Military

 STATEMENT OF

Vice Admiral JOHN B. TOTUSHEK

CHIEF, NAVAL RESERVE

18 JULY 2001

Vice Admiral John B. Totushek
United States Naval Reserve
Commander, Naval Reserve Force
Chief of Naval Reserve
    Director of Naval Reserve

Vice Admiral John B. Totushek is a native of Minneapolis, Minn. A 1966 graduate of the University of Minnesota, he earned his commission through a Naval ROTC scholarship and was designated a pilot upon completion of flight training in June 1968.

Vice Adm. Totushek began his Naval Aviation career flying the F-4 Phantom in Florida and Virginia-based squadrons. In November 1973, he resigned his regular commission and accepted a commission in the Naval Reserve. During the next 24 years, Vice Adm. Totushek served in numerous capacities with the Naval Reserve and several civilian companies.

In the Naval Reserve, he served as Commanding Officer of numerous commands, including three Virginia-based air-combat training squadrons and Atlantic Fleet air support commands. Also, as a Reservist, he held senior strategic and management positions within the Navy, including command of the Atlantic Fleet's Logistics Task Force and the Southeast Region's Naval Reserve Readiness Command. In addition, he served as the deputy director for Naval Air Warfare.

In his civilian career, Vice Adm. Totushek founded a Virginia-based construction firm and served as its president from 1973 until 1980. He then became a project manager with SR International, a commercial construction company, and four years later, he joined The Murray Company as its regional manager. While with the firm, he completed some of the best-known office buildings and parks in the Tidewater area of Virginia. Finally in 1988, he became vice president of McKenzie Construction Corporation, handling marketing and project development.

In early 1997, Vice Adm. Totushek was asked to return to active duty to lead the Navy's environmental, safety and occupational health programs. He then was selected as Commander, Naval Reserve Force on Oct. 17, 1998. His duties include command of 88,000 Naval Reservists and 181 nation-wide Reserve facilities valued at $3.1 billion. Vice Adm. Totushek also represents the Naval Reserve before Congress and on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was promoted to Vice Admiral on 7 June 2001.

Vice Adm. Totushek's awards include the Legion of Merit (two awards), Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and various service and campaign awards.

Updated: 8 June 2001

 Introduction

        Mr. Chairman, and distinguished members of the Committee, it is my privilege to report on the status and the future course of the Naval Reserve.  The Naval Reserve is very proud of the acknowledgement by the Active Navy that the Naval Reserve is crucial to their mission success.   As this Subcommittee knows, there had been reluctance by many to accept the fact that active duty missions cannot be accomplished without the Reserve components.  Indeed, beyond the value of their military specialty training and training for mobilization, Reservists provide an essential link to American society.  In many parts of the country, Naval and Marine Corps Reservists are the only representatives of the Department of the Navy. 

Yet despite our noteworthy accomplishments, we find ourselves at a paradoxical crossroads, because our own recruiting and retention efforts have been challenged by a near full-employment economy, when, at the same time, the active force is relying more heavily on our Reserve support to reduce stress on active PERSTEMPO.  With an expanded role to provide trained and equipped, cost-effective support to the fleet, and an aging fleet of Reserve aircraft and ships, we believe strongly that now is the time when we must make further investments in the Reserve Forces of the United States.

We are confident that we are strengthening our management, increasing our recruiting and retention efforts, and continuing to equip and modernize our Naval Reserve Force to the best of our abilities: all to meet the Navy’s day-to-day challenges and maintain readiness for wartime missions. As I briefly describe the status of our Reserve Force, I will also explain my “Top Five” priorities, which are the core issues I am focusing on to fully achieve the goals that I have set for the Naval Reserve Force of the future.  As I discuss these priorities in detail, you will notice that they closely align with the top priorities of our Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). 

Paying Dividends TODAY!

As I consider the status of the Naval Reserve Force in relation to the mission of our active force, I am reminded again and again – sometimes quite starkly – that the world is still a dangerous place.  As actions in the Middle East over the past few months have shown, our active and reserve Sailors put themselves at risk every day in support of national policy objectives.  The unsettling events around the world clearly illustrate the need to maintain well equipped, trained, and ready Armed Forces.  But that capability does not come cheaply.

Naval Reserve Sailors are on difficult assignments – and on the front lines – in some of the most hazardous areas where our Navy operates.  In the last year alone, we have responded to the call to service by providing more than 2.1 million mandays of assistance to the fleet.  In response to three concurrent Presidential Reserve Call-ups and to other crisis response operations, we are at work today in flash-point regions such as the Balkans and the Arabian Gulf.

In supporting counter-narcotics operations around the world, for example, Naval Reservists over the past year contributed 54 percent of all the Navy’s days spent underway and 41 percent of all naval flight hours flown in support of the War on Drugs.

Although our authorized end strength has dropped to 88,900 Full-Time Support and Selected Reservists from a high of 152,789 in 1990, we are fully employed and are conducting daily fleet support operations around the world.  There is no shortage of work for Naval Reservists in their units or in the Fleet.

Without Naval Air Reserve squadrons, Naval Surface Reserve Force guided missile frigates, mine hunters and mine countermeasures ships, or the dedicated augment units and staffs that constitute the Naval Reserve, the active Navy simply could not accomplish its missions.  Fleet exercises could not take place without Naval Reservists.   Routine logistics support of forces deployed around the world would be impossible without Naval Reservists. Sustained peacekeeping missions could not be conducted without Naval Reservists.

Fortunately, where our skills are required by the fleet for exigencies, the Reserve Force today is better equipped and more dedicated than at any time in the past.  A substantial portion of certain critical missions can only be accomplished by Naval Reserve surface and air assets.  Here are just a few of the areas where the Naval Reserve has become virtually indispensable:

·       100 percent of the Navy’s organic airlift capability

·       100 percent of adversary support flight hours, which simulate enemy aircraft for aviators preparing for deployment

·       100 percent of Inshore Undersea Warfare assets

·       99 percent of all Naval Control of Shipping assets

·       93 percent of all Cargo Handling assets

·       60 percent of all Navy Construction Battalion forces

Today’s Naval Reserve Sailors maintain full-time operational missions, serving seamlessly alongside active forces in such specialty areas as intelligence, special warfare, public affairs, medicine and dentistry.  They operate fleet hospitals, aviation squadrons and mine warfare forces.

By any standard, you will find that the Naval Reserve provides this country with unsurpassed value. Our authorized 88,900 Full-Time Support and Selected Reservists represent about 20 percent of the Navy’s total personnel strength at a marginal cost of only 6 percent of the Navy’s total operating budget.   We say it over and over again, but it bears repeating: the Naval Reserve is an astonishing bargain at only six percent of the Navy’s operating budget.

Top Five Priorities

For this fiscal year, I have set the following priorities: Manpower, Training, Equipment Compatibility, Force Shaping and Fleet Support.  If we are able to execute our plan in these areas, we will make significant progress in continuing the Naval Reserve as a world-class organization.   Let me explain a little about some of our initiatives.

 Manpower

I have stated many times that “no matter what else we do well, it won’t matter unless we can recruit and retain a well-trained career force.”  This is key to our success. It is why we are offering bonuses for reenlistment and extension; a Montgomery GI Bill kicker increase of $200 per month for undermanned ratings; a program to allow conversions to undermanned ratings; and other benefits such as space-available flights.

We are taking steps to ensure that our Sailors have the highest quality workplace environment, that they are recognized and rewarded for their work, and that they have input into improving their work lives and running our force more efficiently and effectively.

Clearly, recruiting remains a constant priority in an economy with a record low unemployment rate, and where the perception is that the active military force – and, by extension, the Reserve Force – is shrinking.  The fact is that the Naval Reserve offers career-building jobs with extraordinary benefits to qualified people.   Our challenge is to identify them, introduce them to the opportunities we offer, and sign them up.

To do so, we have added 90 more Reserve recruiters; detailed 30 enlisted personnel into two-year recruiting billets; tripled our advertising budget to $8 million annually; individually contacted service members scheduled to leave active duty; built ties between active and reserve recruiters; and better defined the career progression for reserve recruiters. In addition, we are planning to add a new non-prior service program that targets medical and Seabee skills.

Training

There are Naval Reservists drilling in every state in the nation.  Some are close to their gaining commands and Naval facilities, but a large number are not. It is vitally important that we provide realistic training that meets the Navy’s needs, whether our units are in Norfolk or Indiana. To that end, we’ve been able to increase funding to provide for unit travel, and we’ve added special funding for schools. There are some promising developments in the works using new technologies, but we need to continue to think innovatively to conduct more practical training.  Forcing a Reservist to sit in a classroom for 16 hours a weekend is forcing them out of the Naval Reserve.

Equipment Compatibility

To ensure that our Reserve Force equipment is interoperable with the active force, we have begun replacing and upgrading Naval Reserve air assets, and are working to set

in motion substantial upgrades to our IT systems.  

On the air side, that means replacing our aging fleet of C-9 Skytrains.  In April, the first C-40A Clipper was delivered and three additional C-40A’s will be delivered by August of this year.  The new Clipper will allow us to continue our mission of providing 100 percent of the Navy’s worldwide intra-theater medium airlift in support of the Fleet, while at the same time ensuring the safety of our number one resource and most valued asset, “OUR PEOPLE”.  The C-40A delivery begins the process of increasing safety, improving capability and meeting environmental requirements.  Our goal is to replace all 27 of our aged C-9 aircraft.

Two of four of our F/A-18 Hornet aircraft squadrons will benefit from the purchase of 28 upgrade kits that will improve radar systems, armament controls, weapons station wiring and cockpit indicators.  We are pursuing funding to purchase additional kits for our F/A-18 aircraft.

Information technology affords us new possibilities for improving efficiencies.    For example, we are embarked on IT upgrades that will streamline the process of getting the right Sailor to the right place at the right time, every time.   Under the New Order Writing (NOW) system that we’re working on, applications for active duty will become much more automated and approved by the local command, which will generate orders and travel itineraries within a much shorter period of time.  Similarly, travel expense vouchers would be submitted electronically, resulting in rapid payment of claims to our Reservists.

Correcting deficiencies in the existing IT systems, built on 1980s technology, has absorbed one-third of the Naval Reserve discretionary funding in the past year.  We are building a unified information technology system that will eliminate existing barriers to Fleet support, and which is essential to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI). We are a key player in NMCI and are working with the active forces so that NMCI can meet our unique needs.

 Force Shaping

The Naval Reserve is working closely with Fleet manpower personnel to better shape the Reserve Force to meet Fleet requirements. Force shaping tools include the use of bonuses, targeted recruiting and retention efforts, and programs to transition Sailors from overmanned to undermanned ratings. Reservists are being matched to specific job requirements, and this allows the Navy to determine, at any given time, specific skill requirements and where Reserve personnel are most needed.

          In late 1998, we introduced into the Naval Reserve a continuous improvement initiative.  Drawn from industry and academia, it is based on a concept called “Leading Change,” and is built around time-tested procedures for improving the effectiveness of large organizations.  For two years now, my Executive Steering Committee has been hard at work on this undertaking. 

“Leading Change” is profound in its scope.  It involves nothing less than the systematic analysis of, and structured improvements in, the Naval Reserve’s fundamental ways of doing business.  The road has been long, but we have charted a course with distinct and measurable goals, in the context of a clear vision for tomorrow’s Naval Reserve. The result will be a Naval Reserve much more responsive to the needs of both the Reservists and the Fleet.  We are well on the way toward achieving that goal. 

 Fleet Support

        The Naval Reserve contributed nearly 2.1 million man-days in support of national defense during fiscal year 2000.  More than 2,000 Reservists participated in fleet exercises outside the continental United States while 1,100 Naval Reservists participated in exercises stateside.  Operationally, Naval Reservists provided 37,239 workdays of contributory support to Fleet Air Mediterranean alone.  Naval Reserve air assets flew in support of Operation NORTHERN and SOUTHERN WATCH, participated in counter drug operations in the Caribbean theater, and supported Navy’s aircraft carrier deployments.  In addition to providing Navy’s entire air adversary training, the Naval Reserve provides 100% of Navy’s intra-theater logistics lift.

Throughout the year the Naval Reserve safely airlifted more than 4.8 million pounds of cargo and 2,635 passengers in direct support of carrier battle group (CVBG), amphibious ready group (ARG), and other naval and allied units in the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia.  Additionally, Reservists filled key billets on the Commander Fleet Air, Mediterranean (COMFAIRMED) staff in functions ranging from watch standing to deputy commander.  At any given time, Reservists are performing annual training around the globe in such places as Korea, Japan, Italy and Spain in support of Navy current operations.  Notably, following the bombing of the USS COLE, a Reserve C-20 and C-9 responded immediately to airlift Navy divers and a Naval Criminal Investigative Service team to Yemen to assist in recovery and port security operations.  In addition, Navy Coastal Warfare (NCW) Group 2 Reservists were recalled to active duty at the request of Commander in Chief, Central Command (USINCCENT) for ongoing force protection operations on the Persian Gulf.  In some ways, the Naval Reserve is in an enviable position: the active duty Navy has an increasing need, and appetite, for Reserve skills.  Many Reservists possess skills gained in the civilian workforce for which there is no direct occupation counterpart in the Active forces.  For Fiscal Year 2001, Congress added $13 million to Active Duty Training for Fleet Support and $23 million for Annual Training, allowing for increased levels of assistance.

 AN ENVIABLE FORCE

The Naval Surface Reserve and the Naval Air Reserve forces deploy assets that would be the envy of many individual nations.   

Let’s take a look first at the Surface Naval Reserve Force, which includes many commissioned and augment units.   The ship assets are as follows:

·       8 Perry-class Guided Missile Frigates

·       1 Newport-class Tank Landing ship

·       1 Mine Countermeasures Command, Control and Support ship (USS Inchon)

·       5 Avenger-Class Mine Countermeasures ships

·       10 Osprey-class Coastal Minehunter ships

Other Surface Naval Reserve resources include many other essential specialties, such as mine warfare forces; explosive ordnance disposal mobile units; expeditionary logistics support; cargo handling battalions; construction battalions; joint and unified command staffs; Fleet training teams; allied commands and staffs; mobile inshore undersea warfare; Merchant Marine; medical; dental; fleet hospitals; public affairs; special warfare; legal; and special boat units.  It’s an extraordinarily impressive list of professional warriors and support personnel!

The Naval Air Reserve Force operates some of the most sophisticated aircraft anywhere, including numerous commissioned and augment units.   The Naval Air Reserve aircraft inventory as of April, 2001 consists of the following:

·       27 high-speed, medium-lift transport aircraft: the C-9 Skytrains, (being replaced by the C-40A Clipper)

·       18 C-130 Hercules transport aircraft

·       6 C-20 Gulfstream long-range, high-speed, medium-lift transport aircraft

·       6 C-12 King Air, light, twin-engine, turbine-driven aircraft

·       4 EA-6B Prowlers used for tactical electronic warfare

·       8 E-2C Hawkeye early warning radar aircraft

·       22 F-5 Tigers, used for air-to-air adversary training

·       48 F/A-18 Hornets, for interdiction, adversary, close air support and air combat

·       16 HH-60H Seahawk helicopters used for combat search and rescue

·       8 MH-53E Super Dragon mine countermeasures helicopters

·       8 UH3H Sea King logistics helicopters (being replaced by the CH-60 Knighthawk)

·       48 P-3C Orion land-based maritime patrol aircraft

·       5 SH-2G Super Seasprite ASW helicopters (being replaced by the SH-60B Seahawk ASW helicopter)

·       8 SH-60B/F Seahawk ASW helicopters

Other Naval Air Reserve assets include a range of specialty units, such as fleet logistics support; fleet information warfare; strike warfare; airborne countermeasures; combat search and rescue; intelligence and cryptology; mobile maintenance facilities; audio visual and combat camera documentation; tactical support; mobile operations control; carrier group and air wing staff augment units; naval meteorology and oceanography; tactical air control and squadron augmentation units. 

It’s easy to see how the Fleet becomes dependent on its Reserve Force when our men and women represent such a diversified array of professional talent who seamlessly blend into our active forces.

FISCAL YEAR 2001 FUNDING OUTLOOK IMPROVED

Our operations, maintenance and personnel funding levels for Fiscal Year 2001 are much improved, thanks to Navy support and Congressional adds.  As a result, we have increased the number of days of overseas Annual Training and Special Training for Fleet support, and added more funding for attending professional development schools.

         A small policy initiative also helps us honor those who sailed before us.  As our retired shipmates and World War II veterans pass away, Naval Reservists, as the Navy’s representatives in thousands of communities, increasingly have been called upon to assist in providing funeral honors.  It is gratifying that we have received additional funding to support such a noble cause.

Conclusion

               Our new CNO, who was once a Naval Reservist himself, has first-hand knowledge of the importance of maintaining a strong Navy and Naval Reserve. As Admiral Clark remarked at the beginning of his tenure in July: “The way ahead involves focusing on the Fleet; organizational speed and agility; commitment to our proven strengths and values; and commitment to our people as the Navy's most important resource.”

               We underscore what the CNO says about our One Navy team:

               “In a nutshell, this is who we are: credible, combat-ready, forward-deployed naval forces, manned by well-trained Sailors motivated by a sense of mission and a desire to serve, committed to their Navy as their Navy is committed to them.  We sail anytime, anywhere as powerful representatives of American sovereignty.”

Every member of the Reserve Force – our Selected Reserve, our Ready Reserve and our Retired Reserve personnel, more than 700,000 in all – takes pride in our assignments, and in the opportunity to serve.  Today’s Naval Reserve Force is sought after and relied upon by the Fleet, yet still dynamic enough to be constantly re-evaluating itself for more productive and more efficient service in the future. 

         At the beginning of a new decade, and a new national administration, every Reservist should take stock of what we are: a cost-effective organization of mission-ready men and women.  Our hallmark words: We are ready when called!