CO’s Corner CDR Buss I came across some notes from when I was doing my Professional Military Education at the Air War College that I thought were worth sharing. We talk a lot about leadership but often overlook what it takes to be a good follower. Many argue that in order to be a good leader, you first have to be a good follower. Below are a few ideas on how to do be a good follower. 10 good rules of followership by Col Meilinger. 1. Don’t blame your boss for an unpopular decision or policy; your job is to support, not under mine. 2. Fight with your boss if necessary; but do it in private, avoid embarrassing situations, and never reveal to others what was discussed. 3. Make the decision, then run it past the boss; use your initiative. 4. Accept responsibility whenever it is offered. 5. Tell the truth and don’t quibble; your boss will be giving advice up the chain of command based on what you said. 6. Do your homework; give your boss all the information needed to make a decision; anticipate possible questions. 7. When making a recommendation, remember who will probably have to implement it. This means you must know your own limitations and weaknesses as well as your strengths. 8. Keep your boss informed of what’s going on in the unit; people will be reluctant to tell him or her their problems and successes. You should do it for them, and assume someone else will tell the boss about yours. 9. If you see a problem, fix it. Don’t worry about who would have gotten the blame or who now gets the praise.
10. Put in more than an honest day’s work, but don’t ever forget the needs of your family. If they are unhappy, you will be too, and your job performance will suffer accordingly. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/au24/meilinger.pdf Dynamic Followership by LtCol LaTour and Rast describes what they believe to be keys to be an effective follower. •
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Displays loyalty (shows deep commitment to the organization, adheres to the boss’s vision and priorities, disagrees agreeably, aligns personal and organizational goals) Functions well in change-oriented environments (serves as a change agent, demonstrates agility, moves fluidly between leading and following) Functions well on teams (collaborates, shares credit, acts responsibly toward others) Thinks independently and critically (dissents courageously, takes the initiative, practices self-management) Considers integrity of paramount importance (remains trustworthy, tells the truth, maintains the highest performance standards, admits mistakes)
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CO’s Corner (Cont’d)
My experience in the military and civilian life leads me to believe that there is a cycle each of us goes through in personal/leadership development. There is a point of disenfranchisement each of us experiences in any organization. For me, it was at the eight or nine year point in the Navy. I watched many of my friends who were phenomenal Officers get out of the Navy and believed that only ones who stayed were those that didn’t have any better alternatives. I was frustrated with the Navy leadership and the constant deployments and envisioned a stable family life with a great job where I never had to deploy. So, I looked outside the Navy and convinced myself that there were better organizations with more competent and capable people. Once out of the Navy, I found just the opposite. It took that experience for me to quit focusing on “what’s in it for me” and to begin to appreciate what an amazing organization the Navy is. I discovered that if you focus only on the negative portion of an experience you can make just about any situation miserable. I learned that a little bit of perspective and optimism go a long way. I began to appreciate those leaders who I “sold out” and resisted as I later discovered they were trying to do the right thing for the right reason (something I did not find in the world of finance, it was all about money). If I would have given their ideas a chance or worked with them instead of against them my experience would have been much different and much more enjoyable. When I came back into the Navy I found that by applying some of the basic followership principles discussed above I was able to become a significantly better
By Pietro Migliorini
MODICA CAPITAL OF CHOCOLATE Not many people know that Sicily is one of the few places in Europe, as well as some Spanish localities, where its possible to taste chocolate as it was produced in the “Pre-Columbian� civilization, in particular by Mexico or Mexican indigenous cultures known in the West as the Aztecs, who dominated central and South America since the thirteenth century. The chocolate of the Aztecs was even deified under the name of "Quetzalcoatl" god of light, of mercy, of the wind, which would have brought with him from heaven in the form of cocoa tree during the descent to Earth. The Spanish who ruled the island of Sicily in 1500 were the carriers of the chocolate in Sicily and the exporters of the manufacturing methods from American Aztecs. Even today in the city of Modica, the chocolate is produced from the seeds roasted and ground, thus obtaining a mass heat to a maximum temperature of 40 degrees, retaining all the characteristics (including cocoa butter) of cocoa, which is then mixed with granulated sugar and spices (vanilla, ginger, chili pepper) thus keeping intact cocoa mass never less than 65 percent. The sugar keeps at the low temperature mixing in cocoa mass intact its crystals that do not arrive to melt or caramelize, as in the chocolates that are more refined here in Italy, known as Swiss chocolate. A visit to the city of Modica will also be an opportunity to admire the typical baroque churches and palaces of the time when the county was the largest in Sicil, during the reign of the Spaniards. Enjoy Modica !!!
Amber Ehrhardt NCTS Ombudsmen My name is Amber Ehrhardt and I have been a Navy spouse for 15 years. Most of our Navy career was spent Virginia, this is our first overseas tour. I grew up in a military family and moved many times as a child so I understand what it is like to be a move to a new place. My husband and I have three children, Jarred 10, Abigail 6 and Allison 3. We have not been here long but I have a love for history and traveling so I plan on taking advantage of all there is to see here in Sicily and in Europe while we are stationed here. I have been an ombudsman at three different commands. As ombudsman, I look forward to meeting all of the COMSTA families and hope that the family members utilize the ombudsman program. I am here to help with questions and concerns you may have, please do not hesitate to contact me.
March 2013 GMT Awardees
ET1 Klingman IT1 Cervantes ET1 Edwards IT2 Bateman IT2 Bean IT2 Bergen IT2 Buechler YN2 Fultz IT2 Terry CE2 Testa ET3 Henry
NAM EIDW EIDW EIDW EIDW EIDW EIDW EIDW EIDW EIDW EIDW
IT3 Vanluesauls IT3 Vient IT3 Amos IT3 Hamblen ET3 Robson ET3 Smiddy IT3 Armstrong IT3 Llanes ITSN Roswell ITSN Arms
Creighton Cup
ET2 Carrithers
EIDW EIDW Good Conduct Good Conduct Good Conduct Good Conduct LOA LOA LOA LOA
By IT1 Long Top 10 Ways to Prepare for Retirement * obtained from multiple sources to include Department of Labor and CNN Money. 1. Save as much as you can as early as you can. Though it's never too late to start, the sooner you begin saving, the more time your money has to grow. Gains each year build on the prior year's -- that's the power of compounding, and the best way to accumulate wealth. 2. Set realistic goals.
Fleet and Family Services
Project your retirement expenses based on your needs, not rules of thumb. Be honest about how you want to live in retirement and how much it will cost. Then calculate how much you must save for retirement to supplement Social Security and other sources of retirement income.
624-4291 3. The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is one of the easiest and best ways to save for retirement.
Military Saves Website
Contributing money to TSP gives you an immediate tax deduction and tax-deferred growth on your savings.
http://militarysaves.org/
4. An IRA also can give your savings a tax-advantaged boost.
Command Financial Specialist
Like TSP, IRAs offer huge tax breaks. There are two types: a traditional IRA offers taxdeferred growth, meaning you pay taxes on your investment gains only when you make withdrawals, and, if you qualify, your contributions may be deductible; a Roth IRA, by contrast, doesn't allow for deductible contributions but offers tax-free growth, meaning you owe no tax when you make withdrawals.
IT1 Mark Long X6962 LS2 Amber Denton x6239
5. Focus on your asset allocation more than on individual picks. How you divide your portfolio between stocks and bonds will have a big impact on your longterm returns. 6. Stocks are best for long-term growth. Stocks have the best chance of achieving high returns over long periods. A healthy dose will help ensure that your savings grows faster than inflation, increasing the purchasing power of your nest egg. 7. Don't move too heavily into bonds, even in retirement. Many retirees stash most of their portfolio in bonds for the income. Unfortunately, over 10 to 15 years, inflation easily can erode the purchasing power of bonds' interest payments. 8. Making tax-efficient withdrawals can stretch the life of your nest egg. Once you're retired, your assets can last several more years if you draw on money from Continued on next page...
(continued) taxable accounts first and let tax-advantaged accounts compound for as long as possible. 9. Working part-time in retirement can help in more ways than one. Working keeps you socially engaged and reduces the amount of your nest egg you must withdraw annually once you retire. 10. There are other creative ways to get more mileage out of retirement assets. For instance, you might consider relocating to an area with lower living expenses, or transforming the equity in your home into income by taking out a reverse mortgage. Financial security in retirement doesn’t just happen. It takes planning and commitment and, yes, money. FACT Fewer than half of Americans have calculated how much they need to save for retirement. FACT In 2009, 13 percent of private industry workers with access to a defined contribution plan (such as TSP) did not participate. FACT The average American spends 20 years in retirement. Putting money away for retirement is a habit we can all live with. Remember3 Saving Matters!
The following Web sites can also be helpful: AARP www.aarp.org American Savings Education Council www.choosetosave.org/asec Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards www.cfp.net/learn Consumer Federation of America www.consumerfed.org The Investor’s Clearinghouse www.investoreducation.org
By: ITSN Roswell - Mt Etna has the longest period of documented eruptions in the world. - The volcano has experienced more than 200 eruptions since 1500BC. - Etna's most powerful recorded eruption was in 1669, when explosions destroyed part of the summit and lava flows reached the sea and the town of Catania which is more than ten miles away. - Etna's longest eruption began in 1979 and went on for thirteen years. - There have been two attempts to control the path of lava flows threatening to destroy the town of Catania. The first was in 1669, and the second was in 1992. During the 1992 attempt, the United States Marines worked with Italian volcanologists to develop a plan, in which they used explosives to blast a hole in a lava tunnel on Etna's flank and then dropped large blocks of concrete into the hole to try and stem the flow of the lava. - Mount Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe. - Mount Etna is a stratovolcano, which means that it is a composite cone that rises dramatically to a relatively small summit center. - In more than a thousand years of recorded history, 77 deaths have been attributed to Mount Etna.
The most recent series of eruptions happened during the early morning hours of February 19, 2013, when glowing fountains of lava erupted from Mount Etna's southeast crater. Four separate outbursts were recorded within about a 48-hour period. It hasn't exploded with successive episodes such as this since at least 2000. During the night of Feb. 23, the volcano unleashed a remarkable explosive volley, producing lava fountains that towered 800 meters over the crater. Let’s try to put a 800-meter lava fountain into some perspective. 800 meters is 2,624 feet. The height of the Empire State Building in New York is 1,454 feet. So, lava was fountaining from the crater on Etna as high as Sources: http://www.volcanolive.com/etna.html,http://geology.com/volcanoes/etna/,http:// traveltips.usatoday.com/mount-etna-volcano-italy-3393.html,http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2013/02/ february-19-2013-eruption-of-mount-etna.html,http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/02/ stunning-lava-fountains-from-italys-etna/
The NAS Sigonella Religious Ministries Department hosts four life-enriching events provided by CREDO EURAFSWA – an organization specifically trained for providing resilience resources for the military family. CREDO stands for: Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation The course descriptions, dates, and times are listed below. Retreats are open to all U.S. military personnel and their family members and on a space-available basis for U.S. citizens employed by the DoD and their family members. All lodging, meals and transportation to and from the retreat site are provided free of charge. For questions and registration, please contact the NAS Sigonella Religious Ministries Department at 624-3975 or 9049 or at either of the chapels (bldgs 317 or 742). Reservations for each training session must be completed by COB, Friday, 29 March. One Day Marriage Workshop April 3, 2013 from 0800-1600 Location: NAS 1 Chapel The Marriage Workshop will help couples understand how communication and behavior styles affect the way they act and react toward each other. Family Growth Retreat April 5-7, 2013 Location: Catania Sheraton Families are the foundation of our community. We want them to be strong and endure. The Family Growth Retreat is designed to teach patterns and skills that support a healthy family life. Applied Suicide Intervention Training(ASIST) April 9-10, 2013 Location: NAS 1 Chapel Our goal is to train suicide prevention first-responders in each shop of the command. Each life taken is a tragedy that has a devastating impact on many. Gain the skills needed to identify the warning signs by applying a proven and highly successful intervention model. Personal Resiliency Retreat April 12-14, 2013 Location: Catania Sheraton Personal, spiritual, and relational themes are central to this retreat. Enjoy private reflection and community discussion.
Address PSC 812 BOX 3290 FPO AE 09627-3290
Command Numbers CWO: COMM: 011-39-095-86-5553 DSN: 314-624-5553
QD: COMM: 011-39-095-86-5521 DSN: 314-624-5521 News Article from Gazzetta del Sud LunedĂŹ 25 Febbraio 2013
Website www.public.navy.mil/ fcc-c10f/navcomtelsta/ Pages/default.aspx
Facebook Group: NCTS Sicily
Editors IT1 Shelly Espin IT2 Katie Dale ET3 Courtney Robson ITSN Jesse Roswell
Photographer IT1 Daniel Enderle
Questions or comments?
IT1 Espin: 624-5553
Translation: U.S. military Station U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, Saturday afternoon they rolled up their sleeves to clean up the beach of San Giovanni Li Cuti and spaces of the waterfront front square Neptune. This voluntary environmental initiative, saw the collaboration of young people of the Interact Club Catania, South Catania, Misterbianco, Association Students, and New Students. An extraordinary cleaning operation of the Black beach and a huge section of the waterfront, saw the synergy between the local Interact Clubs and the U.S. military, that participated once again in the program of friendship with the local communities, called Community Relations, which sees them engaged for years in projects to raise awareness, respect for the environment and voluntary organizations, to benefit of parishes and charitable institutions of eastern Sicily. This cleanup has been done for the recycling of all trash collected. The event was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Catania West. -Translation by: Mario Panebianco