Naval Reserve Association

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Junior OfficerColumnGet InvolvedLT Steven Michaels, USNNational VP for Junior OfficersThe Naval Reserve AssociationSpring Conference is uponus this month, taking placeat the Sheraton Crystal CityHotel in Arlington, VA. Wekick off with the NationalExecutive Committee (EXCOM) meetingon Thursday, 26 April, through the awardsluncheon and general session on Saturday,28 April.The Assistant Secretary of the Navy,Manpower and Reserve Affairs, theHonorable William A. Navas, Jr., is oneof our guest speakers. As always, there’sa full schedule with a great balance ofwork and fun. For the spouses, theAnchors group does an outstanding jobproviding opportunities to explore thearea attractions. These are exciting timesfor the Navy Reserve; so whether youhave attended a NRA conference beforeor not, make it a point to attend this one.You never know what you’re going tolearn or whom you might meet!Like many of you, I’m also a lifemember of several other military andcivilian organizations. Serendipity playeda part in my being seated next to theCommander of REDCOM Midwest at afunction sponsored by one of theseorganizations a few years ago. I wasprivileged to shake the hand of Apollo-13Astronaut and Navy Captain (Ret) JimLovell at another such event. While Idon’t expect to meet celebrities everytime I attend one of these functions, hadI chosen not to make the time to attend,these contacts would never have happened.14 NRA NEWS/APRIL 2007THE TIMES THEY AREA-CHANGIN’In case you hadn’t noticed, there aresome big changes going on within theNRA over the past year. Most importantof these is the vote and confirmation atthe conference last fall in Portland togive enlisted members full voting memberstatus. This change is, as many of usbelieve, a step in the right direction forthe future of this Association. There aremany implications, and these are funthings to discuss at the conference thismonth. For instance, are we going to createa National Vice President of EnlistedMembers. Since last fall, I have attemptedto incorporate issues and helpful tipsfor enlisted members in this monthlycolumn as a way to bridge the gap.Already, PNCM Dean R. Johnson,USN (Ret), has joined us as a recordreviewer for our enlisted members. Hehas served on many selection boardsand will be a great addition to ourcapabilities. Everyone should advertisethis new service to all current and potentialenlisted members.Have you noticed that our vision haschanged? The NRA is: The PremierProfessional Organization for NavyReservists, Committed to Supporting aStrong Navy and National Defense,While Providing Outstanding Service toNavy Families. We need you to get thismessage out there. We are now the onlyprofessional organization whose solepurpose is to support U.S. Navy, activeand reserve, officer and enlisted membersand their families.WHO KNEW?Unexpected surprises are what makelife interesting and, for the most part,enjoyable. In the nearly two years sinceI decided to take a more active role inthe NRA, I have had my eyes opened inmany ways. To be honest, I was nervousabout meeting face-to-face and servingalongside the senior and flag officerswhose faces and names I’d only knownin the NRA News magazine that I readfor so many years. Sure, I knew thecaliber of these folks as well as theircommitment to our military. But, inprivate conversations with some ofthem, I have since learned that there is alot more behind the uniforms.For instance, did you know that one ofour National Vice Presidents spent timein the 1970’s as a park ranger in theAdirondack Mountains of upstate NewYork and has recently published twohilariously funny books about hisexploits? How about the DistrictPresident who is an accomplishedclassical pianist? This is the kind ofdepth and breadth of naval officer orsenior enlisted leader that makes it easyfor me as a relative “youngster” to lookup to and try to emulate them.So, whenever you look at your inboxand wonder how you are going toaccomplish all that needs to be done,just remember that there’s a world ofwisdom available to you as a memberof NRA. From the folks at HQ inAlexandria, VA, to the National Officers,to the outstanding officers who put onthose Professional Development seminars,and right on down to your Chaptermembers, you will find interesting,multifaceted and committed shipmateswho are more than willing to help you.Most of them have gone far beyond thecall of duty by continuing to serve thisAssociation and the Navy long aftertheir military retirement. For them,getting involved means staying involved;and the rest of us are the better for it.The NRA Spring Conference is anexcellent way for you to get involvedand make a difference. With your CO’spermission, put in NROWS no-cost IDTorders for drill credit. Plan to attend theconference, and you will get back morethan you put into it.LT Michaels is open to ideas forfuture articles so e-mail him at:ensignsting@yahoo.comHe’s still waiting for his ship tocome in.
Commentary:The Seascape As It Appears To MePart 2By RADM Casey W. Coane, USN (Ret)In April of last year, I offered you my sense of the seascape, in part because I thought it worthwhile to framesome response to input from our membership and in part to give the membership a sense of what their new ExecutiveDirector thought about the events that surround us. This month, I offer an update on where I think things are today. Itis presented in two parts, a view of the Navy and a view of the Navy Reserve.Your Navy is facing some tremendous challenges!Before I go any further, let me go on record assaying that as an officer who wears both aviatorwings and a surface warfare pin I certainly careabout our Navy. I believe that it is vital to ournational security, and I truly have come tolove our Service and the fantastic men and women who bring itto life. The excitement of standing out to sea on a U.S. man-ofwarwill stay with me until they plant me somewhere. I couldgo on but that would be a different article.Now, let’s step way back and look at the big picture. What dowe, the nation, need to fight and win this war that we are in?Perhaps most of all, we need America to wake up and realize thatwe are in a war. In the aftermath of the “new strategy” and the23 January State of the Union address, the President still hasn’tconvinced us because we don’t want to know the truth. For all ourbluster and bravado, we are essentially a peaceful nation. We arean affluent nation, and we want to enjoy that national wealth. Weare not in the habit of looking for causes which lead us to war.And, it certainly seems that although the events of 9-11 constitutedacts of “war,” America has failed to come to grips with that in thesame way that Pearl Harbor took us to war. Perhaps part of that isthat Presidents Clinton and Bush regularly refer to achieving“justice.” Justice is for the court system. This is WAR! It is anextension of our political will; and it’s about vengeance, winningor losing, not justice. There is a lot more that could be exploredhere but that too would be a different article. Reread Clausewitz.What we need to win this war is stability and security block byblock, city by city, country by country, across a large part of theMiddle East in order to create some reasonable economic activitywhich just might cause the 20-35 year olds to prefer a job and afuture over suicide. We need forces tailored to create that stabilityand build that infrastructure. General Abazaid, the outgoingCommander U.S. Central Command, is moving in that direction.General Abazaid (an Arabic speaker), for sure, sees nation buildingas the key, not kinetic weaponry; and he has said so repeatedly.(Take a look at what he is doing in the Horn of Africa. See ourThe Navyfeature in last month’s magazine.) 1 We need huge increases inintelligence capability to infiltrate and to monitor electronically.We need huge increases in highly skilled special operationsforces to ferret out and destroy the cells of terror. We need hugeincreases in civil affairs trained units. When the Services aretrying to hire New York taxi drivers to be interpreters, what doesthat tell you about our need? The military that we need is not themilitary that we started this war with in the fall of 2001; and it isnot the one that we have today, although we are making progress.In hindsight, it is fairly easy to see that we began the war with amilitary extremely capable of large scale combat operations andwinning a conventional war but woefully inadequate for winninga peace.The President says that this is thedefining struggle of this century –the free world versus the twistedJihadist vision of a new Caliphate.Where in all of this do you see a needfor a large standing Navy? Ok, weneed to retain the capability to projectpower in the manner that we did inAfghanistan. We need to retain thecapability to put Marines ashore in aOsama bin Ladenplace of our choosing. We know thatwe must retain the capability toensure control of our sea lanes of commerce. How much Navydoes this require in the near future? How many carrier battlegroups does it take to project the amount of power required totake down another Middle East country? How many nuclearattack submarines to defeat the open ocean threat or how manyfor littoral ISR? How many Arleigh Burkes and Ticonderoga classcruisers to defend the battle groups against what air threat?I know that many of you could make good arguments for thevarious naval platforms that we are talking about here. I like tothink that I could as well. We MUST retain a blue water Navycapability. The big question, though, is at what price? TheCNO’s 313 ship Navy includes 13 Zumwalt class DD1000 and 52NRA NEWS/APRIL 2007 15
Page 4: From the EditorWe were all saddened
Page 7 and 8: In Memory of CAPT John C. Rice, Jr.
Page 12 and 13: ProfessionalDevelopmentHow Long Is
Page 16 and 17: S E A S C A P ELittoral Combat Ship
Page 18 and 19: S E A S C A P EThe seascape surroun
Page 20 and 21: S E A S C A P Eshore duty, it comes
Page 22 and 23: Active DutyProgramsNavy ReserveFull
Page 24 and 25: Retirees’ CornerLCDR Joseph Goldi
Page 26 and 27: NRASpring ConferenceAGENDAThursday,
Page 28 and 29: NAVAL RESERVE ASSOCIATIONDISTRICT P
Page 30 and 31: Reservists in ActionBurke Chapter M
Page 32: YOU LIVE AND SERVEIN BOTH WORLDS.SO

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