The White Falcon - 16.04.1993, Blaðsíða 1

I_IITE w, m Icelandic words of the week:
1 W Happy summer. Gledilegt sumar.
1 III Lh \ /V i fej (Glethelect summar)
_ . _ .
FALCON
Vol. 52 No. 15 April 16,1993
Serving the Iceland Defense Force Community
Navy’s top enlisted visits, listens to sailors
By J02 Colleen “Ghostwriter” Casper
When people think of the Master Chief
Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) they
may think of a figure head in Washington
D.C., who attends endless meetings and never
really reaches out to them. This might have
been the case long ago, but today’s MCPON
is on the move.
ETCM (SW) John Hagan, recently visited
Iceland to meet sailors stationed here. Dur-
Did you know...
-Cars’ studded tires in Iceland
should have been removed by April
15?
-A NATO basketball toumamant is
being held at the gym until April 24?
Game times are 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
-The commissary is stocking differ-
ent types of fresh, local Icelandic fish
every Thursday? (Availability de-
pends on the season and what is caught
locally.)
-The high school will be closed April
27 for a teacher workday?
-Parents of high school students can
pick up grade cards at the high school
office? If not, they will automatically
be mailed out April 21.
-The three most populated cities in
the United States are New York City,
Los Angeles, and Chicago?
-The first radio station licensed in
the United States was in Pittsburgh?
(KDKA; in 1920)
-The tallest building is the world is
the Sears Tower in Chicago and is
1,454 feet?
-The two oldest colleges in the
United States are Harvard (1636) and
William and Mary (1693)?
-The first public school opened in
the United States was in 1635 in Bos-
ton?
The first circulating library in the
United States was in Philadelphia in
1731?
ing his four-day trip, the Navy’s eighth
MCPON visited 20 groups, and was the guest
speaker at the Naval Facility Ball and the
Chief’s 100th Anniversary Ball.
“While here, I received a call from Wash-
ington D.C., notifying me that I missed a
meeting with the president. As much as I
have been wanting this opportunity, my first
priority is to visit with sailors and listen to
their concerns, that is why I am here in
Keflavik.
“I have visited more than 20 groups of
people in just two days and I have been hear-
ing the same concerns. I will now be able to
go back to the states and voice these con-
cerns,” Hagan stated.
In reference to the military drawdown the
MCPON said, “It is being well-planned, well-
managed, well-executed, and it’s generous
and it’s ethical. We have a few sharp edges,
but it doesn’t contain the sharpest edge -
forced separations.
“There will be fewer options and maybe
less flexibility, but a sailors’ career is safe if
he/she continues to meet standards and per-
forms according to the Navy’s needs.”
Slowing advancement was a concern of
many sailors. The MCPON urged people not
to make career-ending decisions, “...because
the reductions will change,” Hagan stated.
Other subjects the MCPON addressed were
the success of TQL in the Navy, and the
improvements of the Navy’s core values.
Navy women’s role
(Chief of Naval Information)...For some
time, the Navy has been working several
initiatives to expand opportunities for Navy
women to serve in operational billets at sea.
Admiral Frank Kelso is keenly aware of the
impact of decommissioning the training car-
rier USS Forrestal and ending the FFT pro-
gram, and has been actively working to open
new billets and ships to women.
The Navy has proposed opening up assign-
ments for women aboard some combat sup-
port ships and afloat fleet staffs and assigning
women aviators to another category of land-
based aircraft. That proposal is currently
under discussion with Secretary of Defense
Aspin’s staff.
The Navy also has plans on how women
Keflavik sailors were pleased to take ad-
vantage of this unique opportunity. CTAS A
Rebecca L. Meeke said, “ I was really glad to
have the chance to talk with the MCPON.
Being new to the Navy, I am very interested
in base closings and the opportunities that are
still available to me.”
A sailor of 16 years, CTM1 Dudley J. Gre-
gory has had the chance to meet with another
MCPON before, but said he was reassured to
know that the current MCPON is pulling for
the enlisted and is concerned with fleet events.
The Navy’s “Top Ombudsman,” Mrs.
Cathy Hagan, accompanied her husband to
Iceland. She received her own tour of NAS,
addressing the concerns of Navy spouses
about Quality of Life issues.
Questions for the MCPON
The MCPON wants to keep lines
of communications open. If you still
have questions that were not ad-
dressed during his recent visit send a
letter to:
“Ask the MCPON”
Navy Internal Relations Activity
Naval Station Anacostia, Bldg. 168
2701 South Capitol Street, S.W.
Washington, D. C. 20374-5077
at sea to expand
will be assigned to combat aviation squad-
rons once the services get the go-ahead to do
that. And finally, the Chief of Naval Opera-
tions supports moving ahead to change the
law so the Navy can assign women to com-
batant ships.
Although the Navy doesn’t have a time
line on any of these issues, it will take about
four years to get women aboard most of the
ships and squadrons once the process has
started. The four years will allow time for
any special training required for specific ships,
time to grow and train enough women petty
officers and junior officers to man a large
number of ships, and time to reconfigure
ships if necessary.