VADM DONNELLY: Okay, folks, we’re ready to start the junior officer panel if you could take your seats, please. We just selected at random five junior officers who have completed their sea tour and are assigned at various locations in the Washington, D.C. area. No special criteria were applied, they’re all typically outstanding nuclear trained officers.
We haven’t rehearsed this at all, but I’m going to open it up and I would encourage you to have a question loaded. After they introduce themselves we’ll have a Q&A session. The ground rules are- and we’ll start on your right, my left – and we’ll just go across the whole table here. I’d like each of you to introduce yourself, tell us what your acces sion commissioning source was, tell us what ship you qualified on, what jobs you had on that ship and what job you’re in now. We’ll go down the line and then we’ll start some Q&A.
LT FLEET WHITE III: Thank you, admiral. Good afternoon, ev eryone. My name is Lieutenant Fleet White, a 2012 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. I studied history and economics at the Academy. I ran track and field and went through the nuclear power training pipeline. My first submarine was the USS Olympia, SSN-717 out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. While on the Olympia I was the electrical assistant and the chemistry and radiological assistant. That’s my bio in short.
VADM DONNELLY: And where are you now?
LT WHITE: I now work for the Secretary of the Navy as a White House and Congressional liaison officer in the Pentagon in charge of the Secretary’s correspondence, mostly with members of Congress and any other elected officials for his executive correspondence.
VADM DONNELLY: Great, thanks.
LT KENAN WANG: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lieu tenant Kenan Wang and I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy class of 2011. My first assignment was the USS Louisiana out of Bangor, Washington. My jobs onboard ranged from the engineering division offi cer all the way through weapons division officer. Currently I’m working OPNAV N52, the mine warfare branch, mainly oversight of unmanned vehicles, specifically Knifefish, also the mining portfolio.
LT MICHAEL PLUMMER: Gentlemen, I’m Tommy Plummer. I graduated from Auburn University in 2011. I just came to N97 off of the USS New Mexico, 779. I am the flag aide at N97, which it was pointed out earlier that Admiral billet is gapped, which gives me the best shore duty right now. Mr. Howes was here earlier, so I support him there.
LT MARY COYNE: Thank you, admiral. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Lieutenant Mary Coyne. I commissioned at the University of Notre Dame in 2012 via their ROTC program. I was actually the first woman to go to submarines from that school when it opened up in 2011. I qualified on the USS Maine as a 741 Blue, now just a combined crew. She’s in the shipyard, where I was initially the main propulsion assistant and then I was the communications officer for two years onboard. Following that I have recently reported to George Wash ington University ROTC consortium. We house George Washington, Georgetown, Howard and Catholic, and I am an assistant professor, also known as professional cat herder for my shore duty. I’ll also be starting grad school at Georgetown and I’m a White House social aide. Thank you for having me here.
VADM DONNELLY: Thanks.
LT AYLWARD: (Offmic). I graduated from the Naval Academy in 2012 and qualified on the USS Tucson. I served as the Damage Control Assistant (DCA) and right now I’m the oncoming deputy executive as sistant for N97, so my job is better than Tommy’s right now.
VADM DONNELLY: Great. Why don’t we start from left to right and just answer for me what attracted you to the submarine force? Why did you make that your service selection?
LT AYLWARD: Sure, sir. The people and the missions were what attracted me. I had a summer cruise on the Wyoming when I was at the academy and I was blown away by the quality of both the officer and the enlisted. I loved how the people are challenged there every day. So the people and then the mission on Tucson. I got to do two missions on national security, and they’re incredible. It’s exactly why I joined the Navy. It was great.
LT COYNE: I had a bit of a unique experience because subma rines weren’t an option for me. After the first time I went on one in the summer of 2009, I distinctly remember the interaction with the enlisted sailors onboard the, I believe it was the USS Rhode Island that I went on, and how incredibly proud and interested they were in their work and sharing it with us.
It wasn’t, as I said, an option for me in 2011 when I was actually living in Dublin at the time. It kind of came up as a great opportunity so I figured what the heck, I’m a Poly Sci major, we’ll give it a try, and here I am. So it is by far and away, to answer the question, the people and the challenge that it provides in the community.
LT PLUMMER: I’ll carry Mary’s challenge point a little bit further. I wanted to maintain a career that had me scholastically challenged, but I also wanted to serve in the military. I think the submarine force is the perfect marriage of both of those.
I neglected in the very short instructions you gave us to list the jobs on the boat. I was the EA (Electrical Assistant formerly called the Elec trical Officer), the DCA and then the ENG for a short period of time at the end. But I enjoyed everything that the engineering department had to offer. I liked power school and I liked prototype. What I think is unique about this community is just as difficult as it is to be a military officer, it challenges you in the engineering environment as well. So that’s why I signed up and I definitely enjoy that aspect of it.
LT WANG: Originally my intention in joining the Navy was to fly airplanes. During my fleet summer one of my mates pointed out all the submarine experience and personnel expertise to me, so that got me in terested in the submarine force. I had the opportunity to participate in all the communities across the fleet and just by seeing what the subma rine community does, the mission sets and also just the people from the enlisted personnel to the officers, that solidified my decision to choose submarines.
VADM DONNELLY: Great. Are you a first generation American, Lieutenant Wang?
LT WANG: Yes.
VADM DONNELLY: What is the nationality of your ancestry? LT WANG: Chinese.
LT WHITE: I also, like everyone else, a large reason from my join ing was my midshipmen cruises at the Naval Academy. I went into the Naval Academy not necessarily knowing what I wanted to do when I graduated. I had a plebe summer cruise on the Maryland, and then on the Kentucky and was just blown away, both by the enlisted and officer side. When it came time for me to decide, meeting many of the submariners that were on the Naval Academy yard, I was just highly impressed by all of them. But it was really those submarine cruises that sold me on it, sir. VADM DONNELLY: Okay, so I’m getting the theme here that ex posing midshipmen to submarines during their cruises is important. I already knew that, of course. I’ II ask one more question and then open it to the audience, and anything is game. I’ II ask, starting at this end, for
you to give me the most satisfying thing about your sea tour.
LT AYLWARD: I’m going to have to say the most satisfying thing was actually leaving the boat. The gratification from the crew, just to see that I made an impact while I was there. Just getting to know the guys in my division over time and the farewell I got from them made the whole tour really worth it.
LT COYNE : Absolutely, I completely agree with Jimmy. It’s know ing the face-to-face communications, letters I’ve received saying thank you for what you felt at the time was – you know, you were just kind of spouting hot air and maybe not making an impact. You don’t see it yet. You only see it two years after the fact. It’s being consistent and being present and taking care of people and looking out for your wardroom, especially the younger JOs that follow you, and knowing what a last ing impression you can have on a group of people. It’s extraordinarily humbling, especially people as high quality as submariners. It’s truly an honor and a privilege. I think time and distance is required in order to see that.
VADM DONNELLY: Well said.
LT PLUMMER: I think it’s actually easier to answer this question in this forum because my dad and grandpa are both career Army guys, and for the life of them can’t figure out exactly what it is that I do with my time. They ask this question a lot, what do you think is rewarding about it? So I talk to them about leading a watch team. I’m sure it’s the same as leading a squad. I can’t tell you that as I’ve never led a squad, but when you have a watch team that you built and it’s your sonar super visor and it’s your COW and it’s your pilot, your co-pilot -you guys are familiar with that term, it’s like the chief of the watch in Virginia – and your quartermaster, there’s this sense of pride and sense of ownership.
The boat is going in the direction that you picked. You’re executing
the night orders. That’s an enjoyable experience, that’s a unique experi ence. That’s why I will continue to do this job, because there’s nothing quite like building a watch team and then watching that watch team learn and thrive.
VADMDONNELLY: Great.
LT WANG: I completely agree with Tommy, it’s the sense of family that you build with your watch team, specifically as your watch team ex ceeds and is able to accomplish the mission and do well in the drill. That really gives you a huge sense of accomplishment. The most satisfying experience I had during my last sea tour was on my last patrol.
We were almost at the end of the patrol and we were told we were getting extended for another month. It was a huge impact to the crew morale, especially with the material status on the boat, but together as a boat, me as one of the senior JOs, we were able to lead the crew and carry out the mission and essentially successfully complete the patrol and come back home safely. In talking to my peers outside of the sub marine force, I think a lot of them had that similar type ofresponsibility and experience that I had. I really cherished it and talked to my wife and shared that special memory.
VADM DONNELLY: Great.
LT WHITE: I completely agree with everyone. The progression that I felt from when I first got- really when I first started the whole pro cess, going through power school – I felt it by the time I left, getting to a submarine and not knowing very much. And then I left the submarine while we were on a mission in the western Pacific. That progression, as both Tom and Jim mentioned, of leading a watch team, of seeing it through the deployment work up, and then being the one that is actually making decisions the consequences for which could cost people lives, it was quite an experience. That was probably it.
VADM DONNELLY: Thank you. I think the submarine force of the future is in good hands. Thank you very much, each of you.
(Applause).
