NAVAL RESERVE FLAGpGRAM 05-02

From: Rear Admiral Norton C. Joerg, JAGC, USNR

To: All NavyJudge Advocates and Legalmen serving in the Reserve Component (RC)

Subj: FlagpE-Gram 05-02

Date: 5 May 2005

This is my first E-Gram. It comes in the midst of a very challenging time – for our nation, for the armed services, for our Navy, and, of course for the Navy’s RC and RCLP. When I sent you my holiday and New Year’s message in December, I touched upon a number of themes to which I would like to return, plus one or two additional points.

1. Challenge equals opportunity. This remains the most important message that I can bring to you. Everything that I have seen and been involved in over the last few months brings this home. Powerful forces and requirements driving our Navy and RC to transform -- the Global War on Terror is but one – are creating opportunities to re-align to new missions, to grow new capabilities, and, perhaps most important of all, to address new ways to develop and enable our human capital service-wide. In this atmosphere, we cannot be satisfied with how we have done business in the past, and we must be prepared for change. Our business, day to day, must include our taking ownership of this opportunity and the processes and initiatives that are emerging from it. I emphasized this to our leadership at our leadership conference in December – SJAs, COs, and senior judge advocates and legalmen alike. This emphasis will remain for the foreseeable future. Get used to it, and get involved. As I said in December, work the issues of the day with me, if it is your lot to do so, and, if it is not, be involved indirectly by keeping abreast of the environment that informs our challenges. Be aware, be proactive. We need everyone’s contributions – to mission, and to shaping the future, at all levels, more than ever.

2. “A tall ship and a star to steer her by”. I am extremely fortunate to have a solid platform under my feet – a most seaworthy vessel, if you will – as I work with you to navigate the way forward. This is true for two key reasons.

First, it is my good luck to succeed Rear Admiral Steve Kantrowitz as the head of our program. I have said this several times before; let me now be a bit more specific and categorical: Admiral Kantrowitz has left us with a reserve of strength and quality, in the way we do business, in our leadership ranks, and in our culture of excellence, that positions us for success. During his tenure, Admiral Kantrowitz undertook to revitalize the program to make it as effective and efficient an organization as possible, aligned with the Active Component (AC) uniformed legal community and ready in every way to perform its mission in support of the fleet. He placed innovative programs into effect to meet these objectives, established the highest standards and saw them implemented and met. Throughout his tenure, he was an innovator, a tireless worker, and a master planner. His skill and dedication have built a legacy of lasting importance to the entire community -- a fully integrated, highly motivated, thoroughly trained and ready force of RC judge advocates and legalmen. That indeed is who we are.

At his retirement in December, the Navy recognized Rear Admiral Kantrowitz’s accomplishments with the Distinguished Service Medal – a signal distinction. I have attached the citation to this E-Gram. We can all take pride in this, for it reflects well on all of us – on what we are and what we can do. Admiral Kantrowitz has set us up to succeed; it is up to us to fulfill that promise.

Second, I am blessed with a superbly close and integrated relationship with our uniformed legal leadership. From the very start of my tenure at the beginning of December – indeed, beginning well before, as I pursued the turnover process -- Rear Admirals McPherson and MacDonald have been most generous with their time and support. They are truly committed to making Active-Reserve Alignment in the Navy’s uniformed legal community the best it can possibly be and a model for other communities to follow. In my participation in meetings with our AC counterparts—with the assistant judge advocates general and other senior OJAG staff and division directors, with commanding officers, military judges, and staff judge advocates, and with senior enlisted leadership -- it has become clear to me that this spirit suffuses our chains of command and that, furthermore, it grows stronger through our common efforts to work better and smarter together. All of us should be grateful for this support, and we should repay it with dedication to mission and a continued commitment to full and effective partnership, AC and RC, in the journey ahead.

3. Zero Based Review and Human Capital Strategy. I can report that we look to be moving past the ZBR into a new analytical approach to assessing the Navy’s need for RC legal billets, both officer and enlisted. As a result, each of us should put aside any focus on the immediate fate of individual billets – for that appears moot for now – to raise our sights to a more comprehensive view of what we need to make the RC properly shaped and positioned for the future, as part of our uniformed legal community’s Human Capital Strategy (HCS), CNO’s key focus for this year. Bottom line: It now appears very unlikely that the ZBR will be the chart that we follow.

I won’t steal much more of my own thunder here, as I will have much to say about this subject at the Military Law Training Workshops East and West in Arlington and San Diego. Suffice it to say here that, in your minds, you should substitute thinking about – and, given the spate of rumors about it in the past year or so, a possible obsession with -- the ZBR with a focus on the larger concept. HCS is “where it’s at” for us, and for the Navy, right now, front and center. In a labor-intensive, people-intensive business such as ours, where we are “equipment-light” and operate almost exclusively in the field of ideas, HCS is about the very substance and structure of our mission. We have an opportunity now to get it right – to move past ZBR to a thoroughgoing assessment of how we should structure our human capital, our skill sets, billets, and allocations of resources among AC and RC and officer, enlisted, and civilian, to best meet the mission as we see it in the years to come. This is what HCS will be.

As we pursue this effort, even as I write, we have an opportunity to design and implement a solution, or range of solutions, to meet Navy’s needs in our realm of uniformed legal services. In doing so, we will draw much benefit from our experience with ZBR, and from its purposes and ends. The result will become the RC piece of the larger Human Capital Strategy for our entire community. Make no mistake, though: This is not a return to the status quo ante; we must still take a hard look at how we are structured, and where we should go. Change remains a sure bet, but remember: Challenge equals opportunity.

4. The mundane remains sublime: be ready! We cannot say this too often. Vice Admiral Cotton lays it out clearly in “The Navy Reservist” magazine, and I cannot do better than to repeat it here:

“[T]he president asked everyone in uniform to be ready. Reservists must continually emphasize both personal and unit readiness, to be ready when called to serve. Everyone from readiness commanders, to unit commanding officers and senior enlisted advisors, to the individual member is responsible for being mobilization ready. Special emphasis should be placed on medical, dental, pay records, personal fitness, Code of Conduct training, and page 2 updates, to name a few. These basics must be accomplished annually, and reviewed at least quarterly to allow for scheduling of training or examinations. This is an individual responsibility and is indicative of the pride all should take in following the president’s orders. Please do your part to be professional and to be ready!”

Let me pull from this guidance a couple of hot points: (1) Medical and dental readiness require our constant and dogged attention; (2) Physical standards are tightening -- be sure to adjust and comply; and (3) Generally speaking, there must be no “light” between us and our AC counterparts on any of this. Indeed, to fulfill our mission, we must be doubly vigilant about our records and preparation, for we may be called to change status at any time. The bottom line is, if you are ready and good, you will have your fill of challenge and opportunity; if you are not, you will have to make way for those who are.

In conclusion, let me say that it is truly a privilege to serve you and the Navy at the head of our program. I look forward to our symposia at Arlington and San Diego, where we will come together as a community to assess where we are and where we are going in this exciting and brave new world of transforming challenge that we are lucky enough to live in. Be prepared to think, to contribute, to add your talent and energy to the mix. When I release my next E-Gram, I will share with you what we have learned in our discussions, and the latest on the way forward.

I relish continuing on this adventure with you.

All the best!

-- Norton Joerg

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL to

REAR ADMIRAL STEVEN B. KANTROWITZ
JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL’S CORPS
UNITED STATES NAVAL RESERVE

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

For exceptionally meritorious service to the Government of the United States in duties of great responsibility while serving as the Assistant Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Navy and Deputy Commander, Naval Legal Service Command from October 2000 to December 2004. As the senior Reserve Attorney in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Rear Admiral Kantrowitz was an indispensable member of the Corps’ leadership team during times of great challenge in our Nation’s history. A visionary leader, he recognized the challenges of our time and crafted a historic plan that provided for the recall of over 15 percent of the Naval Reserve Law Program in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Through drills and active duty augmentations, his plan provided operational contributions of 75 to 80 percent of the Reserve Community at any one time. His efforts were the driving force in forging a Reserve Program that was integrated with the active Navy at unprecedented levels. Rear Admiral Kantrowitz himself also provided sustained and extensive operational support to the active Navy. On numerous occasions, he served as the acting Judge Advocate General of the Navy, the Navy’s senior military attorney, and the acting Commander, Naval Legal Service Command. During these assignments, he provided thoughtful analysis, sage counsel to civilian and military leadership, unparalleled support to commanders in the field, and ensured the effective delivery of legal services to the Fleet worldwide. Through his keen insight, superb initiative, and extraordinary vision, he has built an enduring legacy for the entire Navy legal community.  By his superior leadership, impeccable professionalism, and deep devotion to duty, Rear Admiral Kantrowitz reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

For the President,


Secretary of the Navy