SECNAV Announces 2012 Safety Award Winners

By Mass Communication Specialist Alexandra Snyder, Defense Media Activity - Pentagon Bureau

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Nineteen commands and installations received the 2012 Department of the Navy (DoN) Safety Excellence Award for their safety programs at the U.S. Navy Memorial, July 11 in Washington.

The Under Secretary of the Navy Robert Work, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics Vice Adm. Philip Cullom, Deputy Commandant, Installations and Logistics Lt. Gen. Frank Panter  and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Safety Paul Hanley were on hand to congratulate the winners.

Recipients were awarded a citation, plaque and the Secretary of the Navy's (SECNAV) safety flag, which they are entitled to fly for a year.

 "We must change the way we approach safety because it makes us better warfighters. We must be able to safely operate on ships, aircraft, and ashore, because doing so will make us a more effective fighting force," said Work.

"Our people are our priority. Keeping our Sailors, Marines and civilians safe is of utmost importance because it ensures we are able to keep doing what the Navy and the Marine Corps have always done, which is to innovate and adapt," said Work.

The awards were accepted by representatives from the commands, including command leadership, safety officers and safety petty officers who held the title or collateral duty during the period cited.

USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) received the Large Deck Combatant Safety Excellence award for having no 'Class A, B or C' mishaps, zero 'Class A or B' operational injuries to personnel, zero 'Class A or B off-duty mishaps, including automobile and motorcycle mishaps and zero significant discrepancies in the annual Commander Naval Air Force Safety and Occupational Health Management Evaluation.

"Just about every aspect of the carrier is an inherently dangerous place to work," said Cmdr. Scott Springer, safety officer aboard the Reagan. "Without the proper policies and procedures in place, there would be no way to combat those dangers, and with so many evolutions going on at the same time, it's important to have full crew buy-in to those precautionary policies."

"You saved lives and property and prevented accidents. On behalf of the Secretary of the Navy, I thank you and offer congratulations for your accomplishments," Work said.

Established in 2002 by former SECNAV Gordon R. England, the Safety Excellence Awards are designed to promote safe practices throughout the Department of the Navy and personally recognize those commands that have integrated an awareness of safety in everyday operations, reducing loss in man-hours, material damage, among other factors that may decrease Navy assets.

Locklear: China Visit Represents Positive Step

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, July 11, 2012 – Recognizing that the United States and China have more areas of convergence than differences, the top U.S. officer in the Pacific said he’s more convinced after his recent visit there that the two countries can build on common ground as they strive to get their military-to-military relationship back on track.

Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III spent four days in China in late June, meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Liang Guanglie, Gen. Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the general staff, and other senior military leaders.

The visit was the first for a U.S. Pacific Command chief in four years, representing what Locklear said he hopes will be a new start in what he conceded has been an “on-again, off-again” relationship between the two militaries.

China abruptly severed ties in early 2010 over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, and the military-to-military relationship has slowly resumed since 2011.

As he took the helm at Pacom in April, Locklear said he would make restoring the relationship a top priority.

“Both nations realize that it’s not in the best interests of anyone in the world for the U.S. and China not to have a favorable relationship with each other, and that good military-to-military relations [are] critical to that,” he said.

Speaking to American Forces Press Service during a flight to Australia, Locklear called the visit to China an initial step in the right direction. “You can’t have a relationship with somebody you don’t talk to,” he said. “So you have to start with that. And then you have to have a frank dialogue. And I think the Chinese, like Americans, appreciate frank dialogue. So when you tell them how you see it, and they tell you how they see it, then at least you know where you are starting from.”

Locklear said he explained the renewed U.S. focus on Asia and the Pacific, a cornerstone of the new U.S. strategic guidance, and emphasized that it in no way intends to “contain” China.

“I outlined the Asia-Pacific rebalance so they could understand what we are doing and why we are doing it,” he said of his address at the China Academy of Military Science. “And I pointed out to them that this is about trying to provide a security environment with our allies and … our strategic partners and our emerging partners that is good for everyone.”

Locklear said he told the Chinese that they should have not only a role in that security environment, but “a productive role in it.”

China faces decisions about how it will enter into that security environment, he said. Meanwhile, the United States, along with its allies and partners, will have to determine how they engage with China in that environment.

“So there is a responsibility on both sides,” the admiral said. “And we have a couple of options – not just us, but our allies and partners. We can encourage China to make good decisions. Or we can make it difficult for them to make good decisions, and then we have to live with the outcome.”

While underscoring the importance of positive relations between the two countries, Locklear said he made clear during his visit that the lack of transparency about China’s military buildup and the motivation behind it troubles the United States and many other regional nations.

“What we are all concerned about is miscalculation,” the admiral said, calling military-to-military engagements a way to help in clarifying intentions and preventing conflict.

“Neither government, nor do I think any of our allies or our partners, want to have a conflict between China and the United States,” he said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Working through areas of disagreement will take time, he acknowledged, expressing hope that it can be done in a way that “prevents miscalculation and prevents unnecessary confrontation that is not good for anybody.”

Locklear said he and his Chinese hosts addressed several areas of contention, including China’s claims over the South China Sea. “That whole area is a small backyard, and it is owned by a lot of people, and they don’t all agree where the fence lines are,” he said. The United States has not taken sides in the territorial dispute there, but firmly believes that “whatever happens in that part of the world has to be resolved peacefully and without coercion,” he added.

What the United States takes issue with, he said, are China’s maritime claims that would hinder freedom of trade and movement through international waters.

“This is a place where we diverge, and [that] has caused difficulties,” Locklear said. “So we have to keep working with [China] on that and we have to keep working to ensure that as we disagree on that, it doesn’t lead to miscalculation that drives us in a direction we don’t want to go.”

His talks in China also extended to another area of contention: arms sales to Taiwan. The United States supports the “one-China policy,” he said, but also is committed to ensuring that Taiwan has a “minimum credible deterrence.”

Locklear expressed hope that the United States and China can look beyond these issues and focus on common interests as they forge a more positive path in their relationship.

“It is in all our best interests to figure out how to do this together,” he said. “As China emerges as a regional power and maybe eventually a global economic power, the question is how do we … help them do so in a positive way that promotes regional security and prosperity?”

Railways Industry Announces Job Opportunities for Vets

By Lisa Daniel

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines considering separating from the active-duty military this year may seek employment options in the railways industry, which today became the latest to pledge jobs to veterans.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the 5,000-job pledge in a conference call with reporters, making rail the latest industry to offer jobs as part of the Joining Forces campaign. He was joined by Ed Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, and Navy Capt. Brad Cooper, director of Joining Forces, which First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, created to help service members, veterans and their families.

Obama and Biden announced the hiring campaign last summer, with a goal of hiring 100,000 veterans or military spouses by 2013. Today, Cooper said, 1,600 companies have signed on to the Joining Forces challenge, hiring 90,000 veterans and spouses with pledges to hire 170,000 more in the coming years.

What is unique about today’s announcement, Cooper said, is that the 5,000 rail jobs are open now or in the very near future. They are listed on the association’s website, http://www.aar.org.

The jobs, offered by about 500 companies, range from operating locomotives to working in signaling and telecommunications. “It’s the whole spectrum of work,” Cooper said. Most of the jobs are in freight rail, but also with Amtrak, commuter rails and rail supply companies, he said.

The industry is hiring because it’s growing, Hamberger said, with some $23 billion in investments at the same time that nearly a quarter of the freight rail workforce will be eligible to retire by 2015.

“We want to reach out and let veterans know that we’re hiring,” he said.

The industry has actively recruited veterans since it sought out military academy graduates to build the first railroad system more than 200 years ago, Hamberger said.

“We’ve learned that the skills service members learn in the armed forces translate very well to our industry,” he said. “We, first and foremost, are focused on safety. You learn in the armed services that if you don’t follow the rules, bad things happen.

“We need teamwork, dependability, and high tech,” he added, noting that military experience builds those skills.

The rail industry made more than 20,000 new hires last year –which was more than 5,000 than it expected – and one in four are veterans, Hamberger said.

Improving the nation’s railways and hiring veterans are two of President Barack Obama’s priorities, LaHood said. “Today’s generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world,” he said. “The president has asked that we serve them as they have served us.”

About 15,000 veterans work for the Transportation Department, LaHood said, and 3,000 of those have disabilities, many from their military service. The department recently created a Web portal – http://www.dot.gov/veteranstransportationcareers – “that tells our returning warriors what jobs are available and how they can become certified,” he said.

“Helping our veterans find work and fulfilling our transportation needs is a win-win,” he said.

Face of Defense: Pilot’s Project Becomes Air Force Standard

By Air Force Airman 1st Class Charles V. Rivezzo

7th Bomb Wing

DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas – When Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz says every airman is an innovator, he’s talking about airmen like Air Force Capt. Kyle Alderman.

The young C-130 pilot’s pet project has become the Air Force standard.

Alderman consolidated multiple map displays -- including killbox keypads, satellite and drop zone imagery and probability ellipses -- into one heads-up digital map, giving C-130J Hercules aircrews one-look situational awareness and enhanced digital map capabilities.

"The J-model already had the capability to display map information; however, when we would operate in Afghanistan or in large-scale exercises, there was so much tactical information, we needed multiple maps and displays," Alderman said. "It was very task-saturating for pilots to sort through several items while still trying to operate the aircraft, especially at night or in hostile environments."

Alderman noticed the issue in early 2010 while attending C-130J school at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., and began researching and educating himself on the programming the aircraft would need to make his "digi-map" possible. He found some geospatial software and figured out that he could build his own map that the plane could read while incorporating the several displays into one consolidated moving map.

"Once I was able to create the format I needed, I got it on the plane, saw that it worked, proved it was possible and then tried to get it approved through the Air Force," he said.

Shortly after putting the finishing touches on his project, Alderman deployed and decided to take the new software with him.

"I showed my deployed commander that we can give our pilots the capability to display this information in a consolidated format," he said. "He loved it and pushed it up the chain of command, which exponentially increased the process."

After the new software was tested on aircraft and proven effective in January 2011, Alderman's innovative project was flown for the first time during combat operations that summer.

Alderman said he just wanted to contribute any way he could to the mission.

"If I can save one brain byte and let the pilots focus on something else during their mission because they could see the information quickly on the digital map, it was well worth the time spent trying to get it designed and approved," he said.

Navy Issues New Shore Energy Policy to Achieve Energy Security Goals

From Chief of Naval Operations Shore Readiness Division

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy issued a new energy policy that will drive energy consumption reduction at all Navy installations, transform the shore energy culture and seek new or existing technical solutions for reducing energy, officials announced July 10.

The Shore Energy Management Instruction signifies a complete revision from the previous version published in 1994.

The instruction codifies Navy's policy and strategy to ensure energy security as a strategic imperative, meet federal mandates and executive orders, and achieve Department of the Navy (DoN) shore energy goals.

 Since naval forces require constant support from shore installations, Navy is mitigating its vulnerabilities related to the electrical grid - such as outages from natural disasters and man-made events - by lowering consumption, integrating renewable energy sources and increasing control of energy supply and distribution. Energy reliability, resiliency and redundancy are essential components of the Navy's Critical Infrastructure Protection program.

"Energy security is critical because warfighters need assured access to reliable supplies of energy to meet operational needs afloat or ashore," said Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics, Vice Adm. Phil Cullom. "This instruction is just one example of how we are driving a spartan energy ethos in our shore operations. We are committed to cost-effectively achieving our energy goals by pursuing energy efficiency, transforming our energy culture, and integrating renewable energy technologies, where viable."

The revised instruction includes specific responsibilities and actions that commands and personnel ashore must take in implementing the Navy Shore Energy program. For example, each Navy installation will have a tailored energy consumption reduction goal based on its unique energy situation. By increasing energy efficiency, Navy can reduce operating costs, multiply the impact of current and future alternative energy sources and achieve DoN renewable energy targets.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus laid out five aggressive energy goals in October 2009 to improve energy security and efficiency afloat and ashore and increase our energy security.

To review the instruction, visit http://greenfleet.dodlive.mil/files/2012/07/OPNAVINST-4100.5E.pdf.