National Navy Mustang Association - ENEWS

PONY EXPRESSSummer 2010 Issue 5

Greetings fellow Mustangs!

STA-21 season is nearly passed and opening and its time again for this year’s LDO/CWO commissioning season. Based on the timeline I saw in Captain Jones’ brief, spe-cial request chits were due to me 30 April and I have adjusted the rest of the timeline to the left as well. His timeline works well for me as my time in Bahrain will end in August, so I hope to have all of the packages in the AOR pretty much wrapped up by July. If you follow the same timeline, you will too. This gives NPC a chance to review the pack-ages, address any waivers, and provide feedback. I did one board on 30 September last year (it was driven by a very challenging operational schedule), but don’t let that be one of your candidates. Speaking of your candidates, YOU should be mentoring your deserving Sailors in all of these commissioning programs. Don’t wait until they come to

you. Go out and seek the best and brightest and help them obtain a commission. I have had a few Mustangs tell me lately “I didn’t need someone to mentor me, I did it all by myself.” If that’s true, congratulations, you are the very small exception to the rule (and I expect if you peel the onion you will find it is not true, that you had several folks, both junior and senior to you, who helped and encouraged you along the way).

Still trying to increase the membership by 100 members by the end of this year. If you are coming up for renewal, please do so. If you are a long time member, sign someone else up. If you are on the fence, please come onboard. We have a new chapter that has come online in Bahrain, renewed interest in the chapters in Hawaii, San Diego, Millington and elsewhere, and I have recently been approached by Mustangs from Kuwait, Atsugi and elsewhere overseas about starting chapters in their area. They just had a great Mustang social event in Great Lakes and I’m in discussions with them about forming a chapter. I want to personally thank those Mustangs who are stepping up to the plate and helping to form/reconstitute chapters. That is our bread and butter. The NMA is and has always been about networking and mentoring with each other, and finding our reliefs, with a little old fashioned comraderie thrown in for good measure.

Congratulations to the Mustangs who have been commissioned thus far this year. Now, lets all pull on the line together and pull our best and brightest into the wardroom. All the best. Please feel free to contact me at upfrmrnk@aol.com or phillip.bachand@me.navy.mil or check out our NMA website at www.navymustang.org if you have any questions or if you just want to share a sea story (just remember I give as good as I get).

Very Respectfully, Commander Phil Bachand

President’s Message

Sailors in the Hampton Roads area were invited to attend a Seaman to Admiral-21 brief at the NAS Oceana theater, March 5. The brief offered Sailors a chance to meter how their packages compared to their peers, as well as receive tips on ways to improve it and bounce questions off recently-selected officer candidates. “The reason for [the] brief is to inform Sailors of the eligi-bility requirements and application procedures to earn a Navy ROTC scholarship and commissioning as a naval officer upon graduation from college,” said retired Lt. David

Boisselle, a member of the Hampton Roads Mustang As-sociation. “Everyone in this room is an all-star and has the potential to be an officer. However, they have a long road ahead of them to reach that potential and get where they need to be.” Applying to the STA-21 program is a vigorous process broken into two sections. The first is a short online ques-tionnaire and the second part involves a vigorous process of determining who’s a worthy candidate. “A common and easily avoidable mistake most applicants make is not having everything in their packet in the order the instruction requires,” said Krystle Schreick, officer can-didate enrolled in the STA-21 program. “Because so many Sailors apply, the board has to narrow down the numbers. The first round of cuts consists of them flipping through and

finding the packets that have things missing or in the wrong order.”

Once the packet is reviewed and is determined to be com-plete and in order, the underlying context of the contents in the package is what sets a Sailor apart. “Having a decent eval and staying out of trouble is not good enough, you need to overcome your own inertia,” said Bois-selle. “By that, I mean don’t attempt to coast through this process at the neutral speed just checking the boxes. You need to really push yourselves to be all-stars and get in this program.”

Schreick explained that per-forming community service and shining in the community is just a minimum requirement. A Sailor must be well-rounded to stay in the race, and what sets a Sailor apart from their peers is honesty. She added that it’s not good to fluff up personal statements, but instead be purely honest. STA-21 is just one of the many roads a Sailor can take to become a naval officer. The Navy offers several options. It’s up to the individual to decide which path is best for them. “You may already have a degree, and if you have a bachelor’s degree, you are not eligible for STA-21,” said Boisselle. “There is also the LDO/CWO (limited duty

officer/ chief warrant officer) program. Having your degree is a minimum when applying for LDO. You must

prove to the board that you can be a leader.” Schreick explains while the average Sailor applying has a family and other responsibilities to be take care of, it’s not an excuse for holding back in the application process. “I have a husband and two children, but I could not let that be my reason for not giving my all,” said Schreick. “This is a hard core process, and there is not a magical way to get through it. Just do it.” For more information on the STA-21, visit www.sta21.navy.mil.

STA-21 Brief Held at Oceana

Story/photo by MC2(SW/AW) Jamica Johnson, Navy Public Affairs Support Element East

April 2010 Newsletter From the LDO/CWO Community Manager

My grandfather told me that you should never put off to tomorrow what you can do today. I should have listened. No one had any idea that a storm could put us OOC for over a week – and it could have been worse. We had the newsletter ready to go on 30 April, with the exception of the Pensacola trip, and thought we would launch it the following Monday – but then nature happened. You never know when your storm is coming so you need to be prepared. Thank you so much for all the well wishing emails, facebook comments, phone calls and prayers. They worked because we had no fatalities and property loss was minimal for the most part. Incidentally, we were supposed to go to Newport the weekend before to brief our Re-serve LDO/CWOs and visit our LDO/CWOs but could not get a flight out for two days due to storms/tornadoes! Millington will not be at optimum speed for months so please bear with us as we get back on track.

OCM SHOP VACANCY: Despite the aforementioned, Millington is actually a great place to be sta-tioned. We have recently established a new billet in our shop to work as an assistant to Mitch and me. The billet is a 6410 LTjg billet and should be filled by the community. We are not averse to spreading the net to any hot runner out there that has an understanding of Excel, Word, Power Point and previ-ous NPC experience. The position is available right now. Let the detailer know if you are interested. You are also welcome to talk to us for more details. DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEWSLETTER: Almost daily we receive requests to be added to the distribution list for the newsletter. While we would like to make this as accessible as possible by placing it in your in-box, logistically we just can’t manage the mailing list. It is already extremely difficult just keeping up with the Captains and W5 email addresses. With just Mitch and me in this office, we can’t expand the list and expect to keep it current. What we

have done to help keep it accessible is to place the newsletter on our web page, your detailer web pages and in NKO.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE COMMU-NITY BRIEF/APPLICATION BRIEF: Like the newsletter, we are often asked if we can provide a copy of our brief. We are very reluctant to do this because of our concern that people may put their spin on our community way ahead. Many of the slides paint a limited picture – it’s what is said by Mitch and I that fill in the gaps to give the full vision. For those of you that have seen us give the brief, you understand what I am saying. An additional concern is that if we give it to someone that we know has “the big picture”, they may pass it to others that don’t. I have even spoken to the detailers and told them that my prefer-ence is for Mitch and me to do the brief because we are broad spectrum and are well versed for any audience. The feedback we have received thus far has been positive and I think the message is what you want and need – honest, straightforward and explains the “why” for issues facing us today. It provides you with a vision for the future.

SURFACE DETAILERS: All 414 Detailers and Mr. Roger Ber-ryhill should be up and running with NMCI email and the officer order writing system (OASIS) NLT Friday (14 May). NPC website, BOL and associ-ated administrative functions should be fully operational. Please refer to the NPC website and NPC detailers face book for new updates. Office phone numbers are still operational but they cannot answer the phones and can ONLY access voice mail until they move back into their office spaces. Primary communications will be email.

INTERVIEW APPRAISALS. It’s that time of year again when you are called on by your Navy to inter-view candidates and make an honest assessment of their potential. I added interview boards/mentoring to our road

show briefs because this is a critical element of the package. So here are a few pointers to bear in mind:The interview board is done for the CO in helping them to prepare the endorsement. It DOES NOT belong to the service member applying for com-missioning.

It has incredible weight with the board so ensure you give it the effort it de-serves. A copy of you appraisal does NOT have to be given to the member. As a matter of courtesy, I always do – if it’s a good appraisal then great. If not, then tell them how to get better.The appraisal is weighing their poten-tial to be an ensign and/or CWO2/3. Only ask questions that are relevant to their potential AND that indicate that they have researched this program. They need to show that they know how this life changing decision will affect them.

Any marks below Outstanding, or less than 10, will be a red flag to the board. Be judicious in your marks. The desig-nator the person is applying for should have at least one officer of that desig-nator on the panel. Don’t have one on board? Call the detailer and they will help locate one.

If you hear of your appraisal sheet being replaced, you should see the CO to ask why. If the CO was un-aware, then someone is defrauding the system. If the applicant changes an appraisal sheet then it is plain fraud and should be addressed through legal action.

CAPTAIN RESULTS. Congratulations to our four new Cap-tains:

CAPT CONRAD ALEJO (6130)CAPT JIM DANIELS (6320)CAPT LEN FRIDDLE (6330)CAPT RICH JONES (6310)

You will note that there are two names missing. One was Captain Jim Jones (6400) who was selected last year by special board – the special board results did not come out until after the

January board was in session. The other selectee will be announced as soon as an administrative matter is cleared.

ROAD TRIP REPORTS: PENSACOLA AREA – Trip funded by CNET. Phenomenal turnout of both community and applicants shows that Pensacola is fully engaged in their mentoring. Thanks to CDR Scott Ly-ons and LT Sims for a job well done.

We have money earmarked by PACNW for travel in June – thank you CDR(ret) Jim Felty and LCDR Kevin Chisom for the funding and coordina-tion.

Looking at our populations of LDO/CWOs and potential applicants, we would like to visit San Diego (post symposium), Japan/Guam, Naples (possibly Rota?), Florida (with Kings Bay and Guantanamo), and Great Lakes. If you have any funding avail-able please drop us a line and we will get out there as soon as possible – all travel should be done NLT August to ensure applicants have time to benefit from it. Read the facebook page feed-back about the brief, it really is very informative. We will try and visit the Middle East next year as the aviation detailer provided the brief this year.

FACE BOOK PAGE: We are well over a thousand and the discussion pages are proving to be a gold mine of information and a good pulse of the community. Keep ‘em coming! We were able to use face-book to keep communications open during our time when all computers were down on the Millington base. Join face book (it’s free) and join the group “LDO/CWO COMMUNITY MAN-AGER FORUM” to participate.

NEW LDO/CWO LOGO: No inputs yet – looking for some en-gagement please. LDO/CWO 06/W5 LEADERSHIP SYMPOSIUM: It took a mighty act of nature to postpone the symposium - and it was a monster. The symposium is critical this year so we are moving forward to reschedule – you can tentatively mark

your calendar for 13-15 July. More to follow by separate correspondence once we have everything locked in. For those warriors that did so much to be ready for the May symposium, and cannot make the July one, we thank you for your great work and caring for the community. Particular men-tion for Captain Jim Oakes who has done fantastic work with the Services Enterprise. We wish you fair winds and following seas. Agenda items will include: enterprise call-outs by the enterprise leaders, working groups to investigate promotion boards; in-ser-vice procurement board; CWO com-munity way ahead; education; below zone selections; knife and fork school; and mentoring.

CWO INSIGNIAS: In June 2009 CWO4 Dave Sharpe proposed we change our CWO insig-nia to look more like the Army (i.e. one square equals W1, two squares W2 etc…). Dave made the proposal after he did an IA with the Army as a CWO3 during which he had to continually remind the Army that he was a com-missioned Chief Warrant Officer and not a non-commissioned Warrant (W1) (a Navy CWO3 rank insignia looks like an Army W1). This proposal was forwarded to the CWO5s and received positive feedback and was subse-quently endorsed by the OCM. The proposal should go before the next uniform board and we will announce their decision as soon as we get it.

LINEAL NUMBER ISSUES: Why is this item of interest? Lineal numbers are used to set promotion zones. If you don’t have a lineal you run the risk of not going before the board. If you do not have a lineal number chances are your oath and acceptance (appointment paperwork) is not on file. If you do not have a lineal number and your oath is in your record, send Mitch an email and we can help correct it for you. New ac-

cessions should check for their lineal number after about three months.

NEED TO DO: Ensign fitreps are due in May. E6 Mid term counseling.

In closing, there is nothing I would rather do than serve in our Navy – and it is particularly gratifying having come up from the ranks because we have an in-depth knowledge, from the deck plates up, of what the Navy is all about. Our life blood is the outstand-ing enlisted Sailors out there and that is where we, as a community, need to do a better job engaging. We have got to reach out to those Superstars and discuss the benefits of our pro-gram. Mitch and I can help with our Fleet engagement and that is why we are trying to visit as many locations as possible. We will get them pumped up and excited about being an LDO or CWO. We want our enlisted front-runners out there to enjoy similar suc-cess. I ask for all of you to look back at your journey thus far - it should put a smile on your face. Please reach out to those hot runners in your com-mand and talk to them about this great life – help them see the possibilities and redirect their course.

VR CAPT John R. Jones and

CWO4 Mitch Allenjohn.r.jones@navy.mil

mitchell.allen@navy.mil(901) 874-3042 (901) 874-3044

(DSN 882) Fax (901) 874-2063

Oceana Nurse Earns Top Award at Naval Medical CenterBy Cathy Heimer, Jet Observer

A childhood decision to pursue a career in medicine, along with his drive to succeed, has helped propel Lt. Carmelo Ayala from the Branch Health Clinic (BHC) at NAS Oceana to earn the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) Senior Nurse of the Year.

The announcement of the top awards came just ahead of National Nurses Week, which is celebrated May 6 -12 this year. “I’m very grateful and very humbled by the title. There are a lot of nurses at Portsmouth. I’m just overwhelmed by my selection,” he said. “I work hard but I didn’t know I worked that hard!” Ayala attributes his career success to “a combination of teamwork, mentorship and dedication to hard work. “I’ll give the Navy what they pay me for,” he said. The teamwork and mentorship comes from his staff, the flight surgeons and corpsmen, colleagues, chain of com-mand, and even his friends and his wife, Michelle Ipolani Ayala, all whom have contributed to his success. He reported to BHC Oceana in November 2007, as the assistant head of the Opera-tional Medicine, consisting of audiology, overseas screening, occupational medi-cine and preventive medicine. He also serves as the clinical manager for Aviation Medicine, where his duties include “mak-ing sure all the squadrons are taken care of at NAS Oceana. When they come through this door and they have issues, it’s my job to resolve them and get them seen,” explained Ayala, who is the only nurse in Aviation Medicine. While those duties might seem overwhelm-ing to some, Ayala is more than a little enthusiastic about what he does. “I love my job. I wouldn’t change it.” Previously stationed at the hospital in the Oncology De-partment, he was selected as Junior Nurse of the Quarter, First Quarter 2007. Less than a year after reporting to BHC ceana, he earned the Senior Nurse of the Quarter, Third Quarter 2008. Both quarterly awards put him in the run-ning for the NMCP yearly awards. While he didn’t win the yearly honors then, he joked about “the upward trend” in his awards. Ayala explained his work ethic of “whatever I have to do to get the job done right,” was learned from “salty master

chiefs.” Ayala will sometimes come into his office on Sun-day to catch up on paperwork or other tasks, because “in an eight-hour day, you can’t really do everything,” His routine is to start every day with a task and because he likes to keep his office clear, he tries not to go home until he has completed it. “When I’m given a tasker, I get it done. I do not move on until it’s done. I think people appreciate that,” said Ayala. Throughout his nursing career, he’s has heard the stereo-types about male nurses, particularly from those in the civil-ian sector. But he views being selected for the top honor at

NMCP as the chance to “highlight what we do, how good a male nurse is. It’s an honor to represent all of Portsmouth. There have been a lot of great nurses and most of them I’ve worked alongside.” Growing up in Camden, N.J. Ayala knew early on he wanted to go into the medical field. As a young child, Ayala helped take care of his ill great-grandmother. “I knew I had the talent, the heart for medicine,” he said. The ability to directly help patients as a nurse greatly appealed to Ayala and he set his sights on becoming a registered nurse.

Part of Lt. Carmelo Ayala’s job involves keeping not only Sailors and avia-tors from the squadrons healthy, but also taking care of the staff at the Branch Health Clinic Oceana, including HM3 Drew Kastelic. Ayala, who is the assistant head of Operational Medicine and the clinical manager for Aviation Medicine, was selected as Naval Medical Center Portsmouth’s Senior Nurse of the Year. Photo by MC2(AW/SW) Sara Allison

But with his parents only having an elementary school edu-cation, there was no money for college. So Ayala joined the Navy out of high school “with my greatest goal of becoming an officer and my second [goal] was to be a nurse.” He entered the Navy as a deck seaman more than 20 years ago. So determined to become a corpsman as a junior Sailor, he passed up the opportunity to become a dental techni-cian and go to “A” school immediately. Instead he waited another three years and eight months — “almost another enlistment” for the opportunity to attend HM “A” School. “Earning the right to become a corpsman” was a decision Ayala has never regretted. “I wouldn’t change it for the world,” he said. His dream of becoming a nurse and a naval officer was achieved through the Medical Enlisted Commissioning Pro-gram, where he graduated from Hawaii Pacific University in 2002. Because he credits “the mentorship I’ve received through-out my career,” in helping him to become a commissioned officer and earn awards, Ayala devotes time to help other Sailors achieve the same goals. Ayala is frequently asked for his input on commissioning packages and he is cur-rently reviewing four officer program packages. “Somebody helped me, so I’m trying to help someone else,” he explained, proudly adding 18 Sailors he has as-sisted have been commissioned so far.

Along with his tours at NMCP and Oceana, and an early tour on USS Enterprise (CVN 65), his career has taken him all around the world; to Hawaii on USS Cimarron (AO 177), BHC Makalapa, NAS Barbers Point and with the Marines at Combat Service Support Group 3; to Sasebo, Japan on USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3); California to Naval Hospital Oakland and USNS Mercy (T-AH 19).

Other tours with the Marine Corps include the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade and the 1st Battalion 12th Marines. By any standards, Ayala’s awards and various tours would be considered outstanding. But what most peo-ple don’t realize is that he does all of this despite his

wife, being part of the Exceptional Family Member (EFM) Program, meaning she must be located near a major medi-cal facility that can provide the level of care needed. They have been together most of his career and she has been able to transfer with him to the various duty stations.

“I would only be half of good without her. She’s awesome,” said Ayala. Ayala expects to find out if he was selected for lieuten-ant commander later this year. If selected, he would make another three-year commitment to the Navy and “I’m willing to do that,” he said. “The Navy is a good place to work in the nursing field and I would recommend it to any grad. It’s really great working for the Navy. I’ve had better opportunities in the Navy. I’ve had better camaraderie, better teamwork and people trying to help me,” he explained. “We’re about 2,500 strong in the Navy. That’s not a lot of nurses, so we really try to be a tight group and help each other when we can. I’m very proud of that,” he said.

“Somebody helped me, so I’m trying to help someone else” he explained, proudly adding 18 Sailors he has assisted have been commissioned so far

When is the best time to start preparing for retirement was the question that VADM Edward (RET) Moore asked the forum of LDO’s and CWO’s at the San Diego Mustang Association bi-monthly meeting on March 19, 2010. A few hands went up in response to state 1 month, 3 months, 6 months…to everyone’s surprise he stated it starts earlier than that, but keep in mind that it is never too late to begin. Everyone walked away with some helpful hints that will at least offer a foundation when our time does approach. These helpful breadcrumbs of knowledge may also benefit you.

Retirement can be a dream for some and a nightmare to others. The difference usually hinges upon the individual’s feelings of future financial security. Despite tough times and widespread economic uncertainty, there are still plenty of things that can be done right now to start preparing for the years to come after retirement. To touch upon a few that were presented during the Officer Transition to the Civilian Corporation by VADM (RET) Brown are:

• Start as early as 3 years before you are thinking of retiring

• Gather Information/data from all available resources. Attend TAP class at least once a year prior to retire-ment.

• Have a serious talk with yourself as to what it is you want to do when you retire. 3 minutes alone with your thoughts will go a long way.

• Discuss your plans with your significant other. When networking you never know whom your significant other may meet and have an opportunity to speak with, this could be someone could offer you a position. So your significant other knowing what your plans are can be a benefit when shopping around for where your next job may be.

• Prepare 30-45 seconds (short version) and a 2 min (long version) elevator speech. These speeches will tell others about you. Practice these speeches in the mirror so when it is time for you to utilize them you will feel comfortable and at east telling someone about yourself and what it is you want to do when you retire. We are so use to speaking on behalf of others, but when it comes to us having to tell someone about us we are lost for words.

• Send resume out 6 months prior retirement

• Last and final notes are to Network, Network, and Network.

• Another note is to not worry about transition, its not bad just different.

Preparing for RetirementBy LT Danielle Williams, (SD Mustang Association, Secretary)

The following items are available for distribution. If you are interested in purchasing any of these items please go to the order form on the website, print and mail to us along with payment.

Dark Navy with Gold Navy Mus-

tang Logo - $11.00

White with Navy Mustang Logo -

$7.50

Grey Cotton T-Shirt with Navy Mustang Logo XL and L Only Logo - $10.00

NMA Logo Watch- $15.00

NMA Logo Bumper Stickers with “Up from the Ranks” on them - $2.50

MUSTANG MEMORABILIA SALE

www.navynmustang.org/memorabilia.htm