Suicide Prevention Awareness Proclamation Signed

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Greg Johnson, Navy Region Southeast Public Affairs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (NNS) -- The commander of Navy Region Southeast (NRSE), signed a suicide prevention awareness proclamation on board Naval Air Station Jacksonville Sept. 5.

Rear Adm. John C. Scorby Jr. signed the proclamation which recognizes September as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and is intended to raise suicide awareness prevention throughout the Southeast Region.

"This proclamation brings to light an issue of paramount importance in our military today," Scorby said. Each year, we lose shipmates, co-workers and family members to suicide and these losses can be prevented. It is our collective responsibility to remain alert to the warning signs and to be prepared to take action with those in our lives who might be at risk. An actively engaged force, including everyone in the Navy family, is key to the successful prevention of suicide."

The proclamation emphasizes the Navy's "Act, Care, Treat" (ACT) training tool, which is designed to raise awareness of suicide warning signs and encourages people to intervene with those at risk. According to Dianne Parker, NRSE assistant suicide prevention outreach coordinator, knowing the warning signs of suicide and being proactive is particularly important when it comes to Department of Defense (DoD) personnel.

"Suicide is a major issue right now throughout the DoD," she said. "Our goal is to reduce the number of these tragedies through education and awareness campaigns, and we hope this proclamation will go a long way in those efforts."

Raising leadership awareness about the issue has been a key theme in DoD efforts to lower suicide statistics. In a May 10 memorandum to DoD personnel, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wrote, "Leaders throughout the chain of command must actively promote a constructive command climate that fosters cohesion and encourages individuals to reach out for help when needed."

According to Parker, suicide prevention efforts within the Southeast Region are in line with that statement. In September 2011, the region implemented an aggressive suicide prevention coordinator training program that utilizes Defense Connect Online. So far, it has resulted in more than 200 newly-qualified coordinators throughout the region and more than 1,000 worldwide.

"The program has been instrumental in raising awareness and getting the message out to leaders throughout the DoD. Leaders need to make Sailors understand that there is no shame in reaching out for help," she said.

Each year, hundreds of DoD personnel commit suicide and many of these cases could be prevented if friends and co-workers only knew what to look for and took action, Parker said.

"The bottom line is if you suspect that someone may be thinking about suicide, you need to act, care and treat," she said. "The key is to take action. The worst thing that you can possibly do is nothing."

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Visits Japan

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) Adam Thomas, Commander Naval Forces Japan Public Affairs

YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN)(Manpower and Reserve Affairs), Juan M. Garcia III, kicked off a tour to the region Japan U.S. military installations with a visit to Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) Aug. 27.

During his tour of the region, Garcia is scheduled to visit a total of five region Japan area installations including CFAY, Commander, Fleet Activities Sasebo, Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

"We're here visiting the region for three reasons," said Garcia. "First, in a time of enormous change in the Navy and Marine Corps which includes a new budget, a new national defense strategy and significant personnel policy changes, we need to address some possible misperceptions, give you the ground truth as we know it, and hopefully alleviate some anxiety."

Garcia held an all-hands call at CFAY where he highlighted the "21st Century Sailor and Marine", a new initiative rolled out by the Secretary of the Navy and senior leaders, which is designed to maximize the personal readiness of Sailors and Marines in order to sharpen the effectiveness of combat forces.

"We know that the new national defense strategy which includes a rebalance to the Pacific is a sea service strategy," said Garcia. "It's about the Navy and Marine Corps, and most importantly the great folks that are out here on the tip of the spear. We want to make certain that they have the tools needed to excel and that's what the 21st Century Sailor and Marine is all about."

During the all-hands call, Sailors and Marines had the opportunity to ask Garcia questions and address their concerns regarding recent personnel policies.

"I was impressed by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Garcia's responses to our questions. He spoke about a lot of good information regarding the new initiatives," said Master-at-Arms 1st Class Theodore Mitchell. "It makes Sailors feel good that he's taken the time to come and speak to us about our concerns. He didn't just talk around the subjects; he addressed them right at our level."

The position of ASN is to act on matters that affect manpower and personnel policy within the Department of the Navy. His duties include issues that affect active duty and Reserve Sailors, Marines, and Department of the Navy civilians.

Submarine Group 10, Local CSADD Chapter Sign Summer Safety Proclamation

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) James Kimber, Submarine Group 10 Public Affairs

KINGS BAY, Ga. (NNS) -- The commander of Submarine Group 10 and Kings Bay junior enlisted Sailors signed a 101 Critical Days of Summer Proclamation June 1.

The proclamation's signing took place during the annual Damage Control Olympics at Trident Training Facility.

Senior enlisted leaders here drafted the proclamation off of elements from already established safety and awareness programs, and incorporated them into one combined statement. Some of the strongest bullet points that most directly speak to the Kings Bay community were used from Navy programs the leadership team believed to have excellent messages.

"We wanted to put word out of our vision for summer safety in Kings Bay," said Master Chief Electronics Technician (SS) Mike McLauchlan, Trident Training Facility command master chief and the proclamation's writer. "[The senior leadership] cares about our Sailors and crew. We want everyone to have fun, but remain safe."

Commander, Submarine Group 10, Rear Adm. Joseph Tofalo, also took the time to recognize the local Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions (CSADD) chapter which stood up just a few months ago and reinforced all the Kings Bay commands' recent General Military Training sessions to increase DUI awareness and summer safety.

"CSADD is a grassroots effort from our junior Sailors," Tofalo said. "The initial focus was to eliminate DUIs, but the junior Sailors wanted to expand efforts to include raising awareness of destructive decisions. It's a program to provide positive mentorship to help shipmates, the Navy and the community."

CSADD originated at Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic as a peer influence social group. The popularity and message of the program spread and chapters were established at other commands. As a result, CSADD has been launched Navy-wide. This program provides an additional resource and communication tool that facilitates positive Sailor interaction and complements a commander's message directing proper conduct both on and off duty.

"The CSADD chapter at Trident Training Facility represents the future of our Submarine Force," said Command Master Chief (SS) Randy Huckaba, Submarine Group 10 command master chief. I can think of no better way to kick off the critical days of summer by having our highly motivated future leaders sit down with the Commander Submarine Group Ten and put their signatures on this year's Summer Safety Proclamation."

CSADD is designed to positively influence Sailors behavior through resources and tools that promote good decision-making processes, enabling leadership development and influence among peers at the junior level which, in turn, fosters both an attitude and atmosphere conducive to good order and discipline.

The goal of this program is to encourage positive social interaction and development of leadership and decision-making skills. Junior Sailors at each command will be provided the opportunity to create social networks, use a variety of communication tools and see visual messages to discourage destructive decisions within their peer group.

According to the Naval Safety Center website, seven Sailors and 15 Marines worldwide lost their lives in fiscal year 2010 while off duty, some of which could have been prevented. The goal of the proclamation is to prevent these incidents from ever happening so that no command, or more importantly no family, has to endure any loss of life, injury or incident that takes time away from either home or work.

Submarine Group 10 is commanded by Tofalo and is the Nation's preeminent provider of sea-based strategic deterrence, strike and unique Ohio-class guided missile submarine special operations capabilities.

Petty Officers See Advancement Improvement - Results Here

From Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- More than 29,000 Sailors are on their way to advancement to E4, E5 and E6 with the release of the Petty Officer list May 25.

Navy leaders opened advancement opportunity to higher levels this cycle to fill Fleet vacancies with Sailors possessing the skills and experience required.

"As part of the 21st Century Sailor and Marine initiative focus on readiness, our goal is to provide the Fleet with the right Sailor with the right skills and the right experience level to maximize Navy's readiness," said Rear Adm. Tony Kurta, director of Military Personnel Plans and Policy.

Sailors taking the E4 test saw their advancement opportunity increase from 30.97 percent to 45.83 percent while E5 advancement opportunity increased from 20.68 percent to 30.94 percent. Those taking the E6 test saw opportunity increase from 10.75 percent to 16.18 percent.

Links to the full advancement list are here:

Active Duty - http://www.navy.mil/docs/CY215_USN_05_23_12_NT.pdf.

Navy Full Time Support Sailors - http://www.navy.mil/docs/CY215_FTS_05_23_12_NT.pdf.

Canvaser Recruiters - http://www.navy.mil/docs/CY215_CVR_05_23_12_NT.pdf.

No ratings had zero back to back opportunity and only one rating (at only the E6 level) saw zero opportunity this cycle. However, officials point out, future advancement opportunity may not be as high as this cycle; but will move closer to historic advancement levels.

Navy's continued efforts to provide a balanced force are proving successful, officials said. As the force becomes more balanced, future advancement opportunity will become more stable offering more consistent promotion opportunity to Sailors over the long term.

Advancement results are posted on the Navy Personnel Command's Bupers On-Line Web page at www.npc.navy.mil.

SOY Winners Embody 21st Century Sailor and Marine Initiative

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alexandra Snyder, Defense Media Activity Pentagon Bureau

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The 2011 Sailors of the Year took time May 14 to discuss how the 21st Century Sailor and Marine initiative is designed to maximize Sailor and Marine personal readiness, maintain the resiliency of the force, and to hone the most combat effective force.

Vital pieces of that force are the four outstanding Sailors of the Year who came from around the fleet to Washington, D.C., to be meritoriously promoted to chief petty officers.

"The 21st Century Sailor [initiative] is several [new and] existing programs rolled into one package that surrounds health," said Navy Reserve Sailor of the Year (SOY) Master-at-Arms 1st Class (SCW/FMF) Doug Newman of Navy Reserve Naval Security Forces, Naval Base Kitsap, Wash. "Health of our organization; the health of the Sailor -- whether it be their safety, their physical fitness, ensuring that they know when they're going on deployment that their family is taken care of, or if they have to leave active service, they know there is a continuum option."

The initiative, announced by the Secretary of the Navy earlier this year, focuses on five tenets: readiness, safety, physical fitness, inclusion and continuum of service. The goal is to provide Sailors, Marines and families with the tools needed to face the challenges of the 21st century and to help members maintain and improve their skills.

"It's important that we train our Sailors to be successful their whole career, and an important part of that is mentorship," said Pacific Fleet SOY Seabee Steelworker 1st Class Louis Salazar, U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 40. "We have to have a strong foundation of mentorship for our people to excel."

Mentorship is designed to enable Sailors to make educated decisions, said Chief of Naval Operations Shore SOY Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 1st Class Maria Johnson of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 131. "Mentoring Sailors keeps the Navy strong because you're passing on experiences, you're passing on leadership," Johnson said.

To assist Sailors and Marines with understanding the dozens of programs and objectives included in the campaign, a new Web site, 21stcentury.navy.mil, was launched in April. It covers topics such as zero tolerance drug-use and sexual assault and suicide prevention, as well as family and personal preparedness.

"The Navy is being proactive and offering [educational resources] to families because without them we couldn't be Sailors," said U.S. Fleet Forces Command Sea SOY Ship's Servicemen 1st Class (SW/AW) Angela A. Zamora, USS Wasp (LHD 1). "Sailors cannot just deploy... their families need to be educated as well, so that when we're coming back from six, seven, eight months out of the country, it's an easy transition."

The Sailors of the Year and their families will spend the next few days visiting historical sites around D.C. and attending special events held in their honor before their advancement ceremony Thursday at the Navy Memorial.

The Sailor of the Year program was established in 1972 by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo Zumwalt and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Whittet to recognize an individual who best represented the ever-growing group of dedicated Sailors at each command and ultimately the Navy. When the program began, only the Atlantic and Pacific Fleet Sailors were recognized. Within ten years, the Sailor of the Year program was expanded to include the shore establishment and Navy Reserve Sailors.