What an honor to have Rear Admiral French speak to us this morning. He was funny...a couple of jokes to begin with (at Army and Air Force expense) and then into his presentation: The Importance of Leadership in Trying Times.
The Navy is working across all Armed Services and specifically has been working on 1 strategy across three services. This Maritime Strategy provides framework and supports not only the 4 core missions that have been relevent since World War II but they have added two other core missions: Maritime Security (pirates have become a problem again on the high seas) and Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response/Recovery Action (responds to worldwide disasters and provides humanitarian aid throughout the year).
Rear Admiral French spoke of the Pacific Partnership and a program that sends HSN Mercy (hospital ship) to areas in the Western Pacific to render humanitarian aid in non-emergency times. He told a story of an 11-year old boy who was provided glasses from this program and being in the room when he put on the glasses (his vision was 20/2000) and what an impact that made not only on the boy and his parents but how these small contributions from the Navy really affect a whole village.
Having a hard time keeping up with him. He is talking about all kinds of initiatives that are really cool -- new initiatives from junior Naval personnel in using decommissioned security systems to keep our troops safe in war zones, recycling and diverting waste and child care/development program that just saved $12 million.
The session is being taped and sponsored by Rippetoe Solutions Group so am hoping that it will be posted to VenueNet so you can be inspired as well.