Month: November 2022

Source: United States Navy

“We are accelerating our supply transformation to meet the urgent and compelling fleet need,” opened Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) and 49th Chief of Supply Corps Rear Adm. Peter Stamatopoulos. “That’s why the Navy has us here.”

The symposium commenced with an address by keynote speaker, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. She emphasized this is a decisive decade and the Navy must act with urgency to prepare and respond to protect freedom of the seas around the world. Franchetti highlighted our warfighting advantage starts with our people.

“I think of our people as our secret weapons,” said Franchetti, addressing the 210 officers in attendance. “Taking care of our people and their families is job one everyday – understanding what they need, how they see themselves in our organization, and empowering them to succeed will build resiliency, unlock their full potential and pay big dividends as we look to get after the challenges of the future.”

The symposium is an annual forum to ‘level set’ the Corps’ leadership, introducing up-to-date themes and priorities, both reinforcing and maturing the enduring mission to integrate the Navy’s supply chains end-to-end by providing acquisition, supply chain management, operational logistics and Sailor care support with mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide.

“People interpret information differently on their own,” said Vice Director, Joint Staff Directorate for Logistics, Rear Adm. Dion English. “Here, we all get on the same page.”

Concentrating on personnel and community priorities on the first day, leadership championed the building of development opportunities to create a culture of operational excellence to produce high-impact and measurable mission results, both aggressive and courageous, and focusing on fleet operations. Doing so will grow future Supply Corps officers and NAVSUP employees with a progressive mix of field and headquarters staff experience, providing the necessary repetitions in the art and science of supporting logistics and sustainment missions.

Additionally, renewing focus on talent management processes will develop leaders who are accountable for right and wrong, success and failure; honest, trusted and selfless; with fiduciary responsibility for personnel, material, and fiscal resources.

The Supply Corps will elevate and build upon the Naval Sustainment System-Supply vanguard to develop leaders, mentors, and coaches who foster a proactive mindset that puts a culture of inclusion and continuous improvement through self-assessment, critical thinking, and candid professional engagement with juniors and seniors alike into day-to-day practice. This will yield a better informed supply vanguard of mentors and coaches capable of leveraging diverse networks and promoting esprit-de-corps with a collective identity.

The deliberate effort invested in our Supply Corps community is a direct reflection of the enduring intent to increase naval readiness through peerless maritime logistics.

Time was also spent taking an in depth look at the Navy Supply Corps lines of operation:
Acquisition and Lifecycle Sustainment; the management and procurement process to acquire technologies, weapons systems, programs, lifecycle product support and logistics necessary to maintain and prolong a weapon systems operational availability.

Supply Chain Management; a cross-functional approach to integrate procurement, suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses and end-users to deliver products and services for military material applications to satisfy service readiness requirements.

Operational Logistics; addresses sustainment within the military theater of operation. It connects the supply chain and logistics effort of the strategic level w/ those of the tactical level necessary to maintain and prolong operations until mission accomplishment.

“Ready for Sea,” Afloat and Expeditionary – Procuring materials, storing materials, and expending materials necessary to maintain and prolong operations until mission accomplishment.

“There is an awakening across the DoD,” said Stamatopoulos. “Sustain the force, that’s not just a NAVSUP HQ mission, that’s everybody’s mission wherever you serve.”

‘Wherever’ includes not just locations where traditional Navy assets are present, but extends across all armed forces along with our Joint and Allied partners.

“Creating and strengthening our multi-dimension networks, both virtual and kinetic, creates options for leaders and dilemmas for our adversaries,” Rear Adm. English clarified, regarding the potential contested logistics environment of the future. “Every Joint doctrine we employ today and into the future has logistics equities within, and require our active participation for optimal outcomes.”

With the majority of the Supply Corps’ senior leaders gathered, much of the many sessions focused on how to lead the Navy into the future while preparing for known threats and those yet to be encountered. Time and again, speakers turned their attention to what it means to lead the world’s premier naval fighting force.

“With seniority comes responsibility, not entitlement… serve when, where needed,” challenged Director of Logistics, Fleet Supply and Ordnance, Commander Pacific Fleet Rear Adm. Kristin Acquavella. “Be the expert with a tenacious warfighting mindset.”

The persistent themes of honest self-assessment of our teams, transforming our supply chains and sustaining an unparalleled naval presence around the planet, drove this symposium to a rewarding conclusion, proving once again to be a lucrative investment for the officers, the Supply Corps and the Navy.

“History shows the navy which adapts, learns, and improves the fastest gains an enduring warfighting advantage,” remarked Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Michael Gilday at the 2022 Surface Navy Association Symposium. “The essential element is fostering an ecosystem—a culture—that assesses, corrects, and innovates better than the opposition.”

NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics and Sailor & family care activities with our mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide to prevent and decisively win wars. NAVSUP is headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and employs a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsup and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom

Source: United States Navy

Established in 2019, the International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC) was formed in response to increased threats to freedom of navigation for merchant mariners transiting international waters in the Middle East.

“Three years is a significant milestone and one that underscores our collective commitment to maritime security in the region,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces. IMSC is one of two major international partnerships based in the Middle East that Cooper leads.

The half-day conference included speakers and panelists who presented topics on maritime security, coalition and industry partnerships, and innovation. More than 70 military and industry representatives participated virtually from remote locations around the world and in person at U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.

“It was exciting to engage with our international and commercial stakeholders to share ideas and information,” said United Kingdom Royal Navy Commodore Ben Aldous, commander of IMSC and Coalition Task Force Sentinel, IMSC’s operational arm.

In October, the Indian Ocean island nation of the Seychelles became IMSC’s tenth member after the coalition also welcomed Romania in March.

In addition to Seychelles and Romania, IMSC’s member-nations include Albania, Bahrain, Estonia, Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States.

“The coalition is stronger than ever, both in capability and determination,” said Cooper. “IMSC has deterred malign activity at sea and continues to provide reassurance to regional partners.”

Source: United States Navy

The Chief of Naval Personnel visited Navy Personnel Command Oct. 24-25 and spoke about his vision for the future of what he calls the Navy’s “most valuable weapon system” – its Sailors.

Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman described the MyNavy HR Strategic Design to audiences during two All Hands Calls at the Naval Support Activity Mid-South Conference Center.

At its core, he said, is the mission.

“What are we about? It comes down to two words: personnel readiness,” he said.
Cheeseman said with personnel readiness as the mission, all efforts across the MyNavy HR enterprise lead to his vision of what he calls “mission-focused Sailors.”

This vision, he said, has as its foundation:
– Steady, effective recruitment and training
– An inclusive Navy culture that supports adaptive and resilient Sailors and families
– Sailor-informed, transparent, data-driven talent management

The pillars themselves are focused on very specific initiatives:

I. Deliver Billet-Based Advancement
Cheeseman said closing gaps at sea is a priority. At the same time, he acknowledges the challenges of matching Sailors to billets appropriate to their paygrades. That’s where billet-based advancement comes in.
“This is the complete merging of our distribution and our advancement system,” he said.
Initiatives such as the Detailing Marketplace Assignment Policy, Command Advance-to-Position, Advance-to-Position programs, and the Senior Enlisted Advancement to Position pilot, along with coming changes to the Senior Enlisted Marketplace, are expected to correct systemic misalignment between the Navy’s enlisted advancement and personnel distribution processes.
Annually, the Navy advances thousands of Sailors but does not immediately move those Sailors into positions that match their new paygrade due to impacts to losing commands.
Billet-based advancements are expected to reduce inefficiencies and eliminate critical gaps, while offering both monetary and non-monetary incentives to Sailors. It also gives Sailors more control over their careers and permanent change of station moves to include increased flexibility, transparency, and geographic stability in career decisions.
Cheeseman envisions a future where billet-based advancement becomes the standard mechanism for all enlisted Sailors through journeyman and supervisory paybands (E5-E9) to attain the next higher paygrade.
“Transforming the Navy enlisted advancement and distribution processes into a robust, billet-based marketplace decreases billet gaps and increases Fleet readiness to ensure the right Sailor, with the right skills, is in the right billet to meet the mission,” he said.

II. Deliver Ready Relevant Learning
The Navy is in a war for talent, Cheeseman noted.
“We are focused on how we recruit, train, and educate our Nation’s best,” he said. “We must have Sailors who are skilled combat-ready warfighters, both disciplined and tough.”
The answer: Ready Relevant Learning.
“It’s a career-long learning continuum for every Sailor in our Navy,” Cheeseman said. “Think officer career paths; every officer can tell you exactly what their career path is. We’re trying to do the same thing for enlisted ratings. If we do that…then you’re delivering that training to the point of need. We also want to deliver this content faster and make sure it’s relevant to the Fleet so they are at peak performance.”
Modern challenges call for modern solutions, he noted.
“At its core, RRL is about creating more proficient and technically capable Sailors as they head to operational fleet units,” Cheeseman said.

III. Advance Navy Culture
Cheeseman pointed out that culture is both a foundational element and a pillar.
“In order for our Navy to win, we must have a culture that can,” he said. “In order to achieve success, we all need to take ownership together and create the Navy Culture that is necessary for our Sailors, their families, and our country.”
Cheeseman pointed out that, like no time since the Cold War, the Navy faces the possibility of conflict at sea with a peer competitor. With so much at stake, the Navy has to define desired cultural characteristics; set standards and measures for how to develop great people, teams, and leaders; and then train, reinforce, incentivize, reward, and measure to the cultural standard.
This will be task of the Integrated Culture Framework and supporting Playbook that simplifies, streamlines, and aligns existing terms, programs, and policies, providing leaders with the an executable plan to develop great people, leaders and teams.
“This will illustrate what right looks like, with tools you can use to advance the culture we want,” he said.
Cheeseman urged leaders and Sailors to act transparently and call out issues as they see them to avoid the “checklist culture” of the past.
“Together we own our culture and I know everyone here is on board to creating the culture that we need,” Cheeseman said.

IV. Provide Modern HR Service Delivery
Cheeseman said the vision here is to, “create a system that works for the 90% of us who require routine transactions that are almost automatic so the workforce can focus on the 10% that are truly unique, helping those people who need the direct touchpoints.”
The transformation that has been in work since 2016 continues, albeit the pace has not been where the fleet believed it would be by now, Cheeseman acknowledged.
“But what we have done to date has been epic,” he said. “We just need to understand what we are driving towards and how we’ll get there.”
Cheeseman said the efforts between enterprise management and enterprise support to create the solutions have greatly impressed him.
The My Navy Career Center personnel, he said, are, “working hard to provide a modern HR Service Delivery solution, with 24/7 contact support, to resolve personnel and pay issues at increased speed, improved accuracy and reduced cost.”
Cheeseman thanked the NPC and MNCC teams for strengthening programs and providing direct and honest feedback to developers.
“Thank you for all that you are doing and keep at it, because we owe it our Sailors to get this right so everyone can focus on warfighting readiness.”

V. Deliver and Sustain Modern HR IT Solutions
“The one thing that touches each of our pillars – Billet Based Advancement, Ready Relevant Learning, Advancing Culture and HR service delivery – are delivering modern IT systems,” he said.
Moving forward, Cheeseman said, our IT Transformation team is laser-focused on modernizing our processes, removing barriers, fixing glitches and delivering world-class technology.
That’s why enterprise support has been stood up as an OPNAV code — OPNAV N16 — to allow them the flexibility to deliver effective MyNavy HR digital transformation solutions.
Just as importantly, Cheeseman said, increased communication between enterprise support and the rest of the MyNavy HR enterprise has improved tremendously, allowing for the technical requirement to meet the needs of the functional requirements.
“This is so important and underpins everything we’re trying to do,” he said.
Cheeseman expressed optimism in getting the Strategic Design operational and making an effective impact on the Fleet.

“As we have always done in the past, our people will step up and rise to the occasion,” he said. “These five things will get us into the future where we want to be. As a MyNavy HR team, we’ll get the basics right so Sailors can be the mission-focused professionals our Nation deserves.
“I know we are up to the task.”