March 1997
The Total Navy is adopting a Leadership Continuum approach to education and training leaders. At the All Flags Conference that was held last month a presentation was made by VADM Patricia Tracey, Chief of Naval Education and Training. The fundamental idea behind the continuum concept is to have leadership training for both enlisted and officers at important phases in a career.
We have a Reserve ED program that has been developed over the years that is a Technology Leadership Continuum. In recognition of the need for continuous up-dating of our technical knowledge we have phased into a program to provide education in engineering and technical leadership through an NR ED career.
Over the last 8 years we have had a school for newly selected Commanders. It started as one week at Leesburg, Virginia, and is now expanded to two weeks. For the last 6 years we have had a weekend of training for newly selected Captains. And for the last 4 years we have had an education program for newly selected LCDR's - given at Orlando, Florida.
Additionally we have a continuing program that is not geared to rank but rather to the pace of technological change. Every year we have a Multi-Readiness Command Technical Training (MRTT) Session on each Coast - Atlantic and Pacific.
Our East Coast MRTT was just held in Washington, DC, and the West Coast MRTT will be coming up soon in March. Try to be there. Everyone is invited - officers of any designator, enlisted, civilians, contractors: nothing classified is presented. In fact the MRTT is a first-rate technical meeting on the latest states-of-the-art. We are always pleased to have our active duty counterparts join in.
The dominant theme in our civilization is explosive technical growth. We are on the spear point of that growth. Remember as a participant in the NAVSEA Reserve Program or as an ED you are a part of the "High Tech Brain Trust" and you are a steward of Navy high technology resources.
You are responsible for "Converting the Findings of Science into Navy Tools." The continuum of leadership and the continuum of technology are mutually supportive.