NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Virginia. — The new chief of naval operations fielded sailor questions on paternity leave, training and everything in between in his first all hands call. In only his second official day on the job, the Navy's top officer on Tuesday invited questions from a near-capacity crowd at the base theater. Sailors wanted to know about synthetic training, paternity leave, and everything in between. And in an informal poll, mother gave the new boss an assessment of fleet morale.
Adm. John Richardson, who tookassumed the CNO reins reigns as chief of naval operationon FridaySept. 18, answered each query with the calm poise of a former submarine skipper. common to a sub commander. He identified four priorities for the Navy on his watchcategories that will characterize the Navy going forward: Safety and integrity, accountability and assessment, creativity and initiative, and resilience.
A sailor's request to boost paternity leave was the first to receive a round of applause. Richardson said the policy is driven by the Pentagon and signed into law by Congress, but promised to take the request to appropriate leaders.
Sailors aired a variety of grievances. Some were unhappy that food and housing allowances are included in calculating base childcare costs. Fielding an new improved flame-resistant coverall was a popular topic; CNO said he is in favor, but "we have some work to do." Richardson said shorter deployments "are achievable," and by fiscal year 2017 none will last longer than seven months, barring an emergency or war. contingency).
In closing, the CNO conducted an informal poll to measure the morale of the force. The majority said it was good, with about 20 percent who view it as high and about the same number seeing it as poor. Roughly 20 percent said it was poor, the majority said it was good, about 209 percent said it was good high, a small minority categorized it as excellent, and sailors in single digits said it was outstanding. Richardson thanked them for their perspective.
This was Richardson's first All Hands Call as CNO, and it was not the typical format.
Richardson nswered questions alongside While a CNO typically flies solo at such events, Richardson was joined by Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (AW/NAC) Mike Stevens — a team approach that will be more common, the MCPON told Navy Times. The duo also answered took a new approach by allowing questions via Twitter and Facebook. This step will help ensure that every question gets a response, now or later, While this enabled shy sailors to submit questions, it also ensured every question could be answered, if not in person then in later response, said Cmdr. Chris Servello, the CNO's spokesman.
