A visit to USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19)

080717-N-6566M-025 YOKOSUKA, Japan (July 17 2008)--Pacific Fleet Master Chief (SW/AW) Tom Howard visited USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) and discussed new Navy uniforms, liberty policies, and revised chief petty officer evaluations with ship's company and 7th Fleet Staff Sailors on the ship's mess decks. Blue Ridge is commanded by Capt. Thom W. Burke and serves under Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 7/Task Force (CTF) 76, the Navy's only forward deployed amphibious force. Blue Ridge is the flagship for Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet. Task Force 76 is headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, with an operating detachment in Sasebo, Japan. Official U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Heidi McCormick.

"Standing Orders"

Aloha Shipmates,

Once again, welcome to the Mooring Lines blog.

As I mentioned in my initial post, this blog is for you. Before we truly get started talking about your concerns, issues, ideas, thoughts and more, I would like to remind you that, although this blog is not on the navy.mil domain, it is still an official Web site. With that said, I would ask that the following "Standing Orders" be honored here:
1. This site is an official Navy Web site, and plans are to relocate it to a .mil domain in the near future.
2. Contributions to the content are voluntary and are not part of any Sailor's official duties. Posts and photographs will be reviewed prior to posting.
3. No information is posted that is not deemed acceptable to release through normal public affairs channels.
4. This Web site will comply with all policies and laws regarding the privacy of service members and their family members.
5. This site, including the comment areas, will not be used to air dirty laundry or circumvent your chain of command.
6. While a general disclaimer is included at the bottom of every page, every effort will be made to identify when a writer is expressing his or her own opinions and when he or she is reiterating an official policy.
7. We will not offer personal opinions on, or enter into debates about, our superiors, the government officials or bodies listed in Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or partisan political issues. Commenter's will be similarly moderated.
8. Comments are moderated, and, when possible, commenter's who appear to violate any of these Standing Orders will be given the opportunity to amend their comments. In the event differences of opinion cannot be resolved, we reserve the right to delete comments.
9. No advertising or merchandising for a commercial purpose is permitted on Mooring Lines. Links or comments for a commercial purpose will be deleted.

Welcome Aboard

Hey Shipmates,

I wanted to take a minute and introduce myself to those who may be interested. I'm currently the Fleet Master Chief of the Pacific Fleet, stationed here in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the island of Oahu (yep, Waikiki and Honolulu).

I'm a Sailor first who was a prior Boatswain's Mate (BM) and was almost an Electronics Technician (ET) before that, but was kicked out of ET "A" school for what they referred to at the time as a "non-military" attitude.

I've been in the Navy since February 1982, and like many of you, had planned to get out at the end of each tour.

So what makes me think I can relate to young Sailors' today? I think I pointed that out in the comments above, but aside from that, I'm a common-sense person with a common-sense approach to the issues and challenges that face our Navy and Sailors today.

Why did I start this "blog"? I want to know what you think. The Pacific Fleet is pretty darn big, and I can't be everywhere at once. Our (yours and mine) Navy has got some pretty fantastic leaders in its ranks and hope you take advantage of what they can do for you.

At the end of the day, this blog is for you. Tell me what you think. Keep it clean, but tell me what's on your mind.

Our Navy has changed over the 26 years I've been a Sailor, and it will continue to change over the next 26 years. We need to be a part of it, because I don't want us to be an observer on the sideline.

I travel a ton in the job so be patient if it takes me a while to answer a question or simply to reply to your post.

In the mean time, enjoy your current tour, sail safe and don't let a Shipmate do something they may regret if you have the chance to step in!