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Archive for the ‘Navy’ Category

US Navy Issues Uniform and Grooming Policy Update

Tuesday, May 31st, 2022

Last week the US Navy issued a NAVADMIN message to the fleet updating naval personnel on the latest changes to its uniform and grooming policy.

Only one issue affects all personnel and that’s the direction to wear the black cold weather parka (CWP) rank insignia on all uniform components with rank tabs except during tactical training and operations. That will make it a bit easier to discern rank on the different uniform combinations. In 2020, this practice was authorized as an option. Now it’s mandatory.

Probably the most significant update doesn’t even affect active duty Sailors but rather applies to Retired Navy personnel (males only), allowing the wear of beards in uniform during authorized ceremonial events. Well fellas, you can have a beard in uniform, AFTER you retire.

The changes are below:

Female Hosiery

Effective immediately, wearing hosiery with slacks or skirts is optional vice mandatory for female Sailors when wearing pumps or flats footwear. When hosiery is not worn, shoe liners or no-show socks are required to be worn for hygienic purposes and to avoid abrasions or blisters caused by direct contact and rubbing between the foot and shoe.

Female Officer/Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Summer White Uniform

Effective immediately, the female officer/CPO summer white uniform belted slacks are re-designated as a basic component of both summer white and service dress white uniforms. This policy change facilitates use of the same slacks for either uniform.

Female Officer/CPO Service Dress White Uniform

Effective immediately, the beltless dress white slacks worn with the female officer/CPO Service Dress white uniform is re-designated as an optional vice mandatory component for purchase and wear.

Rank Insignia Worn on Rank Tabs

Effective 1 October 2022, all Navy Service Members will wear the black cold weather parka (CWP) rank insignia on all uniform components with rank tabs. Uniform components requiring the black rank insignia in addition to the CWP include the Navy working uniform (NWU) type II and III shirts and parkas, black fleece liner and brown fleece liner. Matching pattern NWU type II/III rank insignia will only be worn on the NWU type II/III during tactical training and operations as designated by the applicable commanding officer.

Retired Male Sailor Uniform Grooming Standards

Effective immediately, retired male Sailors are authorized to have facial hair (beard) when wearing Navy uniforms during authorized ceremonial events. Facial hair must be neatly groomed and be in keeping with a professional appearance.

NWU Type III Maternity Top

Redesign of the NWU type III maternity top is in progress to include the ability to add shoulder patches to align with the design of standard NWU shirt. The availability of the redesigned maternity top will be announced in a future NAVADMIN.

F-35C Brings Advanced Strike Capabilities to Jungle Warfare Exercise

Tuesday, May 31st, 2022

SAN DIEGO – As 3rd Marine Division recently commenced Jungle Warfare Exercise 22 (JWX 22), a large-scale, joint force exercise, Marine Wing Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 integrated the capabilities of the F-35C Lightning II. VMFA-314 supported ground operations from their position deployed onboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), displaying their ability to deliver long-range strike capabilities and close air support from an aircraft carrier.

VMFA-314, the first Marine squadron to deploy the F-35C, continued to demonstrate its proficiencies during JWX 22 by conducting simulated offensive and defensive air support, as well as air-to-ground support training missions alongside the Marines of 1st Marine Air Wing, Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces and the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group in support of Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO).

“The opportunity to work alongside Navy and Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces allows us to demonstrate our forward presence and to showcase our readiness to support real world operations,” said Lt. Col. Brendan M. Walsh, VMFA-314 Commanding Officer. “Leveraging the Marine Corps’ decade of experience with the F-35B, we have spent the last two years working with the Navy to ensure the successful integration of the F-35C into the Carrier Air Wing and are now able to provide improved battlespace awareness and unmatched lethality.”

The integration of VMFA-314 and the F-35C into the Carrier Air Wing enables U.S. naval forces the ability to launch and recover fifth-generation aircraft from nearly anywhere in the world and to relocate to new strategic locations. The employment of the F-35C provides Marine ground units stealth capabilities and combat power to create the conditions for follow-on operations within key maritime terrain.

Exercises such as JWX 22 allow squadrons operating the F-35C to integrate tactics in conjunction with ground forces to help advance expeditionary capabilities such as EABO. These rehearsals of engagements will serve to reduce response times of forward-deployed units and support the continued prosperity, security and promise of a free and open, rules-based order for the U.S. and its alliances and partnerships.

With continued deployments of fifth-generation fighters onto highly mobile aircraft carriers, the F-35C is able to provide precision long-range strike capabilities to allies while also garnering valuable intelligence from areas of operation, all while operating from at-sea or shore-based austere environments.

VMFA-314 was the first Marine Corps squadron to transition to the F-35C variant of the joint strike fighter after retiring its legacy F/A-18A/C aircraft and receiving its first F-35C on Jan. 21, 2020. Now as the Marine Corps continues to develop as a modernized naval force, deploying squadrons such as VMFA-314, to key strategic maritime locations demonstrates the Marine Corps’ capability to deter adversary aggression, and if required, decisively win in conflict.

Written by Capt Charles Allen, 3rd MAW Communication Strategy and Operations Office. 

NAVWAR Highlights the Power of Information for Modern Warfare at Sea-Air-Space 2022

Thursday, April 14th, 2022

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) joined commands from across the information warfare (IW) community to discuss the power of information on the modern battlefield at the Navy’s IW Pavilion during the 2022 Sea-Air-Space Exposition at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland April 4-6.

Now in its sixth year at the event, the U.S. Navy IW Pavilion featured a leadership speaker series, an engagement zone and technology demonstrations, with collaboration and alignment at the forefront as a top priority in today’s constantly evolving cyber and technology environments.

During the event, NAVWAR leaders touched on technology challenges, discussing the use of digital engineering, research, development, delivery and sustainment of IW solutions to highlight how the command aims to build a more agile and innovative force that can use information anytime and anywhere by modernizing and better defending information technology (IT) systems.

As a part of the leadership speakers’ series, NAVWAR’s chief engineer, Rear Adm. Eric Ruttenberg, emphasized the need for digital tools and a shift of mindset for their use.

“The future of global maritime superiority is digital and NAVWAR is leading the Navy’s efforts in making that future a reality,” he said. “We have already begun employing world class commercial best practices that deliver faster and more secure information warfare capabilities to the Fleet to ensure the developers, operators, and maintainers have what they need to preserve and extend U.S. maritime leadership not only in today’s operating environment but also in the highly digitized one of the future.”

He went on to explain the process, policy and efficiency efforts that would lead to the end goal of artificial intelligence and machine learning-enabled systems and automated battle management aids for on demand access regardless of the operating setting.

Further, he also addressed the need for a hybrid cloud computing environment to provide the warfighter with any data, at any time, and any place. The advantage to the hybrid cloud concept stems from its integrated and adaptable technology infrastructure comprised of physical data repositories, cloud-based data and applications stored in both public and private clouds, and data applications stored on-premises. Ruttenberg also noted that a hybrid cloud “provides quick access to all necessary data regardless of classification level for ease of cross-domain movement.”

Leaders from Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic reinforced Ruttenberg’s points as they provided an overview of the command to educate attendees on the main priorities and technical areas of the mission.

“Our NIWC Atlantic team is a unique and critical connection point to the warfighter, in that we research, develop, engineer and deliver technology that brings the full power of information to the fight,” said Capt. Nicole Nigro, NIWC Atlantic commanding officer. “To move at the operational velocity required in this domain, we are intensely focused on leading digital practices that include cybersecurity, automation, model-based systems engineering, DevSecOps, artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics – areas that ultimately drive data-informed, human-driven decisions necessary for mission success.”

As it has in previous years, the IW Pavilion featured an engagement zone, where attendees had the opportunity to join Navy leaders, program managers and other subject matter experts for informal, sit-down conversations in multiple sessions throughout the three day conference. These dialogues help to connect government and military leaders with industry partners with the goal of improving and modernizing capabilities for the fleet, as quickly as possible.

“As the Navy’s systems command for a warfighting domain that can change in a matter of minutes, it’s critical to give our industry partners clear direction on where we are going, what our needs are, and why,” said NAVWAR Executive Director John Pope. “It’s been extremely beneficial to connect with industry partners, no matter how big or how small, so they can understand how they can contribute to the larger Navy capability picture.”

The IW Pavilion also featured several technology demonstrations that impact Sailors today, including Program Executive Office Manpower, Logistics and Business Solutions’ (PEO MLB) MyNavy Human Resources (HR) IT Solutions, unmanned underwater vehicles from Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, the Joint Communications Marketplace from the Joint Tactical Networking Center and the U.S. Naval Observatory’s atomic clock.

“MyNavy HR IT Solutions creates and maintains mobile apps that allow Sailors to accelerate and manage their careers through digital solutions,” said Christine Rodriguez, program executive officer of PEO MLB. “Attendees got to experience live, interactive demos of the mobile apps we have developed for the Navy and learned how to get an app added to the Navy App Locker, home to the Navy’s official apps that touch the lives of every Sailor in the Fleet.”

MyNavy HR IT Solutions is one of PEO MLB’s service portfolios, serving as the single IT acquisition agent providing life cycle management supporting the Navy’s human resources IT capabilities.

Hosted by the Navy League of the United States, the Sea-Air-Space Exposition is now the largest maritime exposition in the United States and continues as an invaluable extension of the Navy League’s mission of maritime policy, education and sea service support.

From Kara McDermott

TacJobs – U.S. Navy Offering $25,000 Enlistment Bonus to ALL New Enlistees

Monday, April 11th, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 11, 2022 – The United States Navy Recruiting Command is offering an enlistment bonus of $25,000 to anyone who enlists Active Duty. The Navy is the only U.S. military branch currently offering this high of an enlistment bonus for any new enlistee. Depending on an enlistee’s rating, the enlistment bonus could be as high as $50,000.

Those who take advantage of the Navy’s new bonus program will be required to ship to Basic Training at Great Lakes, IL, between April-June, 2022.

The $25,000 bonus also applies to Active-Duty enlistees scheduled to ship to Basic Training in July-September, who are willing to roll into the shipping months of April-June. In addition, Prior Service Members, either Navy or other services, re-enlisting onto Active Duty in pay grade E-4 or below, and who meet specific bonus eligibility and have not received a bonus in their first enlistment, also qualify for the $25,000 bonus.

To learn more about the range of bonuses and benefits the U.S. Navy offers, please visit www.navy.com/joining-the-navy/enlistment-bonuses

Naval Special Warfare Celebrates 60th Anniversary of SEAL Teams

Tuesday, January 11th, 2022

SAN DIEGO, Calif. and NORFOLK, Va. (Jan. 7, 2022) – Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC) rang in the New Year with a celebration of their own as this month marks sixty years since the establishment of the first SEAL teams.

Recognizing the need for an increase in special forces and unconventional warfare during the Vietnam War, President Kennedy directed the Secretary of Defense to increase and reorient U.S. special forces and unconventional warfare units in a speech to Congress, May 25, 1961.

“Our nation’s Naval commandos celebrate the 60th anniversary of the SEAL teams this week with President John F. Kennedy’s order to establish SEAL Team 1 and 2 in January 1962,” said Rear Adm. H.W. Howard III, commander, NSWC. “We’re reminded of the legacy that set our standard and the heroes whose shoulders we stand upon today.”

Within eight months, preexisting Underwater Demolition Teams provided the manpower required to establish the first SEAL teams at Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Coronado, California, and NAB Little Creek, Virginia, Jan. 1, 1962. Their mission was to conduct unconventional warfare, counter-guerrilla warfare and clandestine operations.

“As we urgently adapt and innovate to meet new threats and missions of greater complexity and risk, we honor the stewardship, integrity, grit and gallantry that the founding members of our community demonstrated in their service,” said Howard. “In marking this milestone, Naval Special Warfare also celebrates our authentic and timeless team – a team anchored on earned trust, candor, creativity and resilience – a humble team with an ironclad commitment to the nation and all we serve.”

The Naval Special Warfare (NSW) community’s history pre-dates the establishment of the SEAL teams by twenty years. In August 1942, the Amphibious Scouts and Raiders (Joint) and the Special Mission Naval Demolition Unit were established at Amphibious Training Base Little Creek, Virginia, to perform specific missions during Operation Torch – the allied invasion of North Africa – in November 1942.

“Our community is built upon the shoulders of the warriors who came before us,” said Capt. David Abernathy, commodore, Naval Special Warfare Group 1. “The high standards, unique capabilities, strength and diversity found across the NSW community today is a direct reflection of those first SEALs who paved the way.”

Capt. Donald G. Wetherbee, commodore, Naval Special Warfare Group 2, said that throughout the community’s 80-year history, naval commandos engaged in operations from the beaches of North Africa and Normandy, the islands of the Pacific, Korea and Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, to countless other areas of the world – on land and under the sea.

“Today’s SEAL teams, along with other components of Naval Special Warfare, represent a unique ability to access denied environments, providing scalable kinetic and non-kinetic effects that set the conditions to undermine adversary confidence and provide diplomatic leverage in competition, and higher end options in crisis and conflict,” said Wetherbee. “At the same time, the incredible leadership, cognitive attributes and character of our people remain the same as they did from day one of our community’s birth. I’m truly humbled to have the privilege of working with the men and women of Naval Special Warfare every day.”

From Scouts and Raiders, Naval Combat Demolition Units, Operational Swimmers, Underwater Demolition Teams, and the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons of World War II to now SEALs, Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) and special development groups, Naval Special Warfare is a complex and humble community who is proud of its warfighting heritage.

NSW commands will celebrate this milestone all year long by hosting events and ceremonies, as well as releasing stories and social media posts that highlight the rich history of SEAL operators to honor NSW’s proud warfighting heritage, give insight into how special operators integrate with the fleet for distributed maritime operations, and highlight the capabilities NSW assets bring to the strategic competition.

Since 1962, Naval Special Warfare has been the nation’s premier maritime special operations force – a highly reliable and lethal force – always ready to conduct full-spectrum operations, unilaterally or with partners, in support of national objectives, and uniquely positioned to extend the Fleet’s reach, delivering all-domain options for Naval and joint force commanders.

For more news from Naval Special Warfare Command, visit www.facebook.com/NavalSpecialWarfare or www.nsw.navy.mil.

Courtesy Story by Naval Special Warfare Command

Navy Kicks off Maternity Uniform Pilot Program – Here are the Details

Monday, December 20th, 2021

WASHINGTON – Having a baby is a joyous time that can also be stressful and expensive. To relieve some of that stress, the Navy and the Department of Defense launched a pilot program to provide maternity uniforms at no cost to the Sailor.

Announced Dec. 15 in NAVADMIN 284/21, this pilot program will test the idea of issuing expectant mothers maternity uniforms, fully hemmed with all required sewn-on accoutrements and shipped at no cost to the Sailor. The program will officially commence January 2, 2022.

“The pilot will run for the next four years and expires on Sept. 30, 2026. Program can support up to 400 Sailors annually starting in calendar year 2022.” said Robert B. Carroll, head of the Navy Uniform Matters. “It’s open on a first-come, first-served basis to officers and enlisted in the active and reserve components worldwide. Following years may support more Sailors consistent with both pilot demand and funding we’ve been provided.”

Sailors will be issued the uniforms with no costs coming out of their pockets, shipped to them free of charge from the Navy Exchange. However, Sailors will be required to turn the items in once their maternity period is over. Participating in the program more than once over the four years is allowed.

Issued maternity uniforms will be the Navy Working Uniform Type III and Service Khaki for E7 and above, and the Navy Service Uniform for E-6 and below. Service Dress Whites and Blues dependent upon the Uniform needed and the Cardigan Sweater will also be issued.

Only the main uniform items, such as blouses, shirts and pants will be issued along with hemming and all required sewn-on accoutrements attached as required.

Participation starts with Sailors routing a request through their chain of command. Once approved, their local Navy Exchange (NEX) uniform shop will measure each for their uniform items. Sailors then forward the request and measurements to the points of contact listed in the NAVADMIN, who review the Sailor’s record for final approval.

Once final approval is done, the Sailor’s information is forwarded to the NEX Call Center by the Uniform Matters Office team. The NEX Call Center will contact the participants directly.

The complete process, details and points of contact are in NAVADMIN 284/21.

Navy uniform policy updates result from Fleet feedback, uniform working group discussions; command sponsored requests and direction from Navy leadership.

From MC1 Mark D. Faram, Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs

Competitors Show Off Innovative Thinking at HACKtheMACHINE Unmanned

Tuesday, December 14th, 2021

SAN DIEGO – This year’s HACKtheMACHINE Unmanned competition, held Nov. 16-19, virtually brought together nearly 1,000 competitors in the first of a series of public-facing technology challenges designed to accelerate the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Task Force, forging valuable partnerships between the Navy, industry and academia to create new, high-end unmanned capabilities.

Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), this technology competition encouraged creative “hackers” to help meet the needs of the Fleet by developing and integrating unmanned and autonomous systems at scale.

Chief of Naval Research, Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, helped kick off the event, speaking about innovating in the Navy, including the notion of “the small, the agile, the many.” The idea behind that is they look at small, attritable autonomous platforms and build them quickly and at scale, to complement the larger, expensive platforms that form the bulk of the Fleet and Force. For more information about their new vision, read their press release: ONR Chief Unveils New Vision to Reimagine Naval Power.

“The centerpiece of my strategy to reimagine naval power as Chief of Naval Research is built on a few key themes. First, we are living in a time of incredible technological change, and we must meet the moment with bold action. Second, we will introduce the idea of Strategic Hedge against an alternative future. Third, we have a plan to synthesize the most creative and potentially game changing ideas of the last three decades into a plan of action,” said Selby. “Finally, we conclude with a call to action, which all begins with exploring digital challenges at HACKtheMACHINE.” 

Although participants competed virtually, event organizers and Navy personnel were on-site in San Diego to oversee and facilitate the competition, which was streamed live via YouTube and StreamYard.

There were three tracks for participants to compete in: Hack the Pilot, Detective Bot and Top Model. Each challenge fell into a different focus area – maritime cyber, data science and digital engineering, respectively – to appeal to a broad range of talents and skill sets. The Navy’s Cybersecurity Office (PMW 130) sponsored and developed the challenges for the Detective Bot track, as a way to pursue artificial intelligence/machine learning (AL/ML) tools that can distinguish benign from malicious code.

PMW 130 provided a dataset with thousands of malicious and benign code samples to see who can take inefficient AI/ML techniques developed with unlimited resources ashore and adapt them to efficient and effective cyber solutions on smaller afloat and autonomous platforms.

“The competitors at this year’s HACKtheMACHINE had to solve some really tough challenges,” said Mike Karlbom, PMW 130 Technical Director of AI/ML. “We were excited to welcome so many different participants, who were able to show off their data science skills and creative thinking in these tracks. This event shows the importance of bringing together smart people, from a variety of backgrounds, to drive innovation and collaboration.”

In the Hack the Pilot track, participants were provided with an auto piloting system and challenged to test and identify all vulnerabilities in the code base.

In the Top Model track, participants were given a set of mission goals and asked to build a simulation scenario of a wide-area search. Then, they created model-based solutions for defined situations within the created model. Finally, they determined whether their created solutions could outperform a heterogeneous collection of objects combatting the scenario.

Also at the event, PMW 130 announced the winner of their third prize challenge in the Artificial Intelligence Applications to Autonomous Cybersecurity (AI ATAC) Challenge series. The winner of the challenge and the $750,000 prize was Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK), a data platform leader. Their submission, Splunk® SOAR, had the best performance based on the criteria of the challenge, which focused on enhancing the Security Operations Center using AI and/or ML tools to automate the detection and prevention of advanced persistent threats and other cybersecurity campaign activity.

A technology competition run annually by the Navy since 2016, HACKtheMACHINE events have been previously held in five cities nationwide: San Francisco, Austin, Boston, Seattle and New York. This year’s Unmanned challenge took advantage of a virtual setting and focused on AI/ML and digital engineering to accelerate the process of reimagining naval power.

The next HACKtheMACHINE event is scheduled to be conducted live in Miami, Florida in April 2022.

From Lily Chen

Royal Australian Navy Rolls Out Multi-Cam Uniforms

Friday, November 19th, 2021

The RAN began their rollout of the Maritime Multi-Cam Pattern Uniform in the warmer tropical areas of the Northern Territory and North Queensland last month and is expected to be delivered to all other units by the end of 2022.