The Shuttle February 8, 2012 Issue“We are Legend”Newsletter Edition

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)

USS ENTERPRISE, At Sea – Whenever Carrier Air Wing 1 is embarked aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, 261 Marines, assigned to the Thunderbolts of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251 (VMFA-251), work alongside nearly 5,000 Sailors conducting flight operations. Although the Marines’ primary mission aboard Enterprise is maintaining, launching and recovering aircraft, they also work in positions much like the Sailors aboard the ship. They work, eat and sleep in the same areas and even have similar temporary assigned duties (TAD). “We plan beforehand who is going TAD to any of the departments on the ship and what other departments will need extra help,” said Staff Sgt. Jerrod D. Poppe, VMFA-251’s flight equipment chief. “We send people down to the mess decks, up to the flight deck or anywhere we know they will have to go.” Of the 261 Marines aboard, 43 of them work in TAD billets in the Supply department, Medical department, and Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance department (AIMD), to name a few. The Marines will work in those billets for about 30 to 60 days before they are rotated out and return to the squadron. “I enjoy being here,” said Lance Cpl. Jerry S. Starr, a Marine TAD to the galley. “It’s a lot of fun getting to meet people and see what goes on everyday.” Marines TAD to AIMD are trained before embarking on the ship, but others who go TAD are trained by the Sailors who work in the areas to which the Marines are assigned. Most of the Marines will continue working in the departments they are currently assigned to during the upcoming deployment. AIMD is the only department that retains the same Marines for the entire deployment. Although the job is mostly the same aboard the ship as it is on land, it can be challenging for those who are experiencing

Marine Life Aboard The Big “E”Story by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Heath Zeigler

Marines assigned to the Thunderbolts of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251 (VMFA-251), secure ordnance on an F/A-18C Hornet aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). (Photo by MCSN Gregory White)

shipboard life for the first time. “It’s definitely different being here,” said Sgt. Maj. Leveta Smith, the command sergeant major for the Thunderbolts. “This is my first ship, and being away from my family is hard, but just knowing that I can trust the people around me and

the fact that I can sleep soundly at night without the sound of bombs in the background, is a comforting thought.” As is the case with the Enterprise crew, Marines are given pre-deployment briefs and classes on how to handle the stress of being away from their friends and family. “We hold training and classes to help prepare our troops physically and mentally for the stress of shipboard life,” said Smith. “Plus we have to make sure that they are ready for the danger of launching and recovering aircraft on the flight deck.” Marines aboard the ship are working together with the Sailors here to accomplish the mission. “I’m happy we are here,” said Smith. “It gives us a chance to show that we can work together in a joint service environment and still get the job done.”

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012Page 2 The Shuttle

The Shuttle is published and printed daily underway and bi-weekly in port by the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) Media Department, FPO AE 09543-2810. This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the Department of Defense. Please direct all story ideas, questions and comments to MC1 (SW) Steve Smith at smithsw@cvn65.navy.mil.

Public Affairs OfficerLt. Cmdr. Sarah T. Self-Kyler

Executive OfficerCapt. G. C. Huffman

Commanding OfficerCapt. William C. Hamilton, Jr.

EditorsMC2 (SW) Kristin L. Grover

MCSN Harry Gordon

CNO Blog

The ShuttleUSS Enterprise (CVN 65)

Command Master ChiefABCM (AW/SW) Eric M. Young

Yesterday’s 3M answer:The periodicity code 24M-2 is

accomplished every 24 months.

3M Question of the Day: What do you verify the Equipment Guide

List (EGL) against?

3MSMOKE DECK RULES:

No food on or around the Smoke Deck No open or unopened soda cans on or

around the Smoke Deck. (Refillable water bottles are allowed)

NO TRASH in the butt kits.

No smoking while cleaning the Smoke Deck.

When the smoke deck gets secured for the above mentioned, it will be the Sailors on the Smoke Deck at that time that will do the cleaning and trash separation.

Over the last few weeks, I had the pleasure to speak with Shipmates at All Hands Calls and CPO Calls, in San Diego, Hawaii and Norfolk and have been underway aboard USS Enterprise and USS New Mexico. It’s always best to meet and talk to you face to face – especially at sea. I was asked some challenging questions during those visits; the ones I heard most often were about the new budget and our pay, health benefits, education assistance, retirement and deployment lengths. Since many of you might have the same questions, here is some info you may be interested in: The new strategy – As you may have heard in recent weeks, the defense strategy and budget, released by our Secretary of Defense, will result in a leaner and smaller military focused on the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. The budget retains 11 carriers and 10 carrier air wings, retires seven of our older cruisers and two older amphibious ships that would require significant investment in maintenance and upgrades to be effective in the future. The fleet has been keeping about 100 ships deployed. We have about 50 ships deployed to the Asia-Pacific, and 30 to the Middle East on any given day. So the new strategy won’t change what has been our focus for some time. We will, though, work toward more innovative ways to do security cooperation with our partners in Africa and South America including mobile training teams, joint high speed vessels, and a new ship called the “mobile landing platform.” The new budget includes a pay raise for those of us in uniform, each year, for the next five years. But the raise will likely not be as much as we’ve enjoyed in the last few years. For those of you in uniform today, the President and Secretary of Defense are committed to “grandfathering” each of us in the current retirement plan. But going forward, we need to take a hard look at retirement for those who will join in the future. The President has proposed that Congress establish a commission under the President’s

Sailing The Course We’re OnAdmiral Jonathan W. Greenert, CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS BLOG

direction, which will be comprised of former service members and business people who understand retirement plans. The DoD commission will survey members from each service to understand how retirement plans impact our decisions to join or remain in the service, and what we want out of our military retirement plans. It will take about a year for the commission to develop recommendations once they begin. Congress gave us the authority (starting this year) to offer early retirement to Sailors with 15 to 20 years service. Approximately 300 Sailors impacted by ERB who have at least 15 years of service as of September 1, 2012 are eligible and will have the opportunity to apply for early retirement. If further reductions are needed in our force we will look at early retirement as an option.Perform-To-Serve (PTS) Now that the FY 2012 ERB process is behind us, and we are transitioning those Sailors, we are seeing advancement rates return to normal. We reviewed 31 overmanned ratings in the ERB and it has helped us lower these numbers. By October we project we will be down to 9 overmanned ratings. Before the ERB, about 45% of PTS requests were being approved. Today about 75% are approved. By reducing overmanning in some rates, we can now use PTS to balance the force. I do not see the need for another ERB in 2013 or 2014. The Post-9/11 GI Bill is unchanged by the new budget and there are minor changes to our other education benefits. We put better oversight in place for Tuition Assistance (TA) to help ensure Sailors and the Navy get the most out of the $90 million we spend on this program. Starting this year, each college or university accepting TA must have a memorandum of understanding with the Navy to manage the program. College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams are still funded by the Navy through Navy College,

CNO continued on page 3

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012 Page 3The Shuttle

Navy News

ABOARD THE USS WASP - For the first time, Marine and Navy planners have melded a carrier strike group into the Marine Corps’ premiere amphibious operations wargame known as Bold Alligator. This appears to bridge what had appeared to be a growing divide between a Marine Corps eager to build more amphibious ships and a Navy intent on saving its existing carrier fleet. It also offers very concrete proof of the Marines recommitment to amphibious warfare, which they regard as their core competency. This year also marks the first time military leaders conducted Bold Alligator with live ships, soldiers and aircraft. Called the largest amphibious exercise in 10 years, it was designed to replicate a sea-to-shore assault spearheaded by U.S. and coalition forces against enemy troops from a fictional country. This year, enemy troops from the country of “Garnet” invaded the neighboring country of “Amberland.” Just like last year’s virtual exercise, American and coalition forces were sent in to push back the invading forces. But unlike last year, the Navy and Marine Corps decided to bring the USS Enterprise with them. The addition of the carrier group to Bold Alligator, which Marine Corps leaders have touted as a touchstone event in the service’s effort to get back to the shoreline, comes at an interesting time. A number of top service brass, including Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, has been pushing the Pentagon to add more amphibs to the Navy fleet. The ships, he argued, can compliment or -- to a certain extent -- replicate a carrier’s capabilities at a much lower cost. They are also key to the service’s return to its amphibious roots. For its part, the Navy argues that

Carrier Joins Marine Amphibs, Gives Ops More Bite In ‘Bold Alligator’Carlo Munoz, AOL DEFENSE carriers, including the new Ford-class, will be critical to

supporting the department’s pivot from Southwest Asia to the Western Pacific. Looming defense budget cuts, set to begin in fiscal year 2013, has only inflamed that rhetoric inside the beltway. But both arguments got a shot in the arm in recent weeks. Defense Secretary took the Marine Corps variant of the Joint Strike Fighter off the budget chopping block earlier this month, lifting the DoD-imposed probation on the program set by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. But only weeks later, Panetta announced the White House and DoD were fully committed to maintaining 11 carrier strike groups, which essentially spared the Ford-class ship from the budget axe. Adding a carrier element into the Marine Corps’ showcase for amphibious ops could be seen as an effort to shoehorn the carrier fleet into those missions. However a number of top U.S. and coalition military leaders say that is not the case. The USS Enterprise, along with the associated cruisers and destroyers that make up a carrier strike group, will be a “complementary” force to the fleet of amphibious ships that carried out the beach assault today, Lt. Cmdr. George Pastoor, a Dutch naval officer tied to Navy Expeditionary Strike Group 2, told reporters. ESG2 and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade were the lead U.S. forces in the exercise. The carrier group’s ships were used to protect the amphib ships supporting the assault, Pastoor said. The air assets on the Enterprise could also be used to lighten the load of the Marine Corps helos and fighters, letting them concentrate on supporting ground forces as they push inland from the beach, said 2nd MEB chief of staff Col. Scott Aiken.

CNO continuedalthough you will have to pass a practice exam before taking the actual exam. If you don’t pass the CLEP exam, you can still use TA to take the full course the exam would have replaced. In this fiscal year as it stands now, about a half dozen ships will deploy for eight months, and in FY13 we project five ships will do eight-month deployments. On average, the rest of the fleet will remain stable at six to seven month deployments per readiness cycle. Reality, of course, still gets a vote. Things in the world

can occur and cause us to extend some ships to complete the assigned mission. Our plan going in is that the majority of the fleet will do a single seven-month deployment in a cycle. And we will work with the Combatant Commanders to ensure we use our surge capacity for significant unforeseen events, not for extra day-to-day capacity. Those are the main topics on the minds of folks whom I recently visited – I truly appreciate your insight into what is taking place and I appreciate what you are doing. In my next post, I will get to some other concerns

I heard from the fleet, including making sure BAH rates are adequate, improvements to sea-shore rotation, and ensuring the Seaman-to-Admiral program remains healthy. Look for it next week. Darleen and I are very proud of you and your families. We know how important families are and we will continue to make sure the support your Navy provides is appropriately tailored around what you and your families need. Thanks again for what you do. Good luck to all of you, God bless you all, and take care of your Shipmates.

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012Page 4 The Shuttle

Big E Entertainment

IT2 Kevin Collier from Harper, Texas, joined the Navy seven years ago for career opportunities and to further his education. In his spare time, Collier enjoys spending time with his family and wakeboarding. His future plans include advancing in rank and completing his college degree.

Information Systems Technician 2nd Class (SW/AW/IDW) Kevin Kyle Collier

Sailors of the Day

ABFAN Benjamin Barklow from Houston, joined the Navy eight months ago to travel, get benefits and finish his college degree. Barklow enjoys reading, studying and running. In the future, he hopes to complete his degree and become a naval officer.

Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Fuel) Airman Benjamin A. Barklow