 The Navy recently released an enhanced carrier presence plan detailing potential changes to deployment and maintenance schedules. Now the Navy wants your input to help shape the plan. This plan is going to do a couple of things for us. It's going to allow us to deploy you, train you in a much more predictable fashion. So you'll do two shorter deployments of seven months each during the course of a training cycle. So you'll be at sea a little bit longer than you are now, but it'll be on a much more predictable, stable schedule. It's also going to allow us to provide better training and maintenance availabilities for the ships in a carrier strike group over the course of that cycle. The way it's been working now is the deployments are advertised as seven or eight months and then sometimes they go a little bit longer due to surge requirements overseas. Well if we can do this plan effectively and we don't think we're going to get there until probably fiscal year 15, the funding is still being worked out. But if when we can do this effectively, it'll allow us to surge essentially from the scene. Kirby also reiterated that although this plan has not been initiated yet, Navy officials are confident that if it is, it would provide a better model for ship maintenance and added predictability for sailors and their families. There's a lot more to come out on this. Again, a lot of things still have to be worked out, including the funding for it. But this is a plan that we believe is going to give the Navy a far greater ability to respond to command and commander requirements over there while giving you and your families much more stability back here at home. Your voice counts. You can make a difference. Go to the Navy blog at navylive.dodlive.mil or the Navy Facebook page at facebook.com slash US Navy to offer your suggestions. From the Defense Media Activity, I'm Petty Officer Amara Timberlake.