Staying Haze Gray - reenlistment and retention team - Brief Article

All Hands, April, 2001 by Bob Houllhan

Why would a Sailor in a critically under manned rate, stationed onboard a 30-year-old dock landing ship (LPD), want to reenlist to stay on the ship when there are so many other possible options?

One reason: the chain-of-command cares.

It cares so much about the Sailors onboard USS Shreveport (LPD 12) that their retention statistics are 18 percent higher than the LPD average and 11 percent higher than the Commander U.S. Naval Surface Force Altanic Fleet average.

Shreveport takes care of her own.

These outstanding reenlistment rates are a result of Shreveport's command vision, which places a great deal of emphasis on retention. In fact, the ship's Commanding Officer, CAPT William D. Valentine, believes it's key in building an effective war-fighting team.

"Shreveport operates on the basis of three important, interrelated priorities: readiness, safety and quality of life," Valentine said, "Our success in these crucial areas begins and ends with our ability to retain motivated, highly-skilled and goal-oriented Sailors."

With those priorities in mind, Shreveport uses an innovative approach to the time-honored Navy command retention team. The captain heads the ship's team and is assisted by his executive officer, command master chief, command career counselor and command financial advisor.

Every Tuesday, the team sits down with Sailors who are facing career decision points. The in-depth interview is a give-and-take between the team and the Sailor covering career, financia1 and family goals. The objective is to find out how the command can best help the Sailor achieve their individual goals while keeping them in the Navy.

"We talk to each Sailor as early as possible about their options, the short- and long-term Benefits of staying Navy and how they can secure financial independence for the rest of their life," said Valentine.

But the team's involvement in the process doesn't end there. The command sends letters to parents and spouses to make sure the Sailor's family fully understands all the benefits of continued naval service. Also, Shreveport's leaders up and down the chain of command have been known to write letters to the Bureau of Naval Personnel or pick up the phone to call detailers to help deserving Sailors achieve their goals.

The high level of command involvement isn't the only thing that sets Shreveport's retention program ahead of the pack. The ship's reenlistment benefits package is second to none.

Along with the standard plaque, pen and shipboard "bennies" book, 42 of Shreveport's reenlistees got to board a charter bus to "Bean Town" to raise their right hands aboard America's oldest commissioned warship afloat, USS Constitution.

After the first-class bus trip, the reenlisting Sailors enjoyed a day in historic Boston, including the observation of colors aboard Constitution before the ceremony, a private tour of the 200-year-old ship and visits to some of the city's most noted landmarks. In addition to the regular mementos normally received at such occasions, reenlistees were presented with a flag that was flown over Constitution.

Additionally, Shreveport's leadership is committed to ensuring non-designated Sailors get "A" school technical training for the career field of their choice as soon as possible. Usually, after a Sailor serves a year aboard the ship, their "A" School requests will be approved. After 18 months of good service, strikers can expect to go to school.

Another tool used by the Shreveport retention team is an updated program called the Guaranteed Assignment Retention Detailing (GUARD) 2000 Program. GUARD 2000 allows Sailors to waive up to 18 months of sea time from their current prescribed sea tour obligation in return for reenlisting. This program allows a detailer to give a Sailor their preferred assignment from the current list of available billets, even if the assignment is of a lower fill priority than the detailer would normally consider.

Command Career Counselor Navy Career Counselor Chief (SW/AW) Royal Parker has served as career counselor aboard three other ships and says Shreveport's retention program is the best he has ever seen. He believes that after a command invests the initial capital to get a good retention program going, it will feed itself.

"The word is spreading throughout the ship," Parker said. "People hear about other folks getting the orders they wanted, they hear about the command going to bat for their shipmates, they see people going to "A" school; things are happening on board this ship and the excitement is contagious!"

From April to December 2000, that excitement resulted in 56 Shreveport Sailors deciding to stay Navy.

Not too bad out of a total enlisted crew of 390.

Among them is Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class (SW) James Gamble, who raised his right hand during the ceremony onboard Constitution. Having served four years, Gamble wanted to go to instructor duty and remain in the Norfolk area. That limited his assignment possibilities to only one command: the Atlantic Fleet's Expeditionary Warfare Training Group.