-CNO was there in November my counterpart was here in the United States for a week in September I'm going in April to China I'm going back in July I mean we're lucky if we got one every two years so you can see how that's kind of picking up to figure out what's going on where do we want to go let's get the conversation going it's been difficult it's grinding but that's what we got to do to work through that that's kind of a snapshot thank you sir right pretty long sorry you asked that question aren't you thank you thank you very much okay we're we're out of time right okay let me just a quick remark and I would turn it over to Mikpon we talked a little bit about hey what's this about BAH what's this about commissaries and all that so let me let me say we are looking at compensation and I spoke to you a little bit I said look the growth in our compensation we got to do something about it we've got to we got to rest the growth not go down not change it down it's about slowing the growth any savings we get from that that are approved my plan is to put that into what I call the quality of your work that's to go into improving the barracks improving your training improving your training budget making sure that we work we get more folks ready to to cover up gaps at sea to make sure put money into spare parts money into intermediate maintenance what else anything else that I missed in as far as the quality of work that sort of category will lay it out and we have got to show we intend to if we get such a thing approved show that any savings that come there gets reinvested in your quality of work what makes your workplace better because your overall if you will existence in the Navy as I look at it where we invest is in your your quality of life your salary your BAH tuition assistance gyms and medical benefits things of that nature the things that make your life what they are and then you go to work you walk across that pier you go to that flight liner you go wherever you go what's the quality of your work there do you have a trained supervisor do you have a supervisor are you trained is your unit trained are you comfortable is your CO confident is your CMC confident are you confident how does all that come together and I think we have a deficit in an investment in there we need to work on that and we will and that's where that will go I wanted you to kind of get that those categories and where we're what we're looking at McPunt close it just two things you know for many years I sat right where you're sitting and I know what you're thinking when it comes to this pay and compensation and slowing of growth what I want to share with you is I get the opportunity to sit on boards like CNO talked about the Deca board defense commissary agency and I get to sit in on a lot of these meetings and have a voice on things that affect our families and you when it comes to pay and compensation and retirement and those things I you know I would be suspect if I were you what I'm about to tell you but I'm going to tell you anyways I want you to know that an extraordinary amount of effort thought and concern goes into these decisions on how they impact you and your families nothing is just done oh by the way on a whim that it takes months and years often times before decisions are made so they fully we fully recognize the impact that will have on you and your families so you always come you know number one recognizing that we also have a mission that we need to perform so I wanted to share that with you because I'm getting a lot of feedback both face to face and on social media about you know doubting that leadership really gets it and really cares and I think it's important for you to know that yes they care and yes they get it second thing I wanted to share I was talking with a young CS out in the lobby and I asked him what do you do for a living right well what I want to share with him and all of you is that there's three things that I look at when it comes to success the foundation to success three basic things and one is to that shipmate that's out there no matter what your job is no matter what you're asked to do work hard every single day put your best foot forward because there's no such thing as a job in the Navy that's not important so do your best every single day number two stay out of trouble you're going to leave here it's a Friday afternoon you're going to have a good weekend be smart about it don't do something to compromise all the hard work that you and in many cases your families have done to get you to where you are today so stay out of trouble number three and most important this ties into sexual assault prevention and suicide prevention and domestic violence and alcohol abuse be a good and decent person to yourself to your family and to your shipmates be a good and decent person and I'm pretty confident that a lot of what ails our Navy will simply just go away so work hard stay out of trouble be a good and decent person CNO thank you so much for inviting me to be with you today alright buddy thanks take care of each other we'll see you attention on deck