Navy Secretary Speaks at Navy League Headquarters
By PETER ATKINSON, Deputy Editor
Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter paid a visit to Navy
League Headquarters in Arlington, Va., Aug. 10 to speak before
the National Capital Council.
More than 50 Navy Leaguers, headquarters staff and guests
were on hand for the Winter’s remarks, which were given
in the headquarters building’s main conference area during
the council’s regular monthly meeting. Winter was introduced
by National Capital Council President Al J. Bernard, who recently
was elected Navy League national vice president for Council
President’s Liaison and Council Activities.
During his speech, Winter touted the “incredible” job
the Navy-Marine Corps team is doing in Iraq and around the
world in support of the global war on terrorism.
The bulk of his remarks, which came just after the Navy had
completed the evacuation of U.S. citizens from war-torn Lebanon,
were focused on the “uncertain future” ahead for
the United States in the face of a wide spectrum of potential
threats, and the budgetary challenges of the effort to address
these threats.
And echoing remarks he made during his speech at the Navy
League’s 2006 Sea-Air-Space Exposition in April, Winter
maintained that a 313-ship Navy was the way to go, but said
the acquisition process would have to be better controlled
in order to get there.
Winter, a former defense industry engineer and executive,
most recently with Northrop Grumman, has spent much of his
first six months as Navy secretary traveling to meet with sea
service members and see them in action, and talk with service
support organizations and defense business leaders.
New Mexico Contest Gets Boost from the Golden Arches
The New Mexico Council’s USS New Mexico Commissioning
Committee is getting a unique publicity boost as it promotes
the ship’s crest design contest it is sponsoring on behalf
of the Virginia-class submarine.
Moroch, the Dallas-based company that manages the advertising
for fast-food giant McDonald’s, offered to advertise
the contest free of charge on restaurant trayliners, according
to Dick Brown, chairman of the New Mexico committee and president
of the Navy League’s Rocky Mountain Region. More than
260,000 of the trayliners, which feature the Navy League logo,
a description of the contest and information on how to submit
designs, some samples of other crests and a photo of a similar
submarine, have been distributed to 81 McDonalds around the
state.
The design contest got under way in March, and has been promoted
in the local media and in videos sent to about 100 public schools
in the Albuquerque area, Brown said. As of mid-August, 25 entries
had been received. But with school back in session, and the
McDonald’s campaign in high gear, he was expecting more.
All state residents were eligible to enter.
The deadline was Sept. 30. A winner will be selected by a
committee made up of crew members from the Pre-commissioning
Unit New Mexico, which is now being assembled at Newport News
Shipyard, Va.
New Mexico is expected to be christened in 2009. The New
Mexico State Legislature recently granted the New Mexico Council
$100,000 to put toward its commissioning celebration.
Two Georgia Schools Introduce
Navy League Cadet Corps Course
The Camden-Kings Bay Council has helped introduce a “Navy
League Cadet Corps Orientation” course at two Camden
County, Ga., middle schools. The orientation course, which
is a new connections (exploratory) course, is a first for any
school in Georgia, according to W. Jack Mead, vice president
for Youth Programs with the Camden-Kings Bay Council.
The course is being taught during four classes in the morning
at the St. Mary’s Middle School and two classes at the
Camden Middle School in the afternoon. Classes began Aug. 8.
The instructor is retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Joe
Arnold, an experienced middle school teacher.
Students will attend the course for nine weeks, after which
they will move to other connections courses and another group
of students will attend the orientation course. Nearly 150
students attended first-day classes, according to Mead.
The orientation course teaches students about the Navy League
Cadet Corps (NLCC), which is for boys and girls 11-14 years
of age. Specific areas of instruction include NLCC organization
and chain of command, uniforms, rates and ranks, military courtesy,
Navy traditions and heroes, core values and leadership development,
Mead said.
The students are also being taught skills such as prevention
of heat exhaustion and heat stroke, water safety, firefighting,
swimming, knot-tying and military formation training. The course
provides teamwork and personal relationship training.
Mead, together with committee members Walt Natzic, Jerry O’Donoghue,
Camden-Kings Bay Naval Sea Cadet Corps (NSCC) Division Commander
Lt. j.g. Tracy Sousa, NSCC, and Regional Sea Cadet Director
Lt. Cmdr. June Tillet, NSCC, worked for about two years to
develop the program, plan a curriculum and gain the necessary
approvals and financing from the county superintendent’s
office and state board of education.
Arnold has signed a one-year contract to teach the program.
Mead said the immediate goal for the program is better performance
in other classes by the students who attend the NLCC course
because of what they learn, and perhaps some new enrollees
in the Kings Bay NLCC/NSCC Division.
“If this program is as successful as I hope, my ultimate
goal is to convince the local superintendent’s office
to fund and support the formation of a NLCC training ship unit
in each of our two middle schools,” he said.
Blue Angels Highlight Navy
League Events
Members of the Blue Angels U.S. Naval Flight Demonstration
Squadron were the main attraction at several midsummer Navy
League events in the Midwest.
On July 28, 250 members and guests of the Greater Cincinnati
Council and the Cincinnati Area U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association
attended a special Blue Angels practice session, according
to Robert W. Saul, National Director Emeritus and vice president,
special programs, with the Greater Cincinnati Council. The
practice session was a full dress rehearsal in preparation
for the Blue Angels’ feature performances at the Vectren
Dayton Air Show, July 29-30.
Also attending the event were children and families participating
in the “Adventures for Wish Kids” program, a not-for-profit
organization that provides support for children and adolescents
with life-threatening illnesses and their families. The Navy
League and Naval Academy Alumni Association raised $1,500 for
the program at the event, according to Saul.
In August, Blue Angels team members were on hand at the Chicago
Council’s Youth Breakfast, which was co-sponsored by
the Union League Club of Chicago. The Blue Angels crew presented
a short film about the squadron and met and spoke with attendees,
young and old. The Blue Angels were in the Windy City to perform
at the 47th Annual Chicago Air and Water Show Aug. 19-20.
Short Bursts
- Sherina Hathiramani, a student at the University of St.
Martin, received a Navy League scholarship to help cover
the costs of her final year of college at the Mount Saint
Vincent University in Halifax, Canada.
Hathiramani has earned an Associate’s Degree in computer information
systems and business management at the University of St. Martin and gained
professional experience working part-time as the coordinator for The Caribbean
Institute for Social Education Foundation in conjunction with the Windward
Islands Federation of Labour. She plans to graduate next May with a Bachelor’s
Degree in marketing from Mount Saint Vincent.
Susan Heller, treasurer of the St. Maarten/St. Martin Council, presented
the scholarship check to Hathiramani at a brief celebration also attended
by Jackson C. Stevens, Navy League national vice president, and Asha Stevens-Mohabier,
council board member and Scholarship Committee member.
- A Sea Cadet unit is getting up and running in one of the
more remote areas of the country. The Montana Mountain Battalion,
which is sponsored by the Helena Greater-Montana Council,
is commanded by Warrant Officer Michael Hall, NSCC.
- Cadets from the Montana Mountain Battalion, which formed
in March, participated in a survival training weekend at
Black Sandy Campground on Hauser Lake in mid-July, which
earned a front-page story in the Helena Independent Record.
Cadets also were expected to attend advanced training in
Boise, Idaho, in August.
- The Battalion holds its monthly drills at Fort Harrison,
outside of Helena.
The Utah Councils of the Navy League and the city of West
Jordan, Utah, were joined by Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and
Bob Bennett, military dignitaries, local police and fire
officials and area residents July 4 for the dedication
of the West Jordan Military Service Monument.
- Hatch and Bennett were keynote speakers at the event.
Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, adjutant general of the Utah National
Guard, and retired Rear Adm. Jeremy Taylor, a former attack
pilot and carrier commander, also spoke at the ceremony,
which featured seven color guards, a 50-gun salute, jet
flyovers and National Guard helicopters.
The West Jordan Military Service Monument honors those men and women
who have served, who are serving, and who will serve in our Armed Forces,
according to Michael Prater, president of the Salt Lake City Council.
Send items for “Council Digest” to:
Peter Atkinson,
Deputy Editor
Seapower/Navy League News
2300 Wilson Blvd., Suite 200
Arlington, VA 22201-3308
E-mail: patkinson@navyleague.org
