Dahlgren FREE
FREE Vol. 26, No. 6, june 2015
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What’s Inside
Honduran Naval Commander watches son graduate at AntiSubmarine Warfare Training school
2 Photo by U.S. Navy
The Littoral Combat Ship Combat System Engineering Team received the award of merit for group achievement for their support to USS Independence (LCS 2) and USS Fort Worth (LCS 3).
Awardees lauded at annual NSWCDD Awards DoD Lab Day provides insight into innovations
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6 Wittman visits NSWCDD Dahlgren
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King George resident honored at “Thin Blue Line” event
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Dahlgren — Eighty-nine individuals and 14 teams were honored with 22 different Navy and Dahlgren Division awards as the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) recently held its annual honor awards ceremony. “This is my once-in-a-year opportunity to celebrate your work,” NSWCDD Commanding Officer Capt. Brian Durant told a standing room only audience of military and civilian personnel at the University of Mary Washington Dahlgren campus. “Thank you for everything you do,” said Durant after he shared a list of crucial programs and technological firsts many of the awardees contributed to over the past year. These included the Laser Weapon
System, Electromagnetic Railgun, Hypervelocity Projectile; Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) Defense; Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense; Griffin Missile System; cyber defense; and the integration and interoperability of unmanned systems with combat systems aboard ships. As he congratulated awardees, Durant recounted an all-hands message he wrote to the NSWCDD workforce last week. “Every day, I have the pleasure of witnessing firsthand your remarkable contributions and achievements in support of the warfighter,” Durant stated in that all-hands communiqué. “I am repeatedly impressed by how you continue to find innovative solutions to the complex issues we face while dealing with what feels
like an increasing administrative and compliance burden. Your hard work does not go unnoticed, and I am proud to serve with you. Thank you!” Dr. James E. Colvard – Technical Director of the Naval Weapons Laboratory from 1973 to 1974 and the Naval Surface Weapons Center from 1974 to 1980 – recapped the command’s impact on the Navy and nation during his keynote speech. “You’repartofaproudorganization that has a distinguished heritage and an unlimited veracity,” said Colvard. “This organization – particularly with the Surface Navy – has been the intellectual heart blood of the Navy for many, many years. Every ballistic missile that is fired uses a program that is written here. Every gun that’s issued is certified at this laboratory. Every lot of ammunition
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that is issued has been validated at this laboratory.” Colvard peppered his speech with anecdotes of his time as the command’s technical director in the 1970s, emphasizing that both civilian technical directors and Navy military commanders were – and continue to be – important to NSWCDD. “There’s a difference in leading an organization and commanding an organization and it takes both perspectives in order to have an effective Warfare Center that arms the warfighter,” Colvard explained. “Your role is to know what’s right and have courage to speak truth to power – and it takes the team working together to do that. What you’re doing makes a lot of difference and See Awards page 4