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July 14, 2013 Vol. 39 No. 22

Dubai:A Look Back

pg. 10

pg. 4

21 YearsA salute to the career of

MRC Lauzon

Inside:

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Public Affairs OfficerLt. Cmdr. Karin Burzynski

Media LCPOMCC (SW/AW) Mike JonesMedia Production Chief

MCC (SW) Gregory RobertsMedia LPO

MC1 (AW/SW) Michael ColeEditor

MC2 (SW) Jason Behnke Lead Designer

MCSA Andrew Price

Nimitz News accepts submissions in writing. All submissions must be in by Friday, COB. Submissions are subject to review and screening. “Nimitz News” is an authorized publication for the members of the military services and their families. Its content does not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy, or the Marine Corps and does not imply endorsement thereby.

Commanding OfficerCapt. Jeff Ruth

Executive OfficerCmdr. John Cummings

Command Master ChiefCMDCM Teri M. McIntyre

Media DepartmentMC2 (SW) Jacquelyn ChildsMC2 (SW) Ashley Berumen

MC2 (SW) Robert WinnMC2 (SW) Andrew JandikMC2 (SW) Nichelle Bishop

MC2 (SW) Devin WrayMC2 (SW) Ryan Mayes

MC2 (SW) Alexander Ventura IIMC3 (SW) Renée L. Candelario

MC3 Shayne JohnsonMC3 Jacob Milner

MC3 Christopher BartlettMC3 (SW) George J Penney III

MC3 Raul MorenoMC3 Linda S. SwearingenMC3 (SW/AW) Jess Lewis

MC3 Vanessa DavidMC3 W. J. CousinsMC3 Derek VollandMC3 Phil Ladouceur

MC3 (SW) Sam Souvannason MC3 (SW) Nathan McDonald

MC3 Joshua HaiarMCSN Kole CarpenterMCSN Derek HarkinsMCSN Kaitlyn Haskett

MCSN Eric ButlerMCSA Aiyana Paschal

MCSA Kelly AgeeMCSA Victoria Ochoa

Greeting and Salutations,

I’m LCDR Brandon Harding and am a new chaplain on board the USS Nimitz. This is my very first ship assignment and I’m excited to be here. About me, I have been in the military for most of my adult life, active duty, guard/reserve, enlisted and officer, with 24 years of service. I have been a chaplain for the past 12 years. My prior chaplain assignments have included Naval Mobile Construction Battalion FOUR (Seabees), CREDO (leading retreats), 1st Battalion 3D Marines, and Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing Atlantic. I have served three tours in Iraq. My most recent assignment was as a graduate student at Boston University.

I am endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and have previously served as a Bishop. Academically, I have bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology and Psychology, and master’s degrees in Clinical Psychology

Story by Chaplain Brandon Harding

and Ethics. I have extensive training in marriage and family therapy and suicide intervention. My wife and I have been married almost 17 years. We have six children and a bulldog.

Coming to the Nimitz was challenging as I am completely unfamiliar with life at sea. As I mentioned in Evening Prayer the other night, I spent my first week lost trying to find my way around the ship. I began to find my way around the ship by asking for help. I’m grateful for the many kind people who helped me find my way. It has been my experience that we sometimes find ourselves lost in life. We may not know which direction to take or how to get out of a “rut” we are stuck in. Thankfully, if we ask for help from above, direction will come. Individuals will be placed in our path to show us the way. If you find yourself lost in life, please ask for help from the One who knows the way. God bless and Semper Fi.

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Careers in the Navy can vary from Sailor to Sailor. Some may stay in the Navy for only one enlistment, while others, like Chief Machinery Repairman Joe Lauzon, of Ironwood, Mich., have had a naval career that has spanned 21 years.

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This year marks Lauzon’s last year in the Navy, as he will soon be retiring.

When Lauzon joined in 1991, it was a very different Navy than it is today. Women were not

authorized on ships and staying in contact with loved ones was not as easy as it is today.

“We would take letters to radio and somehow they would send the emails off for you,” said Lauzon.“It was very different on my first couple of ships. When we left the pier there was literally no way to reach shore unless you wrote a letter. This underway is the first time I’ve sent an email off the ship. I would call or write letters home. Being at sea is a peaceful way of life.”

The story of Lauzon’s naval career started when he was 31 years old and was working as a miner in Michigan.

“I joined the Navy to get away from what I was doing,” said Lauzon. “I was working a job I liked, but I wanted to get myself a trade. I wanted to be an MR. When I went to MEPS [military entrance processing station], I was working in the mining industry and that part of Michigan has less than perfect employment. I was in the Army National Guard in Michigan at the time,and I asked to be relieved from the guard so I could join the Navy. I joined to learn a trade and to go somewhere.”

Since the MR rating was not open when Lauzon came into the Navy, he chose to join as an undesignated fireman and he swore in at a Milwaukee Brewers game. Upon graduating boot camp he was allowed to choose an ‘A’ school so he chose the MR ‘A’ school and was re-rated.

After ‘A’ school, Lauzon chose orders to the auxiliary submarine tender USS L.Y. Spear (AS-36) out of Norfolk, Va., and was there from Feb. 1992 – Oct. 1993.

“The most significant thing I remember from that ship is that I fell in love with being on a ship,” said Lauzon. “Something I really enjoyed was the camaraderie. Everyone lived on the ship unless they were married. As time went on I wanted to go on deployment. When I got to the ship they had just come back.”

Since tenders didn’t deploy frequently and Lauzon wanted to go out to sea, he applied to a cross decking program that would allow him to switch orders with someone from another ship and go on a deployment.

“The MR2 from the [USS] Arcadia [AD-42] and I swapped orders,” said Lauzon. “I arrived at 32nd Street [in San Diego] two days prior to the ship getting underway. We went on a WestPac and I was almost speechless. I was so excited to go underway.”

During his first deployment, Lauzon visited Hong Kong as his first liberty port and also went to Djibouti.

“When I think of how it was then versus now, it’s so different,” said Lauzon. “The sandbox was just sand with a few buildings. We would go into Dubai and we stayed there for two or three months and worked on ships.”

The Arcadia was in the process of being decommissioned during Lauzon’s time on board and the captain of the ship offered everyone on board a one-year early out.Lauzon accepted the early out offer and got out of the Navy after only three years of service.

“After that I rejoined the Army National Guard for a short time.When I went home the job market wasn’t very good,” said Lauzon. “I had become acclimated to Navy life, and I wanted to rejoin.”

When Lauzon went to the Navy recruiting office to rejoin he was 35 years old and had to get a waiver for his age.

“The lieutenant commander who approved my waiver had a painting behind his desk on the wall that was of flight quarters seen through the hangar bay doors on an aircraft carrier,” said Lauzon. “That picture of the aircraft carrier stays in my head, and it was like a sign that this was what I wanted do with my life.”

Once Lauzon was approved to come back into the Navy, he went to Navy veteran (NAVET) training program designed to assist veterans of the Navy returning to active duty status.

“When I was waiting at NAVET training I got orders to the USS Simon Lake [AS-33] in La Maddelana, Italy,” said Lauzon.“I was there for two years and we did a deployment while I was stationed there. Simon Lake is a subtender so they got underway once a quarter to get qualifications, and we went to at least one port every time we went out.”

Leaving the Navy and then coming back in did have its share of setbacks. Lauzon, who had left the Navy a year before as a petty officer second class, had to come back in as a petty officer third class.

“Making 2nd class the second time around was harder because the Navy was downsizing tenders, and there were half the amount of tenders when I came back in,” said Lauzon. “Now there are only two tenders left in the entire Navy. There were 17 when I came in.”

What used to be a fairly large rate of 1,500 Sailors when he came into the Navy, the MR rate has downsized significantly over the years.

“Now there is anywhere between 450-500 MRs at any given time,” said Lauzon. “On most ships there is only one MR, and on aircraft carriers there are usually between six or seven MRs.What used to be a very repair intensive process is now a civilian run process. The Navy is now trying to bring back more MRs and

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that experience.”After his time on the Simon Lake, Lauzon went to

the USS John L. Hall (FFG-32), a frigate stationed in Pascagoula, Miss.

“It was some tough knocks being stationed on the Hall,” said Lauzon. “I had made 2nd on the Simon Lake, but what struck me the most was that if I made it on the Hall I was going to be fine. I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder before or after. It was the norm to sleep only two or three hours a day. That was a defining moment for me. I fully acceptedthe Navy at that point when it was the toughest. I was able to flow with it. There was peace in knowing that if I just did my watch and my work everything was going to be worth it.”

After Lauzon left Hall, he got orders to the USS Chancellorville (CG-62) in Yokosuka, Japan.

“There was already an MR there that they had borrowed from another ship,” said Lauzon. “So they sent me to the USS Gary (FFG-51) for the next two years [Oct. 2000 – Sept. 2002].”

While Lauzon was stationed on the Gary, the switching around of personnel came back to haunt the Chancellorville when they ended up with no MRs stationed on board.

Since there were then two MRs stationed on the Gary, Lauzon was put back on the Chancellorville for a four month deployment before coming back to the Gary. After his time on the Gary was up, Lauzon went to shore duty in Sasebo, Japan.

After his time on shore duty was up, Lauzon took orders to another ship. This time he was stationed on USS John C. Stennis stationed in Bremerton, Wash. While on board Stennis, Lauzon was the Repair Division Chief of his

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department.“Most ships I was on for two years or less, but I spent

five years on the Stennis and made chief there,” said Lauzon.“I took everything I learned and put it all together there. I ran the machine shop for about a year. I was on the Stennis from 2004 – 2009. It was a great ship.”

After his time on the Stennis was over Lauzon went to USS Frank Cable (AS-40) in Guam, one of the last remaining tenders in the Navy.

“After that the [USS] Nimitz [CVN 68] was available and I wanted to go to another carrier so I took the orders,” said Lauzon. “I was happy to come to another carrier and finish my time at sea. It’s very hard to imagine life not on a ship. It’s something I’ll miss very much. I will miss the routine especially at sea.”

When his time on board Nimitz is over, Lauzon

plans to go home to Michigan to be closer to his parents. However, his love of the sea won’t allow him to stay away from ships for long.

“Someday I hope to go to a military sealift command (MSC),” said Lauzon. “They have a lot of prior Navy personnel that work for them. They help the Navy make sure their ships are supplied and replenished.”

For those Sailors who are unsure if they want to make a career out of the Navy, Lauzon has some words of advice.

“The Navy is certainly not perfect,” said Lauzon. “It’s a family and there’s plenty of dysfunction, but there’s also plenty of opportunity. If you give yourself time you can learn and it’s part of who you are. Being a Sailor is the best part of my adult life. It’s not for everyone, but everyone can get something out of it. If it’s something that clicks it’s a life that can be very rewarding.”

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The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is its own floating city. Quar-termaster 3rd Class John-Codie Hanley, of Defi-

ance, Pa., a Sailor on board Nimitz, is from a small town of only 240 residents.

“I like my small town because everyone knows one another,” said Hanley. “Everyone always knows what others are up to.”

Hanley joined the Navy in 2008 to help pay for college.

“I want to go to college so I can be a veterinarian,” said Hanley. “I love animals a lot, especially dogs.”

The Navy can already be a big

transition from civilian life and being from a small town can be even more challenging.

“Where I’m from it’s not very di-verse,” said Hanley. “It was kind of a culture shock when I first joined, but I got to know and like a bunch of differ-ent kinds of people.”

According to Hanley, all Defiance consists of are homes, a school district and a post office.

“My town doesn’t have any shops to go to,” said Hanley. “There isn’t a mall, movie theater or even a restaurant to go to. If we wanted to go to get supplies we would have to travel to the closest city, which is about an hour away.”

Even though Defiance is a small town,

Hanley always found something to do. “I used to go fishing a lot, and hunt-

ing,” said Hanley. “I think being from a small town made me more of an out-doors person.”

Even though Hanley likes his small town of Defiance, his town knew it was time for him to make something out of himself.

“People from my town told me that there was nothing for me there,” said Hanley. “They told me to go join the Navy and to not look back.”

When asked if he has advice for oth-er Sailors from small towns Hanley said, “the Navy is a great opportunity to go out and see the world. It’s a lot more than just the town you’re from.”

Small TownBig Dreams

Story and photo by MCSA Kelly Agee

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Every Sailor thinks about what they will be doing years down the road. Whether they envision themselves wearing anchors on their

collar or having a successful career out-side of the Navy, it’s nearly impossible to make it happen without guidance. The mentorship program aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is focused on keeping these Sailors on the right path for success.

A mentor is someone with expe-rience who helps a more junior Sailor accomplish his or her goals. These goals can be anything dealing with financial endeavors, paygrade advancements or even life after the military.

“You should choose more than one mentor,” said Navy Counselor 1st Class Domenique Sanchez, one of the com-mand career counselors. “First mentor, of course, should be someone you strive to be. So, it could be somebody in your department. “

Sanchez suggests finding a second mentor outside your department who can give advice from a different per-spective.

“Success doesn’t only depend on what you do in your job,” said Sanchez. “Sometimes what makes you successful is what you do outside of your job.”

According to Sanchez, once having a mentor, Sailors must engage them-selves with the program to really benefit from it.

“If you just sit and talk once a month just for that mandatory signature, it’s not going to help you,” said Sanchez.

Sanchez also said mentees should

be discussing all events in their careers with their mentors, whether good or bad, in order to determine the best pos-sible path to take.

Many Sailors in leadership positions today would agree that their success is the result of some sort of mentorship.

“When I do career development boards (CDB), I tell people that almost 27 years ago I thought I was just go-ing to come in, get some money, and get out,” said Command Master Chief Teri McIntyre, command master chief (CMC) of Nimitz.

Thoughts of leaving the military crossed McIntyre’s mind. Years into her career, though, she arrived to a new command and found who she strived to be.

“I had about 12 years in the Navy at this point and had never seen a female master chief,” Said McIntyre. She direct-ed me where I needed to go. Had I not had that guidance, I probably wouldn’t

be here today. I was always put in the right place by the right mentors into continuing with my career.”

As CMC, McIntyre is in charge of the mentorship program on board. She holds CDBs for Sailors and helps in di-recting them.

The mentorship program’s purpose is to have a continuing effect on Sailors up and down the chain of command. With proper guidance, any Sailor walk-ing through these passageways can achieve their goals; the possibilities are endless.

“I had a check-in a few weeks ago,” said McIntyre. “She had just come from bootcamp and as I’m checking them all in and she’s getting ready to leave, she stops and says, ‘its great to see a female master chief, I’ve never seen a female master chief before.’”

For more information on the men-torship program, see your departmental representative.

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John Paul Jones is most famous for saying some-thing he may not have even said. He is known as a fighting man, but he was

5 feet 5 inches, wrote poetry and con-sidered very well mannered.

Yet he was difficult to get along with, a harsh military master and a bit of a self-promoter. And his last name wasn’t even Jones. Despite these con-tradictions and flaws, John Paul Jones

remains a Navy hero.The man that Thomas Jefferson

called “little Jones” was born in Scot-land July 6, 1747. Young John Paul (his birth name) went to sea at the age of 12. In a few years he became a first mate and then master of a ship. But after killing a mutinous crew mem-ber, a still young John Paul fled to the colony of Virginia.

At this time he added the name of Jones, probably to conceal his

I Have Not Yet Begun To Say That Thing They Say I Said

Story by MC3 Phil Ladouceur

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But Jones is most famous for the fight between his ship, the Bon-homme Richard, and the British frigate Serapis, on Sept. 23, 1779. In many ways the battle was typical of Jones: He may have lost his own ship, but after a three-hour fight, he managed to capture the Serapis.

It was in this battle that Jones uttered—or perhaps did not ut-ter—his famous words.

Early in the battle, Serapis shot off the Bonhomme Richard’s flagstaff holding the ensign. The British captain thought that Jones might have been surrendering. He asked, “Have you struck? Do you call for Quarter?” In other words, he wanted to see if Jones had given up.

The reply now most frequently recalled—“I have not yet begun to fight!”— comes from an account by one of Jones’ officers. But he told the story years later, when he was in his sixties, and may not have been reliable.

Another later account, from Nathaniel Fanning, claimed Jones said, “Ay, ay, we’ll do that when we can fight no longer, but we shall see yours come down first; for you must know, that Yankees do not haul down their colours till they are fairly beaten.”

It is unlikely that Jones would have said this. Banter in the mid-dle of battle tends to be brief. He himself recalled saying, “I am determined to make you strike!”

However, accounts from various crew members that were re-ported at the time have the somewhat more plausible reply, “I may sink, but I’m damned if I’ll strike!” or something similar.

After the war he was awarded a medal of gold by the Continental Congress and made a chevalier by the King of France. But always restless, Jones ended up a rear admiral in Russia, fighting for Em-press Catherine the Great of Russia. Always hotheaded, he quarreled with powerful aristocrats and left a few years later. He lived in Paris for a couple of years, but died in 1792, at the age of 45.

His body lay in a Parisian grave for over a century until his re-mains were brought to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. On Jan. 26, 1913, he was lain to rest in a bronze and marble sarcophagus in the Naval Academy Chapel.

To the British he was practically a pirate. To some of his con-temporaries he was a glory-hound. But everyone agreed that he was a daring fighting man willing to take risks. And no matter what it was he said, no matter what flaws he may have had, the example of Jones’ fighting spirit can still inspire.

identity from British authorities, who considered him a fugitive. The newly named John Paul Jones met and impressed many important colo-nists, such as Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

When the Continental Congress established a Navy in 1775, Jones signed up soon afterward. Jones en-gaged in several actions, raiding the British in both Canada and off the coast of Great Britain.

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#9Finance

Annuities

General Concept

A Fun And eAsY Guide bY CdR. MAtthew MiLLeR

n33/n35 sub Ops/FutuRe pLAns

IntroductionThe increased stock market volatility continues

with no one really knowing what will happen the rest of the year. It is very exciting and fun to read about. I saw a great quote in Business Week which went something like, “American capitalism without failure is like religion without sin…it just doesn’t work.” I encourage you to keep investing in accordance with your long-term strategy and not worry too much about any gyrations in the short term.

A common annuity that most people have heard of is our Social Security system. Once you reach retirement age, you are eligible to start collecting monthly Social Security checks until you die (the amount depends on how old you are when you start collecting and how much you paid in over your working years). This is just an annuity. There are a lot of additional details around Social Security like should you start taking checks at a reduced benefit at age 62, wait until full retirement age (67 as of now, but will likely change), or wait until later and collect a higher monthly check. The amount of benefit you receive is based on calculating how long you are expected to live. The younger you are when you start taking Social Security, the lower your benefit because the Government will have to pay you longer. Side note – I am not commenting on the obvious fiscal challenges associated with the aging baby boomers and the simple fact that the Social Security system as it currently exists will not be the same when most of us retire. Unfortunately, the longer we take to fix the problem, the more painful the fix will be (regardless of how we choose to fix it) – it’s just simple math.

Annuities as an InvestmentHere is where it gets somewhat complicated. If you

are considering buying an annuity, I strongly suggest you check with a financial and tax advisor. Remember that the basic concept is pay in a lump sum and receive payments over time.

The two main inputs that calculate what an annuity will pay are life expectancy and current interest rates. For a fixed investment – let’s say $100,000 - the longer you are expected to live, the lower your monthly payout will be. Also, the lower current interest rates are, the lower your payout will be. Why is this? Because Insurance companies calculate how long they think you will live and what return they can generate for themselves. If you are going to live a long time and interest rates are low (i.e., they can’t make much money with your investment dollars), they won’t pay you much each month.

Insurance companies charge relatively high fees and mathematically calculate (using complex probability formulas) how much they can pay out and still meet their profit targets. This is fundamentally why annuities are a bad investment. What you are really buying with an annuity is peace of mind. The guaranteed income from an annuity provides stability in retirement (even if Insurance companies are profiting off of you). The more complex an annuity sounds, the more money someone is making off of you (my generalization). You should accept an annuity for what it is – a risk reduction strategy to guarantee income that provides peace of mind – not a profitable investment.

Annuities are another product the insurance and investing industries make tons of money on. They are based on a very simple concept, but made into complex investment products. Generally speaking you don’t really need to worry much about annuities until you get older. That being said, I will go into some basic concepts, talk about variations on the basics, and give you my thoughts on annuities. I have no annuities at this point and won’t for another 30 years or so (if ever).

The general concept behind an annuity is you pay a lump sum amount and get a stream of guaranteed payments until you die. It’s the exact opposite of Life Insurance. As a reminder, with Life Insurance you pay a periodic premium and if you die, your beneficiary gets a lump sum payment. With an annuity, you pay a lump sum and get “premiums” paid back to you until you die. With Life Insurance, the Insurance company is hoping you do not die. With an annuity, the Insurance company hopes you do die (so they can stop paying you). That is pretty much it.

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what would i do?

Mathmatical Fact Variations on AnnuitiesThere are many different variations on the basic

annuity. This has grown into a HUGE business and some of these products are the most profitable products Insurance companies sell, so WATCH OUT.

Fixed versus Variable – you can buy an annuity with fixed payments over time or one that varies depending on changing stock market values or interest rates.

Inflation Protection – you can buy an annuity that has a payment that increases over time based on inflation (costs more for the same initial monthly payment).

Joint Survivor– you can buy an annuity that will pay you until you die, then continue paying your spouse until he/she dies (costs more for the same initial monthly payment).

Return of Principal – you can buy an annuity that will return the amount of principal you paid in to a selected beneficiary. The monthly payouts on this type of annuity are very low because the Insurance company profit is significantly reduced.

Longevity Annuities – you can buy an annuity that doesn’t start paying you until you have reached a certain age (e.g., 85). These cost much less relative to the benefit since some people won’t live until the payout age. This is like buying insurance in case you live a really long time.

These are just a few variations on the basic annuity concept and if you can think up another variation, there is probably a product out there that you can buy. Almost all annuities are sold through a licensed insurance broker. Although most brokers have high integrity, I encourage you to use a referral rather than accepting a cold call or looking someone up on the Internet. There are also tax implications associated with annuities that you need to make sure you understand.

I can’t fully answer this question. The products are changing so fast and getting more and more complex. Thirty years from now there will, for sure, be options that aren’t around today. Depending on how the market has evolved, I may or may not buy an annuity. If I was 67 right now and receiving full Social Security and had a couple million dollars in retirement assets, I would not buy an annuity (but that is just me). I would work my asset allocation, as discussed in an earlier column, and stay away from the high-cost products that benefit Insurance companies. I will

encourage you again to check with a financial planner / tax advisor if you are considering it.

Generally speaking, I look at annuities as a poor investment mathematically (given the payout and fees). However, the underlying message that you need to ensure you don’t outlive your financial resources is critically important. Look at these three mathematical facts (source is Society of Actuaries 2000 Mortality Tables):

•Odds that you will be in a HOUSE FIRE within the next 20 years:

5 in 1,000 (0.5% chance)

•Odds that you will be in a CAR ACCIDENT within the next 20 years:

70 in 1,000 (7% chance)

•If you and your spouse are age 65, odds that one of you will live until they are 85:

840 in 1,000 (84% chance) – that’s right – 84%!

This means for all of you that have a retirement strategy of dying shortly after reaching age 65 from heart disease or skin cancer, so you don’t have to worry about saving, you are playing a fool’s strategy! Just look at the math. For every person you read about that worked really hard and died right after retiring, there are another 6 people that didn’t happen to. Bottom line – save early and often because you will most likely need the money! After all, you probably have auto insurance and home owners insurance and you are much less likely to use those, so don’t be foolish and ignore your retirement needs that you will almost for sure actually need!

ClosingThis was probably the least relevant topic in

the series to the majority of the people who read the Nimitz News. Honestly, annuities are pretty boring as an investment topic (although they are huge profit generators for Insurance companies). Next week will pick up significantly as we get into buying individual stocks, options, commodities, and futures. I used to have a Datek Brokerage Account (now TD Ameritrade) and have made some very stupid trades in the past. That’s how you learn! I’m looking forward to telling you about the crazy trading I used to do and how I lost 50% of my account value in just over a year (back in 1999-2001)…..not fun.