The Senior Enlisted Leaders (SEL), SMA Army Kenneth Preston, SgtMaj Marine Corps Carlton Kent, CMSgt Air Force Rodney McKinley, MCPON Rick West, and I were driven from the Pentagon to the White House. Upon arrival at the White House gate we were escorted through security and into the Roosevelt Room. Mr. Mark Lippert (National Security Council Chief of Staff) met us and provided a pre-brief of what to expect. The major take away was, President Obama wants to hear from us and wants it straight. No policy droning, a true discussion of what is impacting your folks is the goal.
National Security Advisor General Jones entered the room, greeted us and asked each of us about our careers then engaged us in other small talk. A short while later, Vice President Biden and Secretary of Defense Gates entered the Roosevelt Room and welcomed each of us. The Vice President asked each SEL how long they have served the people of United States. He thanked us for our dedicated service and mentioned that there would be no line for us, we all will go straight to heaven for our service to the Nation. I was last to share my time in service with the Vice President, being the most junior by two years, I responded, "unlike my colleagues, I have only 27 years in and have not yet decided if I would make a career of it". This got a good laugh and shifted the topic down memory lane for the Vice President's and Secretary's first visits to the White House. President Richard Nixon was in office for the Vice President's first visit, President Lyndon Johnson was in office for the Sec.
Gate's first visit. The Vice President unnecessarily mentioned to us, that no matter how many times, you enter the Oval Office you are AWED!! I say, "Unnecessarily", because we were all sufficiently AWED getting the invite. We all continued to talk and joke until the "DOOR" opened and with the light from the Oval Office streaming into the Roosevelt room, everyone became instantly silent and attentive. WOW!!
We single filed in where we were each warmly greeted by President Obama with a good hand shake, a thanks for your service and a welcome to the Oval Office. The President asked us to sit on the two couches facing each other, he and the Vice President sat in chairs at one end of the two couches, General Jones and Secratary Gates sat in chairs at the opposite ends of the two couches.
The President explained that he wanted to discuss issues impacting our forces and wanted to hear from each of us. He mentioned that he had already heard from the service chiefs and now wants the unvarnished versions from his SELs. The President assured the group that this would not be the only meeting with the SELs so we should not think that this was our one and only shot at speaking to the President.
I was the third to speak, following the CMSgtAF and SMA. I have tried to capture from memory the conversations. As you can imagine it is pretty overwhelming just to sit in the Oval Office and IMPOSSIBLE to concentrate enough to take notes. Here goes, "Mr. President thank you for the invitation. I am not the Coast Guard's SEL, I have the honor of standing in for MCPOCG Bowen who is at the far NW corner of the United States visiting Coast Guard Station Neah Bay. It was impossible for MCPOCG Bowen to get back in time for this meeting. Typically when I am asked to play the fill in roll, it has not been for something this prestigious. Again, thank you for the opportunity."
"Mr. President, you and the CG share the same birthday August 4th. Each year we celebrate our service's birthday at every unit throughout the Coast Guard. You are always welcome to stop by ANY unit for a piece of cake." I then mentioned that I understood that he was an avid runner and Basketball player and with his permission I would like to give him an early birthday gift from the Coast Guard. I presented him one of our proto-type grey high performance fabric retro-reflective PT gear t-shirts bearing the CG emblem on the front and "Coast Guard" on the back. He lit up and said, "This is great, I will wear it proudly, you and I will later get a picture together with the T-shirt".
Moving to the Coast Guard issues, I acknowledged and concurred with each of my previous colleagues concerns. I then shared that generally speaking, our Coast Guard sailors are happy and their morale is high but, they are tired and spread thin. They are tired because they are consumed with maintaining and repairing 40 and 50 year old ships, while still meeting our expanding mission demands.
I suggested he could help us by supporting our Coast Guard recap initiatives submitted through the Secretary of Homeland Security. I also mentioned that as border security issues are discussed in the future, to be mindful of the water borders and the huge maritime piece that goes along with the land side. I pointed out that the Coast Guard is his primary maritime border security provider and we need to be sure that our Coast Guard personnel strength continues to grow commensurate with our expanding mission sets so that we can meet mission requirements when our country needs us.
The SgtMajMC spoke next followed by MCPON.
The common threads of interest that the President pulled on were Work-Life type issues, asking specific questions about what types of support services that we each have to offer our forces and their families. The President said that Mrs. Obama was interested in supporting these initiatives too and plans to meet with the SELs spouses.
The Vice President, asked about post deployment aftercare programs and about a "tough guy" syndrome. Basically, he was wondering if there was a negative stigma attached to folks returning from deployments and being reluctant to ask for help. Each SEL discussed their specific service's approach. We all agreed that we have come a long way since the "Suck it up sailor/soldier" mantra of our early careers. I brought up our Ombudsman program as a resource that identifies potential issues. Often times the member may be silent to their supervisor regarding issues but, their spouses will share with the Ombudsman issues that are negatively impacting the homefront. The President mentioned, "more often than not, when the spouse at home is happy the member is happy", we ALL agreed. The President reemphasized that he and Mrs. Obama were very interested in family health and happiness issues and were strong supporters of Work-Life type initiatives.
The President asked about the SEL's congressional testimonies. Each SEL talked about previous testimonies and mentioned kind of the perennial issues. The President said he would like a copy of the issues and to forward them to Mr. Lippert.
Secretary Gates talked extensively about PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury. Each SEL discussed their issues and mediation strategies. I said that Coast Guard has been participating in the DoD discussions and we were appreciative of being included.
The President thanked us all for our input, assured us once again, that this would not be the last meeting with the SELs, and then asked for someone to get the photographer.
We all stood and waited for the photo OP. While mingling there was an opportunity for more small talk. The President seems to like the give and take causal interaction. So I asked the President, "Mr. President, since you have been in office, have you noticed a vast improvement in your offensive game on the Basketball court?" Without hesitation he said NO WAY, they ALL know that if I "get them" on the court, they will hear about it all day, so everyone plays him hard. CMSgtAF mentioned that they play Basketball at the Pentagon and that the President was welcome to play. The President was skeptical because last time he was asked to play with the military, they sent a bunch of 20 year old ringers. I mentioned to him that he was welcome to play with the Coast Guard's 40 something's Tue and Thurs mornings at Ft. McNair. Then there was a bunch of talking about his cabinet team taking on the SELs. They look big but, I think we can take them ;-)
The photographer arrived and pictures of the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense and the 5 SELs were snapped. As we were breaking up from the group picture, the President and I posed together with the CG shirt that I had presented him. It was AWESOME my best day yet at CGHQs! I cannot wait to see the pictures.