Tax-free weekend ... Shoppers get a break on selected items and school supplies during Florida’s three-day tax holiday, which ends at 11:59 p.m. Aug. 5. For details, check the Florida Department of Revenue’s website at http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/.
Vol. 76, No. 31
VISIT GOSPORT ONLINE: www.gosportpensacola.com
August 3, 2012
CNO delivers message to NATTC Sailors Adm. Greenert reenlists 3, spends 40 minutes answering questions By Steven Vanderwerff NETC PAO
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert speaks to more than 3,700 Sailors during an all hands call July 26 with the students and staff at Naval Education and Training Command at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Photo by MC1 Peter D. Lawlor
The Chief of Naval Operations held an all hands meeting at Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) on board Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola July 26. After entering NATTC’s huge hangar bay, Adm. Jonathan Greenert was welcomed by a crowd of more than 3,700 Sailors from Pensacola training commands as they recited the “Sailors Creed.” Immediately following the Creed, Greenert conducted one of his favorite things to do, reenlisted three NATTC instructors. They were AC1s Chablis Mathis, Jevar Williams
and Eric English. Then the CNO quickly rolled into his message to the Sailors. “We have got to be ready to fight our nation’s wars, and we have to operate forward,” he said. “We are the greatest Navy in the world because we operate forward. There is no one else who can operate like we do. Many countries try, but no one has been able to sustain operations like us. And that means you have to be ready physically, mentally and trained to do your job.” Walking through the audience of young Sailors, Greenert discussed a variety of
See CNO on page 2
Redesign launched for military’s Transition Assistance Program From Secretary of Defense PAO
President Barack Obama recently announced the launch of the redesigned Transition Assistance Program developed by an interagency team from the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Labor, Education and Homeland Security as well as the Office of Personnel and Management and the Small Business Administration. The revamped program, called Transition GPS, is the first major overhaul of the Transition Assistance Program ATFP training scheduled for Aug. 9 at NASP
The NAS Pensacola Security and Fire and Emergency Services will be conducting Antiterrorism Force Protection (ATFP) readiness field training Aug. 9. Giant Voice and other mass notification systems will be employed. For more information, contact Chris Steinnecker, Integrated Training and Readiness, 452-4820.
for military members in nearly 20 years. The effort began in response to a call from President Obama in August 2011 to ensure all service members are “career ready” when they leave the military. “I applaud the leadership of President Obama to bring together government agencies around the goal of enhancing career opportunities for service members,” said Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta. “Our personnel have developed extraordinary technical expertise and world-class leadership skills that are in high demand.
Transition GPS will help military members apply their experience to additional training, formal education, and develop successful civilian careers” “One of our fundamental responsibilities as a government is to properly prepare and support those serving in our military so they are career ready as they transition back into civilian life. With this new initiative, we can better ensure veterans receive the care, benefits and employment services they have earned,” said
Camp for Champions … A group of 20 young people in Florida’s foster care system recently completed the National Flight Academy’s Ambition Aviation in Residence (AIR) program. AT&T teamed up with the Department of Children and Families and Florida’s Foundation to sponsor the camp, which is one of more than a dozen statewide Camps for Champions. Photo courtesy of National Flight Academy
See TAP on page 2
OBAP’s ‘Dream Flight’ brings 150 students to NASP By Alyssa Pettie NASP PAO Intern
Approximately 150 students from Atlanta, Ga., took a “Dream Flight” to Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola aboard a Delta Air Lines 737 July 25 under the leadership of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP). OBAP’s annual Dream Flight enables teenagers ages 14 to 18, often with little to no experience in flying, the chance to engage and network with professionals in the aviation industry. This year, the students toured the
After a full day of activities onboard NAS Pensacola, the participants in OBAP’s Dream Flight gather in front of a Delta Air Line 737 before flying home. Photo by Scott Hallford
National Naval Aviation Museum, the National Flight Academy, the Water Survival Training Facility and TraWing Six
aboard NAS Pensacola. The students even were able to watch the IMAX film, “The Magic of Flight.” While at TraWing
Six, the aspiring aviators met the squadrons of the T-6 Texan II, the T-45 Goshawk and the T-39 Sabreliner, and go to see
these aircraft first-hand. At the Water Survival Training Facility, students witnessed the “helo dunker” in action, as air crews were trained in proper water survival tactics. The museum made a big impression on the students. “My favorite part of the day was the IMAX movie because I got to see how airplanes started and I learned how they use a bird’s wings as a model for real aircraft,” Yuri Johnson, 18, said. Other students such as Travis King, 16, and
See OBAP on page 4
Published by Ballinger Publishing, a private firm in no way connected with the Department of the Navy. Opinions contained herein are not official expressions of the Department of the Navy nor do the advertisements constitute Department of the Navy, NAS Pensacola or Ballinger Publishing’s endorsement of products or services advertised.