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Chief of Navy Reserve Visits CJTF-HOA

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060713-03
Release Date: 7/13/2006 1:18:00 PM

By Chief Mass Communication Specialist (DV) Robert Palomares, Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa Public Affairs

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti (NNS) -- Vice Adm. John G. Cotton, Chief of Navy Reserve, visited Sailors assigned to Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa, (CJTF-HOA), aboard Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, July 11 and 12.

Cotton stressed to Sailors that this is not the Reserve Navy of the past and the phrase, “We’ve always done it that way,” should be tossed overboard.

“We should be looking to the future and let go of how we did things in the past,” he told the Sailors deployed to this far flung base at the Horn of Africa. “We are part of a new Navy where Dirt Sailors are doing work they never intended to do when they joined the Navy.”

Cotton toured Camp Lemonier and met with commanders of the camp and CJTF-HOA during his visit.

Cotton, on a seven-day tour to visit troops in Kuwait, Bahrain, as well as Djibouti, said the new role of the Navy Reserve Component is to be indistinguishable from the Active Component and to take on roles that Sailors have not traditionally taken on.

“How many of you ever thought you’d be here doing the type of work you’re doing, when you joined the Navy?" Cotton asked. "We purposely scheduled this trip to come and see CJTF-HOA because this is the type of command that is the future of the global war on terrorism – winning the hearts and minds of people to help prevent the spread of terrorism.”

“The Horn of Africa is not as well known as it should be," he added. "But there is good work going on here, and I’m here to say thanks.”

Units affiliated with the task force are here to help provide basic needs through civil and military operations. Some of these basic needs include clean water, functional schools, improved medical facilities and medical care, and improved roads.

“Bottom line is we’re here to help,” said Rear Adm. Richard Hunt, commander of CJTF-HOA. “The hope is a better Africa for Africans, without the fear of terrorism to get in the way of basic security, and establishing and maintaining basic needs for the future of the region.”

“Our goal is to provide for host nations a stable, secure environment where all people have the freedom of choice and a place where education and prosperity are within each person’s grasp, and where terrorist do not infringe upon the right to self-determination,” Hunt said.