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FROM THE FANTAILFRA TODAY   NOVEMBER 20164Senior Enlisted Leadership of the 21st Century“A Chief is a mentor, advocate and always a receptive listener.”IT HAS BEEN A NUMBER of years sincemany experienced the “initiation rituals” bestowed upon many of us oldsalts as we climbed the ladder to become Chief Petty Officers (CPOs).During those years, the selectionprocess has evolved and today’s ChiefPetty Officers in the Navy and CoastGuard must demonstrate leadership,especially in community involvement,educational pursuits, in- and out-ofrating knowledge, damage controlproficiencies and non-traditionalleadership assignments. Today’s CPOtraining, while not the sole measureof the perfect leader, is creating solid enlisted leaders and providing agreater value for our military services.Consider the following timeline as thesenior enlisted leadership ranks havedeveloped over the years.According to the Coast Guard’sChief Petty Officer Academy oahistory.asp), the enlistedworkforce received virtually no standards of leadership and managementtraining prior the 1950’s. “World eventsand technological progress forcedchanges in the Nation’s conventionalthinking and political strategies. Theend of the Second World War broughtsignificant budget and manpowercuts without subsequent reductionsin global threats. Both the Asian andEuropean Theater remained active inthe face of Communism’s global spreadwhile both continents relied upon theeconomic stability of the United States.Responsibility for leadership andknowledge of sensitive information expanded from the officer corps into theenlisted workforce as result of globaloperational theaters, advanced technology, and smaller fighting forces.“Along with the spread of communism, significant retention issuesplagued the military in the late 1940sand early 1950s. Increased technicalresponsibility and an advancementsystem with a plateau at E-7 causedsignificant problems in electronic,mechanical, aviation, and rocket technology fields as E-7’s supervised E-7’s. more than 50 percentof today’s seniorenlisted holda Master’s degree.The enlisted personnelbeing recruited todayare older and are moreeducated than thosewho came before.Facing the inability to advance or increase their quality of life, many enlisted members sought opportunity in agrowing national economy. Public Law85-422 was enacted May 20th, 1958creating the E-8 and E-9 pay gradesspecifically to combat this trend. Eachbranch of the service was left to developand train the new roles as they are notdescribed within the law.”Today, the Navy, Marine Corps,and Coast Guard have their own respective senior enlisted leadershiptraining. That training pipeline is intended to greatly expand the futureroles, training, education, and managerial duties of the E-7, E-8, and E-9communities.Tom SneeChief of Naval Operations AdmiralJohn Richardson recently stated thatmore than 50 percent of today’s seniorenlisted hold a Master’s degree. Theenlisted personnel being recruited today are older and are more educatedthan those who came before. Thesecollegiate specialties are particularlynoticed in the disciplines where leadership and technological applicationsare required.The Senior Enlisted Academy’s(SEA) mission is to train and preparesenior enlisted leaders. For the past35 years, SEA has created a strongerprofessional network and fostered agreater sense of responsibility amongits graduates. Its motto says it all:“Leadership, Excellence and Successthrough Knowledge.”The SEA’s success will be measuredby the quality of its graduates from allof the services, as well as internationalstudents who attend as part of exchange programs with other nations.CNO Richardson recently stated thatother nations’ senior Navy leaders areenvious of the quality of leadershipand training the United States provides its senior enlisted communities.I believe senior enlisted leadersin the 21st century must embracea philosophy of collaboration withtheir brother and sister leaders in allbranches of service. Leadership is nota science, but rather a behavior tomodel in the service to others. Its consequences, whether positive or negative, will depend upon its execution tobenefit others.Tom Snee is FRA’s National Executive Director andcan be reached at NEDFRA@fra.org.

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SHIPMATE FORUM6FRA TODAY   NOVEMBER 2016Aerographers Mates MemoriesI was an enlisted AG/commissioned officer, who served more than 40 years. Iknow that you had more material thancould be used, but it would have beennice, for history’s sake, to have had ashort paragraph on the Aerologists/Aerographer Mate’s that made a difference in WWII.My first LPO AGC John P. Bleclic,USN (Ret.), now 95 years old and living with his daughterin Virginia, was one of the early “wanderers of the Gobi.” Iserved in USS Glacier (AGB-4) with him in 1959-62, making three trips to the Antarctic, where a mountain range isnamed after him.Thank you for telling our story.Chuck WhiteIs FRA Truly Democratic?In your “Convention 101” article(October 2016 FRA Today), you saythat “FRA is one of the most democratic organizations.” I’m not sure that is atrue statement. As a long-time memberand retired Navy chief petty officer, Icannot be a “delegate” because I am notin an FRA branch. I’m just a Member atLarge (MAL).I don’t understand why being an MAL causes me tobe less of a member than one who belongs to a branch. Itsounds as if my personal choice to be an MAL makes me alesser member.I treasure your magazine, but if you want me to be moresupportive of your ideas, I won’t recommend changes because you’ve already classified me as a non-entity. Youshould change your comments on “democracy” and ruleson being a “delegate” to conform to your actual practices.Shame on you.Ed M.FRA Response: Thanks, Shipmate. You make an excellentpoint and I suspect your comments reflect the sentiments ofmany MALs. There have been discussions about allowingMALs a stronger voice in the Association, but there have beenno resolutions to make that change in FRA’s Constitution.Hopefully, your comment here will advance that conversation.SBP/DIC OffsetIs there any effort being made to eliminate the SBP/DICoffset for Veteran’s survivors? We finally received the concurrent receipt of Retired Pay and VA Disability Pay for retirees, but what about our spouses? It doesn’t seem to makeany sense to not have the same benefit applied to survivingspouses.Thank you for your outstanding work on behalf of ourShipmates, Retirees, Veterans and spouses.Clair SheffieldFRA Response: FRA has long sought the elimination of theSurvivor Benefit Plan (SBP)/Dependency and IndemnityCompensation (DIC) offset for widows and widowers of service members (H.R. 1594/S. 979). This offset, also known asthe “widow’s tax,” impacts approximately 63,000 widows andwidowers of our Armed Forces. FRA strongly believes thesesurvivors should receive both SBP and DIC benefits withoutthe current dollar-for-dollar offset.Currently this offset is more than 1,200 a month formany survivors. It should be noted as a matter of equity thatsurviving spouses of federal civilian retirees who are disabled veterans and die of military-service-connected causescan receive DIC without losing any of their federal civilianSBP benefits. In 2008, Congress enacted the Special SurvivorIndemnity Allowance (SSIA), which increased graduallyand now pays approximately 25 percent ( 310) of the offset.Unfortunately the legislation that authorizes the SSIA benefitexpires on October 1, 2017. FRA supports extending the SSIAand continued increases to help our widows and widowers.The House version of the FY 2017 Defense Authorization Bill(HR 4909) extends the SSIA for one-year and the Senate version (S. 2943) makes SSIA payment permanent.FRA Disaster Relief FundI have received Disaster Relief for the recent flooding inBaton Rouge, La., and wish to thank everyone involved withthe distribution of the checks. I truly understand the meaning of Loyalty, Protection and Service.Leon PerkinsFRA Response: The FRA Disaster Relief Fund is designed toassist shipmates who, like you, find themselves in challengingsituations. Please see page 14 to learn more about FRA’s support of shipmates in need.Submissions Send Shipmate Forum letters to FRA Today, 125 N. West St. Alexandria, VA 22314. Email submissions may be sent to fratoday@fra.org. Please include“Shipmate Forum” in the subject line. FRA reserves the right to select and edit letters for publication. Letters published in Shipmate Forum reflect the opinions and views of FRAmembers. They do not necessarily reflect the official position of FRA as a whole. FRA is not responsible for the accuracy of letter content.

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ON & OFF CAPITOL HILLFRA TODAY   NOVEMBER 20168Congress Back to Work on NDAA and BudgetAS YOU RECEIVE THIS issue of FRA Today, Congress willbe returning to the Capitol following the 2016 electionsto hopefully complete work on the FY 2017 budget andNational Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Housepassed its version of the NDAA (H.R. 4909) on May 26,and the Senate passed its version of the NDAA (S. 2943)on July 14. A conference committee was appointed to resolve the differences between the two bills. Key committee members, the chairmen and ranking members of theHouse and Senate Armed Services Committees recentlyhad a “closed door” meeting to resolve the two versions.The “Big Four” are Chairmen Sen. John McCain (Ariz.)and Rep. Mac Thornberry (Tex.) and Ranking MembersSen. Jack Reed (R.I.) and Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.). Noneof the legislators provided any specifics about discussions,but Senator McCain stated, “Obviously money is one ofthe issues.”It is unclear how much progress is being made inagreeing to provisions of a final Defense Authorizationbill. What is clear, current and former service membershave much to lose if the final NDAA is approved byJohn Davisthe House and Senate and signed into law by PresidentObama. Efforts to have a final vote on the FY 2017 DefenseAuthorization bill (H.R. 4909/S. 2943) before October 1have failed. It now appears that the NDAA final vote willalso occur during a “lame-duck” session in Novemberfollowing the election. FRA members have been askedto communicate with their legislators through the FRAAction Center and urge them to do all they can to ensurethe following proposals are eliminated in the final bill:Drastically higher health care fee increases;Sharp cuts to housing allowances (BAH) cuts that wouldcost many 10,000- 20,000 per year or more;A fourth consecutive year of limiting military pay raisesbelow the average civilian pay increase; andSignificant cuts to active duty end strength.FRA members and FRA staff have reminded legislators and their staff that similar personnel and benefit cutsin the 1970s and 1990s caused retention problems. Weshould not make the same mistake again. It may not betoo late to use the Action Center (action.fra.org/actioncenter) to weigh in on these issues.ACTIVE DUTY ISSUESContinuing Resolution PassesThe new fiscal year begins October 1st, yet Congress has not completed work on any of the 12 Appropriations (spending) bills forFY 2017. With 3 days remaining before a government shutdown,Senate Democrats were joined by a few Senate Republicans anddefeated a Continuing Resolution (CR)—a temporary spending measure that would keep the government operating untilDecember 9, 2016. The following day the House and Senate finallypassed a 10-week CR (H.R. 5325) to fund the government throughDecember 9, 2016 and avoid a partial government shutdown.President Obama quickly signed the legislation into law, whichincludes 1.1 billion to respond to the Zika virus. The CR containsthe full-year Military Construction/Veterans Affairs (MilCon/VA)spending bill, and 500 million in flood relief for Louisiana andother aff

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