West lays out plans for 2010

[unhappycamper]

On the 2010 to-do list for Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Rick West: speeding up the NWU rollout, mandating warfare qualifications for all sailors and telling chiefs to keep their sailors in line.


West lays out plans for 2010
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 16, 2009 20:37:26 EST

NAVAL AIR STATION JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Navy’s top enlisted man — after spending his first year traveling tens of thousands of miles and taking the pulse of the fleet — is forging his to-do list for 2010. That includes speeding up the regional rollout of the new Navy Working Uniform, making warfare qualifications mandatory for every sailor and reasserting disciplinary power for chiefs through a new instruction.

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SS/SW) Rick West has also taken on the Navy secretary’s call to eliminate sexual assault and harassment in the ranks, saying it’s up to the chiefs’ mess to make it happen.

But equally important, West is taking other items off his plate — choosing to postpone plans to rework evaluations for petty officers and junior sailors, and quashing a plan to rework the disciplinary system in the fleet.

“We’ll kind of hold it out and if it comes to it in the future, we’ll dust it off and take a look at it again,” he said of the evals. “But it’s not something I want to be looking at or focusing on in the near future. We’ve got bigger issues to deal with, ones that affect our sailors more.”

West spoke with Navy Times on Nov. 5 while meeting with his leadership mess — fleet and force master chiefs — in Jacksonville.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/11/navy_mcpon_111609w/