Speeches

Navy Ball Speech – 2003 “We are Ready”

October 18, 2003

Thank you for your kind remarks ADM Cassius. I am happy to be here on this 228th birthday of the United States Navy, and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to speak before you tonight. As a Lt Commander in the US Navy Reserve, this might be the highpoint of my Navy career.

I commend you for your theme “We are ready” on which I might elaborate in just a minute.

We are grateful for the presence of our sister services, the Army, the Coast Guard, the Air Force, and the Marines, as well as the representatives of allied and friendly navies, and of the Navy League which does so much to support our ships.

We are grateful for the presence of spouses and family members tonight. Our wives and husbands and children provide the love and support that allows us to do our job.

Reflect for a moment on the extraordinary range of Navy commands that serve in Singapore: We have the Military Sealift Command, the Fleet Technical Support Center, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Naval Oceanographic Office, and the Customer Service Desk.

We have the Navy Regional Contracting Center, under CAPT Gonzales, which has responsibility for contract management throughout the SEVENTH FLEET.

And the largest command in Singapore, under the command of Rear Admiral Cassius, is the Logistic Forces, Western Pacific, which direct the supply of the “beans ‘n’ bullets”… the food, ordnance, fuel and parts for SEVENTH FLEET ships deployed across 51 million square miles of the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

To the men and women of every unit stationed in Singapore, I applaud you all.

As a JO, I was given advice by my old XO regarding flag officers: keep away from them. (laughter) Nothing good will ever come from getting near them. I adhered to this rule as best I could during my Navy career, but upon getting this assignment I found myself working day to day with Jeff Cassius.

A friend once told me: You don’t get to be an admiral unless you’re real smart and real mean. (laughter) With Admiral Cassius, that statement is only half correct. (laughter) No, no, it’s not what you think. He’s actually a nice guy.

Another Navy friend once advised me: Whatever you do, keep away from Submariners. (laughter) They are completely crazy. I was chatting with this shipmate recently and I reminded him of that advice and I told him that, in fact, I work day to day with an Admiral who is a Submariner.

My friend asked: Well, is he completely crazy?

I said, no, he is not 100% crazy – just maybe 10-15%. (laughter)

My friend said: Oh, he’s just like you. (laughter) I said you bet. We get along just fine. If you are less than 10-15% crazy, maybe you can’t be a good Admiral. Or a good Ambassador.

This Ball marks Admiral Cassius’ final as COMLOGWESTPAC. He leaves this winter for a command assignment stateside. Although your departure is not till next year, let me wish you and Terri “Fair winds and following seas.”

We have another Admiral here tonight, but he’s not with the U.S. Navy, so nothing I have just said applies to him. Let me express special thanks to Rear Admiral Ronnie Tay, Chief of Navy of the Republic of Singapore, and his wife Leah for attending our ball tonight. It is our good fortune to count the Republic of Singapore Navy among our friends.

Friendship is a more elusive concept than we generally might think, and therefore more valuable. Friendship is sometimes confused with friendliness. We can be friendly toward just about anyone, and so we should be. But the measure of a friendship is when there is a potential cost attached to that action, which is why we hold “fair weather friends” in low regard. But when the weather gets rough, the barometer is falling, the sea state is rising, our nation is going to war, this is when we find out who our friends really are.

The United States went through this in 2001 when we went to war in Afghanistan and we went through it again this year when we went to war in Iraq. You could say we sent out a message, in Navy parlance a NOTAM, a Notice to Mariners. The message was simple: “assistance required.”

Both times, Singapore responded.

The U.S. Navy put Romeo at the dip and the Republic of Singapore Navy came alongside.

So let me take the opportunity this evening to hoist another signal flag: Tango Yankee Sierra – TYS. – It stands for “Thank you Singapore.”

In a sense, Singapore’s friendship should not be much of a surprise. The US Navy has been calling here since 1842. In the last 12 months alone, Singapore has hosted 137 U.S. Naval ship visits. Nearly two thirds of those were between last October and this March, as US forces converged for military operations in Iraq.

Most of the Navy personnel in this room work in one fashion or another on these ship visits or with one of the naval exercises we undertake with Singapore: CARAT or MERLYNX, promoting the exchange of tactics, and building an atmosphere of trust and regional stability.

Time and again, Singapore has shown that it is ready, but the question for the U.S. sailors and officers here tonight is: Are we ready? Will we do our part? At 228 years of age, the service we celebrate is older than the country it protects. We salute the quartermasters and architects like Bushnell and Ericsson who built the fleet. We salute the scientists and inventors like Dahlgren and Michelson who gave us the finest tools in the world. We salute the innovators, builders, and strategists, like Mahan and Rickover, who fashioned a global force. And we salute the leaders and warriors from Jones to Nimitz who take that force into battle.

Most of all, we salute the men and women of all ranks and rates who man the ships and fill the billets, like Master Chief Carl Brashear and LTJG John F. Kennedy. Some are heroes and we see their names on the sides of ships. Many – even the heroes – spend much of the day in seemingly ordinary tasks, but do so with such proficiency -- such excellence -- that they lift up their department, they lift up their ship, and they lift up themselves. At moments of crises, those individuals are indeed ready.

Some are required to put themselves in harm’s way. Some might pay the ultimate price in their country’s service. Fate will not knock on everyone’s door, but it is everyone’s duty to be ready if the knock does come. In this room tonight we have those who have been tested in their career, and perhaps we have a sailor or two whose test is yet to come.

There have been over 200 instances in which the U.S. Navy has been used in conflicts or potential conflicts. Only five times has this been in support of declared wars. Beyond combat operations, the Navy plays a vital role in support of international commerce with its anti-piracy and Freedom of Navigation operations. Whenever there is a humanitarian crisis, the Navy is the scene, bringing relief or evacuating victims.

It’s a proud history, and every navy person and family member here is a part of it. On one level, we hope that there is no more history to be written, no more battles to be fought. But we are wise enough to know of human follies. As long as the world is imperfect, the United States will need its Navy. As to tonight’s theme, you in this room know our readiness better than I do. Are we ready for our mission, ready for the tasks ahead, ready for the challenges we must face? I do not want to diminish a lovely evening, but I can tell you this. Just as we work on our readiness, there are terrorists who are also at work on their readiness. When that moment comes, we had better be fully prepared because they will be fully prepared.

Let me close with a little story from last year. Admiral Fargo visited Singapore shortly after assuming Pacific Command and I was able to host him for dinner. He was aware of the amount of Naval activity through Singapore and he very graciously said that he hoped the Navy had not been too much of an interference in our work. He said he hoped the Navy hadn’t taken me away from my job.

I replied that the Navy wasn’t an interference in my work; it was my work. It wasn’t taking us away from my job; it was my job.

My job is making sure you can do your job. Next year, wherever we are stationed, we will be attending the 229th anniversary Ball. And we will all look back on this year and be able to say, “We were ready.”

Thank you.