Sgt. Maj. Black has served as the 19th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps since July 26, 2019. Following the ceremony, he will relinquish his post as the highest-ranking enlisted Marine and principal enlisted advisor to the Commandant.
Sgt. Maj. Ruiz is a native of Phoenix, Arizona. He joined the Marine Corps Nov. 2, 1993, and attended recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. He began his career as a Marine Corps warehouse clerk with 3rd Supply Battalion, 3rd Force Service Support Group, in Okinawa, Japan. He continued his career as an enlisted leader serving across the Corps to include 1st Service Support Group; 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment; 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment; and 4th Marine Logistics Group.
He has deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and operations with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Outside of the Marine Corps operating forces, Sgt. Maj. Ruiz has served as a recruiter in Los Angeles, a drill instructor with 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, MCRD San Diego, and as an instructor, drill master and chief instructor for Drill Instructor School, MCRD San Diego.
Sgt. Maj. Ruiz will serve as Commandant of the Marine Corps’ preeminent enlisted advisor with a protocol equivalency of a three-star general officer.
The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps typically serves a four-year term, though service in the position is at the discretion of the Commandant.
The post of Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps was established in 1957 as the senior enlisted advisor to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the first such post in any of the branches of the United States Armed Forces.
Navy accepts upgraded E-6B Mercury, delivering enhanced capabilities to the fleet
Members of the U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman Corp. in Lake Charles, Louisiana, with the first E-6B Mercury upgraded by Northrop Grumman under the new Integrated Modification and Maintenance Contract. They include Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, commander of Naval Air Systems Command, and Capt. Adam Scott, program manager for the Airborne Strategic Command, Control and Communications Program Office. Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman Corp.
LAKE CHARLES, La. — The U.S. Navy this month accepted the first E-6B Mercury upgraded by Northrop Grumman Corp. in Lake Charles, delivering enhanced airborne strategic communication capabilities to the warfighter.
The upgrade supports the Navy’s nuclear deterrence mission, ensuring the president, secretary of defense and U.S. Strategic Command remain connected to the U.S. nuclear arsenal in a worst-case scenario.
Northrop Grumman Corp. conducted the upgrades over the last year at its Aircraft Maintenance and Fabrication Center at Lake Charles. Under its Integrated Maintenance and Modification Contract (IMMC) with the Navy, it will overhaul multiple E-6B Mercury aircraft by 2027. The $111 million contract provides six major modifications – called Block II – to improve the aircrafts’ command, control and communications functions connecting the National Command Authority with U.S. strategic and non-strategic forces.
Block II will ensure the E-6B can successfully execute their mission for years to come.
Upgrades to the second aircraft are already underway.
“The delivery of the first IMMC aircraft is a monumental achievement,” said Bob Stailey, the E-6B deputy program manager for the Airborne Strategic Command, Control, and Communications Program Office (PMA-271), which awarded and manages the maintenance contract. “We are delivering enhanced capabilities to the fleet quicker and ensuring they have the tools to successfully execute this critical mission for years to come.”
Working with the Navy, Northrop Grumman is getting closer to the contract’s required turnaround time of six months by implementing process improvements that span engineering, scheduling, management and production. This is the first time a single company is responsible for the entire installation, reducing bureaucracy and improving speed.
“An incredible amount of work went into this aircraft, which can now perform its nuclear deterrence mission better than ever.” said Capt. Adam Scott, PMA-271 program manager. “During the past year, the team that fielded this capability worked tirelessly to implement improvements to deliver the Block II capability with urgency.”
Pilots from Strategic Communications Wing One (SCW-1) picked up the plane on June 6 and flew it home to Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
The E-6B Mercury is a communications relay and strategic airborne command post aircraft. It executes the Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) mission, connecting the president and secretary of defense with naval ballistic missile forces during times of crisis, and the Airborne Command Post mission, which facilitates the launch of U.S. land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles using an airborne launch control system.
It is flown by Navy Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons 3 and 4 under SCW-1 out of Tinker Air Force Base.
PMA-271 is an acquisition command with the mission of delivering and supporting survivable, reliable and endurable airborne command, control and communications for the president, secretary of defense and U.S. Strategic Command. The program’s vision is to provide national security and deterrence through assured airborne strategic communications.
Coast Guard Cutter Maurice Jester commissions in Rhode Island
Coast Guard Cutter Maurice Jester commissions in Rhode Island
BOSTON — The Coast Guard’s newest cutter, the Coast Guard Cutter Maurice Jester (WPC-1152), was commissioned at Fort Adams State Park, Rhode Island, Friday.
Lt. Terry Netusil, assumed command of the cutter during a ceremony presided over by Vice Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard Atlantic Area commander. The Maurice Jester is the third of six Fast Response Cutters that will be homeported in Boston, serving along the 1st Coast Guard District.
The Sentinel-class fast response cutter (FRC) is designed for multiple missions, including drug and migrant interdiction; ports, waterways and coastal security; fishery patrols; search and rescue; and national defense. The Coast Guard has ordered 65 FRCs to replace the 1980s-era Island-class 110-foot patrol boats. The FRCs feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment; over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment to reach vessels of interest; and improved habitability and seakeeping.
Born in Chincoteague, Virginia, Lt. Cmdr. Maurice Jester enlisted in the United States Coast Guard in 1917, rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer Boatswains Mate by 1936. As the United States entered World War II in 1941, Chief Jester was promoted to Lieutenant and given command of the USCGC Icarus (WPC 110). Only one year later, LT Jester along with his crew, became the first U.S. Ship to capture the crew of a German U-Boat after it’s sinking. For his heroics in the sinking and rescue of the German Sailors aboard U-352, LT Maurice Jester was awarded the Navy Cross and promoted to Lieutenant Commander for his leadership.
TRANSCOM to Double Sealift Tanker Force
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ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) plan to double the number of fuel tankers in its Tanker Security Program to improve the capacity to deliver fuel to forward operating forces, particularly in the Pacific, the TRANSCOM’s commander said.
“We are concerned about not having enough U.S-flagged vessels to meet our requirements, so we are absolutely getting after that with the support of Congress,” said Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost, commander, U.S. Transportation Command, speaking June 6 to an audience of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “We have stood up the Tanker Security Program. We now have 10 U.S.-flagged tankers — manned with U.S. merchant mariners — medium-range tankers that we will be able to use to assuredly be able to have access to in times of conflict. And we’re working on the next 10 as well to assuredly move fuel to inside the first and second island chain, more shallow-draft vessels that we didn’t have before.”
TRANSCOM has taken on from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)the role of transporting and delivering fuel to U.S. forces abroad.
“The new strategic environment exposes vulnerabilities to our supply chain management that we just didn’t have before,” Van Ovost said. “So, this new global fuel mission allows us to take the very best of DLA Energy and what they’re doing, which is the business end of managing supply chains and allows us to put our TRANSCOM expertise of command and control and planning and posture to ensure that we can deliver that fuel wherever and whenever we need it.
“We also need to re-look where our fuel posture is to meet the requirements — what do have to have forward, where are the refineries, etc., how are going to move that fuel and how are we going to have the assets to do it,” she said.
Marine Corps Generals to Integrate with Navy Numbered Fleet Staffs
CAMP COURTNEY, Okinawa (Feb.16, 2023) U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Derek Trinque, commander Task Force 76/3, left, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Rear Admiral Motoyuki Kanezashi, commander, Amphibious and Mine Warfare Force, left-center, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Maj. Gen. Shingo Nashinoki, commander, Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, right-center, and U.S. Marine Brig. Gen. Fridrik Fridriksson, deputy commander TF 76/3, right, pose for a photo during Iron Fist 23 aboard Camp Courtney, Okinawa, Japan, Feb. 16, 2023. This visit took place during Exercise Iron Fist and provided an overview of TF 76/3, focusing on the command-and-control structure and command position, and how it improves the commander’s ability to control forces and command from ashore without the need to embark. Iron Fist is a U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific-directed, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit-executed, bilateral training exercise between the U.S. Marine Corps and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and aims to improve staff planning, enhance core competencies in amphibious operations and interoperability, and maintain a positive military-to-military relationship between Japan and the United States. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Ochoa)
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ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps is planning to establish integrated staffs with two U.S. Navy numbered fleets next year, according to the latest update to is Force Design 2030 concept.
The Corps plans to integrate a brigadier general in the headquarters staffs of U.S. Sixth Fleet and the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
“We need to formalize the process for establishing integrated Navy-Marine Corps staffs with numbered fleets while giving the MEF CGs [Marine Expeditionary Force commanding generals] the ability to adapt organizations to the specific needs of their partner numbered fleets,” said General David H. Berger in the latest Force Design 2030 document. “Whenever feasible, and in coordination with the efforts of the appropriate combatant commanders, these integrated staffs should also include key ally and partner representation to strengthen our integrated deterrence, offering a mature approach to campaigning.
“NLT 1 September 2024, Commander, Marine Corps Forces Pacific (COMMARFORPAC) and Commander, Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa (COMMARFOREUR/ AF) will formalize the establishment of O-7 staffs within Sixth and Seventh Fleet headquarters.”
Lieutenant General Karsten S. Heckl, deputy commandant for Combat Development and Integration and commanding general, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, speaking June 2 to reporters in press conference, said the move would be in accordance with the commandant’s guidance to returning to a Fleet Marine Force.
“A big piece of that is getting the staffs right,” Heckl said. “We realize now more than ever that in this operating environment — now that we’re back to great power competition, without question — it is important that these staffs be properly, fully integrated, or we’re going to have problems.
“A mentor of mine told me 30 years ago that if you get the command and control of any problem figured out, you’ve got 90% of it solved, and that’s what we’re doing here” he said.
Brigadier General Kyle Ellison, commanding general of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, also speaking at the press conference, stressed that such a staff would be integrated to the point that it could have a Navy rear admiral in command with a Marine Corps brigadier general as deputy, or vice versa. He mentioned Task Force 79 — III Marine Expeditionary Force — and Task Force 76 — the 7th Fleet’s amphibious force — as a “completely integrated staff with an integrated maritime operations center right there on Camp Courtney [Okinawa].
“It’s critically important to recognize that it’s not just the O-7,” Ellison said. “It’s integrating the staffs so you have a truly naval staff to execute naval operations in support force. That is exciting in that typically happens only when you are task-organized and for a specific mission. Now we’re standing it up and experimenting with it as a permanent structure, and that’s happening as we speak as an 18-month experimentation that was agreed upon by two three-stars — commander of III MEF and the 7th Fleet commander.”
U.S., UK Navies Respond to Merchant Vessel Distress Call in Strait of Hormuz
By U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs | June 04, 2023
STRAIT OF HORMUZ — United States and United Kingdom Royal Navy forces responded to a distress call from a merchant vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz, June 4, as Iranian fast-attack boats harassed the commercial ship.
The internationally flagged merchant vessel made a radio distress call at 4:56 p.m. local time while transiting the narrow strait. The civilian crew reported three fast-attack craft with armed personnel approached and followed the merchant vessel at close distance. The fast-attacked craft were assessed to be from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) and UK Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster (F 229) both received the distress call, and Lancaster launched a helicopter to provide surveillance. U.S. 5th Fleet also directed a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to monitor the scene.
The situation deescalated approximately an hour later when the merchant vessel confirmed the fast-attack craft departed the scene. The merchant ship continued transiting the Strait of Hormuz without further incident.
U.S. 5th Fleet remains vigilant and is bolstering defense around the key strait with partners to enhance regional maritime security and stability.
Integer Technologies Contracted to Create Strategic Technology Roadmaps for the Office of Naval Research
Release from Integer Technologies
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Roadmaps to outline S&T framework for power and energy solutions and define ways to increase the diversity of the STEM workforce.
COLUMBIA, S.C.—May 22, 2023—Integer Technologies announced today that the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has selected the South Carolina-based engineering firm to create three unique roadmaps—a Naval Power Systems (NPS) Science and Technology (S&T) Roadmap, an Expeditionary Energy (E2) S&T Roadmap, and a Naval Diversity Equity and Inclusion Workforce Development (NDEI-WD) Roadmap.
“This assessment of needs for both technology and workforce development will help to inform the Office of Naval Research’s strategy in science & technology research and people,” said Integer Chief Operating Officer Josh Knight, Ph.D. “We are ready to lead this comprehensive collaboration between government, academia, and industry that will address future fleet capability needs and plan transformative innovation.”
The Naval Power Systems (NPS) Science and Technology (S&T) Roadmap will identify basic and applied research needs across multiple power and energy (P&E) technology areas, and the Expeditionary Energy (E2) S&T Roadmap will outline a similar research framework for the energy systems that will support future expeditionary force operations conducted by the Navy and Marine Corps.
The two S&T roadmaps will also address how investments in P&E research can support the Navy’s broader goals and meet the existential challenges that wait on the horizon. These include identifying how technology development can build climate resilience into Navy platforms and how that development can accommodate increasing risks to international supply chains.
“In the coming decades, the U.S. Navy Fleet and Expeditionary Forces will see an influx of new technologies that enable the successful completion of their evolving national security and humanitarian missions,” said Knight. “It is crucial that the power and energy systems deployed with the future forces are able to support those advanced solutions.”
In addition to investing in a broad range of technology development efforts, the Naval Research Enterprise (NRE) cannot accomplish its mission without a diverse workforce to complete it. The Navy, along with other groups in academia and industry, have implemented multiple strategies to increase the diversity of their workforce. The Naval Diversity Equity and Inclusion Workforce Development (NDEI-WD) Roadmap will outline an ONR-wide strategy for stabilizing and strengthening the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce across the NRE.
USINDOPACOM Statement on Unsafe Maritime Interaction
In accordance with international law, USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) and HMCS Montreal (FFH 336) conducted a routine south to north Taiwan Strait transit June 3 through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply. During the transit, PLA(N) LUYANG III DDG 132 (PRC LY 132) executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner in the vicinity of Chung-Hoon. The PRC LY 132 overtook Chung-Hoon on their port side and crossed their bow at 150 yards. Chung-Hoon maintained course and slowed to 10 kts to avoid a collision. The PRC LY 132 crossed Chung-Hoon’s bow a second time starboard to port at 2,000 yards and remained off Chung-Hoon’s port bow. The LY 132’s closest point of approach was 150 yards and its actions violated the maritime ‘Rules of the Road’ of safe passage in international waters.
USCGC Dependable returns home following 42-day multi-mission patrol in the Florida Straits and Windward Passage
USCGC Dependable returns home following 42-day multi-mission patrol in the Florida Straits and Windward Passage
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The crew of USCGC Dependable (WMEC 626) returned to their home port in Virginia Beach, Sunday, following a 42-day patrol in the Florida Straits and Windward Passage.
Dependable’s crew contributed to the interdiction, care and repatriation of over 300 migrants while patrolling the Seventh Coast Guard District’s area of responsibility in support of Operation Vigilant Sentry and Homeland Security Taskforce — Southeast.
While operating in the Florida Straits, Dependable was supported by multiple Coast Guard air assets to interdict two known drug smugglers in the vicinity of the Old Bahama Channel. Dependable’s small boat crew stopped the vessel and embarked the smugglers. Over 1,100 pounds of contraband was recovered, making this the first drug bust for the cutter in more than three years.
Throughout the patrol, Dependable also collaborated with numerous other Coast Guard and partner assets, including a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment embarked on the Navy ship USS Little Rock.
“The crew has been training to conduct migrant interdiction operations since July 2022,” said Lt. Cmdr. Dana Prefer, Dependable’s executive officer. “In preparation for the recent uptick in maritime migration ventures, we worked hard to qualify over 50 crew members to provide security and care for the migrants embarked aboard the cutter. All the training and preparation paid off as it was truly a team effort to interdict, process, and care for the well-being of migrants throughout our patrol.”
Dependable is a 210-foot Reliance-class medium endurance cutter with a crew of 67. The cutter’s primary missions include counter drug operations, migrant interdiction, enforcement of federal fishery laws, and search and rescue in support of Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.
For information on how to join the U.S. Coast Guard, visit www.GoCoastGuard.com to learn about active duty and reserve, officer and enlisted opportunities. Information on how to apply to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy can be found at www.uscga.edu.
FRCE delivers final Harrier trainer to Marine squadron
The AV-8 team poses in front of the last TAV-8B Harrier trainer to be completed by Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) before it was delivered to Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 223 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The Marine Corps is replacing the aging AV-8 Harrier platform with the more high-tech F-35 Lightning II. FRCE is expected to complete its AV-8 workload by the end of Fiscal Year 2024
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C.–Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) has reached another milestone toward the drawing down of its AV-8B Harrier program, with the completion of its last TAV-8B trainer aircraft. The two-seater trainer was delivered May 11 to Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 223, located at Cherry Point.
The Marine Corps is moving to replace the Harrier with the short takeoff-vertical landing F-35B Lightning II by 2027, which means FRCE’s AV-8 program will soon transition to supporting other platforms.
Many of the aircraft maintenance professionals on FRCE’s Harrier program have spent a significant part of their careers repairing and maintaining AV-8 aircraft. They say that’s why it’s tough to see another piece of the program’s workload come to an end.
“I’ve been at FRC East for almost 32 years, and this aircraft is almost 35 years old, which means it was flying before I came here,” said Jeff Broughton, AV-8 planner at FRCE. “I’ve spent 20 years on this program, so you can imagine how many times I’ve seen this aircraft come through for Planned Maintenance Interval events. I worked on it once while I was a mechanic and twice while I was a planner, so you get to know the history of the aircraft each time it comes through.”
Broughton said the Harrier program has established an impressive record of working under budget and ahead of schedule, and its final TAV-8B is no exception. According to Broughton, FRCE’s total combined work on this particular aircraft over the years was estimated to take nearly 11,000 work hours, but a tally of all the work actually completed on the aircraft came in at only 8,100 hours. Even on its last trip through the depot, it was delivered back to the fleet eight days early.
“Our FRCE AV-8 team prides itself on being ahead of schedule and under budget most of the time,” Broughton said. “We might be considered out of sight, out of mind as a sundowning program, but the team is proud of being good stewards of the customer’s money and being on or ahead of schedule to keep the customer happy.”
With three more scheduled PMI inductions over the next year and a half, the AV-8 team will be disassembling, inspecting, repairing, reassembling and testing those aircraft. They are dismantling retired aircraft and removing good parts to be refurbished and returned to the supply system to be used on the aircraft remaining in the fleet. Artisans also continue to support the Marines with onsite in-service repairs.
Currently, FRCE’s AV-8 program is scheduled to complete its final aircraft in September 2025. By that point, the personnel assigned to that team will be pursuing the next steps in their careers.
“We have a highly experienced team here, and many of them have been on this program for a long time,” said Mike Stewart, AV-8 shop supervisor at FRCE. “They are extremely knowledgeable and can handle any issues with the AV-8.”
Many will go on to support growing and incoming workload, such as the F-35, CH-53K and C-130 platforms. Stewart said these programs will benefit from the quality work and strong customer relationships formed by the AV-8 team, especially as the Marine Corps’ former AV-8 squadrons have transitioned to flying the F-35.
“We have spent years building a good foundation with the AV-8 community, and now they will be our future customers with the F-35,” Stewart said. “The program may be ending, but we’ve paved a clear path for future endeavors with the customer for a long time to come.”
As a long-time member of the AV-8 team, both as a Marine and later as a civilian artisan at FRCE, F-35 and AV-8 Branch Head Ike Rettenmair, said he is proud of what the Harrier program has accomplished and looks forward to what lies ahead for the fleet.
“You always hate to see a platform sundown, but technology is changing, our threats are changing, and it is time to move to the F-35 and the capability it will bring to the warfighter,” Rettenmair said. “FRCE will continue to support team Harrier as we have always done, until the final Harrier lands on the runway, regardless of when that will be.”
FRCE is North Carolina’s largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.
