 The Surface Navy Association finished its annual national symposium in Arlington, Virginia, January 17th. The symposium's theme of answering all bells, people, technology and innovation started with Vice Admiral Tom Coatman who spoke on future challenges for sailors. The resources have gone down, so I can't tell you whether we're gotten to that point and started tipping over, but I will tell you that we're getting closer to it. Despite the fact that we're pretty thinly resourced, and I'll talk about that a little bit later on, we're doing the job that we have been called upon by the combatant commanders to do. Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, Mike Stevens discussed his take on leadership with the initiative of zeroing in on excellence. This is something that is meant not to distract from or add to existing individual roles and responsibilities, but more so it's about providing a sturdy framework around which we can build strong, durable readiness for the fleet. The symposium also highlighted fiscal challenges the military currently faces. Admiral William Gortney explained what this means for the future of the Navy. We've never had enough money, right, but we've had plenty of money to do our job. It's not going to be that way over the next 10 years. History shows us that coming out of every major conflict, there's a 27 to 32 percent reduction in the DOD budget, and this goes all the way back to the Revolutionary War. The symposium ended with the Navy's focus areas from the second half. We are and we will continue to be, regardless of what happens, we will continue to be the finest and most formidable expeditionary fighting force the world has ever known. From the Defense of Media Activity, I'm Petty Officer Matthew Halls.