Category: United States Navy

Source: United States Navy

Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Mefford, a cyber-warfighter, recently distinguished himself in the field of network security. Vice Adm. Ross Myers, commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet awarded Mefford the Joint Service Commendation Medal, Monday.

“Seldom can we point to one person making a difference; however, you are that example! You are a success story of how a single person can make a difference,” Myers said to Mefford at an informal presentation in front of his colleagues at Computer Network Operations.

Mefford earned this recognition for work that directly impacted national security on dozens of occasions, with results that were included in several Presidential and National Security Council briefs.

Most of the work in the information warfare community is highly classified and for that reason, it is rare to be publicly recognized or even noticed. As a Cryptologic Technician who specializes in networks, Mefford conducts computer network exploitation and offensive cyber operations.

Mefford accepted the award, while recognizing his colleagues. He says hitting the right keys was a result of the support his team provided him.

“It took a lot of people to get here. The work doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” said Mefford. “Although I was on the keyboard, the award is all of ours.”

Division Leading Chief Petty Officer Patrick Lucia said that Mefford receiving this award was not a stroke of luck, “He is the best I’ve seen. Mefford is one of the brightest people I know and is solely dedicated to the job.”

Mefford’s achievement is exemplary, but his path to this point is even more extraordinary. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, he joined the Navy in 2007. He was homeless at the time, causing him to drop out of high school after his first year, but he didn’t give up. He used the same drive as he demonstrated in earning his award to earn his GED diploma and pursue a naval career.

“The Navy has really cool jobs,” Mefford said. “I’m a computer person. When the [cryptologic technician (networking)] CTN rate was developing, I looked at the bibliography and study materials and saw I already owned a lot of the books in the bibs.”

Mefford hopes that not only will this set an example for his teammates and shipmates but inspire those who are facing challenges. He said that he rejected his status quo and refused to let his situation define him, “You can’t succeed without drive. I am never content. I always want to do something better than what I did the day before.”

Source: United States Navy

Marine Corps Forces Reserve (MARFORRES) is tasked with this mission. To facilitate this, it assigns active duty Marines to Reserve units as Inspector-Instructors (I-Is), whose job it is to maintain the daily operations of the unit until Reservists report for training. During training periods, the I-I cadre serves as advisors and subject matter experts for the unit.

Historically, however, I-Is were at a disadvantage when reporting to their units. Few of them had ever served in a Reserve unit and they faced a steep learning curve in acclimating to the unique needs and culture of the Reserves.

To help overcome this challenge, MARFORRES turned to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).

“They decided that they really needed to try and see if there’s a better system for presenting information and transferring knowledge that the I-Is require, so they reached out and asked ‘Can you help us? What are the different ways we can make this happen?’” recalled Dr. Andy Hernandez, associate professor in NPS’ Systems Engineering department.

In 2014, MARFORRES established a partnership with NPS to examine the existing I-I education system and to address identified shortcomings in the program. Hernandez, as principal investigator (PI), drew on the wealth of NPS subject matter experts and looked to applied systems engineering –  the interdisciplinary study of the design, integration and management of complex systems over their life cycle – to take this on. The team included faculty and students from systems engineering, center for executive education, the former CED3 now GEAC, and defense management.

“We began by asking ‘What is the problem? Let’s dissect the problem,’” he said. “We developed a clear problem summary and the functions of what the education system ought to do. We basically used a systems engineering approach to break down the bigger problem into smaller solvable problems.”

Through this process of functional decomposition, the NPS team and MARFORRES were able to break down in detail the activities that must occur for the overall system to achieve its main purpose. Subsequently, the team developed a set of requirements for designing the education system.

“How do you go about educating the I-Is when they’re scattered over 150 separate locations in the contiguous United States, as well as Puerto Rico?” Hernandez said. “That was the original problem. But the other problem was how then do you continue providing information and educating them with fresh information?

“You need to convey the most recent information,” he continued. “You need to be able to engage with them directly. You need to have continued information updates, and you have to figure out how to do this in a distributed fashion.”

To accomplish this, the NPS team devised a three-pronged approach: a formal orientation conference with educational lectures; distance learning (DL) with a reach-back portal; and, practical exercises for experiential or scenario-based learning.

Held on an annual basis, the I-I orientation conference introduces basic knowledge about the Reserves, and internal processes that active duty units do not have in particular. Additionally, it’s an opportunity to develop relationships among the I-I cadre as well as MARFORRES Headquarters staff.

“There’s a need for formal lectures, just like we do here at NPS,” Hernandez said. “Sometimes there’s just a need to have a face-to-face interaction. Specifically, the commanding general at the time said ‘One of the reasons we have an orientation conference is because we want I-Is and headquarters staff to meet one another. The I-I should meet some of the people they’re going to be working with at least once so when they call up headquarters, they know who they’re actually speaking with during their two- or three-year assignment.’”

The NPS team also developed an interactive, web-based learning portal and designed a series of educational modules to guide incoming I-Is through MARFORRES processes and policies. Created within the university’s Sakai learning management system, the DL program allowed participants to learn and retain information better than receiving a one-time deluge of PowerPoint slides.

“With the DL portion, now we could go ahead and talk to everybody ahead of time,” Hernandez said. “Once you identify who is coming to the command, you can provide this education right at the beginning of their duty time.”

The portal allows the incoming cadre to interact with the materiel at their own pace, he added. By the time they arrived at the orientation conference, they had a common knowledge base with the other new I-Is.

Finally, the development of scenario-based practical exercises provided hands-on application of material from the portal while creating a forum for current I-Is to share their experiences with challenging and sometime unique situations.  This new dimension in the education design addressed a need to inject experiential learning that has been proven to be a highly-effective approach for the I-I population, Hernandez noted.

The NPS team created a one-week workshop with MARFORRES Headquarters staff held during the annual I-I orientation conference. During the workshop, the team builds scenarios for specific situations for incoming I-Is to resolve, situations they may have to deal with when they’re in their Reserve component position. Gaming practical exercises in this manner is an excellent way to reinforce concepts and identify areas for improvement, Hernandez said.

“MARFORRES identifies four or five teams of facilitators, active-duty personnel who are in I-I billets,” he explained. “What I do then is I take those facilitators and I partner them up with a NPS faculty member as a mentor. Why do I do that? Because NPS faculty know how to engage, they know how to get out teaching points, they know how to construct the class such that they will get the learning objectives.”

Since its inception in 2014, Hernandez proudly reports the I-I program has continued to grow, adapt and evolve to meet MARFORRES’ needs. To date, the new I-I education system has helped educate approximately 1,200 I-Is. The response to this new approach has received a decidedly positive response according to exit surveys that the MARFORRES operations division collects in each orientation conference.

“I think it’s a great reflection on NPS that we have the latitude to do this,” Hernandez said. “An operational command identified a problem and we took it on. MARFORRES has different categories of problems, some technical, some social. Because we have a diverse set of scientists at NPS, it is possible to call on these experts to address them.”

“It speaks well of NPS that it has the diversity of talent to do that,” he added. “This has been a satisfying project for the entire team. We saw a real problem set in a real unit and we were able to provide a real answer. That’s the strength of NPS.”

Source: United States Navy

Reduced cycle times, increased efficiency and an emphasis on safety and quality earned the Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) V-22 team two awards presented during an April 20 ceremony.

During an event live-streamed from Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) headquarters at Patuxent River, Maryland, FRCE’s V-22 Aircraft Integrated Product Team (IPT) earned the 2022 NAVAIR Commander’s Award for Best Performing Fleet Readiness Center/Integrated Product Team and Andrew Rock, V-22 Branch Head, was named Most Collaborative IPT Lead. This year marked the 22nd annual observance of the awards, which recognize teams that improve speed and readiness within naval aviation.

“The outstanding service provided by our V-22 Aircraft IPT, with Andrew Rock at the helm, consistently helped maximize material availability to the Fleet,” said FRCE Commanding Officer Capt. James M. Belmont. “There are real-world implications to the support provided by the workforce at FRC East, as we saw with Marine Aircraft Group 26 (MAG-26). Our V-22 team’s dedicated service helped provide MAG-26 with mission-capable aircraft when the Marines were called upon to support Joint Task Force-Haiti in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission following a devastating earthquake in August 2021. The Fleet’s ability to execute critical missions is always aided by the quality and timely products delivered by FRC East.”

NAVAIR Deputy Commander Tom Rudowsky led the ceremony, presenting awards that reflect the NAVAIR values to teams and individuals focused on outcomes that matter to the fleet: speed of capability, delivery, affordability and availability.

“Our people are the driving force behind our success here at NAVAIR,” Rudowsky said. “We know our mission is not about us, it’s about how we support those who are on the front lines so they have the capability they need to successfully execute their mission and return home safely.”

The enterprise has faced significant challenges over the past year, but has found a way to continue delivering outcomes for the Fleet, he said. The V-22 Aircraft IPT at FRCE exemplified this with its exceptional performance.

In 2021, the V-22 team pushed to drive down cycle times for planned maintenance interval (PMI) events on V-22 aircraft, accelerating the return of aircraft to the Fleet by 31 percent. The team kicked off the year with a 297-day delivery in January, setting a new record for FRCE and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers (COMFRC). The team continued its unyielding drive to shorten cycle times throughout the year, hitting the 220-day mark in March and 164 days in November. The team also returned its first Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) V-22 PMI in an unprecedented 122 days.

In total, FRCE returned 21 V-22s to operating forces in fiscal year 2021, achieving early delivery on 15 of those aircraft and making a positive impact on aircrew proficiency and currency, and flight line readiness.

The V-22 Aircraft IPT achieved this notable reduction in cycle time through the implementation of several strategies that helped the team boost efficiency, Rock said. This includes the application of a “Core Team” concept, in which the same core group shepherds the aircraft through the entire process from induction to delivery. One work leader assumes responsibility for each aircraft, and with input and assistance from subject-matter experts, makes daily decisions on scheduling, parts and staffing. The work leader oversees a team of seven to nine mechanics who work the same aircraft for the duration, and monitors the progress of critical operations while making course corrections and elevating potential barriers to higher levels for action.

“With this concept, the team is mirroring the aerospace industry’s airframe and power plant license concept, which enables employees to perform a mix of trade skills and allows for flexibility in work assignments and increased employee utilization,” Rock explained. “It allows the team to be fully engaged, and instills a sense of ownership, commitment, inclusiveness and teamwork that results in increased efficiency.”

Implementation of the Naval Sustainment System (NSS) also helped improve efficiency on the V-22 line. With support from COMFRC, the team completed full implementation of Phase 1 of NSS, which focuses on fleet readiness center reform through an emphasis on people, parts and processes, and a commitment to providing artisans with the resources they need to get the job done. As part of the initiative, the V-22 Aircraft IPT established a dedicated production control center (PCC), through which all maintenance activities flow.

PCCs ensure efficient operations and production management by helping streamline the administrative functions on the line: issuing work orders, validating work order completions, keeping track of milestones and helping production run smoothly.

“The production control center makes information readily available and improves communications and collaboration,” Rock said. “The PCC manager coordinates with the work leaders to clearly identify the sequence of tasking, which helps facilitate a smooth transition from phase to phase and ensure on-time or early delivery and optimized employee utilization.”

That optimized employee utilization proved effective in driving down turnaround times and reducing costs. The V-22 Aircraft IPT was able to significantly increase direct labor hours on the line with only a minor increase in staffing, showing a 30% increase in direct labor hours with just a 15% increase in staffing. At the same time, the team absorbed an average increase in work hours per aircraft of 24% for CV-22 aircraft and decreased the cycle time for MV-22 aircraft by an average of 135 days. 

Other improvements in the V-22 Aircraft IPT’s performance include a 19% reduction in the cost of poor quality from fiscal year 2020 figures; a 14% reduction in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable injuries; and a finding of 100% compliance in and International Organization of Standardization Aerospace Standard 9110 audit. Aerospace Standard 9110 assesses the processes, procedures and efficiencies of an organization’s quality management system and serves as the benchmark for excellence in the aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul industry. Conformance to the AS9110 standard is voluntary, and represents an above-and-beyond commitment to quality.

In addition to recognizing the herculean efforts of the V-22 Aircraft IPT, Rudowsky honored Rock as the Most Collaborative IPT Lead for his exceptional leadership and innovative approach to bolstering V-22 readiness. The annual award honors an IPT lead who has achieved significant warfighting capability using innovative teaming strategies.

David Williams, director of FRCE’s Rotary Wing Division, said he nominated Rock for the recognition because Rock’s management and leadership of the IPT enabled the V-22 Production Line to support the Naval Aviation Enterprise in generating superior combat air power.

“Across the enterprise, V-22 cycle times for planned maintenance interval events were unpredictable or simply too long,” Williams said. “The goal for Mr. Rock, a Marine Corps veteran, was to reduce cycle time while ensuring the highest quality airframes, engines and components, maintaining a safe work environment, and delivering the absolute best value. The overall performance of the IPT certainly indicates these goals were met.”

In addition to piloting the “Core Team” maintenance concept, Rock has promoted by example a culture of “Safety First,” making safety of paramount importance to the team’s daily operations, and championed top-down management involvement in product quality assurance.

“With Mr. Rock’s leadership, the V-22 IPT demonstrated exceptional performance in supporting the V-22 Production Line in execution of their rework and planned maintenance interval events,” Williams said. “He is certainly deserving of this recognition, as is the IPT as a whole.”

Rock’s leadership embodied the “Get Real, Get Better” formula that leads to a winning culture, as did all of the NAVAIR Commander’s Award winners, Rudowsky said.

“Each of today’s award winners is being recognized for their accomplishments but, more importantly, they are being recognized for behaviors they and their teams have demonstrated – behaviors that were instrumental to their success,” he explained. The winners challenged assumptions, didn’t take no for an answer, elevated issues quickly, made hard decisions and owned the results, and listened with an open mind to ideas that weren’t their own.

“They practiced and abundance mindset, and figured out how they would, vice why they couldn’t,” Rudowsky continued. “They thought differently about the problem and redefined how they executed to achieve required outcomes. … Ultimately, we found a way to really think differently about how we do our business.”

FRCE is North Carolina’s largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers. 

Source: United States Navy

During the live-fire exercises, Zumwalt’s crew engaged live targets with a series of Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block 1 (ESSM) (RIM 162D) and the Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) as part of the stealth destroyer’s final air defense testing.

“Demonstrating the capability of our combat suite and the lethality of our systems is critical to furthering the Zumwalt class,” said Capt. Amy McInnis, Zumwalt’s commanding officer. “Zumwalt continues to make great strides and we are excited to continue to test her limits later this year.”

Zumwalt is named after Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., who served as the 19th Chief of Naval Operations, and is the lead ship of a class of next-generation multi-mission destroyers designed to strengthen naval power from the sea.

For more information on Zumwalt visit https://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg1000.

Source: United States Navy

“This award is a huge accomplishment. It means that we are making scholarly activity more feasible and accessible,” said U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Joanne Gbenjo, staff physician and faculty research coordinator for the residency program.

The USAFP analyzes all research submitted to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education from all Department of Defense residency training programs. This “Outstanding Achievement in Scholarly Activity Award” is given to the program with the most scholarly activity recorded in correlation to the number of residents for the past year. Scholarly activity is achieved through lectures, presentations, and quality and process improvement projects.

“Research gets our residents actively engaged and thinking through what they see presented to them,” explained U.S. Navy Captain Elizabeth Leonard, program director. “Residents learn critical thinking, instead of just using medication or a diagnostic tool.”

Scholarly activity from NMCCL residents culminates in the annual Research Symposium which was recently held on April 7. The symposium featured 28 poster and eight podium presentations. According to Leonard, size of the symposium participation has doubled since its establishment, but staff members are eager for continued growth.

“My role as the faculty research coordinator is to facilitate and encourage interdepartmental research and scholarly activity within the residency. I work closely with the hospital’s Clinical Investigations Department to provide access, support and resources for those wishing to pursue research,” said Gbenjo. “Our residents are very motivated to learn and are expanding their curiosity in medicine through research; I’m excited to continue to expand and grow the program in the coming years.

NMCCL’s Family Residency program, which was established in 2003, has celebrated a 100% pass rate on the American Academy of Family Physicians board certification exams of all graduating residents each year since 2012. The program currently has 31 residents and is expected to graduate its next class in June of this year.