CNO Speaks on Leadership, Future, FDNF

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Barry R. Hirayama, Fleet Public Affairs Center, Det. Japan

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Mullen conducted an all hands call for forward-deployed Sailors aboard Fleet Activities Yokosuka on June 19. Hundreds of Sailors from the region came to the base’s Fleet Theater to hear CNO talk about today’s Navy and the importance of developing strong leadership for the future.

Mullen spoke about his recent attendance at the Naval Academy’s graduation and said that somewhere in that crowd or somewhere in an ROTC unit is the future CNO. “We’ve got to get the base right,” Mullen emphasized. “Everyone is in this room is successful because someone made a difference in your life.” “How can you reach in and lead, so we can continue to be a very robust system?” Mullen asked. Sailors also had the opportunity to ask the CNO questions that impact their lives in a forward-deployed operating environment such as Japan.

“I think it’s absolutely important to stop by as many military installations as possible to get feedback from us, so he can get a better understanding of what we’re experiencing in day-to-day life,” said Lt. B.J. Mahl, USS Mustin’s (DDG 89) navigation officer. “I think being stationed in the FDNF (Forward Deployed Naval Forces) poses some unique circumstances that those Sailors traditionally stationed in CONUS (continental U.S.) don’t necessarily experience as often,” added Mahl. The CNO is on a seven-day trip to Japan and Vietnam to visit with counterparts and Sailors stationed in the region. Mullen last visited the Forward Deployed Naval Forces in Yokosuka in January 2006.