Month: January 2023

Source: United States Navy

Participating Navy organizations include sailors from Commander, Submarine Group Ten, Navy Talent Acquisition Group Miami, Naval History & Heritage Command, Navy Band Southeast, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group Two, U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard, Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 72, Naval Meteorology & Oceanography Command, Navy eSports, U.S. Fleet Forces, and the state-of-the-art “Nimitz” virtual reality trailer.

More than 60 sailors will participate in education and community outreach events throughout the city, including the 9^th annual Coral Gables Festival of the Arts. The festival will feature naval assets including the state-of-the-art “Nimitz” virtual reality experience, which consists of individuals participating in a virtual high-speed water extraction of a Navy SEAL team pinned down under enemy fire.

The Navy’s senior executive host is Rear Admiral Guido Valdes, commander, Naval Medical Forces Pacific/Director, San Diego Market and Chief of the Medical Corps. During Miami Navy Week, he will participate in community engagements, and speak with local businesses, civic, education, and government leaders.

Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s flagship outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, providing the public a firsthand look at why the Navy matters to cities like Miami.

“We are excited to bring the Navy Week program to Miami,” said NAVCO’s director, Cmdr. Anthony Falvo. “Seapower and America’s Navy are more important now than ever before. The U.S. Navy remains our nation’s most powerful instrument of military influence and Navy Weeks allow us to showcase how the Navy serves America at sea, in the air, and ashore.”

Throughout the week, sailors will participate in various community events including engaging with students across multiple high schools and volunteering for the city of Miami at Feeding South Florida, the Boys and Girls Club, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, and Clean This Beach – Miami. Residents will also have the opportunity to meet with sailors Friday Jan. 27 at the Frost Science Museum, and Saturday Jan. 28 at Miami Seaquarium.

Miami Navy Week is only one of 15 Navy Weeks to take place in 2023, which brings a variety of assets, equipment, and personnel to a single city for a weeklong series of engagements designed to bring America’s Navy closer to the people it protects. Each year, the program reaches more than 140 million people — about half the U.S. population.

Media organizations wishing to cover Miami Navy Week events should contact Lt. j.g. James Caliva at (210) 776-2831 or james.caliva.mil@us.navy.mil. For more information on the events in Miami, go to the Navy Outreach website at https://www.outreach.navy.mil/Navy-Weeks/Miami-2023/.

Source: United States Navy

The accreditation – a lengthy process involving the enrollment, self-study, assessment and eventual unannounced site visit by an NAEYC accreditation team – serves to reinforce the Corry Station CDC’s opportunities for children to socialize and learn in an appropriate environment, according to Linda Delaney, the NAS Pensacola Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Child and Youth Programs (CYP) and Corry Station CDC Director.

“When families are looking for quality care for their children the staff is proud to let them know that we are accredited through NAEYC,” Delaney said. “NAEYC is widely recognized as a sign of high-quality early childhood education, and less than ten percent of all childcare centers, preschools and kindergartens nationally achieve this recognition. Our staff feel deep pleasure and satisfaction in reaching that achievement.”

Delaney added that the Corry Station CDC has been working toward NAEYC accreditation for the last year, noting that the value placed on the accreditation is significant in the early education community.

“We want to ensure that each and every child, family and staff has a high-quality experience with the Corry Station CDC,” Delaney said. “Knowing that their children are in a developmentally sound environment can help the hundreds of service members here concentrate on their mission, and we’re proud to contribute to that.”

According to the NAEYC, accredited programs have met the organization’s ten standards for high-quality early childhood education, as well as demonstrate the capability of providing a safe and healthy environment for children, have teachers who are well-trained, have access to excellent teaching materials and working with an appropriately challenging and developmentally sound curriculum.

“It was no small feat to become accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC),” Delaney said. “Our team truly care about our children and feel honored that an organization such as NAEYC recognized the hard work that our devoted trainers and staff do every day to raise the quality of care that we provide.”
NAEYC standards include:
     – Promote positive relationships to encourage each child’s sense of individual worth.
     – Implement a curriculum that fosters all areas of child development
     – Use developmentally, culturally and linguistically appropriate/effective teaching approaches
     – Provide ongoing assessments of each child’s learning and development
     – Promote the nutrition and health of children and protect them from illness and injury
     – Employ and support a qualified, knowledgeable and professional teaching staff
     – Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with each child’s family
     – Establish relationships with and use community resources to support program goals
     – Provide a safe and healthy physical environment
     – Implement strong personnel, fiscal and program management policies

The Corry Station CDC is part of the NAS Pensacola MWR Child and Youth Programs.

For more than one hundred years, NAS Pensacola, referred to as the “Cradle of Naval Aviation,” has supported the operational and training missions of tenant commands, including Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC), Naval Aviation Schools Command (NASC), the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT), Marine Aviation Training Support Groups (MATSG) 21 and 23 and is the headquarters for Naval Education and Training Command (NETC).

Source: United States Navy

Royal Saudi Navy Rear Adm. Abdullah Al-Mutairi turned over command of Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 to UK Royal Navy Capt. James Byron. CTF 150 is one of four task forces under Combined Maritime Forces, the largest international naval partnership in the world, consisting of 34 member-nations.

CTF 150 conducts maritime security operations in the Gulf of Oman, North Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to help ensure freedom of navigation by disrupting and deterring destabilizing maritime activity.

“Six months ago, I was here on this same stage,” Al-Mutairi explained. “We said then, ‘Saudi Arabia is always ready.’ We came here ready, and this is our achievement.”

Under Al-Mutairi’s leadership, CTF 150 ships logged more than 10,000 hours on regional patrols and intercepted six shipments of illegal drugs that included opium, heroin, hashish and amphetamines. The combined estimated value of the seized drugs totaled more than $250 million.

Al-Mutairi’s headquarters staff included personnel from Bahrain, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.

CTF 150’s new commander, Byron, has completed multiple command tours, including in the Middle East region. He served as the staff operations officer and later deputy commander of the Bahrain-based United Kingdom Maritime Component Command until August 2020.

“I am delighted to be taking command of Combined Task Force 150 and look forward to following the huge successes achieved by Rear Adm. Al-Mutairi and his team from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the last six months,” Byron said. “My Royal Navy staff, supported by personnel from both the Royal Navy of New Zealand and the Italian Marina Militare, will work tirelessly to keep a watchful eye over the region.”

Combined Maritime Forces is headquartered in Bahrain with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet.