fall 2009 the chronicle 1 - u.s. navy hosting€¦ · fall 2009 the chronicle 3 on the cover an...

The ChronicleFall 2009 1

The Chronicle2 Fall 2009

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon addresses cadets, faculty, veterans and guests during a Nov. 6 observance at the Military Magnet Academy in Charleston which honored our nation’s veterans. An Education Partnership Agreement with the Military Magnet Academy aims at improving science, mathematics and engineering education. See story on page 11. At left, Principal Anderson Townsend, Urbon and Cadet Col. Jefferson place a wreath at a memorial that includes rifles, boots and a soldier’s helmet.

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon addresses cadets, faculty, veterans and guests during a Nov. 6 observance at the Military Magnet Academy in Charleston which honored our nation’s veterans. An Education Partnership Agreement with the Military Magnet Academy aims at improving science, mathematics and engineering education. See story on page 11. At left, Principal Anderson Townsend, Urbon and Cadet Col. Jefferson place a wreath at a memorial that includes rifles, boots and a soldier’s helmet.


On the coverAn M-ATV awaits C4I integration at SSC Atlan-tic, where prototyping, testing, integration, in-stallation and quality as-surance of all advanced electronic communica-tions equipment is ac-complished. Photo by Joe Bullinger. See story on page 6.

InsideInsideFall 2009 Vol. 15, No. 4

Commanding Officer .......... Capt. Bruce UrbonActing Technical Director .......... Ken Slaughter

SSC Atlantic’s Mission

To provide quality full-service systems engineer-ing and acquisition to rapidly deploy capabilities to the Naval, Joint and National Warfighter through the development, test, evaluation, production, and fielding of sustainable, survivable and interoperable Command, Control, Communications, Comput-ers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Information Operations, Enterprise Information Services and Space capabilities that enable knowl-edge superiority.

The Chronicle is a quarterly publica-tion designed for SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic employees. Its purpose is to inform, educate, entertain and generate new ideas. An official publication, The Chronicle is printed using appropriated funds in compliance with Document Automation and Production Service regulations. Contents of The Chronicle are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy or SSC Atlantic.

To view The Chronicle online, visit http://enterprise.spawar.navy.mil, click on “SSC Atlantic” under “Field Activities” on the left, click on “Charleston” on the right, then “Chronicle.”

P.O. Box 190022North Charleston, SC 29419-9022

Editor .........................................Susan PiedfortCommand Photographer ..............Joe Bullinger

TheTheChronicleChronicle

Captain’s Call .................................4Miller named Technical Director ............5Congressional days across Atlantic ......10Cyber security explored ..................14Leadership classes to hit the road ......16New Orleans team enhances NSIPS ....18SSC Atlantic’s next generation ..........22Triathlete Cromer tests his limits .......28Patriot Day/Day of Caring events .......30CFC kicks off in style ......................32NERMS expedites incident response ...34The final word ..............................38

6 M-ATVs arrive for integrationThe next generation of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles – MRAP All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs) – are now arriving at SSC Atlantic for C4I integration.

8 Internet cafes offer distance learningQuality higher education is now accessible to deployed warfighters through education centers and SSC Atlantic Internet cafes.

SSC Atlantic employees attend the Patriot Day observance Sept. 11. See story on page 30


The journey continues SSC Atlantic at one year

As we marked the one year anniversary of the stand up of SSC Atlantic last month, I am amazed by the many ways our teams have crossed geographical and organizational lines to come together with the common goal of warfighter and customer support. At the same time, I appreciate that we are on a continuing journey.

This last year our diverse teams -- at the former SSC Charleston, SSC Norfolk, SSC New Orleans, SPAWAR sites in Washington, D.C., and Pensacola, Fla., and strategic satellite offices in Tampa, Fla., the Middle East and Europe -- have become a unified organization that is aligned and integrated across competencies, collaborating across all functional areas. Our success in aligning our workforce based on competencies empowered us to continuously evalu-ate critical skills as SSC Atlantic, and to mold a workforce well-matched to support the needs of the warfighter.

At the one year mark, SSC Atlantic represents more than just a name change. We are a consolidated organization that is more capable and more efficient, one that is better able to serve the needs of our customers. The hard work of our Command Planning Group and Atlantic Integration Team, along with active engagement by the SSC Atlantic Deputy Technical Directors in Tidewater and New Orleans, has been instrumental to our success. Special thanks to Acting SSC Atlantic Technical Director Ken Slaughter, Deputy Techni-cal Director Patty Fuller in Tidewater and Deputy Technical Director Jackie Goff in New Orleans for providing an inte-grating force and influence in making the last year a success.

Change continues throughout our organization. Soon we will be welcoming Chris Miller -- currently serving as Navy’s Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I) -- as our new SSC Atlantic Technical Director. Chris’ extensive experience with SPAWAR and PEO C4I programs for the past eight years makes him a perfect fit for this position. He will bring a unique perspective and dynamic leadership to

our team. Again, special thanks to Ken Slaughter for serv-ing as acting Technical Director during the interim period.

Likewise, we had a chance to welcome our new SPAWARSYSCOM vice commander Rear Adm. (Sel) Jo-seph Rixey as he visited many of our SSC Atlantic sites last month. The Admiral is based in Tidewater, as was former Vice Commander, Rear Adm. Charles “Grunt” Smith, who is now Program Executive Officer, Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS) in Washington, D.C.

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already upon us. Reflecting on our many blessings is at the heart of Thanks-giving and at the core of the American spirit. More than being thankful this holiday season, we carry on our tradition as good neighbors by donating our time, money or gifts to the causes that need them. Many charitable endeavors succeed because of the efforts of those who give of themselves with no desire of public recognition or personal reward. Such quiet and anonymous acts are done daily by many throughout SSC Atlantic, and I, for one, am thankful for them.

The 3,000 civilian and military employees and more than 10,000 contractor personnel of SSC Atlantic have a tradition of giving willingly and selflessly of themselves. This year’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) was a huge success because of such people. Special thanks to our CFC leads and keyworkers throughout SSC Atlantic, and thank you to all who contributed to the CFC.

This year, as we gather close to family and friends, please give thanks for those who will mark this holiday alone, far away from their loved ones, as they serve our country. As long as we keep them in our thoughts and prayers, they are not alone.

We’ve seen a lot of change over the past couple years – a new name and organization, new leadership, Navy ERP, CAO, NSPS, to name a few – and I am proud of your ability to adjust to, and make the best of, each new challenge. I look forward to continuing with you on this journey.


Rear Adm. (Sel) Joseph W. Rixey has assumed duties as vice commander of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

Rixey relieved Rear Adm. Charles E. “Grunt” Smith, who was named Program Executive Officer, Enterprise Information Systems, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquision) in Washington, D.C.

Born in Monterey, Calif., Rixey began his naval career in August 1978 at the Naval Academy Preparatory School. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1983 and was designated a naval aviator in August of 1986.

His operational tours included Patrol Squadron 17 at Naval Air Station (NAS) Barbers Point, Hawaii; USS Con-stellation (CV-64) as a Catapult and Arresting Gear Officer and Assistant Air Officer; Patrol Squadron 40 at Whidbey Island, Wash.; and Commanding Officer Special Projects Patrol Squadron Two at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

New SPAWARSYSCOM vice commander

Rixey on board in TidewaterRixey earned a Master of

Science in aeronautical engi-neering and engineer’s degree in aeronautics at the Naval Post Graduate School in Mon-terey, Calif. Other shore duty assignments were at Naval Air Systems Command as the P-3 Training Systems Program Manager (PMA-205) at NAS Patuxent River, Md.; P-8A Poseidon Team Lead (PMA-290M), NAS Patuxent River, Md.; and as Program Manager for the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft Program Office (PMA-290).

Rixey subsequently served as Deputy Program Executive Officer, Air ASW and Advanced Sensors Programs.

He is based at SPAWAR offices at Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, Va.

Christopher A. Miller, currently the Navy’s Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I), has been selected and approved to be SSC Atlantic’s next technical director.

As the senior civilian leader of SSC Atlantic, Miller will lead a workforce that consists of more than 3,300 civil service and military employees, with more than 9,000 industry partners. He will be responsible for setting command-wide strategic goals, developing and implementing policies and procedures, and managing all engineering and busi-ness operations.

“We welcome the perspective and dynamic leadership that Chris will bring to SSC Atlantic,” said the center’s commanding officer, Capt. Bruce Ur-bon. “Chris’ extensive experience with SPAWAR and PEO C4I programs for the past eight years makes him a perfect fit for this position.”

Miller was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in May 2006. As the Navy’s PEO C4I, Miller has been directly responsible for more than 150 Navy C4I programs and provides the warfighter integrated communication, in-formation technology and intelligence systems that enable command and control of military forces. He has managed

the cost, performance and schedule of these programs during design, development, production and deploy-ment. He directed a staff of 225 civil servants, 85 military, with more than 900 contractors. As the Navy’s PEO C4I, Miller managed and executed more than $2 billion annually. Ad-ditionally, Miller is a 1995 graduate of Vanderbilt University with a Bach-elor’s degree in Political Science and American History. Miller’s previous experience also includes service as an intelligence officer in the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999.

“We all know Chris for his lead-ership of PEO C4I and for the many accomplishments and contributions that he, his PEO teammates, and partners across Team SPAWAR and the Naval Enterprise have made,” said SPAWAR Deputy Commander

Rod Smith when making the announcement to the SSC At-lantic workforce. “We’re very pleased that he has accepted this new assignment and looking forward to working with Chris in his new role.”

Miller is expected to assume duties as SSC Atlantic Technical Director early in the new calendar year, pending decisions regarding his relief as PEO C4I.

Miller named SSC Atlantic Technical Director

Rixey

Miller


M-ATVs arrive for C4I integrationThe next generation of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected

(MRAP) vehicles – MRAP All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs) – are now arriving at SSC Atlantic. As with the MRAP vehicles, SSC Atlantic is responsible for the prototyping, testing, in-tegration, installation and quality assurance of all advanced electronic communications equipment on the M-ATVs.

SSC Atlantic has a proven record of success with command and control, communications, computer, intelligence (C4I) equipment integration of the MRAP vehicles. SSC Atlantic’s C4I Expeditionary Systems government/industry team has performed C4I integration of more than 16,000 MRAP vehicles since 2007. The highly successful MRAP integration ramp up at SSC Atlantic attracted visitors from throughout the Department of Defense, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, then-Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter, Chief of Naval Operations Gary Roughead and others.

The M-ATVs are manufactured by Oshkosh Corporation, which was awarded the production contract June 30. More than 6,600 M-ATVs are currently authorized.

The M-ATV answers an urgent and compelling requirement

to protect warfighters with a highly survivable and off-road capable vehicle. The M-ATV mission is for small unit combat operations in highly restricted rural, mountainous and urban environments that include mounted patrols, reconnaissance, security, convoy protection and communications.

The vehicles have started to flow from the vendor to SSC Atlantic. The first shipment of integrated M-ATVs has been flown to warfighters in Afghanistan. These vehicles will be used to complement other tactical vehicles – including MRAPs – cur-rently being used. The lack of established roads and bridges in the Afghanistan theater of operations requires a more mobile vehicle than the previous MRAPs produced.

Since the Office of the Secretary of Defense determined the M-ATV is within the MRAP family of vehicles, it will continue to be managed by the MRAP Joint Program Office. The Marine Corps is executing the joint program on behalf of the Navy (lead service) with Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan as the Joint Program Executive Officer.

According to Brogan, lessons learned during the MRAP integration efforts in Charleston have been valuable in speeding the manufacture, prototyping and installation of the govern-

M-ATVs answer the warfighters’ need for a highly survivable, off-road capable vehicle. Photos by Joe Bullinger

Warfighter supportWarfighter support


ment furnished equipment (GFE) that provides C4I capabilities on the M-ATVs. One of the lessons learned will help the vendor better prepare the vehicles for the GFE added at SSC Atlantic. “… We were able to feed back to Oshkosh specific brack-etry, racks and cabling so all that can be installed in the vehicle during manufacture; which means we don’t have to do it at SPAWAR,” Brogan said. “The goal was to push as much of that work that was getting done at SPAWAR, particularly the touch la-bor, upstream into the manufacturing process. Because we knew it going into this, we were able to include it into the design. That clearly is one of the lessons learned from Baseline MRAP that will speed the process at Charleston,” he added.

The SSC Atlantic team has exten-sive experience in the integration and fielding of various Marine mobile radio communications and tactical data radio sets, sensors and the various signal intelli-gence systems that enhance the warfighter’s situational aware-ness, communications and other capabilities on the battlefield. The team has demonstrated its ability to meet a strict delivery schedule on a high volume of vehicles while maintaining

configuration management across multiple C4I variants.

SSC Atlantic is utilizing many members of the MRAP integration team from various engineering disciplines, including industrial and mechanical engineering, techni-cians, subject matter experts and support staff. SSC Atlantic’s solid partnerships with small- to mid-sized industry provide the agility required to meet the demands associated with a project of this magnitude. As with the MRAP effort, the M-ATV team is responsible for every aspect of the activities from engineering to receipt and final inspection in theater. SSC Atlantic also provides engineering reachback for all capability pack-ages.

SSC Atlantic Commanding Of-ficer Capt. Bruce Urbon said, “The MRAP vehicles have resulted in the

saving of many lives and limbs, and our involvement in this program has been very rewarding. We look forward to con-tinuing our role providing direct support to the warfighter by integrating advanced electronic communications equipment in the M-ATVs.”

- Susan Piedfort, Chronicle Editor

SSC Atlantic’s M-ATV integration effort brings together a team from a wide variety of engineer-ing disciplines.

President Barack Obama recently issued an executive order banning federal employees from text messaging while driving on government business.

“This order sends a very clear signal to the American public that distracted driving is dangerous and unac-ceptable,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement. “It shows that the federal government is leading by example.”

The order prohibits federal employees from engag-ing in text messaging when driving government-owned, government-leased, or government-rented vehicles (collectively, GOV), or when driving privately-owned vehicles (POV) while on official government business, or from using electronic equipment supplied by the govern-ment while driving.

The executive order charges the nearly 3 million civil-ian employees of the federal government to demonstrate leadership in reducing the dangers of text messaging while driving.

“Recent deadly crashes involving drivers distracted by text messaging while behind the wheel highlight a grow-ing danger on our roads. Text messaging causes drivers to

take their eyes off the road and at least one hand off the steering wheel, endangering both themselves and others. Every day, federal employees drive government-owned, government-leased, or government-rented vehicles or pri-vately-owned vehicles on official government business, and some federal employees use government-supplied electronic devices to text or e-mail while driving,” the president said.

“A federal government-wide prohibition on the use of text messaging while driving on official business or while using government-supplied equipment will help save lives, reduce injuries, and set an example for state and local governments, private employers, and individual drivers. Extending this policy to cover federal contrac-tors is designed to promote economy and efficiency in federal procurement. Federal contractors and contractor employees who refrain from the unsafe practice of text messaging while driving in connection with government business are less likely to experience disruptions to their operations that would adversely impact federal procure-ment,” the executive order continued.

Order bans text messaging while driving GOVs


By Ron ThomasSPAWAR Internet Cafe Program-Iraq

At the risk of carbon dating myself, I can fondly remem-ber the days of ole when an overseas military education center was a strictly pencil and paper operation.

Assignments were given in person, in class by an instructor and turned in, on paper, either handwritten or typewritten if you were lucky enough to have access to an IBM Selectric. If you signed up for a class, you attended class at the ed center or possibly some larger forum elsewhere on base, but you physically attended a class – the closest thing we had to distance learning was a mail-in correspondence course.

I readily confess to a bit of senti-mentality for the low-tech days of my sometimes misspent youth; it was fun and a healthy chunk of my college cred-its were earned in that pencil and paper bastion of higher learning.

Fortunately, today’s education centers – unlike me – aren’t stuck in a polyester time warp. They have embraced modern technology and military members are benefiting in

a big way. Military personnel stationed in Iraq have access to 26 education cen-ters, with three more planned. Add to that five ed centers already available in Afghanistan with three more in queue, all of which have or will have SPAWAR Internet Cafés for their computer-based learning systems, and you’ve got the potential for lots of learning.

As a case in point, consider the Camp Victory education center in Baghdad, Iraq. This ed center is the local host to Central Texas, University of Maryland and Embry-Riddle. During any given month, they will provide services to an average of 7,000 military members for traditional and nontraditional classes, Tuition Assistance (TA) and supervised testing. When schedules and circum-stances permit, traditional classes are

Internet cafés:Providing opportunities via education center

U.S. Army Col. Patrick Rice, 261st Signal Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Scott. E. Chambers, and Pat Davis-Mullins, Camp Victory Education Center Director, prepare to cut the ribbon during a ceremony at the Ed Center.

Photos provided

Pat Davis-Mullins, Camp Victory Education Center Director, poses with Ron Thomas, SPAWAR Representative, SPAWAR Internet Cafe Program-Iraq.


usually preferred, but long hours and erratic schedules are causing more and more students to consider distance learning classes which are readily available because of two (soon to be three) dedicated SPAWAR Internet Cafés.

These cafés afford students the opportunity to do course work at any one of 20 ed center workstations. That number will double in the not too distant future when their computer classroom (a separate SPAWAR Internet Café) comes on-line. And their third café, which is dedicated to testing, is largely responsible for one of their most impressive statistics—the number of tests administered each month (after all, what better metric for academic progress than the number of tests administered?)

According to Patricia (Pat) Davis-Mullins, the Educa-tion Services Officer, they administer somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 tests per month inclusive of both paper tests and those administered electronically for distance learning. Fully 1,000 or more of those electronic tests are taken by students sitting at one of the dedicated testing terminals of the education center’s SPAWAR Internet Café. My, how far we’ve come.

Back in the day, when I was taking a pencil and paper test every week or two, I wasn’t privy to the ed center stats, but I’m reasonably sure I could count all the students who tested on a given day on both hands and probably have a couple of fingers left over.

A staff member chats with a warfighter using an education center terminal.

Now, thanks to the Internet and delivery services like the SPAWAR Internet Café, opportunities for students have increased exponentially and the only real limiting factor is personal drive.

A warfighter takes an exam in the dedicated testing room at the Camp Victory education center.


In an ongoing effort to increase awareness of SSC Atlantic and its ca-pabilities, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon hosted local elected officials and their staff members in Charleston, the Tidewater area and New Orleans Aug. 20 through Sept. 2. The goal of the visits was to increase awareness of SSC Atlantic’s mission and capabilities for the elected officials representing SSC Atlantic’s different geographic areas.

The meetings gave the command-ing officer an opportunity to discuss how the consolidation of the various sites into SSC Atlantic has progressed successfully, and to inform the com-munity leaders of the capabilities and accomplishments of the systems center

teams at each different geographic site.During each visit, Urbon and SSC

Atlantic’s Acting Technical Director Ken Slaughter welcomed the delega-tions and spoke about the roles of SSC Atlantic. Executive Officer Cmdr. Charles Schug participated in the ses-sions in Tidewater and New Orleans. Patty Fuller, Deputy Technical Direc-tor in Tidewater, and Jacqueline Goff, Deputy Technical Director in New Orleans, participated in the briefs at their respective sites and helped answer questions.

The first Congressional Day was held Aug. 20 in Bldg. Z-33 on Norfolk Naval Station and was attended by staffers representing all levels of gov-ernment. Attending were Jeanne Evans,

Hampton Roads representative for Sen. James Webb; William “Skip” Zobel, representing Sen. Mark Warner; John Panneton, military liaison for U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye of Virginia’s 2nd District; Scott George, legislative assistant for Rep. Bobby Scott, Virginia’s 3rd Dis-trict; Curtis Byrd, district representa-tive for Rep. Randy Forbes, Virginia’s 4th District; and Tara Sotherland, executive assistant for Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim. During the meeting the delegation engaged in a dialogue with SSC Atlantic leaders, asking questions and offering their perspectives.

On Aug. 26, leadership from the Charleston site welcomed Bill Tuten, Lowcountry regional director for Sen. Lindsey Graham; Earl Copeland, representing the office of U.S. Rep. Henry Brown of the 1st Congressional District; and Dennis Pieper, Summer-ville town administrator. This meeting helped cement the long-standing co-operation and understanding between SSC Atlantic’s Charleston team and the local Congressional delegation.

On Sept. 2, Urbon and company traveled to New Orleans, where they hosted staff members from the Con-gressional delegation as well as lead-ers from emergency preparedness, academia and industry.

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, from Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District attended, along with his Chief of Staff Lynnel Ruckert, Deputy Chief of Staff Charles Henry and Legislative Director Megan Bel. David Doss, state director for Sen. David Vitter, and Wes Kunge, regional representative for Sen. Mary Landrieu attended. From the office of U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao, 2nd Congres-sional District, were District Director

Congressional daysElected officials, dignitaries

visit SSC Atlantic sites

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, from Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District, listens to a brief by SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon in New Orleans. In the background are SPAWARSYSCOM Deputy Commander Rod Smith and Ken Slaughter, SSC Atlantic Acting Technical Director.

Photo by Tom Egbert


Murray Nelson, Regional Represen-tative Hue Truong, Veterans Affairs Representative Terry Jackson and Constituent Services Representative John Tobler. From the office of U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District, was District Representative Amanda Beheyt.

Also attending were Bob Fudickar, Technology Industry Director for the Louisiana Department of Economic Development; Col. Jerry Sneed, direc-tor of Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security for the city of New Orleans; and from the University

Above, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon speaks to staffers representing the Congressional delegation and various levels of govern-ment in the Tidewater area. Below, from left, Earl Copeland, of U.S. Rep. Henry Brown’s office, and Dennis Pieper, Summerville town administrator, are briefed in Charleston. Below, right, Ur-bon speaks to visitors in the command briefing theater Aug. 26 in Charleston.

of New Orleans, Chancellor Timothy Ryan, Vice Chancellor for Governmen-tal and Community Affairs Rachel Kin-caid, Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs Scott Whittenburg and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Develop-ment George Harker.

The exchange of information was especially useful during this session, where the discussions ranged from an explanation of SSC Atlantic’s Navy Working Capital Fund operation to ongoing projects in New Orleans.


Photo by Sharon Anderson

Photos by Susan Piedfort


SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon hosted four town hall meetings in the Tidewater area and New Orleans Aug. 20 and Sept. 2. The goal of the sessions was to update employees on how the consolidation of the various sites into SSC Atlantic has progressed successfully after nearly a year, and to answer employee’s questions.

The meetings gave the commanding officer an opportu-nity to hear the concerns of the workforce at each geographic site. During each session, Urbon and Acting Technical Director Ken Slaughter welcomed the employees and gave overviews on the roles of SSC Atlantic.

He thanked the employees for their support to the warfighter and for the vital roles they have played in the

Ken Slaughter, SSC Atlantic Acting Technical Director, speaks during a town hall meeting in Norfolk.

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon, briefs SSC Atlantic personnel during the recent New Orleans town hall meeting.

success of SSC Atlantic. Patty Fuller, Deputy Technical Director in Tidewater, and Jacqueline Goff, Deputy Technical Director in New Orleans, participated in the meetings at their respective sites and helped answer questions.

In the Tidewater area the captain held three separate town hall meetings with SSC Atlantic employees – on the naval station, at Little Creek Amphibious Base and at St. Juliens Creek in Portsmouth.

SSC Atlantic stood up Oct. 1, 2008 and brought together SPAWAR sites in Tidewater, Va.; Charleston, S.C.; New Orleans, La.; Washington, D.C.; and Pensacola, Fla.; along with strategic satellite offices in Tampa, Fla.; Patuxent River, Md.; and in Europe and the Middle East.

Town halls held in Charleston, Tidewater, New Orleans

SSC Atlantic employees volunteer in dozens of pro-grams that help the local community. Now the center is organizing and coordinating these efforts for even greater effect.

At a meeting Sept. 24, Total Workforce Management Director Gary Scott and Shanda Johnson, SSC Atlantic Outreach Coordinator, spoke to volunteers about the many opportunities to make a difference through SSC Atlantic outreach programs.

Lunch Buddies, Tabula Digita, robotics competitions, speaking engagements, Teacher/Student Shadow Days, Math, Science and Technology (MaST), Project Lead the Way, One Laptop Per Child, Math Counts competitions and educational partnership agreements are some of the current outreach initiatives. Scott and Johnson are working to combine resources throughout SSC Atlantic in order to provide coordinated efforts in Charleston, New Orleans,

SSC Atlantic mobilizes volunteer effortsTidewater and Washington, D.C.

“We are looking at the demand signal and where to plug in,” said Scott, “and we’ll be doing that everywhere we have a presence.”

While much of the emphasis has been and will continue to be on promoting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects for youth, other academic and community activities are also promoted.

The numbers of students focusing on STEM-related careers have declined greatly nationally and globally. SSC Atlantic volunteers will have opportunities to inspire kids and to show them the kinds of careers that are available to them.

“We need to get engaged to make sure we are building the future,” said Johnson.

To volunteer call Johnson at (843) 218-4497 or e-mail [email protected].


SSC Atlantic, Military Magnet education partnership is mutually beneficial

SSC Atlantic has entered into an Education Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the Military Magnet Academy in Charleston Heights. A ceremonial signing of the EPA was performed by the leaders of the two entities, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon and Military Mag-net Academy Commandant Lt. Col. Joseph Dawson, at SSC Atlantic Aug. 25. The EPA was previously signed in April by Dawson and in May by Urbon.

The partnership enhances the educational experience of Military Magnet Academy students by providing access to the staff, expertise, facilities and equipment related to naval warfare systems technology available at SSC Atlantic. It will also promote students’ interest in science, mathematics and engineering, particularly related to space and naval warfare systems technology. It is the first EPA of its kind between SSC Atlantic and a K-12 grade school to help promote sci-ence, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

“In addition to our educational outreach in the community at the high school and college levels, we realized that we need to reach down even farther to the middle school level to get students interested in science and technology at earlier ages,” said Urbon.

“This partnership is important for us because it gives us a way to show our students real opportunities in scientific fields,” said Dawson. “It gives them a target, something to work toward in the future.”

Located on Carner Avenue at the site of the former Chicora High School, the Military Magnet Academy was established in 1997 for sixth, seventh and eighth graders, and now includes students in grades six through 12. The mission of the academy is to prepare cadets to become academically competent, disciplined and responsible citizens. The Military Magnet Academy is the only publicly funded military high school in South Carolina.

It is not a discipline school for misbehaving students but rather a school for any student who wants to learn leader-ship and military skills. All high school students take Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) every year, and middle school students take a class that incorporates similar

lessons on leadership, community involvement and military history. High school students are required to wear JROTC uniforms, and middle school students must wear a similar military-inspired uniform.

The discipline of a military environment helps students learn the importance of civic duty while they build leader-ship skills that are needed for today’s workforce or post secondary education.

In keeping with the school’s military theme, the new building was intentionally designed to look like The Cita-del, and features a red and white checkerboard in its center quadrangle, much like those in The Citadel barracks. SSC Atlantic has already established an education partnership with The Citadel.

Education partnerships such as the one between the Mili-tary Magnet Academy and SSC Atlantic are in accordance with public law which authorizes defense laboratories to enter into EPAs with U.S. educational institutions in order to improve science, mathematics and engineering education.

Also on hand for the Aug. 25 EPA ceremonial signing were representatives from the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and Charleston Defense Contractors Association, which have joined with SSC Atlantic in their educational outreach efforts and to emphasize the importance of the study of science, technology, engineering and math for to-day’s students. For more information about this educational partnership call SSC Atlantic’s point of contact Bob Miller, Code 5313, at (843) 218-4898.


Military Magnet Academy Commandant Lt. Col. Joseph Dawson and SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon shake hands after the ceremonial signing of the Educational Partnership Agreement at SSC Atlantic.

Photo by Joe Bullinger

PartnersPartners


SSC Atlantic hosts VIP cyber security panel A VIP cyber security panel hosted by SSC Atlantic Aug.

13 brought together minds and ideas from across the cyber space community to share ideas and strategize on cyber security.

The focus of the discussions at Naval Weapons Station, Charleston’s Storm Pointe conference center was cyber education, training and workforce development for SSC Atlantic.

Retired flag officers from the Navy, Army and Air Force who now serve as industry, academic and government experts on developing the cyber leader and workforce con-tributed through individual briefings and strategy sessions.

“This was a great opportunity to hear different perspec-tives from the different services, industry and academia,” said Mike Kutch, head of SSC Atlantic’s Code 50D, Intel-ligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance/Information Operations/Information Assurance (ISR/IO/IA) and Cyber Security. “We will use what we have learned today to influ-ence our SSC Atlantic cyber strategy for our engineering and

acquisition workforce. We want to accelerate what we need to do, and do it right. We will leverage the panel’s insights to make that happen.”

Panel members:Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, USAF, Ret., now a research profes-

sor at George Mason University, is former commander of the 8th Air Force and served as the first commander of Air Force Network Operations, leading the development of the cyber space mission for the Air Force.

Lt. Gen. Peter Cuviello, USA, Ret., now employed by Deloitte, is a former Chief Information Officer of the Army who is credited with transforming the Army into a network-centric, knowledge-based force, and launched Army Knowledge On-line. He established and supervised the network enterprise and technology organization to operate and provide security for all Army IT services and networks.

Rear Adm. Andrew Singer, USN, Ret., now with Booz | Allen | Hamilton (BAH), was a plank owner as the deputy commander of Naval Network Warfare Command. In a

SSC Atlantic’s Mike Shafer, left, listens as Special Agent (Ret.) Daron Hartvigsen, formerly a special agent in the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), discusses initiatives undertaken at the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City, La.



31-year Navy career he specialized in information warfare, cyber operations, intelligence and maritime operations.

Rear Adm. Alex Miller, USN, Ret., now with L3 Communications, completed a 33-year naval career after serving as deputy chief, Central Secu-rity Service at the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md. He also served as commanding officer of Na-val Security Group Activity, Athens, Greece.

Special Agent (Ret.) Daron Hart-vigsen, was formerly a special agent in the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and the OSI rep-resentative to the Air Force Network Operations, and later, the Air Force Cyber Command. He is now employed at the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City, La.

Attending the afternoon Industry session was Vice Adm. Mike McCon-nell, USN, Ret., formally the Director of the National Security Agency and Director of National Intelligence and currently Senior Vice President, BAH National Security Business; Admiral McConnell spent about an hour sharing his insights with the group and offering recommendations for efforts.

Also participating in the discussions were Vice Adm. Dennis Jones, USN, Ret., formerly deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command and currently vice president for maritime programs for L-3 Communications; and Natalie Givans, Vice President and Lead, BAH Assurance and Resilience Business.

There is a coordinated effort throughout the federal workforce to increase cyber security expertise in or-der to detect and prevent cyber attacks and attempts to penetrate defense digi-tal networks. The discussions greatly enhanced SSC Atlantic’s efforts to im-prove the capability and caliber of the cyber security workforce and to provide coordinated leadership on cyber secu-rity workforce issues. Discussions also centered on strategies for attracting, hiring and retaining cyber security tal-ent and federal cyber security worker training and development.

Brad Hoisington is presented a plaque by Col. Ray Jones, project manager for Airborne and Maritime/Fixed (AMF) Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), after Hoisington received the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

Photo provided

Brad Hoisington of SSC Atlantic’s Code 55L was recently awarded the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award and medal for his contributions in support of the Airborne and Maritime/Fixed (AMF) Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Program Office as AMF JTRS Acquisition Director and Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

The award was presented by Col. Ray Jones, project manager for AMF JTRS, who noted Hoisington’s outstanding leadership, unwavering professionalism, and unmatched dedication in helping to guide AMF JTRS, an ACAT 1D Program, through a successful Milestone B, EMD Phase contract award and Program Integrated Baseline Review.

“Mr. Hoisington has unsurpassed professional knowledge of the principles in the disciplines of acquisition and contract management and has earned the respect of the entire JTRS enterprise and the senior leadership of the JPEO,” the award citation noted. “He is an outstanding leader and true professional who has made numerous, long-lasting contributions to the JPEO.”

Hoisington presented Navy’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award

for AMF JTRS support


SSC Atlantic’s Civilian Leadership Development pro-gram is now in full swing! Seventy-five employees from throughout SSC Atlantic have completed training sessions

held in Charleston, and classes are scheduled for Tidewater and New Orleans.

In July, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon directed that all supervisors and managers attend the course. “Unlike many leadership training approaches, this pro-gram was developed by SSC Atlantic, for SSC Atlantic. All of the case studies and discussions are specific to our business operations,” said Urbon.

Department Head Charles Adams (50C) first recognized a need for leader-ship development that would enhance Code 55 branch heads in the development of leadership competencies, as specified in the command’s Competency Develop-

All Code 50C senior leaders attended the August class. Pictured above are, from left, first row, Kevin Holcomb, Lisa Pass, Steve Harnig, Phillip Bailey; second row, Facilitator Karen Quasny, Dr. Al Emondi, Charles Adams, Ken Bible, Pamela Hawver, Brad Hoisington; third row, Mark Held, Donna Bedford, Scott Henson and Cmdr. Tim Rafferty.

Photos by Joe Bullinger

Members of the September class were, from left, Larry (Curt) Moore, Walter Huxford, Becky Ladiser, Frankie Brown, David Eyerly, Daniel Lawton, Karen Quick, Gregory Fisher, Wayne Lutzen, Diana Londergan, Steve Dennis, Roy Lindsay and Karen Quasny.

Leadership development classes expand to Tidewater, New Orleans

Professional DevelopmentProfessional Development


ment Model. Code 8111 Human Resource Specialist Karen Quasny developed, organized and conducts the training based on similar classes she presented when working for the Army Management Staff College. She has support and assistance in the delivery of the course from Steve Harnig, Code 2.1 division head; Brad Hoisington, Code 4.3 division head, and staff from the Legal Office, Code 3.0

The focus of the course is on self awareness and under-standing oneself as a leader. The Myers-Briggs Type Indi-cator (MBTI) is administered and interpreted, as well as a 360-degree-survey. The course also includes modules on Navy values, ethical decision-making, change management, communication challenges of different generations in the workplace, leading teams, managing time and coaching for high performance. Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I walked away with several new tools in my tool kit,” said Daniel Lawton after completing the training. “Recog-nizing that in many instances our leaders have never had the opportunity to develop leadership skills as most retired military members have, I believe that this course offering should be mandatory for all new supervisors,” he said.

SSC Atlantic Public Affairs Officer Lonnie Cowart, who completed the most recent course, described the class as the best he has had during his employment at SPAWAR. “I wish I could have taken this 10 years ago,” Cowart said, encourag-ing all supervisors and managers to sign up for class. “Do it for yourself and your team!” he said.

Mark Durham of Code 852 was in agreement. “This was one of the most insightful classes I’ve been in,” Durham said. “It provided some concrete ways to improve my leadership and management capabilities and let us see examples of leadership in action.”

For Randy Grossman the timing of the course was espe-cially fortuitous since he had just taken over the Platform Communications ILS branch. “This was the best training I’ve had in 30 years in the Navy,” he said. “I’ve had train-ing that touched on some aspects that we covered, such as the MBTI and self assessments, but never has it been more comprehensively presented and correlated to how you actu-ally lead people,” he said.

“I thought the discussions on generational differences was really enlightening,” Grossman added. “It gave us all a greater appreciation of how people from different genera-tions -- or even different decades -- perceive things, and how important it is to understand those differences in order to lead people in today’s workforce.”

“The class really helped me to understand and become more aware of my own personality and behavior, and how I process information and react,” said Glenda Algozzini of the SSC Atlantic Inspector General office. “Since it helps you understand yourself, I’m hopeful it will help me not just with the people I work with but with everyone I interact with. It goes back to knowing and understanding yourself, and that helps you to understand and lead other people,” she said.

The schedule for upcoming classes is updated regularly and posted on CnE. At the SSC Atlantic CnE Web page, us-ers should click on the tab “Total Force Management,” then “Development,” then “Collaborative Training Enrollment.” Under “Available Sessions,” use the drop-down arrows to select the location and “Leadership Development” as the session.

Tentative upcoming training dates and locations are: in Charleston Nov. 16 - 20, Dec. 14 - 18, Feb. 8 - 12, Feb. 22 - 26 and March 22 - 25; in Tidewater Nov. 2-6, Jan. 11 - 15 and March 8 - 12; in New Orleans Nov. 30 - Dec. 4 and Jan. 25 - 29. For more information on signing up for a class, call Shanna Howat at (843) 218-3793 or by e-mail, [email protected].


From left, first row, Mark Durham, Randall Grossman, Ricky Gaylard, Tommy Frederick, Damon Shivvers and Bertha Murray; and second row, Glenda Algozzini, Travis Hill, Lon-nie Cowart, Michael Jeno, Shawn Boykin, Wesley Wills and Nathan Baird completed the most recent leadership class Oct. 23.


NSIPS enhancements

By Deborah Gonzales SSC Atlantic, New Orleans Office

Thanks to new functionality in the Navy’s largest pay and personnel system, medical, dental, optometry, physi-cian assistant, podiatry and nursing students are receiving faster, more accurate reimbursements and tuition payments as part of their Navy scholarship benefits. In addition, the new functionality has boosted the efficiency of participant tracking and communication for managers of the scholar-ship programs.

Enhancements to the Navy Standard Integrated Person-nel System (NSIPS) have provided the Navy Medicine Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education (NAVMED MPT&E) Medical Accessions Department (NMAD) with efficient tools to manage personnel, tuition payments, reim-bursements, incentive payments, logistics and training data for the 1,700-plus Navy Reservists enrolled in its Health Professions Incentives Programs (HPIP). Also improved is the Navy’s ability to report core strength and demographic

data required by Congress for the military’s Medical Ac-cessions programs.

Personnel with SSC Atlantic’s New Orleans Office, which provides a complete range of life cycle support, engineering and maintenance services for NSIPS, deployed the func-tionality in June 2008 in response to NMAD’s requirement for a more efficient and accurate system to manage HPIP data and to administer the $100 million doled out annually in stipends, bonuses, tuition payments, reimbursements and active duty Annual Training (AT) pay and entitlements. Also required was a system that could interface with multiple Reserve and Active systems to initiate, pay and track ap-propriate entitlements.

The goal of the development effort, said Edura Baham, SSC Atlantic’s NSIPS Project Director, was to provide a standardized and integrated field-level data collection system for entering and tracking HPIP data for Navy personnel le-veraging the existing data, hardware and network infrastruc-ture of NSIPS, which is based on PeopleSoft commercial

NAVMED MPT&E Medical Accessions Department staff members discuss the new Health Professions Incentives Programs (HPIP) functionality that is now part of the Navy Standard Integrated Personnel System (NSIPS). Standing from the left are Hospital Corpsman Chief Michael McGovern, Dr. Sandra Yerkes, HM3 Crystal Copeland, Garcia Elliott, Frances Smith and YN3 Zoe Hepler. Seated is Sean Hughes.

Photo by HM1 James Royal, Navy Medicine Support Command

Helping Navy’s aspiring healthcare professionals with faster, more accurate financial benefits


software and an Oracle database. “Minimum customization kept development costs in check,” noted Baham, who was NSIPS Deputy Program Manager during HPIP development.

The new component of NSIPS provides a Web-based system that is the single point of entry for information per-taining to HPIP-related pay and personnel data by support staff at the NAVMED MPT&E Command in Bethesda, Md. With the critical first-year milestone now past, the system is receiving high marks from the staff members who work with students and universities as they administer the schol-arship programs.

Dr. Sandra Yerkes, NAVMED Accessions Program Man-ager, also gives the system a thumbs up. “The systems en-gineers who worked with us were excep-tionally receptive to our needs and ideas for improved connectivity with existing Reserve and financial data systems as well as with the individual scholarship partici-pants,” Yerkes said. “The new NSIPS modules and func-tionalities have sig-nificantly enhanced our tracking and c o m m u n i c a t i o n abilities.”

The new NSIPS functionality re-placed a legacy sys-tem that lacked the modern, robust features needed to support NMAD staff and HPIP participants. Initially developed and deployed in 1996 by the former SSC New Orleans, the Reserve Standard Training, Administration, and Readiness Support Health Professions (RSTARS HP) application was a successful personal computer (PC)-based application that authorized payment of stipends, bonuses, reimbursements and AT entitlements for qualified Navy health professional students. Prior to the deployment of RSTARS HP, the process was done manually and took up to six weeks. RSTARS HP allowed staff to enter payment data, which was uploaded to the Reserve Headquarters Support (RHS) system and then processed through an interface to Defense Joint Military Pay System Reserve Component (DJMS-RC), the system used by Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) personnel to actually issue the payments.

As technology changed, RSTARS HP became more costly to maintain and would have required significant investments to upgrade operating systems, databases and hardware, comply with new security mandates, and pay for

scholarship benefit expansion. In 2007 NAVMED MPT&E received permission and funding to migrate the legacy system’s functionality to NSIPS, a logical choice since the system contains many functions that RSTARS HP users required, including the ability to perform gains and losses of personnel, enter personnel data and record AT. “NSIPS was a feasible migration path forward as it provided the flexibility to add the existing RSTARS HP functionality while leveraging its existing interfaces with personnel and pay-related systems and the ability to add new ones,” noted Catherine Folse, former NSIPS HPIP Project Manager, who spearheaded development.

NSIPS already interfaced with DJMS-RC, eliminating the need to route pay-related transac-tions through RHS, although the inter-face required some modification. Only two new interfaces were needed. One interface was with the Inactive Man-power and Person-nel Management Information Sys-tem (IMAPMIS), needed for person-nel-related trans-actions. IMAPMIS maintains person-nel master records for members of the Selected Reserve (SELRES), Individ-

ual Ready Reserve (IRR), Standby Reserve and all United States Navy (USN) and United States Navy Reserve (USNR) Retired. The system also supports IRR mobilization and personnel data reporting. Also required was an interface with the Navy Reserve Order Writing System (NROWS) to ensure timely issuance of AT payments to HPIP participants.

Despite some challenges, including conversion of data not resident in the legacy system and configuration of data to align with NSIPS’ drop-down menu structure, the NSIPS team completed the development/migration project in only nine months, meeting the customer’s requirements on time and within budget. “NSIPS provided the HPIP staff with a comprehensive system to receive timely and accurate person-nel and pay-related data to not only manage HPIP personnel but to report on them using the robust ad hoc reporting capa-bility inherent to NSIPS,” Folse said. Baham credits Folse and her team’s close coordination and partnership with the customer as a major factor in the successful delivery. “We viewed this project totally from the customer’s perspective,

Continued on page 37

“The systems engineers who worked with us were exceptionally receptive to our needs and ideas for improved connectivity with existing Reserve and financial data systems as well as with the individual scholarship participants. The new NSIPS modules and functionalities have significantly enhanced our tracking and communication abilities.”

— Dr. Sandra YerkesNavy Medicine (NAVMED)

Accessions Program Manager


STEP employee adjusts to new environment Editor’s note: We asked Hillary

Harris, recently hired through the Stu-dent Temporary Employment Program (STEP), to give her impressions of SSC Atlantic as a new employee so that all SPAWARriors, new and “seasoned,” can better communicate.

My name is Hillary Harris. I am a full time student at The Citadel major-ing in civil engineering. Since July I have been working as an intern in Code 50D as part of the the Student Tempo-rary Employment Program (STEP) at SSC Atlantic.

Coming on board at SPAWAR introduced a few challenges. I never knew that I would become fluent in the language of acronyms. When given my tasks or attending meetings, it was sometimes difficult to keep up with what was going on because so many acronyms were being used. One sug-gestion I would make for any new em-ployee is to find a list of the acronyms online and familiarize yourself with them. That will make life at SPAWAR a lot easier!

As a student I was always told that even when I am finished with school, I will not stop learning. My experiences at SPAWAR have definitely confirmed that. One very important tool that I have learned in the real world that they do not teach in school is networking. I never knew I would be shaking so many hands and passing out so many business cards.

Balancing school work with my job has been pretty simple. I was al-lowed to adjust my work schedule to designate time for school work and extracurricular activities. I am an active member of several student organiza-tions at school which requires a lot of my time. As president of the Society of Women Engineers – The Citadel Section, I have certain responsibili-ties. I am also a member of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), the academic honor society Tau Beta Pi, as well as the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

As a senior, I am also preparing to take the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam so that I will be eligible to pursue my professional engineering license. This exam is an eight-hour exam that covers all of my engineering courses and the core classes such as calculus and chemistry. An eight-hour exam is something that I do not want to have to do more than once, so time set aside for studying is a must! Juggling all of these tasks has taught me to set priorities and keep an organized schedule.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work on a civil engi-neering-related innovation project at SSC Atlantic. This project involved real time monitoring of dams and levees to prevent failures and resulting disasters. I attended a meeting with the prospec-tive customer where the project leaders proposed this technology. With the in-formation I collected from this meeting, along with my research, I developed a project proposal. I was glad to have had the chance to contribute to this effort with knowledge from my background in civil engineering.

Before I began at SSC Atlantic in summer 2009, I participated in a com-

munity service project that was part of the Education Partnership Agreement between The Citadel and SSC Atlantic. The project, at SPAWAR’s Poseidon Park where electromagnetic testing of military vehicles is performed, also required civil engineering work. They wanted us to develop a site plan for the park that could be used in planning for future construction projects. I decided to take on this task alongside a cadet who was also a civil engineering major and a professor from the Civil Engi-neering Department at The Citadel. Before we began this project, we were given a tour of the facilities to help us understand the purpose of Poseidon Park and the need for our services. We conducted a land survey locating buildings, trees, power lines, roads and permanent testing equipment. From our collected data, we produced a site plan that we delivered to SPAWAR. Once we completed this project, we gave a presentation in our project management class at school. We explained how we took on the role as project managers to create a schedule for the project and to ensure that the product was delivered on time and to the customer’s satisfac-tion. Not only did this project allow me to practice the skills I had learned in school, but it allowed me to see some of the work that is done at SPAWAR.

Working with the Chief Engineer will be very beneficial to me if I ever decide to move into a management position. The tasks I was given included developing a project management plan, researching for similar studies to prepare a presentation for briefing, and assisting with contracts and funding. This experience gave me insight into the life cycle of a project. The time during which I spent working with the Chief Engineer and shadowing the job of a project manager, I was taking a project management course at The Citadel. I was able to relate the work I was doing for SPAWAR with what I was learning in school. Real world

Continued on next page

Hillary HarrisPhoto by Joe Bullinger


and really worked hard to listen and understand their require-ments and maintain regular communication,” said Baham.

The HPIP component of NSIPS has vastly improved data reliability and accuracy as well as the accuracy and speed of payments. Previously, numerous manual actions were required in the HPIP payment process, which frequently resulted in errors that delayed or generated incorrect deposits to bank accounts. Now, it is entirely possible for students to begin receiving payments within a few days of their gain in the system, noted Lt. Elijah Sanders, current NSIPS HPIP Project Manager. In addition, NMAD staff now have com-plete visibility of student data, university information and tuition payments, and can track and run reports on all types of financial data, including reimbursable expenses for items such as stethoscopes, lab coats and goggles. Business intelli-gence tools embedded in the analytics portion of NSIPS will provide trend analysis and other forward-leaning capabilities to NMAD staff in the future, Baham added.

Programs supported under the HPIP umbrella include the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP), Navy Active Duty Delay for Specialists (NADDS), the Financial Assistance Program (FAP) and the Nurse Candidate Program (NCP). Qualified applicants are recruited, appointed and remunerated in exchange for an active duty obligation after graduation, ensuring the availability of appropriately trained health professionals to meet Navy Medicine’s mission-essential requirements.

HPSP is an IRR program created to obtain adequate numbers of commissioned officers on active duty who are qualified in the various health professions. The program is the primary source for the Navy’s core medical pool, sup-plying 80 percent of physicians and 75 percent of dentists. HPSP provides full tuition, stipend and equipment and book reimbursement to students pursuing training or doctoral degrees in medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, podiatry and optometry or master’s degrees as physician assistants. In

addition, each student is entitled to 45 days of AT for each year of scholarship. In return for the scholarship benefit, students fulfill a minimum three-year commitment as active duty Medical, Dental or Medical Service Corps officers. NADDS supports former HPSP students who have been granted a delay in going on active duty in order to complete residency training.

FAP is an IRR program for physicians and dentists cur-rently accepted to or enrolled in an accredited residency or fellowship program progressing toward a degree in a spe-cialty designated as critical to the Department of Defense. FAP participants receive a monthly stipend, yearly grant, paid tuition and supplies in addition to 14 days of AT per year. In exchange, FAP participants agree to serve on active duty for a set number of years with a minimum two years as active duty Medical or Dental Corps officers.

NCP provides financial assistance to students who are within 24 months of completing an accredited baccalaureate degree nursing program. Students receive monthly stipends and a signing bonus. After graduation, NCP participants join the Navy Nurse Corps as officers and must complete an active duty service obligation.

These healthcare education incentive programs currently serve participants enrolled in more than 160 institutions scattered across the United States and Puerto Rico. Most participants have no prior naval service and are enrolled in private healthcare education institutions. The Navy Health Professions Incentive Programs offers attractive incentives, including sign-on bonuses, to help with the extremely high costs of medical education, enabling students to leave school with minimal debt.

The New Orleans Office provides various products and services for NSIPS and its HPIP modules as technical agent for the PMW 240 Sea Warrior Program, a component of the Navy Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS). Support includes software development and sustainment, systems engineering, project management, risk management, installation support, software changes and Customer Support Center/Help Desk services.

application is something you can’t get inside a classroom.

I am able to apply much of what I have learned and the skills I have acquired at SPAWAR to my undergraduate degree. Working for a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) has given me a lot of experience in research. Some of the areas I have been researching include alternative energy, cyber security, data visual-ization, information assurance and

cloud computing. This experience will be very valuable to me if I decide to go for my graduate degree or PhD.

The exposure to other fields of engineering that fall into the areas of expertise at SPAWAR helps to broaden my areas of knowledge and skill sets to be applied to my profession in the future. This expansion of my basic understanding can assist me when interacting and collaborating with experts in other fields of engineer-ing. This will ultimately increase my level of cooperation, and my overall value as a project team member. I am

definitely appreciative for all of the opportunities afforded to me and for all of those who have taken the time to work with me and help me along the way during my time as an intern at SPAWAR.

This opportunity and my experi-ences with SPAWAR will serve to aid my transition into the profession-al field of engineering. My time here has helped me to realize that it does not matter what you are majoring in at school, real world experience can be applicable to any job.

- A Publish It! product

Continued from page 35

NSIPS enhancements

HarrisContinued from previous page


Story and photos by Sharon AndersonCHIPS Senior Editor

If it takes a village to raise a child; it takes an encourag-ing group of committed professionals to cultivate the next generation of Navy civilian employees.

The group is the 54570, Network Systems Engineering Branch, and its head, Jerry Dew.

Recognizing the need to bring in fresh ideas and new tal-ent, Dew said he was discussing student recruitment options with several of his employees last year when they decided to make a commitment to bring in local area students and to nurture their development through a series of enriching job experiences.

“We decided to look in our own backyard for talent. It’s right here. We started talking and we hired one student and then another and another and another. We had the idea that if we bring them in as students, not New Professionals, and see how they adapt to their environment, we could grow them from the student program into a New Professional and a SPAWARrior,” Dew said.

The students were recruited through the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), part of the federal government’s Student Educational Employment Program (SEEP).

Because of the need to attract a diverse and

capable workforce with skills which will be critical to the future requirements of the federal government, managers and supervisors are encouraged to use the recruitment tools under the SEEP to fill vacancies. SEEP provides work-study partnerships between the students, educational institutions and various federal agencies.

“I would like to acknowledge the support of (national competency lead for 5.4, Business Systems/Enterprise Information Systems) Jennifer Watson and (Collaborative Technologies and Knowledge Management division head) Jennifer Shauger because without their support this effort wouldn’t be possible,” Dew said.

The value of participating in the SCEP is two-fold: (1) It enriches the educational process by giving students relevant job experiences; and (2) It provides federal employers with an op-portunity to take an active role in developing their future workforce.

Studen t s i n t he SCEP may be noncompetitively converted to term, career or career-conditional appointments following completion of their academic and work experience requirements.

Dew explained that in addition to the SCEP program requirements, he and the student mentors developed a training plan for the students.

SCEP students, from left, Ronald Williams, Danielle Drummer, A n d r e w M i l l e r , Thomas Lawrence, Ashley Smith, Sterling Woods and Ashley Savage, pose with Jerry Dew (seated).

SSC AtlanticThe Next Generation

SSC AtlanticThe Next Generation

Jerry Dew of Code 54570 is the manager who hired the students.


“First, we have to indoctrinate the students into how we operate. This is not like the commercial world. The federal government is different. Coming from the outside, you don’t know about government or SPAWAR processes. One of our objectives is to indoctrinate them in how we function in each of our business areas for the warfighter. We also try to find out their skill sets and what they are strong in so we can place them. We work with a multitude of things and give them small projects to get started,” Dew explained.

Dew assigned mentors to the students to help steer them through the sometimes confusing maze of government jar-gon, rules and procedures and to provide technical guidance for their job assignments.

“We give them an assignment before we even bring them on. We see how they address that. It is a PowerPoint presentation about social networking or just about anything, and we see how they actually do. That gives us a little in-sight about how the thinking process is for that particular student,” Dew said.

Ronald Williams, a senior at Old Dominion University, majoring in information technology, is under a SCEP ap-pointment. He has been working in Dew’s branch since Octo-ber 2008 on the Department of the Navy’s SYSCOM Archi-tecture Development and Integration Environment (SADIE) project with program manager Lothrop Richards.

The SADIE project advances DON’s goal of instituting a flexible, interoperable architecture across the department, one that is in sync with the Defense Department’s Global Information Grid.

“I’ve worked on the help desk resolving issues and now with SADIE modeling and architecture collaboration. We

are working with simulating an enterprise architecture, investigating different software, and I’m coding the trans-lation layer. I’m also working on an innovation proposal,” Williams said.

The innovation proposal is called SMACS or SADIE Modeling of Architectures and Collaborative Simulations.

SCEP student Danielle Drummer began work in Octo-ber 2008. A senior at Norfolk State University majoring in computer science, Drummer is working on a local inventory management database project and is researching heliodisplay technology for possible warfare application. Heliodisplay is a free-space display where a projector is focused onto a layer of mist in mid-air, resulting in a two-dimensional display that appears to float.

“My most memorable experience was meeting Dr. Jen-nifer Watson and [SPAWAR Chief Engineer] Rear Adm. Jerry Burroughs. I love my work here. I am looking forward to traveling and working on server projects and some of the other projects they do here, just getting more experience. Working in a business environment bridges the gap between what you learned in school and how something is actually done. I would recommend this program [SCEP] to anyone – it is a great opportunity,” Drummer said.

Year round employment and flexible work schedules and assignments are available to students. Students can enhance their educational goals and shape their career choices as a result of their work experience. Because they live locally, Williams and Drummer can work during the school year. Other students who attend school out of the area work dur-ing the summer and on other school breaks.

Thomas Lawrence, a SCEP student and senior majoring in mechanical engi-neering at North Carolina Agricul-tural and Techni-cal State Univer-sity (NCA&T) began working in late June. His last workday was Aug. 7, but he came in to join his fellow stu-dents in an ani-mated discussion of the program Aug. 10 at St. Ju-liens Creek An-nex, where most of the students work in Bldg. 172.

Although his Continued on

next pageFrom left are mentors Corrine Smith, Jerry Fry, Steve Hardt, Peggy Neil, Carolyn Taylor, Elaine McDaniel, Larry Hughey and Jerry Dew (seated). Not pictured is Denise Shambley.


time on board was short compared with the other students who began in the program 10 months ago, he said his experi-ence has been every bit as beneficial.

“I’ve worked on a data consolidation project and investi-gated the Technical Data Knowledge Management system to see how it is used and how it can be applied to other systems or projects,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence said an unexpected benefit to working in the student program has been an improvement in his public speaking abilities. Each of the students is required to brief branch personnel weekly on their projects.

“I was so nervous when I first had to speak. But I got up week after week, and it just becomes second nature. Now, I can maintain my composure. I would just like to thank the people here who helped me.”

“That is a requirement – a PowerPoint weekly presenta-tion. That way we can hone in and see their weak points, their strong points, and give them some ideas about how they can improve their presentation, how to get over that nervousness and how to be confident. We can see from week to week how they improve. We don’t change the subject with them; they just come back and improve that subject,” Dew said.

Lawrence said he is eager to pursue a Navy civilian career upon graduation. But he wants to work directly with warfare technology.

“I want to work in technology that will more directly benefit the warfighter such as in submarines, aircraft or surface ships… I like government too because of the sta-bility and exposure to so many opportunities. I worked in the commercial world as an intern, and there were a lot of layoffs. This is much more stable, and I like the work bet-ter,” Lawrence said.

Joseph Peek, another NCA&T senior, went back to school in July. Peek, who is majoring in computer engineering, said that he expected to learn a lot and he did, but he didn’t expect the close working relationships that developed on the job.

“I worked in what felt like a family setting. I didn’t expect that, and I learned a lot from everyone.”

Sterling Woods, a New Professional, computer scientist, and graduate of Norfolk State University, is interested in social media and Web design. He just com-pleted a research project on what makes social media a successful communications tool and how the government could use social media effectively. After conducting research, he built a prototype based on ideas from Dr. Jennifer Watson on the topics that she wanted to explore on her blog. Armed with his research and Dr. Watson’s ideas, he launched the Web site and blog.

”I asked Sterling how the Web and social network-ing were used across multiple geographical locations by the Obama campaign to help win the election. After he explained it to me, I asked him to develop a similar strategy for me to communicate the new 5.4 Competency organization, which also spans multiple geographical locations. We need to use all of the tools and technology at our disposal to communicate better,” Watson said.

Woods, who began as a SCEP, praised the program for its ability to offer real-world, hands-on experience.

Woods just began a new project for Rick Paquin, 5455 head for the FORCEnet Engineering and Technology Support Branch (FETS) IT Hardware Program Support –Tidewater Node of the FnCE (FORCEnet Composable, Environment). Woods will be investigating new technology related to enhancing FnCE capabilities.

“My first project will be working on a touch screen to control all the technology devices in the room and improving video teleconferencing. I’m pretty excited about it. There is a lot of new technology; I can’t wait to really get started,” Woods said.

Although Woods likes working in Tidewater, he said he

Sterling Woods with mentor Carolyn Taylor.

From left are Danielle Drummer, Ashley Smith, Ronald Williams, Sterling Woods and Thomas Lawrence, (seated).


would be interested in working in other SPAWAR locations and learning about what they do.

Poised, personable, polished, professional, energetic, enthusiastic and very bright are just a few of the adjectives that their proud mentors use to describe the students. In a roundtable discussion, mentors Jerry Fry, Steve Hardt, Larry Hughey, Elaine McDaniel, Peggy Neil, Denise Shambley, Corrine Smith and Carolyn Taylor talked about working with the students.

“For the most part, the students are very independent. We gave them an assignment and they went with it, and with minimum supervision, did their tasking. We demonstrated some of the procedures that we go through and because they did not know about the procedures, they would ask questions. That would raise questions for us, like ‘Why are we doing this?’ ‘Is it really necessary?’ They learned from us, and we learned from them, so it was a good experience,” Hardt said.

The students are exposed to a wide variety of technolo-gies and projects, and if they sound busy it’s because they are. Their assignments are designed to link to their course of study and to reinforce what they have learned in school.

But learning is not a one-way street, according to Hardt, and the other mentors, who complimented the students on their independence and creativity.

“They brought new ideas to the table. A lot of us haven’t been in school for a while, and they are very familiar with some of the new technologies that we are learning about, so they brought a knowledge base to us,” Hardt said.

The students have also enjoyed working together, ac-cording to McDaniel.

“They have a lot of enthusiasm, and I like that. Some of

them did not know each other [before working here] and they ‘clicked’ be-cause this is a very good group. You can see they all get along, and they do things together. That makes a dif-ference. I have seen growth in them since they have been here.”

Interestingly, despite working with complex technologies and projects, the students said that un-derstanding government terminology and acronyms was the most difficult hurdle to overcome in their work experience.

“Coming into this Navy environ-ment was new to a lot of them. They had to learn the Navy terms. Just as we are going to instill something within them to take with them into the future, our gifts and our wisdom, we are learning from them also. I found them to be bright and quick. They think fast. This younger genera-tion, you give them something and

they hop right in on it. They are quick to give you an answer where I might have to think a little longer,” Taylor said.

Other mentors agreed with Taylor’s assessment.“I was very impressed with all the students that came into

the program. They were hungry to learn about the Defense Department and SPAWAR community. Any surprises? How bright they are. I expected them to be willing to learn, but I was amazed how hungry they were to learn about SPAWAR and the DoD,” Hughey said.

Ashley Smith is a senior at Old Dominion University studying communications with an emphasis in mass media.

“My classes predominantly focus on communications,

Andrew Miller, Larry Hughey (mentor) and Ronald Williams.

Continued on next page

From left, Mentor Elaine McDaniel, Thomas Lawrence and Ashley Smith.


SMACS project and SADIE Human Resource Management Strategy. It involves a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, op-portunities and threats) analysis of SADIE’s environment to see how we can make it better.”

Savage began work as an intern in the Student Temporary Employment Program, became a SCEP intern and is now a New Professional.

“With the New Professional program, you get a rotation, so you are able to go to different departments for three months and learn different things. I was here as an intern and then I went to work for the SADIE program for SMACS. That was one of my rotations. It is very beneficial because you are able to gain insight from different age levels. They are there to help you and tell you what to look out for,” Savage said.

Students are eligible for noncompetitive conversion from the Student Career Experience Program to career conditional appointment within 120 days after completion of course re-quirements and 640 hours of work experience. The required work experience must be gained prior to, or concurrent with the completion of the student’s education.

New Professional Andrew Miller graduated from Old Dominion University in May with a degree in computer science and he plans to start a master’s program in engineer-ing this spring. He has worked on SADIE and SMACS.

“Ashley Smith, Ashley Sav-age, Ronald Williams and I worked together on the pro-posal, and we just finished that last week. It was a good experience. We have projects

to do, and they [mentors] let us do it on our own. They give a due date, but I could develop it the way I wanted to and do whatever it takes to get it done.

“I am the database administrator for SADIE, and I do a lot of design work for the database and for the Web site. We are rewriting everything [on the Web site] now because it hasn’t been changed since they first wrote it. It needed a facelift. I am writing from scratch [using HTML],” Miller said.

Miller is also pleased that SSC Atlantic will fund many of his engineering courses via the Tuition Assistance Program.

Dew encourages other branch heads to offer the students opportunities to work on projects throughout the command that will enhance their knowledge and experience.

“I would like to hire more students next year and incorpo-rate local community colleges in the program to encourage students to continue their degrees in a four-year college or university,” Dew said. “We have all enjoyed the students and watching them grow. We’ll just have to see how it goes next year.”

the mass media emphasis spans into theater and acting, as well as mass media. Many of the classes I have taken focus on business and professional communication,” Smith said.

Smith said she hasn’t done any professional acting, but she may give it a shot. However, her real interest lies in news reporting.

“I have had the opportunity to take a couple of classes ranging from broadcasting to reporting and journalism. That is my main focus. I am hoping to be an anchorwoman for a major news station or maybe go into investigative report-ing,” Smith said.

Dr. Watson added, “I especially wanted to bring commu-nication expertise into the organization. We have struggled with communications, as do most organizations. I wanted to get someone with training and education in the field to develop our internal and external communication strategies, including different modes, formats and delivery media. Ashley will help build the foundation for our future com-munication roadmap.”

As a SCEP, Smith has worked on several projects, includ-ing the SMACS innovation proposal, with several other students.

“I am working with Ashley Savage, Ronald Williams and Andrew Miller. Elaine Mc-Daniel is my mentor. SMACS is still a concept; we have been working predominantly on making it a successful pro-posal,” Smith continued. “I have also been working on data management and retirement strategies. I have been trying to think of ways to consoli-date the data that we have and researching a lot of enterprise data consolidations that have been going on throughout the United States with each state government to see how we can use what they have done to implement that within SPAWAR.”

Working in a multigenerational environment has not been a problem, according to Smith.

“Going from a college environment where I am predomi-nantly working with people my age to a work environment that is a lot more realistic, I not only get the educational side of things but wisdom. I think it is important when you are getting into a new position to talk to someone who knows where you have been and gets you into that process. I have had a great time and met a lot of wonderful people — and I look forward to continue working here,” Smith said.

Ashley Savage graduated from Hampton University in May with an undergraduate degree in business management. She plans to start a master’s degree in business administra-tion in the spring.

“I have always been interested in a government position. When I had the opportunity, I ran with it. I work on the

“I think it is important when you are getting into a new position to talk to someone who knows where you have been....”

— Ashley SmithSCEP employee and

ODU senior


Congratulations are in order for Charlie, longtime Officer in Charge of Complaints for SSC Atlan-tic’s Charleston campus. These photos taken Oct. 9 by Dale Rich-ardson of Code 5532 show that Charlie, who is at least 55 years old, is still do-ing his best to propagate the American alligator species. Charlie is close to 18 feet long, while the new wife is a more pe-tite five feet long. Visitors are welcome at Charlie’s Place, but are reminded that he and his family are protected by state and federal regulations as a threatened species and it is illegal to feed them. Also, the little ones are still small enough to get their snouts through the fence, above, so be careful.

Simpson bids adieu

Ard gets a special farewell Photo by Susan Piedfort


Nelson Ard thought he would be conducting a regularly scheduled meeting on his last day in Charleston before relo-cating to SSC Atlantic’s Tidewater area, but his Navy ERP team had other plans in mind. With most of them dressed in the style of Ard -- dark pants, white Oxford shirt, tie, pocket protector, SPAWAR lanyard with the ID tucked into the front shirt pocket, holding the ever-present laptop -- Ard’s team wished him a fond farewell with a cake and special PowerPoint presentation. Ard, second from left above, is now in Norfolk serving as the Navy ERP lead.

Terry Simpson, at left (in Superman cape), is congratu-lated by Kevin McGee, Net Centric, Production, and Command and Control division head, at a farewell for Simpson held Sept. 24. Simpson, former Code 534 division head and ever the good sport, was the subject of some good natured ribbing by his team. They also wished him well as he takes a senior leadership position as first principal deputy for intelligence for the Navy’s Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I).

Congratulations Charlie!

TransitionsTransitions


SSC Atlantic’s Gregg Cromer can often be seen running along the pe-rimeter of Naval Weapons Station, Charleston, either before work or during his lunch period.

Working in Code 56120, Cromer is the project manager for the Crypto-logic Carry On Program (CCOP). This PMW-120-sponsored effort, CCOP provides a “gap filling” capability to the Navy’s surface fleet and augments current Program of Record systems with equipment for specific Signals of Interest. A SPAWARrior since 2002, Cromer was an industry partner prior to that, employed by SRC.

A competitive triathlete, Cromer also trains between 10 and 15 hours a week for the grueling endurance competitions, and he’s always on the lookout for a chance to squeeze in another training session.

He has completed two Ironman triathlons, which consist of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run. Last year he completed Ironman in Louisville, Ky., on a hot and humid day in 11 hours, 25 minutes and 19 seconds. He is planning on competing in another Ironman in 2011, and hopes to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

Cromer has earned USA Triathlon (USAT) All-American honors – which recognize the top five percent in each age group nationally – for each of the last six years (2003-08). He recently competed in the USMC Mud Run Challenge at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. Of the 1,717 teams competing in the Mud Run Challenge, Cromer’s team finished first overall.

The USMC Mud Run course covers 4.2 miles of off-road trail with 29 challenging obstacles along the way to the finish. Included are two obstacles

Gregg Cromer

SPAWAR triathlete is Budapest bound

At the USAT competition in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Cromer rides his bicycle, above, runs the 10K, below, and finishes the 1.5K swim, opposite page.

Images courtesy brightroom.com

PeoplePeople


which must be completed as a team – the 10-foot vertical wall and the litter carry, where one teammate is carried across the finish line on a stretcher by the other three teammates.

If all that wasn’t enough, the following day he competed in the Kiawah Island triathlon and finished first overall.

While the Mud Run was probably the messiest, it wasn’t Cromer’s most memo-rable.

“That was probably the Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series race number 4 in 2004,” he said, “because I lost and finished in second place to Tom Mather. It was the closest race in the CSTS history and came down to a sprint finish, and Tom beat me by a mere 0.33 second.”

Cromer recently competed in the USAT National Age Group Championships – the organization’s premier events – in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The age group competitors are among the best amateur triathletes in the country, according to the USAT. Like Cromer, many of the competitors have gar-nered numerous All-America honors, in addition to national championships and world titles. Competitors converge from all 50 states after meeting strict qualifica-tion standards at USAT-sanctioned qualifying events throughout the 2009 season.

The National Age Group Cham-pionship triathlon consisted of a 1.5K (0.93 mile) swim in the Black Warrior River, a 40K (24.8 mile) bike race around the University of Alabama campus, and a 10K (6.2 mile) run.

As the only qualifier for the In-ternational Triathlon Union (ITU) 2010 World Age Group Champion-ships, the top 18 finishers in each age group earn a spot on Team USA and are eligible to represent the United States at the 2010 ITU World Age Group Championships in Budapest, Hungary Sept. 8 through 12, 2010.

This was the sixth time Cromer has competed in the event, and the sixth time was the charm. After completing previous National Champi-onships in Hammond, Ind., Columbia, Md., Shreveport, La., and Tuscaloosa, Cromer qualified for Team USA, com-pleting the National Champi-onship triathlon with a time of 2 hours, 14 minutes and 38 seconds. He earned the 13th qualifying spot in the Male 40-44 age group on Team USA and will be headed to Budapest next year.

Cromer has been a com-petitive triathlete since 1987 when he competed in his first triathlon as a senior at Por-tage High School in Portage, Ind. He credits his supportive wife and family for being able to continue in the sport he loves. With three children, kids soccer, basketball and baseball games, Cromer has to be creative with his training in order to spend quality time

with his family. Besides the crucial support he gets from his wife and

family, Cromer said he could not compete in all the events he does each year without the sup-port of his sponsors. John and Jana Glover, owners of a West Ashley bicycle company, and Al and Keri Olivetti, who own a Hilton Head-based triathlon shop, provide Cromer with free clothing, race entry fees and significant store discounts.

Cromer continues to train hard and lead a healthy lifestyle and is looking forward to the challenge of competing against the best age group triathletes in the world in Budapest next year.

“I enjoy seeing just how far I can push myself and the lifestyle,” he said, adding that the competition has other added benefits. “You meet so many terrific people at the races every week and form some lasting friendships.”


The multi-sport endurance event consisting of swimming, cycling and running in immediate succession over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall course completion time, including timed “transitions” be-tween the individual swim, bike and run components.

Triathlon races vary in distance. The main international race distances are Sprint distance (750m swim, 20K bike, 5K run), Olympic distance (1.5K swim, 40K ride, 10K run), Half Ironman dis-tance (1.9K swim, 90K ride, 21.1K run), and Ironman triathlon distance (3.8K swim, 180K ride, 42.2K run).

Triathlons


Patriot Day/Day of CaringSSC Atlantic holds annual observances

SSC Atlantic personnel gathered in the atrium of Bldg. 3147 Sept. 11 for an observance to remember the terrorist attacks of eight years ago.

Setting the mood for the observance was Scottish music performed by a bagpipe and drum trio featuring SSC Atlantic employees John Weed of Code 531K and John Guerry of Code 622, along with Greg Epperson. SSC Atlantic employ-ees John Monroe, Bertha Murray, Paula Somers, Barbara

Above, from left, Barbara Holliway, Bertha Murray, John Monroe, Paula Somers and YN2 (Surface/Aviation Warfare) Terrence Miller perform. Below, SSC Atlantic employees line the rails of the atrium of Bldg. 3147 for the center’s Patriot Day observance.

Holliway and YN2 (Surface/Aviation Warfare) Terrence Miller performed a capella musical selections throughout the event.

Then-Acting Chief Engineer Capt. (Sel) Scott Heller read the 2009 Presidential proclamation recognizing Sept. 11 as both Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance.

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon spoke of former SSC Charleston employee James T. Lynch, a civilian electronics technician working in the Pentagon’s Navy command center who was one of 125 killed Sept. 11, 2001. “We know from history that there will always be those who are impervious to reason or accommodation – enemies who will stop at nothing to do us harm. We, too, will stop at nothing to defend this nation, its citizens and our values,” Urbon said.

Nominees for the James T. Lynch Freedom Award, pre-sented annually to an employee who embodies Lynch’s loyal

Frank Smyth2009 James T. Lynch

Freedom Award recipient


From left, Jimmy Dingus, Jane Dingus, Jozen Orbase, San-dra Stewart, Ken Fertig, Verdenia (Candy) Palmer-Sanders, Antoinette Montgomery, Mason Montgomery and Rae Kautzman volunteered at the Good Neighbor Center in North Charleston. The group helped refurbish and paint facilities at the center as part of the Trident United Way’s Day of Caring and National Day of Service and Remembrance.

dedication and fierce patriotism, were then honored. They were Timothy Brown of Tampa, Code 5527; Salvador Garcia of Charleston, Code 5539; Daniel Johnson of Charleston, Code 5337; Frank Smyth of Charleston, Code 561; and Sherri VonBehren of Charleston, Code 853.

Later that morning in a separate ceremony the James T. Lynch Freedom Award was presented to Frank Smyth. The Charleston chapter of the Navy League of the United States partners with SSC Atlantic to present the Lynch award. Prior to presentation of the award, Vice Admiral (Ret.) Gordon S. Holder, formerly commander of the Military Sealift Com-mand, spoke about the events of September 11, 2001, when he was assigned to the Pentagon.

During the day a group of almost a dozen SSC Atlantic employees, led by Jane Dingus of Code 80C, helped re-furbish and paint facilities at the Good Neighbor Center in North Charleston as part of the Trident United Way’s Day of Caring.

Thanks to donations from SSC Atlantic employees, the group was able to deliver supplies that had been requested by the 36 veterans at the shelter. All excess supplies that had been donated were delivered to the center for future needs.


Above, from left, Dingus, Kautzman, Palmer-Sanders, Stewart and Fertig prepare to paint. Below, a Good Neighbor Center resident admires Fertig’s handiwork.



SSC Atlantic kicks off CFC in styleThe 2009 Combined Federal Campaign kicked off for

SSC Atlantic Sept. 18 with a variety of events designed to inform, entertain and, most importantly, to encourage giving through the annual federal fundraising drive.

SSC Atlantic has set a monetary goal of $280,000. In addition to making 100 percent contact to all employees, money is being raised through everything from bake sales to musical chairs.

Tim Covey, CFC chair for SSC Atlantic, encouraged all SPAWARriors to be as generous as they can this year. “There is a lot of need in our community, across the nation and around the globe. We have been fortunate over the last year. Charities, on the other hand, are suffering through a decrease in charitable giving.

“We have a chance to make a dramatic improvement in someone else’s life through our CFC contributions,” he said. “It is only through the generous support of people like you that we can achieve our goal this year.”

Donations can be made through payroll deduction (26 payroll deductions for civilians / 12 payroll deductions for military members) or a one-time cash or check donation.

Each year, thousands of nonprofit human health and welfare charities benefit from CFC donations. Last year the Coastal Carolina Region contributed more than $1 million, according to Larry Brewer, staff director for the Coastal Carolina CFC.

During the Sept. 18 kickoff, representatives from CFC

Dorothea Bernique, financial literacy instructor for Increasing HOPE (Helping Others Prosper Economically) Financial Training Center, discusses the importance of teaching others to be monetarily self-sufficient. The nonprofit organization is a CFC charity that offers individuals assistance with money matters such as budgeting and decision-making.


Christa Lewis tells SSC Atlantic employees about Habitat for Humanity’s mission to provide housing for low income families.


charities expressed their gratitude and acknowledged the immeasurable aid the CFC provides each year to charities worldwide. After hearing accounts of how CFC contributions have made a difference, attendees enjoyed a raffle, a hotdog sale and the first-ever SPAWAR musical chair competition, all of which generated proceeds for the CFC.

The SPAWAR band -- featuring William Paggi, John Ryan, Mark Dur-ham, John Monroe, David Ludzow and James Ratcliffe -- was back by popular demand and provided music for the festivities. The SSC Atlantic Employee Services Association also provided sup-port for the event.

A bake sale later in the month, featuring culinary samplings from the kitchens of SSC Atlantic cooks, was also a hit.

The CFC allows donors to determine how their money will be used. This year there are more than 2,500 charities to choose from.

“This year the need is greater than ever,” said SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Bruce Urbon, who is also serving as this year’s Coastal Carolina CFC chair. Contributing money toward the organization of the donor’s choice is easy and can indeed make a difference in someone’s life, the captain added.

The CFC is one of the largest and most successful professional fund-raising models in the world. Through the donations service members and government employees pledge each year, roughly a quarter billion dollars is raised and distributed throughout the various nonprofit charities and humani-tarian aid groups.


Above, Anthony Carbone, Code 824, and Mark Leyde of Code 821 have grill duty for the hotdog sale. Below, John Ryan of Code 56150 and Mark Durham, Code 852, perform in the SPAWAR band. At bottom, the competitive spirit increases as the number of available chairs decreases in the musical chairs contest. All money raised during the kickoff was donated to the CFC.


By Mark Jansen, Code 51520The U.S. Naval Anti-Terrorism Force Protection (ATFP)

Ashore’s model has shifted from installation-centric security to regional and national protection. Much of the shift comes as a result of a new Command and Control and Communi-cations (C3) structure. The Commander Naval Installations Command (CNIC) is procuring, installing and maintaining C3 capabilities that will operate in a joint framework and are networked with local, regional and national command structures.

SSC Atlantic was selected by Naval Facilities Engineer-ing Command (NAVFAC) to be the technical agent for CNIC and the Navy ATFP Program to design and implement a modern GIS-based Computer-Aided Dispatch System for Navy Region Southeast (NRSE) and Navy Region Southwest (NRSW). The pilot program, called the Navy Emergency Response Management System (NERMS), is being accom-plished in partnership with Northrop Grumman, ESRI, and other industry partners.

NERMS supports regional consolidation of emergency dispatch centers currently located at more than 25 major Navy installations. Initial implementations will take place at two centralized dispatch centers located in Jacksonville, Fla., and San Diego, Calif.

NERMS is a fully integrated system to support emergency call taking and first responder dispatch. NERMS consoli-dates local installation dispatch into a regional framework for emergency call taking, alarm monitoring, and first responder dispatching. NERMS integrates existing emergency response systems, including Intrusion Detection System and Access Control System alarms, fire alarms, conventional 911 and enhanced 911 (E911) systems for consolidated operations. NERMS combines, geographically and functionally, alarm and 911 receptor sites, the dispatch decision-making and

recordkeeping sites, and dispatch communications hub for NRSE and NRSW. NERMS is expandable to add additional installations or Navy Regions as necessary.The challenge

The NERMS sites have varying installation-level legacy dispatch and alarm monitoring systems with limited 911 call services or Geographic Information System (GIS)-based map display. The Navy Regions could not readily develop emergency resource planning and budgeting reports based on call volume at each installation. The life cycle costs of these disparate dispatch and alarm systems were growing while limiting the ability to modernize the various systems at each installation.

SPAWAR guided the NERMS sites to standardize busi-ness operations, consolidate emergency call types, reconcile telephone databases, and delineate emergency fire and se-curity response zones for proper Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system operation. Legacy fire and security alarm systems were integrated locally into a regional alarm moni-toring system for proper class of service dispatch.

Each NERMS Regional GIS database is comprised of NAVFAC installation, Homeland Security critical in-frastructure, and NAVTEQ road data to support all CAD system components. The installation level data had to be consolidated and augmented with additional attributes and records to ensure successful operation. The location of portable fire and security alarms had to be mapped at each installation and coded in the CAD system for proper alarm identification.The solution

NERMS uses Geographic Information System (GIS)-based CAD to identify the location of alarms or E911 caller identified structures and determine the correct resources to dispatch to the incident location. The CAD system inte-

NavyEmergencyResponseManagementSystem

At right, dispatcher at CAD con-sole. At bottom, MDC installed in a security vehicle. Dispatcher identifies incident location and passes information to the MDC.


grates ArcEditor, ArcGIS Server, ArcSDE, ArcIMS, and ArcEngine to deliver the distributed GIS and CAD services for the Regional Dispatch workstations and Mobile Data Computers (MDCs). The ArcSDE personal geodatabase contains all the vector and raster base map and system operational data for NERMS including custom tables supporting common place name and address queries. ArcIMS enables crime mapping queries and incident records review by security personnel at each local installation for adjustment of security patrol patterns.

The GIS Technology employed by the CAD system and MDCs includes the fol-lowing:

• Real Time Map Display with instal-lation structures, airfields, roads, road closures, incident locations, vehicle loca-tions, fire hydrants, hospitals and portable fire alarms.

• Address Verification Service verifies the E911 or called identified incident location and returns a list to CAD for review/selection by the dispatcher.

• Automated Vehicle Recommendation and Routing (AVRR) displays recommended units based on class of service, call type, incident location and current or last GPS location taking road closures or vehicle road restrictions into account.

• Automatic Vehicle Location positions from each MDC via the Enterprise Land Mobile Radio data radio communi-cation system, which is used by the real-time map display and AVRR service.

• Road Closure Query Service provides real time indica-tion of closed roads allowing alternate routing analysis for

each emergency vehicle to the incident location.• Online GIS updates applies immediate updates to the

GIS database for building numbers, common names, street aliases and road closures. The result

NERMS provides an integrated, scalable and expandable Navy Enterprise system planned to support first responders nationwide at Navy shore installations. Through consolida-tion of dispatch operations, replacement of labor-intensive manual dispatch with computer-assisted automated dispatch and simultaneous capture of end-to-end dispatch records, the Navy will benefit in numerous ways including:

• Improved emergency response times• Enhanced first responder services and

resource allocation• Improved communication and coordina-

tion on-base and off-base• Increased productivity of emergency

services personnel and resources• Reduced administrative burden and com-

puter systems/applications• Greater compliance with emergency man-

agement policy and fire reporting standards• Increased interoperability and alignment.Improved Navy Regional Emergency

Management systems provide state-of-the art technologies that will produce more accurate and timelier information, reduce manpower and redundant systems, and exercise better management of emergency response personnel and resources.

CAD map display

MDC map display


The SSC Atlantic/industry partner team that supports the National Science Foundation United States Antarctic Program geared up recently to provide crucial support for the medevac of a critical cardiac patient.

SSC Atlantic and Scientific Research Corporation (SRC) support the effort through Code 53750. The mission was critical in two aspects: the patient needed lifesaving care that could not be provided at the remote Antarctic location, and flight operations are normally not available during this time of year due to the cold, harsh weather. This flight was considered an emergency.

The support provided encompasses aspects of aviation technical services including air traffic control (ATC) ser-vices from Christchurch, New Zealand, to the continent of Antarctica, meteorological (MET) services for weather observations, forecasting and aircrew flight briefings.

Additionally, SRC provided the ground electronics maintenance (GEM) technicians for the navigational aids,

associated weather equipment and systems and ground-to-air communications equipment.

Notification for this rescue mission was received at ap-proximately 4:30 a.m., Sept. 19 for the team to stand by for action.

Team members on Antarctica and in Charleston began their actions to ensure the mission was a success. ATC con-trollers, MET forecasters and observers were put in place on Antarctica and in Charleston, and their systems were readied to support the flight. The GEM technicians commenced actions to move the necessary equipment and ensure the airfield navigational aids were fully operational for the flight.

The flight was supported by the Royal New Zealand Air Force out of Christchurch, with a C-130 Hercules aircraft, similar to the one pictured above.

Thanks to the teamwork of the SSC Atlantic/industry partner team, the medevac was a success and the patient received the medical care that was needed.

Publish It! ProgramLet us help you tell your stories of success

Many SSC Atlantic employees are working on new or enhanced technologies or designing creative solutions to complex business processes.

The Publish I t ! P r o g r a m (PIP) can help get the word out about these suc-cess stories.

P I P h e l p s showcase the c o m m a n d ’ s best and bright-est in technical and trade pub-lications as well as at conferenc-es and in other p ro fes s iona l venues.

The goal is to increase awareness of SSC Atlantic’s engi-neering and business capabilities. This, in turn, will enhance the marketability of the organization and the reputation of command personnel. The publishing of papers in academic and professional journals is the most common way profes-sionals formally communicate their current thinking on innovative ideas.

PIP offers command experts who can help with document authoring, editing, consultation, visual design and graphics assistance, public affairs approvals and legal disclosures.

The Publish It! Program is aligned under the Science and Technology Group (STG) to leverage the infrastructure already in place with the Innovation Program. Bob Miller, Code 5 is the command lead and can be reached at (843) 218-4898 or by e-mail at [email protected].

More information on the program is available on CnE at https://cne.spawar.navy.mil/pls/portal/url/page/CHS_PROG_PUBLISH_IT. For more information or assistance with a story or story idea, call Miller, Michelle Rehr-Matash at (843) 218-5728, or Dr. Shayna Johnson at (843) 218-6110.

Antarctic emergencymedevaca success Photo by Corporal Mark James, RNZ Air Force


Chamber officials briefed on SSC Atlantic ops

Rear Adm. (Sel) Joseph Rixey, vice commander of SPAWARSYSCOM, receives a brief from Pete Ward, lead project engineer for the MRAP integration effort during a visit to the MRAP integration facility. Rixey visited SSC Atlantic Sept. 8 through 10 for an overview of Charleston op-erations. The admiral received briefs on all major SSC Atlantic initiatives, and while touring the campus, looked at M-ATV integration, the Common Submarine Radio Room and Air Traf-fic Control operations. (See related story on page 5.)

Members of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and Board of Directors visited Aug. 26 for discussions with SSC Atlantic leadership. Pictured above are, from left, Rob Davis, Past Chairman of ThinkTEC; Pennie Bingham, Vice President, Business Development and Innovation for the chamber; Chairman of the Board David Maybank III; Chamber President and CEO Charles

Van Rysselberge; Military/Federal Facilities Policy Council Chairman Peter Wertimer; Chairman-elect of the Board Bobby Pearce; Mary Graham, Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Regional Advancement; and their SSC Atlantic hosts Dr. Steve Jarrett, SSC Atlantic Chief Technology Of-ficer for the ISR/IO/IA and Cyber Security Directorate; Bob Miller of Code 5313, and Michelle Rehr-Matash of Code 851.

Photo by Susan Piedfort


Rixey visits Charleston

VisitorsVisitors


Double rainbow capturedRob Rhett of Code 5316 captured this shot of a rare double rainbow (the second faint rainbow is visible in the corners) at the North Yard of the old naval base in Charleston recently. In a double rainbow the ray of sunlight bounces twice off the back interior surface of the raindrop before reemerging into the air. The second reflection inverts the order of the colors and is typically much fainter than the first rainbow. To see Rhett’s photo in color see The Chronicle color version on the Web at http://sscc.spawar.navy.mil. Employees can also access the color version on the Collaboration and Execution Web site under “Command Information, then “Newsletters.”

Photo by Rob Rhett

Tell your SSC Atlantic story in The ChronicleThere are many opportunities for SSC Atlantic

employees to tell our story, both officially and unofficially.

Every time we tell friends, neigh-bors and family about what we do at work, we are telling our command’s story. Do our friends, family and neigh-bors know how SSC Atlantic helps ensure American warfighters get what they need, when they need it?

You can help share your SSC Atlantic suc-cess story by submitting it to The Chronicle. To discuss a story idea or for assistance writing an article, call (843) 218-4973 or DSN 588-4973.

The Chronicle is published quarterly and articles are accepted at any time. Articles of any length will

be considered, but those with 300 to 500 words are preferred. Photos or illustations should be

sent as separate files, rather than embedded in a document. Send your articles by e-mail to

[email protected] or U.S. mail to The Chronicle Editor, Code 85100, P.O. Box

190022, North Charleston, SC, 29419-9022.

A full color version of The Chronicle is posted on the Internet at http://sscc.

spawar.navy.mil, and on the Collabora-tion and Execution Web site under “Command

Information, then “Newsletters.”

The Final WordThe Final Word


We are now soliciting photography submissions from SSC Atlantic employees for next issue’s contest.

The Employee Services Association will offer the winner a choice of a command coin, thermal mug, cookbook (if available) or $5 credit on another logo item.

MWR will offer a certificate for a free lunch in the Cooper River Cafe to the winner. Send your best shot to [email protected] or [email protected].

Send in your best shot

And the winner is...

Thank you to all who submitted photos for the SSC Atlantic Chronicle photo contest.

Your submissions will be kept on file for future use.


C4I integrators work the M-ATV lines at SSC Atlantic. See story on page 6.

C4I integrators work the M-ATV lines at SSC Atlantic. See story on page 6.

fall 2009 the chronicle 1 - u.s. navy hosting€¦ · fall 2009 the chronicle 3 on the cover an...

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