McNeill Elected National President at Navy League's 2003 Convention

Sheila M. McNeill of Brunswick, Ga., has been elected to succeed Timothy O. Fanning as the Navy League's new national president, becoming the first woman to serve in that post in the organization's 101-year history. Formerly vice president for legislative affairs--and, before that, vice president for development and strategic planning--she was elected senior vice president at the League's Winter Meeting last year in Arlington, Va. A businesswoman and an NLUS life member, she also previously served at every grass-roots level of the Navy League: as a council president, state president, and region president. For three years she also was a senior member of DACOWITS, an influential advisory committee to the secretary of defense and other senior DOD and service officials. During her DACOWITS tour she visited 45 U.S. naval and military bases throughout the world, including overseas installations in the Azores, Bahrain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, England, Germany, Guam, Italy, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

McNeill discusses her proposals for the Navy League of the future in her first President's Message, on page 5 of this issue of Sea Power. Other highlights of the 2003 NLUS National Convention--18-22 June in Honolulu, Hawaii--will be covered in the August issue of Sea Power.

Anheuser-Busch Teams With Intrepid Museum To Establish Fallen Heroes Scholarship Fund

The Anheuser-Busch Company has donated $1 million to create the Intrepid/Anheuser-Busch Fallen Heroes Fund, which will provide scholarships to spouses and children of U.S. military and coalition personnel killed during the war in Iraq.

The scholarship program will be administered by the Intrepid Museum Foundation, which also administers the Intrepid Family Support Fund (which provides financial assistance for the families of U.S. naval/military personnel lost in the line of duty) and the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum--a U.S. armed forces memorial, educational, and charitable institution--in New York City.

The foundation also supports New York City's annual "Fleet Week" celebration. The New York Council of the Navy League also plays a key role in the Fleet Week celebration. Numerous council members and other Navy Leaguers work with and provide support for both the museum and the foundation, which since its founding in 1982 by philanthropist Zachary Fisher has provided more than $15 million to the families of those lost in the line of duty. The foundation's sister organization, the Fisher House Foundation, provides comfort homes at major U.S. military and VA medical centers to house the families of hospitalized U.S. naval/military personnel and veterans.

The latest donation continues Anheuser-Busch's 150-year history of support for the U.S. armed forces. The company has worked closely with the St. Louis Council (Mo.) of the Navy League to support both the council's annual Navy Day Ball and a series of "Cardinal Company" Days at Busch Stadium during which scores of young men and women have been officially recruited into the U.S. Navy.

The company also recently announced the establishment of Operation Salute--which provides free single-day admissions to Anheuser-Busch's Sea World, Busch Gardens, and Sesame Place parks to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces and their families as a way of thanking them "for their sacrifices in the war." Members of the U.S. and coalition armed services, active reservists, and National Guard personnel--and up to four direct dependents of any service member in any of those categories--are eligible to participate in Operation Salute, which concludes on 11 November, Veterans Day.

Patrick Stokes, Anheuser-Busch president and CEO, presented the $1 million donation to the foundation during Washington, D.C., ceremonies attended by, among other senior service leaders, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers. "Rebuilding lives after losing their loved ones takes courage and support from others," Stokes said. "Giving to these families enables us to express our deep gratitude for their service."

"We are proud to join with Anheuser-Busch in supporting these families," said Arnold Fisher, president of the foundation. "This donation will give them educational opportunities to help pave the way for their future."

Myers' wife, Mary Jo, speaking on behalf of "our military men and women who ... died while serving the nation," expressed heartfelt thanks to the Anheuser-Busch Company "for this special gift" and to the Intrepid Museum Foundation "for its continuing support of our military families."

Two Exciting Youth Programs: Sea Cadets and the Shipmate Program

By DAVID VERGUN
Associate Editor

For more than 100 years, the Navy League has believed that U.S. sea power, both naval and commercial, is essential not only to national defense but also to future U.S. economic prosperity.

By the mid-1950s, recognizing that America's young people are an even more important key to the future, the Navy League's senior leaders organized the Buddies program, which sponsored cruises aboard U.S. Navy ships for high- school-age boys who might be interested in pursuing a naval career. Another purpose of the Buddies program--which also was called the Shipmate Program--was to educate as many young people as possible about the sea services.

In 1958, many of the same leaders were instrumental in founding the Sea Cadet program, which has two age categories: the Naval Sea Cadet Corps (NSCC) for youngsters 14 to 17 years old, and the Navy League Cadet Corps (NLCC) for those ages 11 to 13. The U.S. Navy and the nation's other sea services have been strong supporters of all of these youth programs.

Local NSCC and NLCC units--sponsored by Navy League councils and other civic-minded organizations--provide training in seamanship and other nautical skills and, where possible, work with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard to give the Cadets some hands-on shipboard and field experience as well.

In 1962, the NSCC was granted a congressional charter. That charter distinguishes the NSCC from dozens of other youth programs. On 29 November 1974, the Sea Cadet Program was significantly expanded, thanks to an act of Congress (Public Law 93-504) that changed the wording of the NSCC charter from "boys" to "young people," thereby opening the program to girls.

Since the founding of the Sea Cadets, the NSCC and NLCC have trained thousands of young men and women annually, instilling in them personal core values and patriotism, teaching them the history and traditions of the sea services, developing their leadership skills, fostering self-reliance and confidence, and making them better citizens in general. The gradual expansion of the NSCC and NLCC programs has given so many young Americans a realistic taste of shipboard life that, although never formally disestablished, the Shipmates program has been totally eclipsed in recent years.

As expected, though, the Sea Cadet program has been extremely successful in making high-school-age youths much more aware of the career opportunities available in the U.S. sea services. The precise numbers are impossible to determine, but recent-year totals suggest that thousands of former NSCC and NLCC members have served on active duty in the U.S. armed services, hundreds have been commissioned, scores have received appointments to the U.S. Naval Academy (or one of the other U.S. service academies), and scores more have gone through college on NROTC or other scholarships.

Not surprisingly, the military--not only the sea services, but the Army and Air Force as well, and the nation's Guard and Reserve components--has continued to support the NSCC and NLCC programs. "Thanks to the assistance provided by all branches of the U.S. military, including the reserve components, and to the hard work and dedication of hundreds of highly motivated and superbly qualified adult leaders," said James R. Ward, NSCC national chairman (and, for the past two years, the Navy League's national vice president for youth programs), "NSCC training today is the most sophisticated youth-development program in the nation."

The NSCC program has continued to evolve and to expand its year-round and summer sea-service training opportunities. During the early days of the two programs, Cadets could go through recruit training at only four sites, and only a few Navy ships were available for follow-on shipboard training. Today, there are approximately 130 Sea Cadet training courses available at about 60 training sites throughout the United States, and six international exchange programs that give U.S. Sea Cadets the opportunity to travel overseas and foreign Sea Cadets the opportunity to visit the United States.

Also, for the third consecutive year, a federal grant of $1 million has been approved to support NSCC summer training. "Even with the grant," Ward said, "we expect all available financial resources to be exhausted by year's end. For that reason, we continue to look for as much council support as possible."

Starting with a few founding units and fewer than 100 Cadets, the NSCC has grown steadily. Today, the program supports approximately 328 units, with nearly 9,500 Cadets and 2,000 adult leaders enrolled--and is still growing. Many former Cadets now hold high rank in the U.S. armed forces or fill leadership roles in their civilian communities. "And that," Ward said, "demonstrates the most important reason to support the NSCC and NLCC programs. Both programs help the armed services, of course. But they also help build better citizens, those better citizens build better communities, and the end result is a better nation."

The printed article contains photos and information gathered from different years and different eras, but all reported in the July issues of Sea Power and Navy, during summer Sea Cadet training and Buddy Program cruises.

Navy Leaguers Play Key Role In Successful Ship Commissionings

By DAVID VERGUN
Production Editor

Since the founding of the U.S. Navy, the commissioning of a Navy ship has always been a significant event--for the Navy itself, for the ship's crew, and for the community. Originally, that "community" was almost always the port city in which the ship was built. As the Navy grew larger, though, a second city--the city in which the ship would be homeported--also became involved, and on many occasions played a part in the commissioning.

Throughout the post-WWII era, but particularly in recent years, the Navy has relied on the Navy League, on various corporate sponsors, and on civic-minded individuals (many of them members of the Navy League, of course) to provide much of the funding, coordination work, and publicity necessary for first-rate commissioning events, according to Joseph Hanna, the Navy's coordinator of ship commissionings.

Capt. Thomas Danaher, USN (Ret.), recalls that, when he needed help with the commissioning of his ship--the Supply-class fast combat support ship USS Rainier, which was commissioned on 21 January 1995--the Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula and Seattle Councils (Wash.) provided the assistance needed. "I found the Navy League to be well-connected and helpful," he told Sea Power. "Navy Leaguers were pivotal in assisting both with the commissioning events and with coordinating the commissioning with other community organizations."

Capt. George J. Smith Jr., USN (Ret.), former commanding officer of the Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian, commissioned on 16 December 1989, had a similar experience. Without the help provided by the Newport County Council (R.I.), he said, "a formal commissioning--with all of the festivities for the crew and sponsors--would not have been possible." He complimented the council volunteers for "doing it right" and noted that the Newport County Council also had sponsored a cruiser's commissioning the week before the Guardian was commissioned.

Navy League councils have assisted with dozens of other Navy and Coast Guard commissioning ceremonies within just the past few years. The planning for a ship's commissioning should begin at least one year before the event, according to Hanna. During that period, numerous meetings are held between members of the Commissioning Committee (many if not all of whom are members of the local Navy League council as well), the ship's prospective commanding officer, and representatives of the other private- and public-sector organizations involved in the commissioning--the mayor's office, for example, the shipbuilder, and any major Navy commands in the area. Those meetings help determine what assistance is needed for various events related to the commissioning and what organization or individual will be responsible for providing assistance for each event on the agenda.

Following are two examples, of many that could be cited, of the various ways in which Navy League councils assisted in the commissioning ceremonies for: (a) the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (commissioned in August 2002 in San Francisco, Calif.); and (b) the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (commissioned in June 2002 in Seattle, Wash.).

USS McCampbell

Publicity for the commissioning is important--both for fund-raising purposes and to educate the community about the important role seapower, both naval and commercial, plays in national security. Precommissioning publicity and media coverage of the McCampbell commissioning were coordinated by the ship's public affairs staff and by Frederick Gorell, a member of the San Francisco Council. Thanks to their combined efforts, local newspapers and magazines, as well as radio and TV stations in and around San Francisco, and some national media outlets, provided extensive coverage of the commissioning.

"Obtaining the support of well-known people is a benefit we realized from the beginning," Gorell said. "We were honored when the Apollo 13 commander, Capt. James Lovell [USN (Ret.)], and former Secretary of State George P. Shultz agreed to serve as honorary co-chairs of the Commissioning Committee."

Lovell also attended the commissioning, along with such other distinguished guests as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller) Dionel M. Aviles, the principal speaker; former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the ship's sponsor; and San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr.; joining them on the commissioning platform were two special guests: Cdr. David McCampbell, USN (Ret.), son of the late Capt. David McCampbell, for whom the ship is named, and Lt. Kevin Schaeffer, USN (Ret.).

Captain McCampbell, the Navy's "Ace of Aces" during World War II, received the Medal of Honor for his combat heroics during several aerial engagements against the Japanese in the Pacific. Schaeffer, who was severely burned during the 11 September 2001 attack on the Pentagon, helped to set the first watch on the McCampbell.

Was sponsoring the commissioning worth a year of hard work and planning? "Definitely," said Gorell. "Navy League members, and others, who came by the busloads from everywhere in the region ... to participate in the commissioning can say that they supported and witnessed something truly memorable and awesome."

Jeanne Sharkey, Deputy Chair of the Commissioning Committee--and president of the Navy League's Pacific Central Region--voiced the sentiments of other NLUS members throughout the region, and other participants in the commissioning who provided support: "The USS McCampbell and her crew got into our hearts," she said, "and that is where we will keep them."

USS Shoup

There were "so many organizations and individuals" participating in the Shoup commissioning that "it would be impossible to list them all," said former Seattle Council President, and Commissioning Co-Chair, Michele M. Sales.

One of her committee's biggest challenges was asking people for donations in communities other than those in which the Shoup was commissioned or homeported. "Fortunately, the Shoup was named after a Marine--a former commandant of the Marine Corps, and a true hero." Then-Col. David M. Shoup was awarded the Medal of Honor for his combat heroics during the WWII Marine Corps assault on Tarawa. "Marines were especially helpful" in the fundraising campaign, Sales said. "One Marine even signed more than 3,000 letters that were mailed to other Marines asking for their assistance. The 12th Marine Corps Recruiting District in Seattle also supported our efforts by contacting Marines and former Marines in the area."

Four Navy League councils in the state of Washington--Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula, Everett, Lake Washington, and Seattle--pooled their talents and resources to make the commissioning a success.

"The Navy League has a big heart," Hanna said. "They [Navy League members] have done a tremendous job for our Sailors and Marines in ports across the country. People in the civilian community also benefit because they get to see America's finest men and women--and they also get a glimpse of the latest and greatest: a newly commissioned Navy ship."

A "Council Guide for Ship Commissioning" is available from NLUS Headquarters for Navy League councils interested in obtaining additional information about sponsoring the commissioning of a Navy ship or Coast Guard cutter, said Director of Regional Activities William J. Waylett Jr. For information on ships and cutters scheduled for commissioning, log on to the Navy League website at http://www.navyleague.org/councils/ship_commissioning.php