Before I get started on this week’s topic, I’d like to make mention of a personnel change to the region.

I’m happy to welcome CNOCM(SS) Ron Johnson as the Regional Master Chief. He joins us from a tour as Submarine Group Nine’s Command Master Chief and brings outstanding experience and superior leadership to the job as well as an intimate knowledge of Navy Region Northwest. We’re glad to have him and his family onboard as part of the Region team.

We bid a fond farewell to CNOCM(AW/SW) Rick Rose as he leaves the Regional Master Chief position to serve as the electronic attack wing command master chief on board Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Master Chief Rose’s outstanding leadership, vision, and wisdom did great things for the Region, and its Sailors and families; for his service we’re grateful. Best wishes in your new position.

Several columns back I talked about taking care of family and in a subsequent column I discussed being prepared. The Navy, too, works to always be prepared. One method that ensures that is the Fleet Response Plan.

I want you to be aware of the Fleet Response Plan first so that you understand what it is and, second, how it affects the fleet and, therefore, you and your family. Though it isn’t entirely new, the Fleet Response Plan isn’t totally familiar to everyone, and I wanted to take a moment to broadly highlight its basic points.

The Navy’s Fleet Response Plan was, at its inception, and still is, the most fundamental change in our deployment, manning, and training cycles in the last 50 years. Fundamentally, the Fleet Response Plan provides our Department of Defense leadership with a greater range of naval options.  It offers more flexibility and changes the way our ships deploy.

In “the old days” we had a modest number of forward deployed units at peak readiness; the majority of ships and associated units were not deployed. That made it difficult and expensive to surge to meet the demands of a crisis or conflict. The primary cause of that challenge was the training, manning, maintenance, and readiness funding of the Inter-Deployment Readiness Cycle.

The Fleet Response Plan doesn’t mean that training goes away or that maintenance goes away, but it does maximizes the Navy’s ability to respond to emergent crises, changes the way ships are maintained, and keeps the overall Navy at a higher state of readiness. The plan shifted our focus away from rotational deployments and provided the capability of immediately surging six carrier strike groups followed shortly by two additional carrier strike groups.

Deployments will be tailored to operational need not to the calendar.  The Fleet Response Plan ensures that our presence has a purpose.  The Fleet will deploy to accomplish a specific mission rather than deploy merely for the sake of deployment.

We now have a robust ability to provide persistent and massive combat power, ready for an immediate, credible response.  The naval forces we can provide are adaptable, flexible, and sustainable.  We can fight the global war on terrorism and maintain a global forward presence. 

How does this all fit together?  First, plan for less notice for deployments, although regularly scheduled long-term deployments will still exist.  Second, plan for some deployments to be shorter.  The Fleet Response Plan ensures that specific objectives exist for deployments; once those objectives are met, the deployed units return. 

Finally, be prepared.  Units and Sailors no longer have the luxury of eighteen or even six months in which to prepare to deploy. Have your personal, financial, medical, and legal affairs ready so that if and when a deployment happens, you’re not caught by surprise.

Knowing that Fleet Response Plan exists, knowing how it can impact you, and knowing what it means will help you be prepared. That preparation gives you the peace of mind that your personal affairs and your family are taken care of.