Educating the Public Key to Navy Mission at PSRW

By Darren Harrison, Naval District Washington Public Affairs

May 14, 2010 - WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Several Navy commands met with the public to educate them about Navy initiatives May 6-9, alongside representatives of more than 100 government agencies on the National Mall during recognition of Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW). The PSRW event, in its 25th year, was co-sponsored by Public Employees Roundtable (PER), a coalition of 22 organizations, and the Partnership of Public Service (PPS).

Chairman of the PER Kirke Harper said the celebration takes place in cities across the United States, military bases and U.S. schools overseas.

Harper said the private sector is the engine that drives the economy but the government provides the network of services that make it a civilized place.

"Public employees provide a tremendous number of services to the citizens of this country that most people don't think about every day," Harper said.

The Navy was represented at the PSRW National Mall event by the Office of Civilian Human Resources (OCHR), Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Seabees and U.S. Navy Environmental Programs. The commands were there to reach out and educate the general public on their role and initiatives.

"It's important to recognize public servants because they are America's unsung heroes, often doing incredible work without the glory and kudos they deserve," said Marketing Manager Sally Smith with PPS.

"It's important to recognize the Navy, and all of our military partners, because they are the ones protecting our nation and defending our freedom."

Among the estimated tens of thousands who toured the exhibits was retired Navy veteran Leslie Komaromi who said he enjoyed looking over the fuel cell vehicles on display at the ONR exhibit.

"I am former Navy and I was looking for a Navy presence when I saw there were military exhibits," Komaromi said. "Talking to the ONR representatives about the vehicles was very interesting and they seem extremely knowledgeable about their subject matter." NHHC featured a display on the command's 12 museums in addition to a selection of books written by their historians.

"One of the things I've found is that a lot of people don't know we exist and we think we have a lot of good resources for people," said Dennis Conrad, a historian with NHHC.

According to Conrad poll numbers show that the Navy has "low name recognition" among the services with the general public.

"[Participating in this event] is an opportunity to get some exposure. Our goal is to make the Navy and public aware of Naval history, a glorious history going back to the founding of our nation."

Conrad said that most of those stopping by their display had expressed an interest in visiting the commands 12 museums and their website. "This is an eye-opener for me because I have lived in the D.C. area for over 20 years and never knew the Navy museum was right here," said Curtis Shaw, a self-confessed history buff who stopped by the NHHC exhibit. "I'll definitely be paying a visit to the museum and checking out their website."

Henry Ford, a human resources specialist with OCHR said the event served a dual purpose both as a public affairs opportunity and a recruitment outreach. "A lot of people don't get inside the bases and they don't know how we serve. They don't know how the 200,000 plus civilian employees contribute to the readiness of the Navy," Ford said.

Chris Adams, director of Energy and Environmental Public Affairs, U.S. Navy Environmental Programs said their exhibit helped educate people on the Navy's environmental outreach efforts and the success stories in oil spill prevention, and working to protect marine mammals during sonar training operations.

Educating the public about their mission and responsibilities was also the mission of Equipment Operator Chief John Trujillo who participated in the event as a member of the Seabees. Trujillo said that a lot of the work the Seabees perform is behind-the-scenes and often out of the public eye.

"We do a lot of construction, but in the States a lot of that is done by local contractors, so a lot of our missions happen primarily overseas in contingency areas," Trujillo said.

Harper summed up the importance of Department of the Navy (DoN) participation in Public Service Recognition Week, noting that DoN is the largest of the armed services.

"The Navy provides worldwide support for the military services and America," Harper said. "So it wouldn't be a celebration of anything that had to do with public service if it didn't include the