First of 3 Tenets as relevant today as it was in 1775. Sailors adapting and overcoming half a century ago 1Jan1962 http://tinyurl.com/7562ndw ... Plenty more challenges for current generation of shipmates to overcome

1. http://cno.navylive.dodlive.mil/2011/10/09/operating-forward/

2. Operating Forward
Posted on October 9, 2011 by cservello
Shipmates,
My first blog… I just left Bahrain and am heading back to D.C. after my first trip as your
Chief of Naval Operations – and I can’t tell you enough how proud I am to be leading
your Navy.
Nothing is as motivating for me as seeing you in action in the fleet. Watching flight
operations on John C. Stennis as we prepared to go through the Strait of Hormuz
reminded me how important your work is to defending our nation.
At each stop on this trip – in Japan, Korea, Bahrain and on Stennis – MCPON and I
talked with Sailors and their leaders. In particular, I introduced some key priorities and
tenets that I will focus on as CNO. I call them my Sailing Directions.
First the priorities. These are the three main jobs of every CNO:
Number one, we’ve got to be ready to meet current challenges, today. What we
are asked to do, we have to do well – today, tomorrow or the next day. We need to
understand what being “hollow” is and work to prevent it through manning,
maintenance, equipping and training.
Priority two is we need to build a relevant and capable future fleet. We have to
build the right ships, aircraft and submarines at the right cost. That’s our job. And we
will have to balance this investment with funding the readiness we need for today’s
challenges. That’s my job.
Priority three, we’ve got to develop and support Sailors, Civilians and Navy
families. We need to nurture a future force that, in my view, is motivated and really
wants to do the job. We need a force that is relevant with the right skills and is
masterfully trained. We’ve got to draw upon the diverse experience and background of
our people.
Those are three things every CNO needs to do. Now let me talk about how I plan to
approach these priorities. That brings us to my three tenets, which I think of as lenses
I apply to every decision.
The first tenet is Warfighting first. Because that’s what we’ve got to do – fight and
win. That’s our craft. We should view each policy and investment through that lens and
see if it really helps us to fight better.
Tenet two is Operate forward. We are at our best when we are out and about and able
to provide off-shore options to the President. That’s what we’ve been doing for more
than 230 years and that’s what we will continue to do in the future.

3. The third tenet is we’ve got to be ready. The Navy is out there for rapid response and
action around the world. Readiness costs money, though, and we’ll have to make tough
decisions in the coming months about where we will deploy and for how long.
So those are the three tenets. Warfighting first, operate forward, and be ready.
Those are the lenses through which we need to evaluate our decisions.
We are heading into some rough seas from a budget perspective, but we’ve dealt with
similar situations before. I am confident we can stay on course, take care of the crew and
ride out the weather if we keep our gyro aligned to what’s important.
I will continue to use this blog as a way to let you know what I think in what will be a
very interesting time for our nation and our Navy. I look forward to hearing from you as
well.
Sincerely,
JONATHAN W. GREENERT
Admiral, U.S. Navy