[navy] Digest (12/08/2001 18:01) (#2001-58)
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(#2001-58) - Topics This Issue:
1) NavNews 96/01 (Dec. 5, 2001)
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Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2001 14:01:19 -0800
Subject: NavNews 96/01 (Dec. 5, 2001)
NAVAL MEDIA CENTER NavNews by e-mail:
NavNews (NNS) is the official newsletter of the U.S.
Navy, and is a product of the Naval Media Center, 2713
Mitscher Rd. SW, Anacostia Annex, D.C., 20373-5819. Reprints
should be credited to NNS.
For all other Navy information-related questions, call
the Navy News Desk at (703) 692-6704/5/6/7.
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Table of contents for NavNews 96/01 (Dec. 5, 2001)
NNS9601. Navy Looks to Industry For "Best of Best"
NNS9602. Is Redux Right for You?
NNS9603. Pentagon Attack Mementos Saved for Future Display
NNS9604. Vietnam Hero's Sacrifice Supports the Marine Corps of the 21st Century
NNS9605. U.S. Military Families in Singapore Provide Quilts for Terrorist Victims
NNS9606. This Week on Navy/Marine Corps News
NNS9607. This Week in Naval History
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NNS9601. Navy Looks to Industry for "Best of Best"
By Journalist 2nd Class J.D. Walter, Task Force EXCEL Public
Affairs
NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Task Force for Excellence through
Commitment to Education and Learning (EXCEL), met with
industry leaders in the culinary arts and information
technology to develop the kind of training opportunities and
tools that Sailors up until now could only dream about.
"Industry already has the systems in place," said Rear
Adm. Harry Ulrich, director of Task Force EXCEL. "We need to
go get their systems, adapt them as appropriate for the Navy
and begin testing them in the Fleet."
Task Force EXCEL met with representatives from Johnson
and Wales and the Culinary Institute of America, two of the
foremost culinary education providers in the country. The
goal is to develop and pilot a training system that covers
mess management specialists (MS) from the time they enter the
Navy until they retire.
"In the past we provided nearly all training up front,"
said George Horn, Task Force EXCEL program lead. "Now, we are
developing a system that provides continual training,
training that is meaningful professionally, throughout a
Sailor's career. Industry already has these systems in place,
and so we are tapping into their knowledge base."
The Navy is turning to industry for help in identifying
job proficiency standards, as well as insight on achieving
those proficiencies by providing the best possible training.
An aspect of the "Revolution in Training" is to revamp
the professional requirements currently being used for the 67
occupational fields, helping to create a more efficient and
effective training program for Sailors, thus increasing the
Navy's war-fighting capabilities.
Currently, teams are focusing their attention on the MS
and information systems technician (IT) ratings.
Using professional certifications already available, in
conjunction with industry-accepted training programs,
provides Sailors easily recognizable credentials -- making
them not only employed, but employable. In addition, these
credentials will provide a standardized assessment of an
individual's job performance proficiency.
"Traditionally, the Navy's certification process was pay-
grade related, but industry awards certification based solely
on job expertise," said Horn. "What industry can provide the
Navy is a history of developing job-related standards and a
means of certification that justify all levels of expertise."
One area that will certainly benefit from implementing
professional development continuums more in line with
industry will be the ability to recruit from within that
industry.
"The Navy wants to be able to compete with industry for
those people who have specific education, training and
certification goals," said Steve Belcher, Task Force EXCEL
program manager. "It will be successful if it can offer
similar training opportunities and the same certification
opportunities that industry does. This will benefit
recruiting and retention by making the Navy a competitive
employer."
For more on the "Revolution in Training," Task Force
EXCEL and the Sailor Continuum, please visit
http://www.excel.navy.mil.
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NNS9602. Is Redux Right for You?
By Chief Naval Personnel Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- If you're coming up on your 15-year
mark of creditable military service, you will receive a
message offering you a $30,000 bonus. Sounds great, right?
Maybe? Before you take that money, do your homework and see
if you can also live with the reduced retirement pay that is
part of that bonus package.
Known as the Career Status Bonus (CSB), the money is
offered as an incentive to get Sailors to stay for the next
five years; but it also reduces retirement pay. Receiving a
CSB is tied to reverting to the Redux retirement system,
which was introduced in the 1986 Military Retirement Reform
Act.
The $30,000 CSB can be used in many beneficial ways. It
might be what Sailors need to pay off credit card debt, pay
for college education, buy a home or any other essential
need.
Redux offers a reduced retirement pay. If you retire at
the 20-year mark, your pay drops by 10 percent, giving you
only 40 percent of your base pay.
For each year short of 30 years of active duty, your
monthly retirement check will be less than the "High-Three"
retirement pay, which starts at 50 percent of base pay for 20
years of service. If you plan on staying until the 30-year
mark you'll start out with 75 percent of your pay right away.
The smaller monthly amount may not seem like much now,
but you need to think about your overall retirement
portfolio.
Another important difference between the two plans
appears in any annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)
received.
Redux retirees receive a COLA that is one percent less
than those retiring under High-Three.
At age 62 there is a one-time adjustment or "catch up" so
the monthly retirement benefit matches that of their High-
Three counterparts. After age 62, Redux retirees will again
receive annual COLAs at one percent less than High-Three
retirees receive.
The $30,000 could be a good move for you, especially if
you decide to invest the money in the Uniformed Services
Thrift Savings Plan. However, when you look at the rates of
return for investing the CSB in various investment plans
compared with your overall retirement pay under High-Three
retirement, you may find that High-Three is the better deal.
Let's look at an example, which is available at
http://www.staynavy.navy.mil, under the section that compares
Redux and High-Three:
An E-7 at age 40 with 20 years of service would receive
High-Three retired pay through age 80 that totals over
$600,000 in constant year 2001 dollars. Redux retired pay
would total about $485,000, or 19 percent less.
The big question is how this compares to the $30,000
bonus at the 15th year? Would anyone give up $115,000 in
constant year 2001 dollars from future retired pay in
exchange for $30,000 today? Given the right conditions, they
might. It depends on what happens to the $30,000 over time
compared to the extra retirement pay of the High-Three system
over Redux.
The answer to how the $30,000 bonus compares to $115,000
spread over 40 years depends on many variables. Under certain
conditions, an invested CSB is worth more than the invested
extra retired pay until the retiree reaches age 54. After
that, the investment of the greater retired pay will be worth
more.
"In my case, the bonus and Redux wouldn't work unless I
planned on staying for 30 years," said Chief Engineering Aid
Joseph M. Salonga, stationed at Naval Air Facility Misawa,
Japan. "That way my monthly retired pay would be 75 percent
of my base pay.
"If you want to keep it to twenty years and pursue a
second career while you are relatively young, take the 50
percent retirement," Salonga added.
Before taking the CSB with Redux, look closely at the
reduced retirement pay that is part of the bonus that Gas
Turbine Systems Technician (electrical)(SW) 1st Class Charles
Wadlington chose.
"We looked long and hard at the full picture and decided
we could probably get a better return on the money with Redux
than by staying with the High-Three program," said
Wadlington, director of the Navy Support Facility Diego
Garcia Counseling and Assistance Center (CAAC). "My spouse
and I have had a long-established retirement plan. By staying
with the Redux it allows us to buff up our existing program."
If you already have another retirement system in place
and know what you plan on doing with your 20-year retirement
-- like Wadlington -- the Redux option could be beneficial.
However, think ahead, do the math and talk with the experts.
Ensure you have sufficient information to make the right
choice for yourself and your family.
Experts to talk with include Command Career Counselors,
Command Financial Specialists and Fleet and Family Service
Centers.
Detailed information is found at
http://www.staynavy.navy.mil under the Pay and Benefits
section, and at http://www.bupers.navy.mil under Career
Status Bonus information. Also see NAVADMIN 245/01 for
information on electing CSB/Redux by selecting the "Messages"
link at http://www.bupers.navy.mil.
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NNS9603. Pentagon Attack Mementos Saved for Future Display
By Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- On the last day of November, a wind-
swept, sullen sky tossed raindrops upon the wreaths, flowers,
photographs, handwritten letters and red, white and blue
flags gathered on a knoll overlooking the Pentagon.
As workmen repaired the building's west wall about a half
mile away, Army Col. David D. Phillips stood atop the hill
and eyed the mementos placed by people from around the world
to honor the 189 people killed at the Pentagon during the
Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
Phillips said the mementos at this site near Arlington
National Cemetery and others nearby would be packed and
transported to the Pentagon's remote delivery site to be
cataloged and stored.
"We're doing it so they aren't destroyed by the
elements," said Phillips, the Army Staff's director of
security. He noted the items would be displayed in a planned
permanent memorial.
The public began placing mementos near the Pentagon
immediately after the Sept. 11 attack, Phillips remarked.
Volunteers had kept the sites clean and helped to prevent
vandalism, he added.
"Out of nowhere, the people just did it," he said, noting
that people across the nation had dropped off items to
express their condolences. Phillips believes the mementos,
many of which were handwritten cards and letters closing with
the words, "Never Forget," symbolize American unity during a
time of crisis.
"We're all one -- not only the people that were in the
building, but also the people outside the building and across
the country," he explained.
Laura Landrum, a visitor from Fort Collins, Colo., came
to the memorial site near Arlington with her family en route
to the Smithsonian Institution.
"It is touching, actually, to see these sorts of
memorials here where people have brought a flag, or written
something -- it is kind of moving just to see it," she
remarked.
Supervisor Ronnie McLendon's team of DoD-contracted
movers arrived at the Arlington site to pack up the mementos
and load them into a moving van.
"We're going to take our time. This is a delicate
operation," said McLendon, who estimated it would take three
to four hours to pack the mementos.
Contract employee Michael Banks began filling a cardboard
box with American flags, flowers and a brown teddy bear.
"We all knew people" who worked at the Pentagon, Banks
remarked. "Hopefully, nothing like this will ever happen
again."
For this and other DoD news, go to
http://www.defenselink.mil.
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NNS9604. Vietnam Hero's Sacrifice Supports the Marine Corps
of the 21st Century
By Military Sealift Command Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Just 18 days past his 20th
birthday, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat made the
ultimate sacrifice in a Vietnamese jungle far away from his
rural Mississippi home. For his heroic actions, Wheat was
awarded the Medal of Honor and now a ship has been named in
his honor.
The heroism shown by that young Marine will live on in
USNS Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat (T-AK 3016) -- the Maritime
Prepositioning Force (Enhanced) ship under construction at
Bender Shipyard in Mobile, Ala. This ship will support
Marines like Wheat -- ordinary men defending America on
foreign soils -- by delivering the equipment and supplies
necessary for them to get the job done.
It was Aug. 11, 1967 -- two months after Wheat had been
promoted to lance corporal and assigned to lead a security
team whose responsibility it was to check for booby traps
before other personnel entered an area.
Wheat had cheated death two other times in the short span
of time since his tour began in March 1967. He still had
shrapnel imbedded in his right thigh courtesy of a July 30
encounter with a Viet Cong hand grenade. This day, he would
choose death to save his fellow Marines.
Wheat and two other Marines were just finishing
reconnoitering an area adjacent to the work area of the Navy
construction battalion the Marines were guarding, when he
triggered a well-concealed, bounding-type, antipersonnel
mine. To save his comrades from certain injury and possible
death, Wheat warned them to run, and then jumped onto the
mine, absorbing the impact into himself.
Marines like USNS Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat's namesake will
depend on the ship's forward-deployed presence to get the
equipment and supplies she carries to a potential hot spot
fast.
In the years since Vietnam, the nature of conflicts that
the United States faces has changed, making forward-deployed
assets critical to the military's success.
Frequently U.S. forces are facing rogue nations such as
Iraq during the Persian Gulf War or rogue non-state actors
like Osama bin Laden and the recent terrorist attacks on New
York and Washington.
In these situations, fast action is required to deter
these international bullies. Fast action cannot be completed
without forward-deployed equipment and supplies.
Upon delivery, Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat will join more
than 35 ships prepositioning military equipment and supplies
near potential hot spots around the world.
It is the last of three ships being added to the Maritime
Prepositioning Force, which prepositions Marine Corps
equipment and supplies. USNS 1st Lt. Harry L. Martin (T-AK
3015), delivered to MSC in April 2000, is prepositioned in
the Mediterranean Sea; USNS Gunnery Sgt. Fred W. Stockham (T-
AK 3017), delivered to MSC in March 2001, is prepositioned in
the Indian Ocean.
Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat is scheduled for delivery next
year and will be prepositioned in the Western Pacific Ocean
to strengthen the Maritime Prepositioning Force presence in
that region.
The ship will carry an expeditionary airfield, Navy
construction battalion equipment, a 500-bed Navy fleet
hospital and equipment displaced from the original Maritime
Prepositioning Ships by increasingly outsized cargoes. It
will also be configured with the ability to be off-loaded
offshore.
Lance Cpl. Roy M. Wheat will be capable of supporting a
full range of Marine Corps missions -- from low-intensity
humanitarian operations to major theater conflicts.
The MPF ships in the Western Pacific together carry
enough equipment and supplies to sustain a Marine Corps
air/ground task force of up to 17,000 Marines for up to 30
days of operations.
For more information about the Maritime Prepositioning
Force visit the Navy's Military Sealift Command on the Web at
http://www.msc.navy.mil, select the "prepositioning" link and
then select "prepositioning ships."
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NNS9605. U.S. Military Families in Singapore Provide Quilts
for Terrorist Victims
By Logistics Group, Western Pacific Public Affairs
SINGAPORE (NNS) -- Navy, Army and Air Force families
stationed in Singapore recently got together and made quilts
to be sent back to the United States in honor of the victims
of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Individual families in the U.S. military community at
Sembawang, in the northern part of the island, designed quilt
squares. The squares were then divided and sewn together,
resulting in five quilts.
One will go the Pentagon and one to the fire station in
New York, which lost most of its company. One is bound for
Cantor Fitzgerald, the business headquartered in the World
Trade Center that lost 700 employees. Another will go to the
New York Police Department.
The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society will receive the
fifth quilt. NMCRS provided valuable assistance to the
families affected by the attack on the Pentagon.
"When looking for comfort, some people wrap up in a
quilt, made by hand by someone -- a family member or special
friend -- who cares," said Chris Wagner, a Navy wife who
organized the project.
"The Sembawang military community partnered up to show
victims of the recent attacks in the states they care, even
though they're stationed on the other side of the world."
The Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation office in
Singapore helped underwrite some of the costs of the
supplies, including fabric and paints, needed to finish each
quilt.
In addition to the quilts, Sembawang families wrote
letters or signed cards to these groups. All correspondence
will be mailed along with the quilts. The packages will be
sent to the states during the holidays.
For more information Logistics Group Western Pacific, go
to http://www.clwp.navy.mil.
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NNS9606. This Week on Navy/Marine Corps News
By Naval Media Center Staff
Look for the following stories and more on next week's
Navy/Marine Corps News show:
- The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Battle Group receives
a special visitor;
- The USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) Amphibious Ready Group
and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit(Special Operations
Capable) set out in support of Operation Enduring Freedom;
- Garth Brooks throws a welcome home concert for USS
Enterprise (CVN 65) Sailors and their families;
- History professor and author Don Miller discusses the
parallels between the attack on Pearl Harbor and September
11th.
Compiled on tape #2001-50, the show is on its way to the
fleet now.
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NNS9607. This Week in Naval History:
- Dec. 10, 1941: Aircraft from USS Enterprise (CV 6) attack
and sink the Japanese submarine I-70 north of the Hawaiian
Islands. A participant in the attack on Pearl Harbor, I-70 is
the first Japanese combatant ship sunk during World War II.
- Dec. 11, 1954: The first supercarrier of 59,630 tons, USS
Forrestal (CVA 59), is launched at Newport News, Va.
- Dec. 12, 1862: The Union Navy ironclad Cairo is sunk by a
Confederate mine (or "torpedo," as mines were then known) in
the Yazoo River in Mississippi. She is the first of more than
40 Union vessels that will be destroyed or damaged by mines
during the Civil War.
- Dec. 13, 1969: Adm. Raymond A. Spruance, commander of U.S.
naval forces at the Battles of Midway and the Philippine Sea,
dies at his home in Pebble Beach, Calif., at the age of 83.
- Dec. 14, 1983: USS New Jersey (BB 62) fires 11 shells from
her 16-inch guns at hostile positions inland of Beirut,
Lebanon. These are the first 16-inch shells fired for effect
anywhere in the world since 1969.
- Dec. 15, 1843: Commodore Matthew C. Perry leads a landing
party of Sailors and Marines in an attack on the village of
Little Berebee on the Ivory Coast off the east coast of
Africa. The attack is to avenge the massacre of U.S. merchant
seaman there two years earlier. Perry and his men wound and
capture the king of Little Berebee, and then set fire to the
village.
- Dec. 16, 1907: President Theodore Roosevelt orders the
"Great White Fleet" to sail on a worldwide show-of-force to
demonstrate the Navy's global reach. The ships, 16
battleships assigned to the Atlantic Fleet in Hampton Roads,
were painted white except for gilded scrollwork on their
bows. They returned home Feb. 22, 1909.
Visit http://www.history.navy.mil for more information
about the Naval Historical Center and naval history.
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