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Good morning PSNS and IMF team,
I'm here to talk to you for just a couple of minutes about the email that I sent out
yesterday. You should have either read it, or had it read to you, or the information
provided to you, and if you haven't, that means you've heard the rumors spreading all
over the Command at present. But I am here to talk to you about what that means.
What I have asked for are volunteers. We need you, I need you and the Navy needs you. You
all know we were lucky enough to be exempt. We were exempt for one specific reason, and
that is so that we could deliver ships. The Secretary of Defense, with the CNO, with our
chain of command, determined that having you all furloughed would be too costly to the
delivery of the ships, and therefore to the defense of the nation. It means we've got
to get the maintenance done that we have been asked to get done.
So, I sent out an email. You never get all the information in an email; it's better to
communicate as best you can and since I can't speak with each and every one of you, this
is the best way I know how to go do it. So, I have had questions asked of, "What happens
if I ... you want mechanics, right? You want mechanics who've been off the waterfront for
fewer than five years. What if it was more than five years and I want to volunteer? What
if I wasn't a mechanic? What if I am an engineer? What if I am a lab tech? What if I work for
the Public Affairs Office? What if I work for any number of codes, trades or support
codes?" We want you. That's the answer. We need you.
So, let me tell you exactly what we need you to go do. We are going to attempt to do what
we were asked to do and deliver these ships on time. Jimmy Carter docked right behind
me this evening and we start an availability that is tremendous; it is aggressive and is
very important to get done. We dock the Stennis in a few weeks right down at Dry Dock Six
after that ship has been underway 17.5 months of the past 22 months. We need to get this
work done. We've got Kentucky. We need to get to undocking, get that availability complete
and get that submarine back to the fleet. We've got Connecticut. Connecticut has been
setting records, getting all the milestones done, all the key events done, because they
are focused on the fundamentals. And yet we are still going to move that availability
out because we don't have enough people to do all the work.
So, what does that mean? It means that I need you. I need you to do whatever you want to
do, and I need you to do whatever you can do. We've got water striders that walk back
and forth across the yard. They deliver materials. They deliver tools. They look at a piece of
paper, they are told were to go, were to deliver it. You want to do that? That's fantastic.
Are you an electrical engineer that likes to go down and work with the electricians
in a specific job? What a great idea. Maybe you have the skills to actually do work. Maybe
you have the skills to support. Maybe you're the engineer on the deck plates,
24 hours a day, well, your 8-hour shift, working that job, watching it go through, making sure
it gets done, answering the questions and progressing it.
This is precisely where we think we want to go with product lines. But instead, we now
have the opportunity to show everyone who put the trust in us that we can get the work
done. So, specifically, what we are doing is identifying
critical chains on the projects that are in our Yard right now at Bremerton, and working
those critical chains—finding out what we can help on Connecticut, finishing up Kentucky,
critical chains on Jimmy Carter, critical chains on Stennis—and that means putting
teams together, of all of the talent across the Shipyard.
So ,all of the questions that I have been asked, "What if I didn't carry tools, what
if I did, it's been over 5 years, what if I want to do this?" Yes, the answer is absolutely
yes. "Can I do it if I am a steward?" Yes, talk to your union representative. Everyone
in the Command is welcome to do this, and not only are they welcome, we need you to
do it. I want, next year, when we have the same issue
with our budget, and the same government problems that are going on trying to figure out how
we are going to get things done, with fewer and fewer dollars, I want that decision to
be simple. Absolutely, the Shipyard should be exempt again. Look what they did six months
ago. And we can't look back on the fact that we didn't have hiring, it's been frozen, we
didn't have the people we need. We have to go and make it happen anyway. Only the people
inside of this Yard are going to understand all of the details that occur; outside of
this Yard, they're just going to worry about what did we do with the people we have. And
frankly, we have got the best team and the best talent, so I know that we can go get
it done. If I didn't answer a question in email, you
didn't hear it from your boss, you didn't see it on Facebook, haven't seen it in this
podcast, contact the Public Affairs Office; if they're not sure, they will immediately
walk to my office, I will tell them exactly what I mean, and we will go about doing that.
I'll let you know I have also heard discussions about, what about other things? What about
training? What about Guiding Coalition? What about the A-Team? What about all of the number
of things that are happening across the waterfront? Can those people go to the waterfront? If
they want to volunteer, yes. Right now, I have asked the departments to
look at the people that facilitate all of those issues, and determine if they want to
go, are they volunteering, and if they are not, what would be the detriment to the Command
of just stopping that activity? I don't want to stop an activity if people [want to] go
back to their jobs, and don't go out to support the immediate work we have out on the waterfront.
We have moved availabilities out next year, because we can't do them at their current
schedules. That means that the planning and the other functions to get ready, aren't needed
to happen right now. We need to deliver these ships right now.
So, I want to make sure you understand what I just asked. And to make sure that you understand
that we have our foot *** the accelerator. We are going forward, and we are doing this
very quickly. I want all hands; you have seen the posters
before, Uncle Sam "We want you!" I want you. If you want to go down and help out on the
waterfront, I want you.