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CNAF, CNIC Team Visits NAS Whidbey Island

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS091121-03
Release Date: 11/21/2009 7:30:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tucker M. Yates, Navy Public Affairs Support Element West, Det. Northwest

OAK HARBOR, Wash. (NNS) -- A Commander, Naval Air Forces (CNAF) and Commander Navy Installations (CNIC) assessment team visited Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island, Nov. 18.

The team is scheduled to visit 74 naval installations around the world to familiarize themselves with and evaluate the needs and priorities of each installation.

"We really came here to hear from (a base leadership) perspective what their 'head hurters' were; where they thought they really needed our help," said Capt. Steve Greene, deputy for Force Requirements, Naval Air Forces. "That helps us as a staff when we become involved in the prioritization of where resources are to be allocated. This makes us better versed in knowing where the problems are, so we know what priority should be applied where; make sure we're getting the best bang for our buck."

According to Greene, when primary responsibility for these facilities was transferred from CNAF to CNIC, CNAF gradually became disengaged from the installations. These visits are an opportunity to reconnect.

"We're finding that, here at the installation level, the people in charge of doing that know what the problems are, know what it takes to fix them, and the real difficulty is finding the resources to do all these things," said Greene.

According to Cmdr. Len Schilling, NAS Whidbey Island Public Works officer, support for changes in infrastructure to facilitate the ongoing EA-6B Prowler to EA-18G Growler and upcoming P-3C Orion to P-8A Poseidon transitions are facility priorities of concern specific to the installation.

"What we wanted to convey to them was the fact that we've got a lot of transitioning going on with the Growler and the Poseidon and what the long-term end state will be for those squadrons to make sure we can meet the facility requirements that we need," said Schilling.

Over the course of their visit, the team met with installation leadership, including the commodores of the two wings directly involved in the transition, Electronic Attack Wing, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10. They also toured the installation to observe and interact with those involved in ongoing and upcoming projects to garner information and gain perspective.

"The two greatest benefits of this (effort) are the engagement you get across all levels and informing our staff of what conditions are like on the ground, so we're making a better informed decision as we go forward and figure out priorities," said Greene.

"They listened and understood the issues that we brought up. They were very professional and very engaged with everything we were talking about," said Schilling.

For more news from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, visit www.navy.mil/local/naswhidbey/.