A Book Report on the Winds of Change

There are seven men who survived the winds of change and strengthened the chain of command. In 1967, Master Chief, gunner’s mate, was allowed to serve as the Senior Enlisted Advisor of the Navy. Although it was an office that would ensure the Navy’s well-being was monitored, the commanding officers and other chiefs saw it as a threat to their jobs. The MCPON and his successors worked within a powerful leadership network to bridge the communication gap for 25 years. They prioritized people’s needs and developed tools that enhanced communication. The increased educational opportunities made it possible for the Navy to evolve into a people-oriented organization. ^[1]The communication bridge begins at the command level with the command master chiefs and ends with the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy in Washington. Closure of the communication gap enhanced operations in the deck plates. As a result, there was an increase in retention and motivation. No changes have been made on the selection process for choosing a Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) since 1967. The commands are encouraged to nominate qualified MCPONs. In the past 25 years, only seven Master Chiefs have been selected, although thousands have applied for it. The selected MCPONs shared a common desire of helping sailors improve. They also worked hard to ensure that the request responses from the fleet for assistance were satisfactory. Master Chief Delbert Defrece Black served from 1967 to 1971, and he used authority and presence as his leadership strategy. All the seven MCPONs have faced the same issue, which needed to be solved. The issues of equal opportunity and uniforms have persisted over the past 25 years. There was a change in leadership structure due to World War II, where petty officers were assigned the role of the leading seaman. With less work to do, the commanding officers used authoritarian rule and made decisions for the sailor, which was not right. Black was the first one to be enlisted, and he chose to build a foundation for the office.

MCPON Black picked a place in the pecking order, which enabled him to identify areas that needed immediate attention. MCPON was selected to represent the navy in a career motivation conference that took place in 1969 at NAS Patuxent. Black understood that the Navy would require transformational leaders to make changes, and he wrote that the chief petty officer should be responsible for keeping their team informed. When leaving office, Black was satisfied that the office was where teamwork was highly encouraged. What the Navy accomplished in Black’s leadership shows that teamwork is important. MCPON Whittet inherited most of the major personnel programs through Z-Grams. The Navy had changed dramatically by the time Whittet took office. The primary concern for MCPON Plackett was training for command master chiefs. MCPON Plackett called other command master chiefs throughout the fleet to form a study group to help establish a training program. Admiral Carlisle A.H Trost Selected Bushey as the seventh MCPON. Bushey referred to his way of doing things as preventive maintenance. MCPON Bushey wanted to protect people programs implemented by his predecessors. He received a lot of support from the Navy. The concern that the Navy’s senior leadership for the sailors was impressive.^[2] The Chief Navy Officer requested Bushey to stay an extra year, and he announced it before his trip to the Gulf area in 1990. He became the first MCPON to do a four-year tour in over ten years.

Bibliography

Crist, C. D. (1992). Winds of Change: The History of the Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, 1967-1992. Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, 166.

[1] Crist, Charlotte D. Winds of Change: The History of the Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, 1967-1992. Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, 1992.

[2] Crist, Charlotte D. Winds of Change: The History of the Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, 1967-1992. Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, 1992.