Fellow Ship Fixers!
Our last meeting was in February and I felt that you needed an update on what is happening regionally and nationally in our industry. We did not hold a meeting in March because of the annual National Ship Repair Industry Conference (NSRIC) held in our nation’s capitol. I also want to apologize in advance for messing with the schedule for the next meeting but we are flexing to accommodate Rear Admiral Galinis who is the new head of Navy Regional Maintenance Command replacing Dave Gale. Please see the announcement on this site for the meeting which will be held at the Baymont on Thursday May 1st (yes, the April meeting is sliding to May). RDML Galinis schedule originally had him here the previous week which would have meant moving our monthly only a week to make it work. RDML Galinis is excited to talk to our group and is looking for good engagement with you on maintenance issues.
Our meetings in DC for NSRIC were very informative. Over the next two weeks we will be posting short articles written by board members about the week’s events. The theme that came through loud and clear to me is that the Navy will continue to be fiscally challenged for the foreseeable future. Maintenance will get a decent share of the budget but there will be tradeoffs that have to be made. The Navy is looking to industry to help them save money and shorten availabilities so that the ships can stay forward and ready. The presentations from NSRIC are available at this link. I would suggest that you take some time to look at both the CNO’s brief and at the brief that retired Admiral Joe Carnevale of SCA put together on the nation’s fiscal situation. We all need be informed and to play a role in sending the message to our elected representatives and to our families, friends and neighbors that the Navy is important to our nation. The free flow of the world’s goods and services relies on open sea lanes and that affects every part of our country. Joe’s brief shows that our nation could just do away with the department of defense and still not put our fiscal house in order. I am not going to get all political here but regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum the numbers are what they are. The debt and deficit cannot be fixed without looking at either entitlement programs or additional revenue or both.
I hope that all of you have a prosperous spring. Please continue to watch for updates via email or postings on our website. I am always looking for feedback from members so please contact me with your ideas, comments or questions.
Mark Kipps
PSSRA President
