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Serving the Hampton Roads Navy Family
Vol. 20, No. 35 Norfolk, VA | flagshipnews.com | 08.30.12
NAVY PROMOTES FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE THREE-STAR OFFICER
Âť see MISSOURI | A6
Âť see FITNESS | A6
Âť see NAVY FIRST | A3
Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg Public Affairs
MECHANICSBURG, PENN.
MC2 David Kolmel Chief petty ofďŹcer (CPO) selects and mentors stand in formation during the graduation ceremony for USS Missouri CPO Legacy Academy Class 006.
Chief selects live legacy on Missouri Forty-three chief petty ofďŹcer (CPO) selectees from around the PaciďŹc Fleet graduated from the USS Missouri CPO Legacy Academy in a ceremony held aboard the Battleship Missouri Memorial, Aug. 24. The graduation ceremony marked the end of ďŹve days aboard Missouri for the lucky group of selectees chosen to participate in this yearâs legacy academy. Class 006 boarded Missouri, Aug. 19, and spent an entire week living, working and training aboard the ship along with a group of chief petty ofďŹcer mentors who provided leadership and lessons on Navy history and the heritage of the CPO community. âWhen they stay aboard (Missouri), we remove all the other outside distractions from the CPO Induction process
ESGR RECOGNIZED Navy Region MidAtlantic (NRMA) held a signing ceremony in Norfolk in recognition of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), Aug. 21. Âť see A2
NORFOLK
and we wind up with a core heritage event aboard the ship that culminated with a reenactment of the surrender of the Japanese aboard Missouri at the end of WWII,â said Master Chief Fire Controlman Jason Dunn, this yearâs legacy academy coordinator. Throughout the week, Class 006 participated in tours to the National Memorial Cemetery of the PaciďŹc, historical civil defense battery sites at Diamond Head, the USS BowďŹn Submarine Museum, the USS Arizona Memorial and the PaciďŹc Aviation Museum on Ford Island, in addition to behind the scenes tours of the USS Missouri. âYou have to know where you came from to know where you are going,â said Chief (sel.) Yeoman Glice Planas of Mobile Underwater Diving and Salvage Unit 1. âChiefs are keepers of history and tradition, and living it here
Press Release
PEARL HARBOR
Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command Public Affairs
Nearly 100 civilians and Sailors onboard Naval Support Activity (NSA) Mechanicsburg completed a ďŹtness challenge, Aug. 12, which allowed participants to travel almost 200,000 miles across the U.S. without leaving the gym. From June 18 to Aug. 12, âStriding to Succeed,â created by the ďŹtness centerâs training staff, incentivized gymgoers to log in hours of exercise, which were converted to miles and charted on a map. Participants exercised at the gym, and when ďŹnished, a staff member entered their time on a chart. âThe time would be logged in 15 minute increments, with one hour equaling 125 miles. Every Friday, I would come in the morning and update each personâs time on the chart and move their â[running] shoe markerâ along their designated route on the giant U.S. map above the chart,â said ďŹtness consultant Mike De Rosa. Each route was 3,000 miles long, equating to 24 hours of exercise, and had multiple tourist attractions along each route, including: Niagara Falls, the Space Needle, Disney World, the Grand Canyon. Other points of interest were a little off the beaten path: Foamhenge, The Bottle Cap Museum and the Giant Popeye Statue. At the end of the eight-week period, the mileage of each participant was totaled, which qualiďŹed him or her for one of the six prize brackets, ranging from T-shirts to water bottles. âTraveling 197,000 miles is the same as going around
NSA Mechanicsburg ďŹtness center members âStride to Succeedâ
U.S. PaciďŹc Fleet Public Affairs
Press Release
A trailblazer throughout her entire career, Michelle Janine Howard was the ďŹrst African American woman to command a U.S. Navy warship, the ďŹrst female graduate of the Naval Academy to achieve the rank of rear admiral and the ďŹrst African American woman to command an Expeditionary Strike Group at sea. On Aug. 24, Howard reached another milestone when she became the ďŹrst African American woman promoted to the three-star rank in the U.S. Armed Forces with the assumption of her new job as deputy commander, U.S. Fleet Forces, headquartered in Norfolk. With a career highlighted by ďŹrsts, the path to Howardâs current assignment as a Navy vice admiral initially began with an obstacle. It is an obstacle that taught her to embrace change, ďŹnd strength in the challenges she faced and to not be afraid to lean on others. Howard said her Navy career began as a chance encounter while watching television. It was a documentary about one of the military service academies that opened her eyes to a possible future career as an ofďŹcer in the military. But as Howard learned, not all opportunities were available to women at that time. The 12-year-old Howard went to her older brother to get his opinion on her becoming an ofďŹcer. He informed her that U.S. military academies were not open to women. Undeterred, she spoke to her mother who told her that if she really wanted to join the military as an ofďŹcer, she would have to wait until she was old enough. Hopefully by that time, society would change, and if it does, then she should go after it. And go for it is what she did. Four years after that discussion, the federal law concerning the acceptance of women into the nationâs service academies changed. At 17, Howard applied and was accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. In 1978, Howard entered the Naval Academy as a freshman. She was in only the third class to accept women. At that time, women made up only ďŹve percent of the Navy. With over 200 years of naval history and traditions, there was some resistance to change. With a self deprecating laugh, Howard said that the Academy wasnât easy. In retrospect, sheâs realized that expecting a smooth sail wouldnât have been very realistic. âWhen you look at where society was at the time, this was before there was even a woman on the Supreme Court, before Sally Ride was an astronaut and it was also only ďŹve or six years after we became an all volunteer force in the military, so our society was still going through a lot of changes.â She said the one person who was incredibly helpful in putting her experiences in context was Wesley Brown. Brown was the ďŹrst black Naval Academy graduate, class of 1949. They met when Howard was a lieutenant commander.
MC1 (SW/AW) Rafael Martie Vice Adm. Michelle Janine Howardâs husband, Wayne Cowles, and her sister, Lisa Teitleman, replace shoulder boards during a promotion ceremony, Aug. 24.
By MC2 David Kolmel
Vice Adm. Michelle Howard reaches another milestone
HIRING GOALS SURPASSED Joining Forces has exceeded its goals, having led to the hiring, or training, of more than 125,000 veterans and spouses in the past year.
Âť see B5
30 BANDS ROCK OUT AT THE OCEANFRONT Three days. Over 30 bands on the beach.The sounds of rock, jazz, country, blues, R&B and more will ďŹood the Virginia Beach oceanfront for three sun-ďŹlled days over Labor Day weekend at the 19th annual Verizon Wireless American Music Festival. Âť see C1
â how they were judged At the end of the eight-week period, the mileage of each participant was totaled, which qualiďŹed him or her for one of the six prize brackets, ranging from T-shirts to water bottles.
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