PAGE B2 GOSPORT POTLIGHT November25, 2009 First IMELDA International Chief Petty Officer Leadership Course graduates From Steven Vanderwerff, NETC PAO and Wayne Verry Eight chief petty officers and warrant officers from six nations and three U.S. Navy chief petty officers graduated from the first Intemational Chief Petty Officer Leadership (ICPOL) course during a ceremony aboard NAS Pensacola Nov. 19. The International Maritime Enlisted Leadership and Development Assistance (IMELDA) Program is designed to pro- vide international friends and allies with the necessary support to transform, strengthen, and enhance the professional development and leadership of petty offi- cers and chief petty officers. The five- week course emphasized the principals of military leadership, personality and human behavior, communications, team- work, the legal aspects of military opera- tions, and decision-making in an opera- tional environment. The Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity (NET- SAFA) is the program manager for IMELDA and the courses are conducted at the NETSAFA International Training Center (NITC), located at Bldg. 633. A retired U.S. Navy command master chief and a retired Marine master gunnery sergeant are the principal IMELDA instructors. The course also included a well-qualified cadre of guest speakers, including U.S. active-duty senior enlisted leaders. The ICPOL course also included a Field Studies Program (FSP), which pro- vided the students with the opportunity to learn about the United States and the American way of life. FSP activities included a visit to the Escambia County Courthouse, a Blue Angels rehearsal flight, a visit to the Naval Recruiting Orientation Unit, and a tour of the USS Alabama. This ICPOL graduation was preceded by the initial IMELDA Petty Officer Leadership (IPOL) Course last May, when 10 petty officers (E-4 E-6) gradu- ated. The IMELDA resident courses are complemented by an exportable mobile education team (MET) component. Current plans are in progress to conduct the first IMELDA MET in the African Master Warrant Officer Ibrahim Attah Usman from Nigeria leads his classmates in the International Maritime Enlisted Leadership and Development Assistance (IMELDA) program oath during the graduation ceremony of the first class to graduate from the International Chief Petty Officer Leadership Course (ICPOL). The IMELDA program, part of Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity (NETSAFA), graduated eight chief petty officers and warrant officers from India, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua-New Guinea, Philippines and Samoa, and three U.S. Navy chief petty officers from the inaugural ICPOL Course. Photo by Steve Vanderwerff Republic of Sierra Leone. The IMELDAProgram holds significant potential for growth and continues to receive increasing attention from both U.S. military command echelons and the gov- emrnments and armed forces of our nation's international friends, allies and partners. This new enlisted education initiative will enable other nations to strengthen their interoperability with U.S. forces, expand their role in maritime domain awareness, and enhance their overall ability as a mar- itime force. Graduates included two students from India's coast guard; one from the Namibian navy; one from the army of Nigeria; one from the Papuan-New Guineaan navy; two from the navy of the Phillippines and one from the Samoan police force. Naval Operational Medicine Institute (NOMI) hosts two-day Lean Six Sigma champion training course Lt. j.g. Sherrill Hockenberry NOMI NOMI hosted a two-day Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Champion Training Course onboard Naval Air Station Pensacola Nov. 2-3. The course was comprised of a diverse group of 26 officers, enlisted, and civilian leaders from NOMI, Naval Hospital Pensacola, several branch clin- ics and Training Air Wing Five. Novaces contractor, retired Navy Capt. Charles Mount, facilitated the two-day event. After receiving an overview of LSS, attendees learned: the roles and responsibilities of a LSS Champion, how to identi- fy, select and prioritize projects, and the importance of leading cultural change. The course was highly participatory and practi- cal exercises were conducted to provide experiential learning. Course participants will return to work with a renewed commitment to process improvement and the knowl- edge to lead successful LSS projects that will increase cus- tomer satisfaction by providing products and services better, faster and cheaper. In May of 2006, the secretary of the Navy directed the deployment of Continuous Process Improvement/Lean Six Sigma (CPI/LSS) throughout the Department of the Navy. Navy medicine commenced its own CPI/LSS initiative shortly thereafter. In April of 2009, after achieving success through LSS, the surgeon general of the Navy proclaimed that "LSS is recognized as the primary approach for improving organi- zational performance to achieve our strategic and operational priorities at all levels of the enterprise and will be fully implemented throughout Navy medicine." LSS is a blending of two individual process improve- ment methodologies known as Lean and Six Sigma. Lean increases efficiency by decreas- ing cycle time, removing waste and eliminating non-value- added activities. Six Sigma increases quality by decreasing variation. When the two are combined, organizations can produce high quality products and services in the minimum amount of time at the lowest cost. The Navy is no stranger to process improvement. Over the years Total Quality Management, FOCUS-PDCA, Change Management, Failure Mode Effects Analysis, and various other improvement tools have been used. LSS dis- tinguishes itself from these other methodologies by empha- sizing a top down approach with extensive leadership involvement, a systematic methodology with defined goals and measures, strong cus- tomer focus, analysis of core business processes, trained practitioners and documented fiscal benefit. NMCRS volunteers honored at ceremony From Gilbert P. Chase MNCRS Publicity Chair Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) Pensacola volunteers were honored at the second awards ceremony of the year recently. In explaining why NMCRS Pensacola honors volunteers twice each year, Director Mark Harden said, "I love the awards luncheon because we get a chance to tell the volunteers, individually, how important they are to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. Each volunteer adds to the organization and each one makes a big difference. I am very proud of the work our volunteers do for Sailors and Marines in this area." To date this year, the NMCRS volunteers have: Assisted more than 3,400 clients Distributed more than $1,300,000. Donated more than 22,000 volunteer hours. Served 7088 customers at the thrift shop. Guest speaker, Col. Joseph P. Richards, commanding officer ofMATSG-21, described how important NMCRS volunteers are to the welfare of his Marines. Col. Richards also praised NMCRS for providing several newly com- missioned Marine officers with the opportunity to volun- teer and learn numerous valuable lessons about compas- sion and caring for the needs and concerns of fellow Marines. Two of the volunteers received the President's Call to Service Award for having volunteered more than 4,000 hours each; six received Volunteer of the Month awards; and 41 additional volunteers received awards for the hours they have donated to date. Awards for hours of service ranged from 100 hours to a whopping 10,000 hours, which was earned by Mary Elizabeth Derr, a key volunteer at the NMCRS thrift shop at Cony Station.