2009 Almanac Highlights

Navy League

Outreach, Education Will Be Critical in the Year to Come

The Navy League concluded a challenging 2008 by looking ahead to what could be an even more difficult year for the organization and the sea services it supports. With a new administration taking over when President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated Jan. 20, and the nation facing an economy in turmoil, budgets are likely to become even tighter in the foreseeable future.

At the same time, as Navy League National President J. Michael McGrath noted in his December “President’s Message,” the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine forces are stretched to the breaking point as they try to fulfill their critical missions fighting the global war on terror, keeping the sea lanes open for commerce, and providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Because of this combination of factors, McGrath wrote, “Never has grassroots education and outreach been more critical.

“We have a few new faces coming to Washington, some of whom will take up key positions on defense committees and subcommittees in the House and Senate. It is our job to make sure these lawmakers know, first and foremost, who we are as an organization and why their support of the sea services is so important to this nation.”

The grassroots education and outreach effort can, indeed, have an impact. “The Grassroots Legislative Initiative is an effective channel through which Navy Leaguers can engage their members of Congress,” said Daniel B. Branch Jr., National Vice President for Legislative Affairs. “During the 110th Congress (2007-08), council and area grassroots designees reached more than 160 U. S. representatives and senators with standard presentations on force structure issues facing the sea services.” 

Branch noted that the key points-of-contact for interested members are the Region Vice Presidents for Legislative Affairs.

In another effort, the Honolulu Council joined nine retired Navy admirals, naval warfare experts and other civic organizations in filing an amicus brief Aug. 14 to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of lifting restrictions placed by the California-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and a federal district court on the Navy’s use of midfrequency active sonar during training exercises off the Southern California coast.

The plaintiffs, a coalition of environmental groups led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, had sued the Department of the Navy to force the service to cease active sonar training to prevent what it considered a danger to marine mammals.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Navy Nov. 12, agreeing with the service’s position that sonar use was necessary for realistic training and maintaining combat readiness and vacating the earlier court decisions.

During 2008, the Navy League continued to voice support on behalf of the Coast Guard’s modernization and infrastructure improvement efforts, the Marine Corps’ plan to build its force to 202,000 Marines and return to its expeditionary role, and the need to fund Navy’s shipbuilding requirements so it can reach its 313-ship fleet goal while providing essential work for the nation’s struggling shipbuilding sector.

The key to grassroots education and outreach, however, is people. A recurring theme during the Navy League’s 106th National Convention, held Oct. 28-31 at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo., was revitalizing membership. The issue has been one of McGrath’s top priorities since becoming president at the 2007 convention. Noting that the Navy League is a council-driven organization, he told convention attendees that it is up to them to recruit new — and retain current — members so as to better execute the organization’s mission.
The Greater Kansas City Council, led by President Robert Cook, welcomed about 325 registrants to the convention. A number of new officers were elected there to spots on the Navy League’s Steering Committee as the result of the retirements of about a half-dozen long-time officers.

The national vice presidents comprising the 2009 Steering Committee and their areas of responsibility are: Pamela K. Ammerman, Region, Area and Council Presidents’ Liaison; Daniel B. Branch Jr.; Legislative Affairs; Joseph S. Donnell III, Corporate Affairs and Development; Patricia Du Mont, Public Affairs and Public Education; Philip L. Dunmire, Youth Programs; Earl B. Hailston, Sea Services Liaison; Thomas E. Jaffa, Membership, Marketing and Information Technology; Richard H. Kennedy, Finance; Jackson C. Stevens, International Affairs; John Tozzi, Strategic Planning; National Judge Advocate James L. Chapman IV; National Treasurer Alan L. Kaplan; National Corporate Secretary Richard C. Macke; and National Advisory Council Chairman John A. Panneton.

In other convention business, Chattanooga, Tenn., was chosen as the site of the 2011 National Convention. Next year, Navy Leaguers will head to Corpus Christi, Texas, followed by Jacksonville, Fla., in 2010.

The Navy League also reinstated a second national meeting in 2008, after having voted at the 2006 National Convention to eliminate the annual Winter Meeting. The first spring Board of Directors Meeting was held May 22-24 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Va. The meeting drew more than 150 national directors, who took part in three days of meetings and training.

The following is a status report on the Navy League’s other principal activities, events and accomplishments during 2008:

Development and Navy League Foundation
The Navy League relies on the generosity of its members to finance annual operations, special programs and events in support of its mission. Through the leadership and patriotism of Navy League volunteers and industry sponsors, the Navy League succeeded in raising more than $1 million to fund national education and advocacy programs, the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps and activities for U.S. sea service personnel and their families around the world.

In 2008, the Navy League launched a new campaign to enlist members in its “Legacy Society,” which honors and recognizes the generosity and vision of those who have chosen to support the organization through estate, trusts or other deferred gifts. This year, the Navy League was honored to have been the beneficiary of several generous bequests, including a gift from the estate of James Souris, a World War II Navy aviation mechanic.

Interested Navy League supporters can explore estate-planning strategies via an interactive Web site at www.navyleague.org/donate.

In 2008, the Navy League Foundation awarded more than $50,000 in scholarships to 24 high school seniors who are dependents or descendants of sea service personnel. Among the $10,000 grants awarded were two scholarships endowed by the Navy League Greater Los Angeles Women’s Council and the United Armed Forces Association.
More information about scholarship eligibility requirements and the 2009 application form can be found at www.navyleague.org/scholarship.

Information on making a tax-deductible gift to the Navy League is available by contacting the Development Office by phone at (800) 356-5760 or by e-mail at development@navyleague.org.
The Navy League hosted its second National Tribute Dinner to the Sea Services Dec. 2. More that 350 distinguished guests, including corporate representatives from across all business sectors; leaders from the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs; members of Congress; Navy League citizen-volunteers; and, most importantly, Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen and women and their families, enjoyed an elegant reception and dinner inside the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington.

Former President George H.W. Bush served as Honorary Dinner Chairman and welcomed the guests via a previously recorded video. Keynote speaker H.C. “Barney” Barnum, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (Reserve Affairs) and Medal of Honor recipient, received a standing ovation for his passionate remarks on the extraordinary service, sacrifice and dedication of today’s Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen and women.

The Tribute Dinner celebrated senior military leaders who lead the nation’s men and women in uniform. The dinner also provided the Navy League an opportunity to salute its industry partners and donors for their generosity throughout the year. Without this support, the Navy League could not succeed in its mission to keep the public and elected officials informed about the importance of sea power to U.S. national security and economic prosperity, and to continue to be an unwavering source of support for sea service personnel and their families.

The highlight of the dinner was the presentation of grants to three programs that go above and beyond to assist the nation’s men and women in uniform and their families. These distinguished beneficiaries included: the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation, which trains and provides professional credentials for injured Marines and Sailors for jobs in the film and media arts industry, receiving $100,000; the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society’s Combat Casualty Assistance Program, which, in addition to outright grants, provides registered nurses for home visits to patients and families of Marine Corps and Navy personnel injured while deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Arabian Gulf, receiving $75,000; and the U.S. Coast Guard Foundation’s Fallen Heroes Scholarship Fund, which awards educational assistance to the spouses and children of U.S. Coast Guard personnel killed in the line of duty, receiving $75,000.
Each group presented videos explaining their respective mission, with the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation’s inaugural graduating class producing a stirring video documenting their journey through the program.

McGrath and Tribute Dinner Chairman Al J. Bernard, the evening’s master of ceremonies, presented the organizations’ representatives with checks. Bernard extended the Navy League’s thanks to the grant recipients “for their unparalleled support to the men and women of the sea services and their families who have sacrificed so much in service of the nation.”
Navy League corporate members and councils supported the event. The Boeing Co., General Dynamics Corp. and Manitowoc Marine Group generously underwrote the reception and dinner. Other supporting organizations included L-3 Communications; DRS; EDS, an HP company; Lockheed Martin Corp.; Northrop Grumman Corp.; BAE Systems; Honeywell; and the Navy League’s National Capital and Hampton Roads, Va., Councils.

Sea-Air-Space Exposition
After more than 40 years at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition will move to a new location in 2009. The largest maritime exposition in the world, it will be held May 4-6 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at the new National Harbor complex in Oxon Hill, Md., just outside of Washington.
For more than 40 years, the Navy League has hosted Sea-Air-Space, providing members of the sea services and DoD employees the chance to see first hand the technology they work on or support. Such direct dialogue also fosters better understanding of user requirements and provider issues. It is this opportunity for interaction that has made Sea-Air-Space the nation’s signature maritime event.

With its theme of “Global Maritime Security,” Sea-Air-Space 2008 featured more than 150 exhibits showcasing the latest military hardware and technologies, and presented dozens of seminars and briefings on such topical issues as globalization and its impact on maritime strategy, the continuing Navy shipbuilding turmoil, procurement and acquisition priorities, and greater collaboration among the U.S. sea services.

A record crowd of more than 10,300 attended the three-day event, held in late March. Sea-Air-Space 2008 also drew staff members of House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over defense affairs, as well as a number of military, industry and diplomatic officials from the United States and abroad.

Sea-Air-Space 2008 seminars drew top decision-makers from the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and U.S.-flag Merchant Marine. The “Sea Power & America’s Security” panel that kicked off the exposition included Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations; Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard; Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton; and then-assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Robert Magnus, who retired in July after 39 years of service.

Guest speakers during the Sea-Air-Space luncheons were Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter, Assistant Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England and U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

The 2008 Sea-Air-Space also featured panel discussions as well as program-specific “floor speakers” at the Navy League booth on the exhibit hall floor. Rear Adm. Alan B. “Brad” Hicks, program director, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD), Missile Defense Agency, along with officials from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, also offered a special presentation on the successful Feb. 20 Aegis BMD mission to destroy a crippled U.S. spy satellite in space over the Pacific Ocean. The satellite was destroyed with a Standard Missile-3 launched from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie.

More than 1,000 military and civilian guests enjoyed the March 31 black-tie reception and banquet. The Navy League presented its Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz Award to Michael W. Toner, executive vice president of General Dynamics’ Marine Systems, for his “outstanding contributions to the shipbuilding industry, the Navy and the nation.”

The 2008 exposition was hosted by the National Capital Council and chaired by Charlie McCullough. The revenue generated by Sea-Air-Space supports a multitude of Navy League programs, including public, community and congressional education efforts, and many award and recognition programs.

Corporate Affairs
The Navy League is very proud of its partnership with industry. Its corporate members are responsible for providing the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine with the tools, resources and supplies to win wars and keep the nation’s ports secure, protect our interests overseas and provide a safe environment for commerce to flourish.

Navy League corporate members comprise different cornerstones of industry, including multinational manufacturers, companies focusing on specialty technology, service providers and consultants. The corporate member program provides a way for these companies to demonstrate support of the U.S. sea services and opportunities to network with U.S. and allied defense industry leaders, senior decision-makers on Capitol Hill, and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

The Navy League offers three levels of industry participation. Foremost is the Corporate Gold Membership, followed by the Corporate Membership level and then Business Associate. As of December 2008, there were 20 Corporate Gold Members, 166 Corporate Members and 34 Business Associate members.

Throughout the year, corporate members take part in a variety of Navy League-hosted forums and special events with sea service leadership. Most prominent among these is the Sea-Air-Space Exposition. More than 60 percent of Navy League corporate members participate in Sea-Air-Space each year. It offers a unique opportunity for the defense community and industry to work together by exhibiting innovative goods and services and exchanging ideas for sea power solutions.

The Special Topic Breakfast Series is another benefit of membership. Featuring a distinguished speaker from senior military and civilian program offices, these “not-for-attribution” forums give industry the latest information and insights on sea service acquisition priorities and developments.

Members have the opportunity to get involved in special events around the country hosted by the Navy League, often in conjunction with local councils. These include receptions on Capitol Hill honoring members of Congress for their support of the sea services, ship commissionings and other unique programs.

Members also receive prominent visibility each month in Seapower. All corporate supporters are acknowledged on a special page in each issue. Profiles of corporate members are included in the Corporate Directory issue, published each June or July, and in the annual Almanac.
2008 Corporate Gold members included: Accenture, ATK, AT&T Government Solutions, BAE Systems, The Boeing Co., Booz Allen Hamilton, Curtiss-Wright, DRS Technologies Inc., DynCorp International, EDS Corp., the Embassy of Canada, Fincantieri Marines Systems North America, General Atomics, General Dynamics Corp., Honeywell, KBR, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin Corp., Maersk Line Ltd., Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co.

Legislative Affairs
In 2008, the Navy League Office of Legislative Affairs (NLOLA) undertook various initiatives in fulfilling a primary element of the organization’s mission — advancing congressional awareness of the sea services’ national security roles and the related mission requirements of uniformed men and women. One of two dimensions of NLOLA action is its Capitol Hill presence, overseen by the national vice president for Legislative Affairs and executed by the staff legislative director. The other dimension involves support for the ongoing nationwide Grassroots Legislative Initiative (GLI) being pursued by Navy League members designated by their respective councils and areas.

■ Key Players: In addition to the national vice president, the other key membership element is the Legislative Affairs Committee. As required by term-limiting bylaws, Daniel B. Branch Jr. was elected in November to succeed Randy Hollstein as national vice president. Subsequently, Jim Bras replaced Branch as committee chairman, while Tom Dwyer continued his role of advising the committee on strategy and process.

The committee is composed of the region vice presidents for Legislative Affairs, who are the vital link with Navy League councils and areas on grassroots legislative matters. Each region vice president is tasked with guiding council and area designees toward achieving the GLI’s target of direct constituent contact with 60 percent of all members of Congress in presenting a force-structure message. To this end, the region vice presidents report monthly to the national vice president and committee chairman on related progress.

Significant movement toward the target was made during 2008, as the presentation total crossed the halfway mark of 30 percent. The Lone Star, Rocky Mountain and South Atlantic regions continued their pace-setting performance at contact rates well above the 60-percent threshold, while several other regions made considerable strides in the same direction.
NLOLA also annually consults its Legislative Advisory Board on the salience of the legislative agenda and related national president’s letters to Congress on developments at critical stages of action on annual authorizing and appropriating legislation. Advisory board members draw on a significant depth of government, industry and service experience.

The resonance of the national president’s letters that evolve from this monitoring of the annual legislative process is enhanced by the parallel championing of the underlying messages by the region vice presidents, who are called upon to rally their respective councils to relay the same messages to their own House and Senate members in their dual roles of Navy League members and congressional constituents.

■ Nonpartisan Advocacy: In keeping with the Navy League’s 501(c)(3) status, NLOLA advocacy activities are neither partisan nor conducted to influence elections or politics. They are undertaken solely for the sake of encouraging the legislative branch’s awareness of the sea services’ current and future mission requirements. Somewhat distinct from the policy and issue focus of many peer organizations, NLOLA monitors and addresses legislation in terms of impact primarily on the operational capabilities and readiness of the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine.

■ Visibility in Washington: The most mission-relevant and tangible element of NLOLA’s presence on Capitol Hill is its support of programs and policy briefs for congressional staff. The presentations are coordinated by the respective service congressional liaison offices. NLOLA concurrently promotes the briefs via direct contact with the defense-focused legislative staff members in all 540 congressional member offices and key subcommittees. In 2008, NLOLA sponsored more than 25 such briefings. Despite the frequently fluid occurrence of congressional hearings and floor debate, the briefings typically draw 30-50 congressional staff members.
Other initiatives include coffee discussions and evening receptions hosted in tandem with the Navy-Marine Corps and Coast Guard Caucuses, which provide informal but close-quarter audiences for senior service leaders with members of Congress. Additionally, NLOLA hosted a reception in February recognizing Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., for their leadership of subcommittees with oversight of Coast Guard funding and policy, respectively.

Public Relations
The 2008 Sea-Air-Space Exposition was the main opportunity to generate media coverage for the Navy League, the sea services and defense industry partners. Approximately 100 print and broadcast media representatives attended the 2008 exposition. The media room credential and information areas were staffed by Navy League volunteers and communications department personnel during the three-day symposium.

The Office of Public Relations worked closely with exhibitors and the sea services to provide national and international journalists with information about maritime programs and initiatives. Navy League Public Relations staff prepared advisories, news releases and worked with several defense industry and exhibiting government agencies’ public relations representatives to coordinate media briefings on new programs, initiatives, equipment and technology. Several Sea-Air-Space exhibitors held news conferences and briefings in the media conference room.
The Public Relations staff teamed with SEAPOWER magazine to provide an online daily show report — SEAPOWER Expo Online — that provided daily coverage of the exposition’s featured guest speakers and panelists and exhibitor highlights. In addition to the online show coverage, copies of the presentations and speeches were posted on the exposition Web site at www.seaairspace.org and DVD copies of the same were made available to the public free of charge.

The Navy Leaguer, the Navy League’s national newsletter for members and councils, provides news about council activities around the world. Three issues were printed in 2008 and distributed with Seapower. An electronic online version complemented the newsletters’ hard copy editions. Unfortunately, due to budgetary constraints, The Navy Leaguer has been suspended for 2009. Information normally included in the newsletter will be posted on the Navy League Web site and included in the Council Digest section of Seapower.

The public relations efforts of the headquarters staff continued to be complemented by the efforts of Navy League councils. During 2008, Navy League Public Relations provided guidance and support to councils and volunteer leadership, spearheaded sea services’ Recruiters of the Year recognition efforts, continued to assist with the publicity efforts of the Naval Sea Cadet Corps and collaborated with the Legislative Affairs directorate on grassroots outreach efforts.
Innovation is the watch-word for Navy League public relations as the staff continues to improve, expand and develop the key marketing strategies and tools to enhance the national and international attention to the Navy League’s efforts in supporting the sea services.

Membership
Councils around the world continue to show their support for the sea services through more than 250 ship, submarine, squadron, base and unit adoptions; local scholarship programs; fund-raising for ship commissioning ceremonies; and various recognition programs for Coast Guardsman, Sailor and Marine of the Quarter and Year. In addition, many councils have adopted U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps and Navy League Cadet Corps divisions and squadrons, providing funds, material, time and adult leadership.

Improvements and updates continue to be made to the new National Database as well as to the Online Community, which provides the Navy League’s more than 250 councils access to their member rosters, mailing labels, council-unique newsletter pages and event calendars. It also provides council leadership with the ability to manage their recruiting and retention through statistics and individual new member and renewal information.

National Publications
As the Navy League’s official publication, SEAPOWER magazine continued to report on developments of interest to the sea services; highlight groundbreaking advances in programs, strategy, materiel and manpower; and examine issues that hold promise, or could be cause for concern, for the future. In addition, SEAPOWER ’s Almanac issue remains the world’s most widely used reference publication about the sea services.

SEAPOWER stayed at the forefront of coverage of the problem of international maritime piracy, which was the subject of a cover story in the magazine in October 2004, long before recent events along the East African coast prompted significant media attention. Matt Hilburn’s November feature, “Piracy on the Rise,” detailed the danger that pirates, especially in ever-more-lawless areas of the Gulf of Aden, pose to merchant shipping and the startling relative ease with which they have been able to operate. In recent months, pirates operating in the gulf with small boats — and usually armed with little more than machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades — have captured a cargo ship carrying Russian T-72 tanks, as well as an oil tanker, and have demanded millions for their return.

Richard R. Burgess’ February article “Cops on the Beat” highlighted maritime security patrols the U.S. Navy had begun conducting off the coast of Somalia. But without a concerted, international effort to combat piracy in the region, there is too much open ocean and too many merchant ships for these patrols to present an effective deterrent. In her November Editor’s Note, “Dangerous Waters,” Editor in Chief Amy L. Wittman emphasized the need for a cooperative approach by global partners to promote the rule of law on the high seas, which is at the heart of the U.S. Maritime Strategy that the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard issued in 2007.

Part and parcel with that are maritime security and Maritime Domain Awareness, which SEAPOWER highlighted in a number of reports during the year, including several articles by Canadian correspondent David Pugliese on the cooperative efforts of the U.S. and Canadian navies to improve data collection and distribution to bolster security and crisis-response efforts.
Other prominent sea service and maritime issues covered by SEAPOWER in 2008 included the Maritime Administration’s efforts to improve the U.S. marine transport system, Marine Corps planning for its post-Iraq future and the service’s desire to return to its amphibious roots, the Coast Guard looking at increasing its presence in the Arctic region, ballistic missile defense, improvements in trauma training for Navy corpsmen, naval shipbuilding and the industrial base, and U.S. defense spending.

SEAPOWER also showcased sea service and industry leaders in 2008, with in-depth features and interviews with top commanders and high-ranking officials.

The June Corporate Membership Directory issue included the question-and-answer feature, “For The Common Defense,” that offered insight from some of the nation’s top defense industry executives. They discussed the challenges their companies face as they try to balance the military’s need for game-changing technology and equipment with ever-tighter budgets and delivery schedules, as well as requirements that often change midcourse.

Participating in the question-and-answer feature were: Walter P. Havenstein, chief operating officer of BAE Systems plc, London, and president and chief executive officer (CEO) of BAE Systems Inc., Rockville, Md.; James F. Albaugh, executive vice president of Boeing Co., Chicago, and president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, St. Louis; Robert J. Stevens, chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md.; Ronald D. Sugar, chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp., Los Angeles; and Daniel L. Smith, a Raytheon Co. vice president and president of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems business unit, Tewksbury, Mass.

Other interview and feature subjects included: Sen. James H. Webb Jr., D-Va., the former Navy secretary who is now a member of the Senate Foreign Relations, Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs committees; U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Coast Guard and maritime transportation subcommittee; Gen. Robert Magnus, then-assistant commandant of the Marine Corps; Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command; Rear Adm. Keith A. Taylor, Coast Guard assistant commandant for resources and chief financial officer; and Owen Doherty, director, Maritime Administration Office of Security.

SEAPOWER also won another award for its design in 2008. The July issue’s “Trauma Training” cover won a “2008 American Graphic Design Award,” which is given by Graphic Design USA magazine. The cover was designed by Amy Billingham of Pensaré Design Ltd. in Washington from a photo of Navy corpsmen practicing with intravenous fluids to refresh their lifesaving skills taken by Lance Cpl. Ray Lewis, combat correspondent, Regimental Combat Team 5.

Regional Activities
The Navy League continued to expand the services available through the Regional Activities Department in 2008. Council, area and region leaders can now choose from 26 workshops (an increase of seven) and 21 guides (an increase of three) that provide guidance and proven ideas for improving their operations. The training workshops cover a broad spectrum of council operations, including management and governance, membership recruiting and retention, strategic planning, fund-raising, grant writing and electronic communications.

Workshops are available at no cost and can be scheduled through headquarters at a mutually agreeable time and place. All workshops and council guides are posted on the Navy League Web site under “Navy League Councils/Council Resources.”

Major initiatives supported by Regional Activities staff in 2008 included Operation Homefront, a program to support the families of deployed sea service personnel; the Navy League Hiring Center, a free job-matching service available to sea service members, their families and veterans; Old Ironsides Across the Nation, sponsored by the USS Constitution Museum; Navy Office of Community Outreach-sponsored Fleet Weeks; and the Navy Professional Reading Program.

Ongoing support of routine operations includes ship adoptions, ship commissioning ceremonies, new council formation and major event planning. A “Council Public Education Seminar Planning Guide,” which was issued in 2007, is available to assist field leaders in planning Public Education Seminars.

The monthly electronic “Council Alert” newsletter continues to provide field leaders with timely information on best practices and good ideas, new programs and workshops, national meeting notices, membership benefits and promotions, announcements of rebate mailing, insurance and various topics of interest to the field.

“Council Alerts” continue to be posted on the Navy League Web site under “Navy League Councils/Council Alerts.” The alerts are available to anyone with an e-mail address who wants to be included in the distribution.

Members of the team continued to attend council, area and regional meetings to support training workshops and improve communications between headquarters and the field.
The Navy League Web site serves as an excellent planning resource — an all-
purpose “first stop” for new council officers and others seeking information about the Navy League. Among the data included on the Web site under Navy League councils are lists of adopted ships, U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps (NSCC) and Navy League Cadet Corps (NLCC) units as well as other youth groups, ship commissioning events, council guides and training workshops, the “Navy League Operations Manual,” business card order forms, Navy League graphics, council change forms and the council information notebook.

Youth Programs
The two Navy League-sponsored youth programs — the NSCC and NLCC — continue to grow. More than 8,850 members are now enrolled in 372 NSCC and NLCC units in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Guam.

At the request of the Navy, the Navy League established the NSCC in 1958, and it was chartered by Congress in 1962 as a nonprofit youth-training organization. The NLCC is not covered by the federal charter.

All of the nation’s armed forces, including the reserve components, provide training and facilities support for both programs. Membership is open to boys and girls ages 11-13 for the NLCC and 13-17 for the NSCC.

Most cadet training is carried out at local Navy, Coast Guard or other military facilities and supervised by carefully selected volunteer officers and instructors, many of them active-duty or retired military personnel.

That training is supplemented with summer training, starting with a two-week Navy-approved NSCC recruit or one-week NLCC orientation program encompassing a broad range of basic military subjects. These include skills and specialties ranging from basic seamanship, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and swimming to health care and basic leadership training.
After attendance at recruit training, Sea Cadets are offered the opportunity to participate in almost all Navy skill and rate training, including aviation, homeland security, construction, medical, scuba diving, sailing, various engineering skills and advanced leadership training. At-sea training on Navy ships or Coast Guard cutters is available as well.

For the eighth year, federal funding was available for cadet training. Almost 1,975 Sea Cadets and more than 1,010 Navy League Cadets participated in recruit and orientation training at 20 regional military bases or stations. Another 2,675 received advanced training at more than 50 other bases and stations, where more than 125 different training opportunities/
courses were taught.

In addition, 61 U.S. cadets and their adult escorts participated in an international exchange program with Sea Cadet units from overseas. More than 795 adult officers participated in summer training as escorts for the cadets.

The federal funding was used almost exclusively to offset continued berthing and messing costs for all cadet summer training. Cadets do, however, pay approximately 18 percent of their own summer training costs. Since 1975, more than $337,000 has been provided to more than 223 cadets who received NSCC college scholarships.

A large number of cadets also have received appointments to one of the service academies or have won Navy ROTC scholarships. There are now well over 720 former Sea Cadets enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy or in the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program.

Through its councils, the Navy League also sponsors approximately 300 Navy and Marine Corps Junior ROTC programs and more than 50 ROTC programs at colleges and universities. The Navy League also has established a “Youth Medal,” to recognize outstanding NJROTC/Marine Corps JROTC cadets in units or schools sponsored by a Navy League council.
The Navy League supports the NJROTC’s two major national competitions: the NJROTC National Academics, Athletics & Drill Championships, held each year in Pensacola, Fla., and the NJROTC area managers’ evaluation of the overall performance of the units in their 11 respective areas, from which “Most Outstanding in Nation” and “Most Improved in Nation” units are chosen.

The Navy League provides all of the various awards (more than 100 in all) for both competitions, and Navy Leaguers are actively involved in making the presentations of the area manager evaluation awards.