www.roosevelt.navy.mil
November 21, 2012
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Story & photos by MC3 (SW) Tyrell Morris USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Public Affairs
PAVING THE WAY
TR FIRST SHIP TO GO PAPERLESS
ave you ever routed a special request chit up the chain of command only for it to sit on someone’s desk for days with no action? Have you gone to your departmental yeoman to check the status of a basic allowance for housing (BAH) request just for them look at you in complete shock like they have no idea what you are talking about? Have you gone to your chain of command to request a copy of your eval you just received only to find that it was lost or misplaced? All of those scenarios are now a thing of the past. At least that is the case aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), where the ship is implementing a completely paperless routing system named “R-Rider”. R-Rider began as just a simple idea which grew into something that will hopefully change the current way the Navy routes paperwork as we know it. The R-Rider system will have the capability to route awards, basic allowance for housing requests, evaluations, special request chits, leave chits, and more, all with a few clicks of a mouse. According to the ship’s Continuous Process ImMachinist’s Mate 1st Class (SW/AW) Mark Leinaar teaches Sailors assigned to USS provement (CPI) team, the vision of Capt. William Hart, Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) about the ship’s new R-Rider routing program, a system TR’s commanding officer, is to go completely paperless. designed by Logistics Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) Joseph Williams as a way for the ship So, the team began brainstorming ideas to make this to go completely paperless in terms of Sailors routing chits. happen. The amount of paperwork that would come across worked out. If everything goes according to plan, Dec. 1 is the the CO and XO’s desk would be stacked up to the overhead, the tentative date for TR to start using R-Rider only. majority of it being chits requiring their signatures. The new ROne of TR’s very own Sailors developed the program. LogisRider program allows the chain of command to review the same tics Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) Joseph Williams has a Bachamount of paperwork in nearly half the time. elor’s degree in Computer Science and spent countless off-duty R-Rider is an electronic routing program that allows Sailors to hours creating and programming the system. type up their requests and input them to the R-Rider system. Sail“It took about the span of three months to program the R-Ridors have the ability to control where their chits and paperwork er system,” said Williams. “It started with a basic online tracker are routed and can logon at any time to check the status of their and then I scaled it up from there.” paperwork, instead of tracking down their chain of command to TR’s Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD) find out the status. performed the beta testing on the R-Rider program. Only a few “More than 400 Sailors from various departments aboard have minor programming errors were found in the system, which conattended the R-Rider training so far,” said Machinist’s Mate 1st sists of more than 6,000 lines of code. Class (SW/AW) Mark Leinaar. The CPI team, led by Chief Aviation Support Equipment TechLeinaar took on the task of training the crew on the basic use nician (AW/SW) James Bibow and Chief Aviation Electronics of the R-Rider system before it goes command-wide later Technician (AW/SW) Glenn Hart, took over the R-Rider system this month. after the initial beta testing and insisted the program be imple“My goal is to get the entire crew trained and proficient in mented for the entire command to use. how to use this program,” said Leinaar. “Our goal is to have this program take off fleet wide,” Nov. 26, TR will begin using R-Rider in conjunction with said Leinaar paper forms on a trial basis to ensure all the kinks have been
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Story & photos by MC3(SW) Tyrell Morris USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Public Affairs
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SPENDING TIME WITH PEEPS SAILORS VOLUNTEER AT SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOL
he sound of excited chatter filled the cool autumn air as the wind blew a brisk breeze, making leaves dance. Sailors aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) sacrificed a few hours of their Saturday morning to volunteer at Gatewood Preschool for Educating Exceptional People (PEEP) for their 7th annual carnival, Nov. 17. The PEEP program is a comprehensive program directed toward children ages two to six with special needs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Sailors from TR’s First Class Petty Officer Association, Second Class Petty Officer Association, and Junior Enlisted Association joined forces to assist the Gatewood PEEP faculty and staff put on an exciting day of fun for the students. The carnival featured a bounce house, petting zoo, face painting, clowns, balloon animals, and many educational activities for the students and their families to participate in. Newport News Fire Department attended the carnival with their mobile home EDITH “Exit Drills In The Home” to teach the students how to properly navigate and escape their homes in the event of a fire. They also let the students sit in the fire truck and play with the fire hoses. This year’s carnival theme was careeroriented, so each activity station at the carnival represented a different career. While each station provided a fun activity for the children, the stations were also educational, giving the students a window
to the future on the endless possibilities of career opportunities. “These children already have certain physical and mental hardships that other children do not have to deal with, so the least we can do is provide them with a reason to smile and forget about their disabilities,” said Machinist’s Mate Fireman Sabrina Estrella. “Most carnival-type events are not developmentally appropriate for children with special needs,” said Program Administrator Heather Jankovich, Ed. S. “The carnival is a good way to provide fun, safe activities for the students while meeting them on their level.”
The fall carnival is one of many volunteer opportunities TR Sailors participated in as part of the ongoing relationship TR has with Gatewood. TR Sailors have provided support to Gatewood in the past to clean their memorial garden, read to the students, and give them teddy bears provided by the Theodore Roosevelt Association. “We are thankful for the members of the PTA, faculty/staff, community, and Theodore Roosevelt Sailors for donating their time today, because we couldn’t have done this without your help,” said Jankovich.
Hospital Corpsman 1st Class (SW/AW) Melissa Cason volunteers at the 7th annual Gatewood PEEP carnival Nov. 17.
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Interview by MCSN Casey Cosker USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Public Affairs
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ET1 CHEYENNE SHASKY TR’S ROUGH RIDER OF THE YEAR
espite only coming aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in Jan. 2012, Electronics Technician 1st Class (SW/AW) Cheyenne Shasky has already established herself as a hard-working Sailor and an effective leader. She serves as leading petty officer of TR’s Combat Systems Department’s CS9 Division, where she works hard to support and manage the Sailors under her. Because of her hard work and dedication, Shasky was named TR’s 2012 Sailor of the Year onboard TR. I met with Shasky to talk with her about this accomplishment.
How were you named Sailor of the year? I was named on SITE TV. I went down there, was told that the CO had a question about Hierarchical Yet Dynamically Reprogrammable Architecture (HYDRA), but they needed to wait for a break. To have him put that out—that was going well above and beyond talking about HYDRA. For him to say that, I was blown away.
How did you feel at the time? Shocked. Honored. I’ve been here less than a year. When I came here, I jumped in feet first like my mentor (Chief Hospital Corpsman (SW/FMF) Michael Mann) said. He said, I didn’t come in here to just get my feet wet. I dove right in.
Could you describe the process of being named Sailor of the Year? A lot of hard work definitely. As far as my job—doing my job, taking care of my Sailors, not stopping when I’m being told “no.” Teamwork. Hard work. When you do the right thing and you do it right all the time and people see that, opportunities will come. By coming in here and doing Page 6
my job—being a front runner—opportunities opened to me that led up to me being selected as Sailor of the Year.
I understand you went through a board to be selected. Could you describe the board and what that was like? It was in the chiefs’ mess, and it was me and six other first classes. Cream of the crop, every last one of them. I would have been happy if any one of them would have made it also. But then we go in to sit in front of five master chiefs— three of which I know, two of which I did not know—so it was a good mix. The first question that they asked me was, “Tell me a little bit about yourself.” That kind of threw me off because I’ve never heard that come out of a board before.
What did you say? I talked about my career—not really about myself—because to me myself is my career, but like I was told afterward, there’s so much more. If I went back, I would tell about how I have been in the
Navy for 13 years. I married my husband in A school. We have four children. I’m working on my college degree. I have certifications.
How will being named Sailor of the Year affect your career? There’s no golden ticket, but I’m hoping that’ll be the push that I need to make chief. We’ll see. I think that—nobody’s really putting it on me, but there may be a little more pressure because I’m going to have to definitely keep up the hard work that I’ve started. I’m using it as an opportunity—because I have the CMC’s ear—to take those ideas that my fellow first classes have and those ideas that I hear on the deckplates to hopefully make a difference in the command.
What advice would you have for other Sailors hoping to earn these types of awards? Work hard and don’t give up. Don’t let somebody tell you no. If you really try hard, you can achieve anything.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Staff Commanding Officer Capt. William Hart Executive Officer Cmdr. Mark Colombo Public Affairs Officer Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Evans Media Officer Lt. j.g. Michael Larson Senior Editor MCCS (SW/AW/EXW) David Collins Editor MC2 (SW) Austin Rooney
Electronics Technician 3rd Class Melissa Locke (left), ET3 (SW/AW) Lisa Gibbs (center), and Master Chief Information Systems Technician (SW/AW) Barbara Walsh (right), all part of USS Theodore Roosevelt’s (CVN 71) Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions, make burritos in the aft galley Nov. 16 to sell at a CSADD fundraiser. Gibbs said TR’s culinary specialists were very helpful and worked hard to make the event a success. Photo by MC3(SW) Tyrell Morris
Layout MC3 Katie Lash Rough Rider Contributors S-2 Division MC3 Katie Lash MC3(SW) Tyrell Morris MCSN Casey Cosker Command Ombudsmen April Kumley cvn71ombudsman@yahoo.com The Rough Rider is an authorized publication for the crew of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Contents herein are not necessarily the views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, Department of Defense, Department of the Navy or the Commanding Officer of TR. All items for publication in the The Rough Rider must be submitted to the editor no later than three days prior to publication. Do you have a story you’d like to see in the Rough Rider? Contact the Media Department at 5341406 or stop by 3-180-0-Q.
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A CHAPLAIN’S HOLIDAY MESSAGE AND A TR CHEF’S COOKING TIPS
Giving Thanks
Chaplain Michael Bigelow
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” -Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, 1863
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resident Lincoln made this proclamation after two years of Civil War, in which hundreds of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers had been killed and wounded with no end in sight to the worst conflict our country had ever seen. Almost every community in the country had felt the sting of loss as the horrors of war touched everyone in America. Because of this, Lincoln felt it was important to take a moment for the country to collectively give thanks for all the gifts and blessings that our Lord had granted, even in the midst of war. Since Lincoln’s proclamation, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving every year in late November. During times of peace and war, in good economic times and in hardship, we give thanks for all we’ve been given. Once again we will celebrate a tradition that began when the colonies were first founded over four hundred years ago. We’ll take a moment to thank our Lord for our families, our freedom, and for all the blessings that have come from His gracious hands. I pray that your Thanksgiving is a time of peace and joy as you reflect on this past year and prepare for the year to come. Chaplain Bigelow departs TR, heading to USS Enterprise (CVN 65) to help close out the ship’s storied 50-year career. Fair winds and following seas!
CS1 (SW) Adrian Dorsey
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ulinary Specialist 1st Class (SW) Adrian Dorsey is one of the finest cooks onboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). To that end, he is the designated cook for his family’s Thanksgiving dinner. He shared a few cooking tips on how he keeps his family’s meal safe and sanitary. Cooking Temperatures
Cooking Tips
“This is my big pet peeve,” said Dorsey, who emphasized that it’s important to cook all food, especially meat, to the proper cooking temperature. “Don’t use some old grandma trick. Use a thermometer. Know your cooking temperatures and stick a thermometer in there to make sure it’s ready.”
“They’ve got websites and pamphlets at your disposal.” Dorsey added a few of his own tips for deep-frying. “The best frying temperature is 350 degrees,” he said. “Make sure you do not fry frozen foods. That’s the biggest mistake. It causes fire. Water and grease don’t go together.”
Personal Protection Equipment “Make sure you have the proper PPE,” Dorsey said. For example, he added, “Protect your hands from the oven with mits.”
Sanitary Cooking Equipment “Stay away from wooden spoons and wooden cutting boards,” Dorsey said. “They hold bacteria.”
Deep-frying “Read up on it,” Dorsey said, adding that amateur cooks educate themselves if they’re using a deep-fryer.
Keep Clean “Clean everything,” Dorsey said. “As soon as you’re done using a surface or a utensil, clean it.”