 And so sail it we, I see a wreck to windward and a lofty ship to lee, A sailing down along the coast of high Barbarie, Blow high, blow low, blow high, blow low. Are you a pirate or man of walk right we? Blow high, blow low, and so sail it we. Oh, I am not a pirate, but a man of walk right he. A sailing down along the coast of high Barbarie, A sailing, sailing, sailing, sailing, sailing, sailing, sailing. For broad aside, for broad aside, we fought along the main, Blow high, blow low, and so sail it we, Until it last the frigate shot the pirates' mast away. A sailing down along the coast of high Barbarie, But oh, it was a cruel sight and grieve it all so sore. Blow high, blow low, and so sail it we, To sea level a drowning as they tried to swim ashore. Sailing, sailing, sailing, sailing, sailing, sailing down along the coasts of Hyde Park. Good afternoon shipmates and welcome to the Navy Yard. We're at the Navy Museum, the fighting top of the Constitution behind me here. Happy birthday! What a place to have a birthday and what a day it's going to be today. We're going to have a lot of fun, but speaking of time, can you believe it? It's been a year since we've been working together and I promise you a pretty special year and it's been certainly an event field year, but more on that later. We've got a lot of stuff going on today. We're going to have a lot of fun. We've got cake cutting and things. We've got a lot of good people here today by the way and let me show you. We've got the band. Say hi to the band. We've got the fighting top as I said before. We've got cannons. We've got the ship's wheel. My goodness, we've got Constitution sailors up from Boston and we've got my favorite sailors up from Norfolk. So, and whoa, look who we have here. Come on out here, Mick Pond. Our new Mick Pond, Mike Stevens, Master Chief Mike Stevens from an aircraft mechanic to the Master Chief Petty Officer the Navy. Welcome. It's great to have you here. Great to be here, sir. Thank you. How's it going so far? So far, it's been drinking through a fire hose, but other than that, everything's going well. You've got it all locked up, don't you? All locked up, sir. Yeah, right. Okay, look, let's have some fun. Let's do something that we really like to do. Let's do a re-enlistment. Absolutely. All right. Let's gonna bring, we're gonna bring them out here. All right. Detail, not 10, hut. Five steps forward. March. All right. Are you all ready to come on back in the Navy? Yes, sir. I got it. We got to get some loudness here. Are you ready to come back in the Navy? Yes, sir. All right. Great. You've been out for about a day now if I'm not mistaken. I don't know what it was like, but it's time. So, we'll do the oath of office. Everybody ready? Okay. Attention to oath. Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Against all enemies foreign and domestic. And I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. 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. And the uniform code of military justice. So help me God. So help me God. All right. Congratulations, shipmates. Welcome back into the Navy. All right. So let's find out who our new shipmates are. Padoffs are free-offs. Is that correct? Yes, sir. And where did you grow up? Lohala, South Carolina. South Carolina. Is that a Gamecock or a Clemson Tiger? Go Clemson. Go Tiger. A lot of orange in your house, right? That's right. All right. Padoffs are Chavez. Where are you from? Originally from Peru, sir. From Peru? Yes, sir. Excellent. Outstanding. And where do you live now? Here in Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk, Virginia? The station in DAW120. Great. What a pleasure. Hello, miss. What's your name? What's your name? QM3 Rivera. Rivera? And where did you grow up? I grew up in stationed in Virginia. Virginia. Are you your Navy brat? Yes, I am. Aha. What'd your folks do? My father is a retired commander. Retired commander, huh? That's okay. He's happy where you are, right? Yes. Welcome aboard. Hello, buddy. Morning, sir. Where'd you grow up? Making Illinois. Making Illinois. All right. Is your Bears fan, the Bears? That's right. You all right? Illinois and the Bears, huh? Yes, sir. All right. It's a tough year so far, right? Chief, where did you grow up? Kingston, North Carolina, sir. Kingston, North Carolina, huh? Okay. What do we put near that? Tobacco Road somewhere? Yes, sir. All right. Do you pick your team? I'm a Cowboys fan and a Tar Hills fan. Cowboys and Tar Hills. Good colors. Okay. Okay. Front row. Dismissed. All right. Let's meet these other sailors. Hello, kiddo. Where'd you grow up? I'm from Forestville, Maryland. From Forestville, Maryland? Forestville, Maryland. So you got to be a Redskins fan. Oh, what? You're one brave guy around this town. All right. Nice to have you aboard. How about you, kiddo? Where'd you grow up? Brooklyn, Georgia. Brooklyn, Georgia, huh? Okay. Are you a yellow jacket guy or are you a bulldog guy? Yellow jackets. Yellow jackets? I think you might have picked. Well, you're both losing so far, but that's okay. Falcons? Yes, sir. All right. Good. Hello, miss. Where'd you grow up? Florida. Florida? Where in Florida? Fort Lauderdale. Hmm. Vacation land, right? That's where people go. That's where people go. Thank you for re-enlisting. Hello, miss. Where'd you grow up? Hazel, Texas, sir. Hazel? Yes, sir. Hazel or hazel? Hazel. Hazel. Is that like in Tornado Alley? No, sir. It's by Fort Worth. By Fort Worth, huh? You're a Cowboys fan, huh? Absolutely, sir. All right. We've got a lot of Cowboys here. Hello, chief. Where'd you grow up? Tampa, Florida. Tampa, Florida. A lot of old people that were down there, don't they? A lot of old people. There's a few young people, too. Well, I got my blood all picked out. How about you, Mick Fudd? What are you laughing at? Thank you for re-enlisting. Hello, miss. Where'd you grow up? Queens, New York. Queens, New York, huh? Man, those Yankees came back last night against our Orioles. You're a Yankees fan, aren't you? I'm not of anything fan, sir. I didn't watch them before. You take no chances, right? That's right. All right, excellent. You're not one to gamble, huh? Okay. Second row. Dismissed. Well, shipmates, that's a lot of fun doing re-enlistments. It's my favorite. Having folks decide to stay Navy and continue the service. So, let me tell you a little bit. As I said, here we are, 2012. It's the 200th Commemoration of the War of 1812. It's also the 70th Commemoration of the Battle of Midway. It's the 70th Commemoration of the Battle of Coral Sea, and it's the 50th Commemoration of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Your shipmates, our predecessors, had a lot to do in the Cuban Missile Crisis as we led the quarantine there in and around Cuba, a very, very important part of the Cold War, which sometimes we don't really talk a lot about. But a little bit on the War of 1812. Again, the fighting top behind me, the scene around here, and what we've been talking about all year. We've been doing commemorations from New Orleans through Florida, up the East Coast, Norfolk, Baltimore, New York, and on through the Great Lakes. And it's been terrific. America has gotten the opportunity to meet you, your shipmates, and many others and understand really more about our Navy and your Navy. And as I think about the War of 1812 and our legacy, three things come to mind all the time, looking back as we look at where we are today. Number one, technology matters. The best ships in the navies of the world, the highest tech ships were, in fact, US Navy ships in the War of 1812. If you look behind me and you look at that structure, that's original. We had the best ships and made of the best material. And that's why we had a ship called Old Ironsides made of such good material, cannonballs actually bounced off the sides. And it was exclaimed by a British officer, she must be made of iron. Number two, we had confident and proficient crews. And if you look at the examples up here of people understanding the rigging and working hard, our crews worked hard on seamanship, they worked hard on gunnery. And frankly, we outgunned the enemy in the War of 1812. And lastly, we had bold and accountable leaders. Leaders such as Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie, who fundamentally changed the whole course of the war by him taking charge of that battle, changing ships when he needed to, when he was losing his ship right underneath him and carrying on the war. Those three things, so important. And those are the things that we carry forward in our legacy. As we look forward to our next year together, I tell you right now, I'm very happy with sailing directions. And I ask you to check them out. They will be our path ahead. And those six words, the words we've been talking about all year, they still remain relevant. And they're still the way we're going to go forward. War fighting is going to be first. We have got to operate forward. That's where we're at our best. And we've got to be ready. That's going to be our legacy. That's going to be the brush you and I will use as we paint our way into the next year. Now let me leave you one last little factoid, if you will. And then we're going to take some questions. If you look on the website, our website, my website, you'll see the logbook is in there. And I've recently posted our diversity, my diversity vision statement, how we're going to go forward in our path together to mine, to pull together all the talent that we have in the Navy and where we're going to go get talent in the country, our diversity vision. And second, I'm going to post pretty soon our position report. It's going to be a lay down of kind of taking a fix of where we've been over the last year and what changes we need to make on our track as we go out ahead. Some things have changed here and there. We've got to change some tweaks and things, but I'll lay down in this position report where we're headed in the year ahead. So Mick Pahn, what do you say? Some Q's and A's? I'm ready to go. Let's do it. Okay, let's bring in a question. Good afternoon, sir. My name is C1 Liner from White House Communications. My question is, now that the Navy's manning is stabilizing and this round of the ERB is completed and PTS is getting revamped early next year, how long before an increase in promotions will be seen and will SRBs for critical NECs increase? Yeah, I think that as you state, promotion rates have stabilized. How long before they increase, that's difficult to say. It really will be a matter of the lay down of the force as we look at each rating, as we look at the manning within the rating. But as you stated, recently promotion rates have increased and it is a reflection of the balancing across the ratings that has taken place. Perform to serve is going to be with us. It's going to be, I think, better. One of the things we've done as we look at each of the ratings, we're not looking at just the year somebody applies. We're looking at two years out ahead of that. So it's a three year total look and I think that we will be able to sustain what we have today, which is about between eight and nine out of 10 perform to serve requests are being approved. So I feel pretty good about where we are now. I don't see an ERB any time in the future. Sir, this question comes from our internet audience. This is LS1 Chris Russell from Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 2. Are there any plans for implementing the 15 year early retirement option for all hands? Well, I'll tell you the 15 year early retirement will remain an option. I think you use the term right. We call it an authority. I want that tool in the tool bag in order to be able to balance the force as necessary. But I really don't plan to. I don't think we need it right now. We're balanced very well. We've gone from 35 over man ratings to about seven right now. So we're in pretty good shape. But we will ask for the authority, but right now I don't see the need to use it. This comes from several sailors asking similar questions about op tempo and the increased carrier presence in set come. Sir, I would like to know where you stand on the carrier 2.0 requirements and what is being done to meet the needs of manning issues at sea. Are there any other manning initiatives being renewed beyond recent nav admins? What will affect 2.0 have on current seasaw shore rotation for senior enlisted as well as junior enlisted? That's a lot of questions. Let me try. I try to set the kind of the piece. The good news is the hard work that the sailors are doing out there, those people who are out there getting it done is clearly recognized all the way to the White House. The need for two carrier strike groups in the Arabian Gulf has been here since 2010. And we've agreed to do so through March of next year. I think all of you know that. And the John C. Stennis is on her way to do that. Now, where I stand on that is our country needs us and we are ready to respond. And we as they, the John C. Stennis and sailors like that, we are good through March. And what I mean by that is the carrier strike groups and the ships that have responded up to date have been expected to be ready to respond. They have been in what we call the sustainment phase. If we go beyond next March, we're going to have to look very closely at the lay down of the where those ships stand and training. We need to make probably some adjustments in the maintenance piece and the certification piece and in some of the training pieces. And so we'll take a look at that. But as I look out there ahead, we're going to track up temple very closely. We'll track home temple of our sailors and the individual tempo. And all of those will become a factor as we move out ahead. CTR to Ryan J. Marriott from USS Wasp. My question is in regards to wearing multiple warfare designators with the introduction of EIDWS on board LHD and CVN platforms, it is highly possible for motivated sailors and certain ratings to arrive from A schools and transfer from those platforms with three designators. My question is, why can't we wear what we have earned at least while wearing service and full dress uniforms? And Nick Pondes may be something you want to address. Sure. If you're one of those sailors that have earned one of those warfares or two and then working on a third, then I would like to say good on you and keep getting after those warfare quals into all our sailors. Please do the same. Did you know that we have over 20 warfare qualification pins that could be worn? So the Navy had to make a decision at some point on how many should we wear and what's appropriate. And what we found is that two warfare pins seems to be the right number because two warfare pins doesn't interfere with the wearing of other devices. At one time we had no limit and I personally knew of a sailor that was wearing five warfare pins from our special warfare community and it was just too much because it interfered with the uniform and other things that that sailor could or should have been wearing. So CNO we've decided that two is the right number and that's what we're going to stick with. You know but good on them. I mean these are people that have the judicious and go out and get the job done and I'd say let's make sure it's documented in your record as you get ready for perform to serve or anything else like that. These are people who have got a lot of drive. That's excellent. Excellent. Commander Ross Mabila from NJROTC senior instructor. When will the service dress khaki uniform be formally and finally approved and made available to officers and chiefs of the fleet? Well we've been wear testing the service dress khaki long enough and we've got good data on it. What we need to do is get a balance of where do we intend to wear the uniform. It will be an optional uniform so it's it's not going to be throughout the fleet. It'll be it's destined for some certain sites and you got to balance that with well how much will it cost based upon the expected wear. So we'll do that balance and we'll make a decision and I think that decision will be out pretty soon. Question from art clean. No command given and this time a financial austerity. Has Congress begun to reconsider the obligation period from one to two years for the operations and maintenance appropriation? From one year to two year? Well we authorize and appropriate bills yearly and so that that's how that will go on for forever until they change the law the process of a law. So really it won't be a two-year appropriation it'll be an annual appropriation an annual authorization. CS3 Jonathan Gill rumor has it that the dress white uniform being changed to have blue piping when can we expect this change if it is true? Make fun. Sure. We've done a lot of good work the fleet's done a lot of good work with this new uniform and what you'll see is October of 15 that uniform will begin to be issued to our new recruits at Great Lakes and then October of 18 you'll see that uniform start to be populated throughout the fleet. That's the current plan as it stands. Okay. Commander Mark Yell from Navcent when will the NWU type 1 aqua-flage uniforms be discontinued? I think that's up your alley too. What I would like to share with our shipmates out there is that there's no plan to discontinue the NWU type 1. We understand that it may not be the perfect uniform in all situations but we believe we found a uniform that gets us pretty close to the middle and for the foreseeable future unless directed otherwise the plan is to continue to wear the NWU and more importantly to become experts in where we wear it and how we wear it. Yeah, I think you got that right. Lieutenant Commander Michael Payne from Pensacola Branch Health Clinic. Our Lieutenant Commanders frequently deploy alongside their 04 major counterparts with the Marines, Army and Air Force in multiple joint environments. Lieutenant Commanders are generally permitted to be retained to retirement making them career-orientated. Lieutenant Commanders are frequently officers in charge. Exos are even COs of smaller ships yet all other services refer to their 04 rank as field grade mid-grade officers. While the Navy maintains their the lesser junior officer designation at 04 actual daily environments have Lieutenant Commanders treated as mid-grade officers. I have been continually blessed with strong leaders but uniform instructions and titles do not reflect the same respecting our British naval heritage but also uniquely aware of uniform changes reflecting modern-day joint forces reality. Why are Navy Lieutenant Commanders still referred to as junior officers without scrambled eggs compared with their mid-grade sister service peers? Well I'll tell you that's a mouthful and I haven't really given it that kind of thought. I'll take that question back it's always good to have something to look up and then we'll take a look at it. I would tell you my view and the way I've understood it is a junior officer runs through Lieutenant and an 04 is mid-grade officer so we'll take a look at that and see what makes sense and we'll change if it makes sense. This question is from the chat. CTIC Andrew Young from NIOC Maryland will there be any additional sailors allowed to retire under the Congress approved 15-year retirement option? Well I think that really involves temporary early retirement authorization and right now no we don't plan for that. We'll ask for the authority it's a force shaping tool we'll use the force shaping tool as appropriate in the future but for now I like the way the ratings are laid out. I think we're just about right and I don't see that one right now. PS1 Dennis Ellsworth from Landstil Regional Medical Center. Navy's PFA currently has consequences for failing most tried to pass with a minimum score. Why doesn't the Navy do more to reward those who excel in the PFA? This would create a carrot and a stick approach not just the stick. Nick? I think it's important that we all remember that first and foremost physical fitness is about operational readiness and the health of our sailors. We don't try to use physical fitness standards as a means to separate sailors but more as a means to retain sailors. It's a good question that we could always look at. We've had this discussion before is how do we better incentivize it and we've talked about it in the past but we really haven't done anything with that so it's a great question maybe we can take it on board and take another look at it but mostly it's about the health of our force and the health of our sailors. Yeah and I would add to that you're right if somebody does very well on the PFA and the PRT it should be documented. Consider documented in their report of fitness or in their evaluation. It's always available in the summary of action and it's in fact when we grade people's appearance and how they come across the fact that they are a fit person and show that example of leadership that should be documented. Lieutenant Michael Imperato from Department of the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Intelligence. China has recently been boldly asserting territorial claims in the South China Sea. What security concerns do you have for the nation as our federal debt climbs and what do you envision the Navy's role will be in maintaining national security in light of these economic concerns? Well good question. Basically the Navy is the keeper of the sea lines of communications. We need to be out and about in what I call the the maritime strategic crossroads the Strait of Hormuz the Strait of Malacca the Straits of Gibraltar all of those where the lifeline of our economy the world's economy passes through and we will always continue to do that that's operating forward. The prognosis if you will or the claims of the People's Republic of China we stand by the attributes of the law of the sea and the freedom of navigation and that is that in international waters open passages freedom of navigation should be guaranteed to all that's where we stand with regard to the the deficit and the difficulty in economic times a strong economy will give you a good security and strong security and I believe in that and that's where the president stands that's where the country stands. This question is from the chat. A02 A02 Joseph Tona and mc detachment Pax River Maryland are the rumors true about the 10 and a half months deployments? No. MTC is Hoffman from surveillance and reconnaissance field support office. What is the current and future plan for manning enlisted women on submarines? Well we're going we're doing quite well in our plans for women on submarines. Right now the officer program which is the one under in progress on our SSBNs and our SSGNs is going quite well. We've we've had on the order of about 60 applicants to fill about 56 billets and that's pretty good right now. We would like to expand that toward the Virginia class but we have to take a look at that and and here's what it is. We didn't get as many applicants as we thought we were going to get in that we got like I said in the 60s to fill 56 pretty good selectivity rate all well qualified. For us to expand beyond the current goal of about 56 and our SSBNs and SSGNs we need to understand do we will we have the applicants to fill into the Virginia class and we need to take a look at that. As we move toward bringing enlisted women on submarines including SSNs we need to look at what kind of a hierarchy of leadership we will have. That's important we need role models we need mentors for our junior enlisted and we'll need senior enlisted to do that. So the bottom line is going well so far moving in a deliberate pace I think next year somewhere in the middle of in the 13-ish time frame we'll be looking toward the Virginia class submarine officer and then enlisted but again we got an assess that we have the right leadership available so that we can do this right. FC2 RJ Mahoney from USS Chaffee my question is what is the Navy doing to ensure our technicians are adequately trained to perform their duties in the fleet? Right now we have about a 30% blend of computer-based training versus a 70% blend of hands-on training and we find that those two together right now are producing some very good training very effective and very efficient and we plan to continue down that path that we realized that several years ago we may have gotten a little bit too far to the computer based training the fleet gave us feedback we accepted that fleet feedback and we quickly made the adjustments and right now I believe from my experience and what I'm seeing in the fleet and in the classrooms that we're doing a very very good job of providing the Navy with some well-trained technicians. Command Master Chief John Taylor from the U.S. Naval Academy do you think that an early retirement board ERB or a continuation to serve board for our Department of Navy civilians would help us save money in this fiscally constrained era that we are going through? Well it's hard to say that you would save money I guess simply put and said directly you might but civilian personal management comes under the Office of Program Management military personnel comes under the Department of Defense and solely within that purview within the while managing civilian personnel if one month needs to make a change to the organization one wants to reduce the force there are various force shaping tools for civilian personnel such as a variable or voluntary separation incentive pay VSIP where one pays a stipend encouraging one to resign or to find another career path there is an early retirement option that exists and can be put in place these are actually held these are authorities that are held at what we call the echelon two level which is really the the hiring and managing authority for civilian personnel so you have the overarching management done by the laid out by the office of program personnel management excuse me office of personnel management and then they they delegate authorities to echelon levels who can then manage it but two separate processes for managing military personnel and civilian personnel. LS1 Laura Schmidt from Bremerton Priority Material Office Headquarters IA assignments allow eligible first class petty officers to bypass the chief's exam and go straight to the selection board with a forced drawdown occurring in Afghanistan where will the opportunities for fast track billets be in the future. We wanted to make sure when we stood up the IA program that we provided our sailors with equal opportunity to success and promote what I'd like to share with the sailor and the sailors that are listening is that we must remember that it's first and foremost about sustained superior performance then it's about sustained superior performance while on sea duty so it's not so much about what you're doing but it's more about or not so much about where you're doing it but it's more about how you're doing what you're assigned and so we always talk about cno that doesn't matter what kind of job you have or where you're at in the navy but that we must do our very best at whatever job that is and we must do that over a sustained period of time and if you can do that then most assuredly you'll promote in the future I couldn't agree more every mentor that I've had that you know I highly respect just said the job that you have at hand do the best you can in that job and things will take care of themselves and I think that's a pretty good piece of advice IT1 Billy J House from CSG 10 what are your thoughts on CPO 365 and do you believe this is the best option for developing senior enlisted leadership that is aware involved and technically competent that's your sweet CPO 365 well I think we we need to understand that we start building chief petty officers the day that they graduate from boot camp and then even more so when they become first class petty officers and so we found that it's much better to prepare first class petty officers to become chiefs with a continuum of learning and training so we do that year round rather than trying to cram it all into a six-week period of time and as we stand here right now we have master chiefs in the fleet that are currently helping me to review the CPO 365 program so that we can become even better leaders in the future so I believe it's the continuum of learning and training far more than it is that kind of quick hit during that six week period of time right right this is lieutenant joseph martin from military sea lift command far east as we celebrate our navy's birthday many of us are interested in the continuum of service concept described by some as creating on and off ramps to allow seamless transfer from active duty to drilling reserve status and vice versa nath admin 274 slash 12 recently addressed this concept in the enlisted force when do you foresee this becoming a reality for commissioned officers well actually the rapid transition if you will from active to reserve is a reality right now for the officer corps as a matter of an anecdote my son completed his active duty service just about a year ago just over a year ago and transitioned within about a week to the reserve corps so he he serves in their reserves so there are programs in place to enable active duty officers to transition to drilling reservists there's also a program for active duty officers to go into the IRR I can't remember what that acronym means but to do that for a period of time and then come back into the active corps so there are on ramps and off ramps but when coming back into the officer and to the active corps from the reserves you have to resonate with the needs of the active corps there are ways to do this for a year for half a year for a number of years and to be drilling so there's a number of programs a number of opportunities and a tip of the hat to the chief of navy reserve and to the navy reserve program who have done amazing things to streamline this program so that we have that continuum of service in the active or in the reserve it's it's really a good process put in place by the by the reserve community this question is from chat MMC shuman pearl harbor navy shipyard is there a process for ensuring reoccurring nav admins are released on time yes there's a process in place sometimes it it doesn't run as smoothly as we'd like but nav admins are reviewed periodically some sooner than others but they have a temporal nature to it and when they complete their their relevancy if you will they're either canceled or they're revised accordingly this question is from chat I worry about the new sailors currently on deployment with the USS John C. Stennis since their turnaround time from the last deployment was so quick what is the U.S. Navy doing to help them cope well what we are doing is we look at them on their deployment we're looking for definite quality of life port visits good port visits quality of service port visits if you will number two when they return we're looking at their schedule very closely to see to it that they get an appropriate return transition they've got a long period of maintenance following that and we're looking very closely at the individuals tempo as well as the home tempo how much they will be home our goal is 50 percent of the time non-deployed at home and the ship's up tempo itself so while we're looking very closely at what the great sailors of the John C. Stennis did as a secretary defense said when he went out and saw them off and spoke to them they are the best option that the country had for the mission that hand out there in the Gulf for them to go out and do what they needed to do and I give a tip of the hat to the John C. Stennis to the team the entire team out there in the entire strike group they turn quickly and very professionally and I thank you very much for that why and see where reserves with the new rc and ac opportunities will there be options for senior enlisted to take part in those billets are any chance to allow e7s to return to underman billets I really haven't heard anything about that cno with the senior enlisted having that opportunity I'd say that you know the options always on the table but we just haven't had the discussion yeah we'll take a look at that and see what's what's are the doable this question is from chat et1 sexti from nrd relay with the way that physical fitness is involving throughout the rest of the world is the navy looking at altering the pfa to fall more in line with current fitness programs well the pfa is uh it's studied all the time trust me I mean everybody out there knows there's always a rumor we're going to do something new but the means by which we measure someone's fitness uh is is acceptable it's worthwhile it's not perfect by any stretch but for the main uh done very well it is looked at very closely by competent medical authority our medical authority from both the physical um evaluation part that is your body in addition to your fitness part uh and there are uh waivers here and there in other words attributes if somebody has an unusual body type and we'll continue to look at that and tweak this as as to try and do the best we can for the vast majority of the sailors and for the purposes of the program lieutenant grant greenwell seawass with increasing cost of lcs and modules our studies being conducted to look at smaller cheaper vessels or conversion of j w j h s v uh yes i am looking at uh smaller cheaper lethal underline vessel opportunities also looking at what a j a joint high speed vessel which is a fast catamaran with a nice flight deck and a lot of volume to to move things quickly through the ocean what can we do to those from crew serve weapons to different modules but with regard to the literal combat ship that is a unique combination of speed and volume uh two types of vessels somewhat different one with a very large helo deck and the other with a very large mission bay under a helo deck uh that each have a special set of attributes you combine that with the mission module capability of mine countermeasure anti-submarine warfare surface warfare if you will and mission and modules that we have yet to to lay out there we think it is a high payback investment right now it looks pretty good so the literal combat ship will be a main part of our navy but we're looking for other options as well that can be effective uh in the relevant the future in lethal this question is from chat sir word on the deck plate is that congress has not yet approved funding for the repair of the uss miami will the repair take place uh i'll answer the last part yes the repair will take place the uh the congress has not completed uh their bill for f y 13 they need to do the authorization and then they'll do the appropriations we have a request in there and it is being viewed right now quite favorably uh by the congress as we interface with the staff to get started in fiscal year 12 uh we've we've requested a reprogramming and that has been viewed with favor it has been approved by the congress we look pretty good new repair of the miami sir this is the last question and it is from chat john guzman new york what advice do you have for a future sailor i will be enlisted in about a year nick pon I can't think of a better person to answer a question for our future sailor my ears are burning I'm going to keep this short and simple but I ask that all of our sailors listening uh pay close attention because success in the navy uh requires in my opinion us to be excellent in three areas one work hard two stay out of trouble and three be a good and decent person both in and out of uniform if you can do those three things I can almost assure you that you will have a successful productive and happy career nicely done I'd like to close with one little clip early one of the early quest earlier questions I had was a rumor for a 10 month deployments in op tempo is a hot topic and it's something that I'm looking at constantly uh let me expand on my answer which was no and I stand by that answer but the fact of the matter is the eisenhower is on about a nine month deployment she was a little late getting out of maintenance and we had a discussion with the leadership that that was going to be a nine month deployment in order for her to kind of catch up and cover the amount of deployment and the uh what was necessary in the world but as we look out there for the rest of f y 13 about eight to eight month in two week deployments uh will be the way our carriers that will be what our carriers are getting as you look across the force it's different for p 3 that's about six month it's different for submarines that's about six month and it's a little different for cruisers and destroyers and so what I'm saying is uh it won't 10 months is not uh the future subject to an entirely different change in the way we do business uh and and but it varies and keep your ear to the ground and ask your leadership where do we stand so that was great um I don't know about you I'm a little hungry uh let's say we have some cake I say we have some cake all right you're not a big cake eater but I know you are a cake eater all right excellent is presenting the cno with a model 1862 amus cutlass from uss constitution this was the standard edge weapon used by seaman through the civil war joining the cno our two sailors representing our proud heritage and war fighting spirit of today bmsr abbey applegate from the uss constitution bmsr applegate is from spearfish south dakota and enlisted in the navy in april 2012 and bm2 nathaniel pennywell from the uss dort bm2 pennywell is from forestville maryland and enlisted in the navy in march 2009 and reenlisted in the navy today as we just saw okay i've seen you uh paid officer applegate using this saber and i know you're pretty good so i trust we can do a cake cutting uh in a good manner all right are we ready everybody all right hand on the saber one two three look up and smile push there mcpon all right well done team all right well done salute to my shipmates here we go all right cake all around cake all around mcpon are you ready i got a little dainy piece for you it's giving you the one did all that talk about the prt and where we're going with it and the importance of it okay here you are red skins fan all right we got a piece all right one more for me we got to make this this will be the diet piece here uh for the elder statesman okay happy birthday everybody happy birthday