Another junior officer here, on my shore tour, relatively fresh from my fleet squadron. I joined USNI when my former skipper (a Facebook friend) started posting a lot about the mission statement debate. Skipper, you’ll probably read this, so don’t let it go to your head: the passion of the members for doing things the right way, in an open forum, is what drew me in. When I found myself reading the USNI blog (as well as Information Dissemination and a few others) on a nearly-daily basis, I decided it was time to join.

Here’s the thing. Even with a Skipper passionate about USNI and the grand scheme of naval things, I wasn’t really aware of USNI, its history, or its open-forum discussions for the first six years I was in the Navy (ten if you count ROTC). Proceedings was only a magazine that sometimes appeared on a wardroom/ready room table.

USNI’s first challenge is to advertise itself to JOs, and that may start at the midshipman/officer candidate level. Given the extensive training pipeline in nuke and aviation communities, it probably needs to start before the first sub/squadron. Some Proceedings articles (especially if they are designed to do so) could be adapted into discussion fodder for the Ethics classes we all take in accession training. Although Navy Times has embraced the tabloid aspect of it, a thoughtful set of Proceedings/USNI blog pieces on the selection of Commanding Officers, their training, and the places where the system and/or the officers fail could make for a far more interesting and memorable class than the simple dissection of a dead philosopher.

Skippers and DHs, if your JOs haven’t heard of USNI, they’ll never get involved. As LT McFall said, it’s not that we’re not interested in solving the problems of the world (read: Navy). It’s that the majority of us aren’t even aware of USNI as a forum for these problems. Keep a copy of Proceedings on the wardroom/ready room table, and when you see someone reading it, ask him what he thinks about the article and engage him in a discussion. Send a link to an interesting post on this site and others. Maybe ask whether anyone got a chance to read it over lunch. Yes, we’ll ignore a lot of the emails (Skipper, you’ve got us working hard!) but we’ll gradually get engaged.

And of course, as LT McFall said, to keep people coming back, especially this generation of millennial officers, USNI has to have the content to be viewed as a resource not only for interesting sidebar discussions but for legitimate professional needs. THAT is what will lead one JO to direct another to USNI. USNI shouldn’t be the place to find a ready-made Battle of Midway celebration kit for the poor JO tasked with throwing the party, but should have a timely blog piece with links to some historical and/or archived material that will give said poor JO appropriate context. It would be a great place to have a discussion on the merits of centralized/decentralized command and control (and whether our extended-range radios and data links are gradually shifting us away from our proclaimed doctrine), or on information overload and how best to get an operator a manageable amount of correct information that will enable him to make sound tactical decisions. The first is a topic that was covered (in less detail) in my aircrew syllabus; the second is one that comes up rather frequently when in front of a scope that blossoms with unassociated tracks. Both would be something I as a JO would send out to my JO friends as the topic surfaced.

One last thing…although LT McFall didn’t mention the initiative to gain enlisted members, I think getting more JOs in the ranks will help with that as well. I referenced all kinds of nerdy sources (and often forwarded copies of them) as I hung out with my sailors when the topic came up – the story on NPR about the sharks who like AC/DC, the NY Times article about farmer’s markets, the 600-page book about the Vietnam War I was just reading…why not the Proceedings article or USNI blog post I just read? Just as with the JOs, it’s a fight for awareness as much as anything else.

V/R
LT Elizabeth Burnham

I’ll throw a quick recommendation out. Have a “resources” tab and under that tab have a thorough and vetted set of resource links that are actually relevant to naval leaders. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had all my favorites canned by NMCI, and there are dozens of websites we need to access to do business daily. On any given day it’s FLTTMPS, AIR 4.0′s airworthiness, BOL, NKO, NSIPS, ESAMS, and the list goes on and on and on. The navy’s web site listings give equal weight to the worthwhile and the worthless. Give JOs a reason to come and they’ll stick around a while. Make the resource tab a place JOs can go to when they need to get something done and they’ll come back to the home page when they have time to visit and something to say.

Introducing USNI and creating awareness at a time when one is most receptive to receiving valuable professional advice or expressing an idea is a moving target. That moment clicks at different times for many. This highlights the importance of consistently conducting a high level discussion in print and online at all times because when you’re ready USNI will be there. Those serving you here at USNI take our responsibilities to you very seriously and will respond to whatever extent possible to be relevant to you. For your part, nothing could contribute more to the independent forum than spreading the word virally through your communities about this place and those who share ideas here. We look for grand slam solutions when at times base hits will get the job done. An example was our Editorial Board meeting this past week, when some dozen or so of your shipmates accepted one of the most important challenges we have ever faced. Each will recruit a willing junior colleague and mentor them through the process of submitting an article for Proceedings during the next twelve months. With twelve new junior voices contributing we expect fresh, relevant debate and productive discussions. We’re listening to you carefully and appreciate your efforts to shape USNI to meet your needs. More to come.
Bill Miller, publisher at USNI

There’s huge potential in USS OTHER SHIP submitting UNCLAS challenges they face while deployed and crowd sourcing solutions (not literal solutions, mind you. But, examples leading to solutions for them)via USNI.

USNI can be, as facebook, tumbltr et. al are: the ties that bind. USNI needs only be the platform that allows Sailors to network and expand their knowledge base. The technology is there, and it is relatively cheap.

Get into the Wardrooms and Chief’s Mess. To do this, use the influential members you already have, have them approach the Wardrooms and Chief’s mess. The Chief’s Mess is 95% networking. Provide for them an additional forum to network and collaborate. There must be some retired CMC out there that could go talk to the Mess aboard ship.

One thing that is probably going to have to be a corollary to such an effort, is monetizing it. That I suppose is what makes this hard…

In reply to Mr. Miller,

Twelve mentorees is fine and all, and I don’t mean to be a jerk, but the question needs to be asked–if you are outside the chosen 12, then what?

I hate having to be the gadfly, but here are some questions that I think need to be asked–are these articles from the 12 guaranteed publication? If not guaranteed, are they going to be refined and guided till they are worthy? It’s not hard to count the number of articles published in Proceedings per year. 12 is a substantial number. How easy is it going to be if you are a non-12 JO to get published, if basically 12 other JOs have got a leg up? How many articles from JOs (Navy definition–O-4 and below) have been published as articles in the last two years, anyway? How many were on fleet warfighting issues and not on what I would uncharitably call “trendy” issues? Can Proceedings say with a straight-face that articles to date have been published solely on merit? Etc. Etc.

Like I said, I hate to be that guy. I hate to be a gadfly. But it seems like it needs to be done. How about you guys stop being trendy vis a vis what the civilian leadership theory boys say and just start publishing good pieces when they come across the transom? My guess is that will generate more good articles than any mentoring process will. Figure out who your audience is, for once and for all. If Washington, so be it. If the fleet, so be it. If both, so be it. But decide, and stick to it.

Admiral,

Thank you very much for your comments. They mean a great deal to me.

I have received a good amount of feedback from Senior Officers and peers alike today and I have seen a common trend. Everyone wants to improve our communication.

Admiral, as arguably the best communicator in the Navy, what advice do you have for the rest of us? You seem to be able to connect with officers and sailors at all levels. How can we, as an organization, improve our internal communications?

VR/

Rob McFall
LT USN

@USNI Publisher – You mentioned something I was logging on to discuss and that is the connection between Proceedings and the blog. The blog by nature has a great deal more energy and interaction than the online Proceedings articles. I’m not sure if that’s a nature of the audience/s, the delay in article comments getting posted, or something else.

What about Admin and/or the editorial staff picking an article from the most recent Proceedings and posting it to encourage increased dialogue? Could be daily, on some set schedule, when it appears there is a slow blog day. Maybe even selecting an older Proceedings article and encouraging some compare/contrast on the Navy then and now? I believe Proceedings remains relevant and includes many great articles…but their usefulness is only guaranteed by ensuring they are discussed, debated, and disseminated.

@LT McFall – Great post and great discussion you instigated. Some super ideas and dialogue as a result of your effort. BZ!

@Everyone – I believe another recent post raised the idea of some fleet engagement-type seminars. That might make more people aware of USNI, the magazine, and the blog, and allow USNI leaders to hear more great ideas like those presented here.

@Fouled Anchor @admin: Proceedings has an electronic format that allows comments? 1) Advertise that on this blog. I never before clicked on the Proceedings link, mostly because I didn’t realize there was additional content beyond what was delivered in my physical mailbox. 2) Absolutely link to particularly discussion-worthy stories (whether or not they have a lot of traffic already). 3) Definitely bring in historical articles. In relation to the current CVN/CV-light discussion going on as a result of a April Proceedings article, post a link to the 1930s and 1970s and 1990s discussions (I’m making up dates here) of the relevance of carriers and their appropriate size/airwing composition.

@ GIMP: That resource tab is a solid idea, though I’m not sure FLTMPS is really in USNI’s lane. If USNI covers all the sea services, including the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard, surely there’ll end up being a lot of extraneous links. I’d rather have pieces of the Guide to Naval Writing, the Watch Officer’s Guide and other USNI-published books available, along with a better resource than http://www.navyfitrep.com for fitreps/evals. I throw it out to the crowd to refine this idea.

I think one way to encourage more submissions is to accelerate the publishing schedule. Rob notes a lag of two to three months from submission to print, but in my experience, it’s more like six or seven. I’m a just an old GEN X’er, but still lack the patience to wait that long to find out whether or not a piece will be printed when there are so many other options – blogs, other publications, etc. to get an idea out. No offense to the “Normans” — I’ve been reading them for 20+ years — but your regular columnists and flag officers shouldn’t have the monopoly on the right to have current topical articles posted. If a submission is good, fresh, and relevant, publish it within the next month. If there isn’t room or it misses a hard deadline, give the author the option to “publish” here, similiar to the Small Wars Journal Model.

Finally, tread lightly with the editor’s pen. If an article is well written and skillfully articulated, your editors needn’t choose more politically correct language to appeal to whatever sort of demographic they may be chasing.

@ EWB, Fouled Anchor, et al on the electronic access to Proceedings.

Yes, it’s there.

It is very very cumbersome.

If digerati X-ers won’t go there because it is cumbersome, then the Millenials won’t either.

And if you can’t get them in the door, it doesn’t matter how good the content is.

Oh, and it doesn’t have to be flashy – look at Google’s success…all meat, no garnish. The USNI website needs a functional makeover so that content can be rapidly found.

@Battle Yeoman: Retired CMCs always welcome within lifelines/flightlines. However, we do have active-duty CMCs & fellow senior enlisted leaders who keep pulse on millenials’ & digerati’s preferred mode of communications. Although Chatham House Rules in effect on most goatlocker deliberations, am sure the good word will get out to deckplate triads.