Newsletter: April/May 2011 Newsletter

Our guest speaker for the May meeting will be RDML James A. Murdoch, Director of Fleet Maintenance, U.S. Fleet Forces Command.  RDML Murdoch reported as director of Fleet Maintenance for U.S. Fleet Forces Command in August 2010.

Since becoming a member of the Acquisition Professional Corps, he served as assistant program manager for Modernization (PMS 312E) in Program Executive Office, Aircraft Carriers; project manager for Naval Surface Fire Support in Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems; major program manager, Surface Weapons & Launchers (IWS 3.0) in Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems; and major program manager for the Littoral Combat Ship in Program Executive Office, Ships.

His career as a Surface Warfare officer included assignments in USS Virginia (CGN 38); USS Capodanno (FF 1093); USS California (CGN 36); USS Trenton (LPD 14); and PCU Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). He served on the staffs of Nuclear Power School; Atlantic Fleet Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board; and Commander, Amphibious Group Two. He is an NROTC graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and graduated with distinction from the Naval War College.

His personal awards include the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

Our guest speaker for the April General Membership Meeting will be Chris Cannon, Registered Nurse, Director of the Nightingale Regional Air Ambulance Service for Sentara, who will update us on this important service and the status of their acquisition of a replacement helicopter. Sentara Healthcare operates Nightingale using a 25-year-old helicopter to service Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina. Since its inception in February 1982, the Nightingale Regional Air Ambulance Service has assisted more than 16,000 patients.

 

The Sentara service provides rapid transport of the critically ill or injured from a scene of an accident or incident, or from one medical facility to another facility with more specialized critical care capabilities.  However, Nightingale is not just for trauma patients. In fact, about 55 percent of Nightingale flights involve such cases as critically ill cardiac patients flown from community hospitals to the highly specialized Sentara Heart Hospital in Norfolk.

Nightingale is equipped with high-tech cardiac and pulmonary equipment including an intra-aortic balloon pump and a sophisticated 12-lead EKG monitor, helping the flight nurse and paramedic provide state-of-the-art care in flight.  Crews are available to respond 24 hours a day.

 

Commonwealth of Virginia has a two-year budget cycle. The major sources of revenue are income taxes and sales taxes. With the poor economy, revenues are down. As a result, the legislators have cut $4 billion from the budget, and state employees are being asked to contribute to their retirement accounts in order to get the retirement system on firm financial footing. State employees were given a five percent increase in pay in order to compensate for this change.

 

The legislators and elected officials are proud that Virginia has been ranked by Forbes Magazine as the most fiscally sound state in the nation. The General Assembly is doing everything it can to maintain that ranking. 

The three largest sources of revenue in Hampton Roads are defense spending, the ports, and tourism. Senator Wagner requested everyone speak to their federal elected officials and request they pass a defense budget so as to remove the uncertainties in our region, which is so dependent on defense spending. 

 

Transportation needs have been studied. Admiral Harvey is so concerned with the poor state of the transportation system in Hampton Roads that he refuses to consider placing any more commands in the area until the problem has been addressed by the Commonwealth. The General Assembly has approved $600 million to address transportation needs in the 2-year budget. The legislators feel this is a good time for this infrastructure investment because interest rates are very low, bids have been coming in below VDOT estimates, and the Commonwealth’s AAA bond rating will not be compromised. Any new tunnels or crossing will have tolls. The Third Crossing has been renamed Patriot’s Crossing. The environmental impact and estimates to construct Patriots Crossing are lower than expanding the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. The Mid-Town Tunnel expansion will result in tolls on both that tunnel and the Downtown Tunnel. The Hampton Roads region has not been adequately funded for its transportation needs because the area representatives do not have a consistent voice supporting any one project.

 

Senator Wagner acknowledged that in this year’s redistricting, the Hampton Roads region will probably lose one representative because the population growth of northern Virginia has far outstripped the population growth in our region. The outlook is bright for the future of our Commonwealth. While partisan bickering has interrupted the legislative agenda in other states, the Virginia General Assembly has been working well together to insure the Commonwealth remains fiscally strong and an attractive place for families and businesses to locate.

At the March meeting, the Board of Directors approved two new member companies. This brings our total membership to 200 member companies. The new companies are Monarch Bank and T-Solutions.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, Monarch Bank offers a wide variety of traditional banking services with four core businesses: business/commercial banking, retail banking, real estate construction and development lending, and financial services. The Bank currently has nine banking offices in the City of Chesapeake (2), the City of Virginia Beach (5), and the City of Norfolk (2). It serves local businesses, professionals, corporate executives, and individuals. For more information, go to their website at www.monarchbank.com.

T-Solutions Inc. is a service disabled, veteran-owned small business located in Chesapeake, Virginia that provides maintenance engineering, logistics and management worldwide to both commercial and government clients.  T-Solutions is an agile provider of technical solutions that enable mission-critical operations and decision-making. T-Solutions provides the expertise needed to help customers succeed in today's era of defense, security, maintenance engineering and business transformation.

 
T-Solutions’ flagship is the U.S. Navy Port Engineer Program.  T-Solutions was selected as the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce’s 2009 Small Business of the Year winner for the City of Chesapeake.  For more information, go to their website at www.tsoln-inc.com.

Nominations are being sought for the 2011 Junior and Senior Tradesmen of the Year. These awards help our industry showcase the top experts among our tradesmen, as well as featuring up-and-comers who will lead the future. Nominations are due no later than Friday, April 29, 2011. Nomination forms may be found on the Resources/Publications page at http://virginiashiprepair.org/research.asp.  If you have questions, please contact our office at (757) 233-7034. Thank you!

For the past five years, Josephine Anderson has led the administrative services of the Virginia Ship Repair Association. In late March, Josephine decided to expand her knowledge and experience in the ship repair industry by accepting a position with Crofton Diving. While it is never easy to have a member of your small support team leave, we take comfort seeing someone grow in our industry and even better to keep good talent in the family! We are also grateful for all the contributions she has made to VSRA and our members. April 1st was Josephine’s last day with VSRA, and she began her new job at Crofton on the following Monday. Congratulations to Josephine. We wish her well in her new career.

WHEN:           June 6-9, 2011

WHERE:         The Ted Constant Convocation Center

 

Mega Rust is an annual event that began in June 2005 and rotates among several locations to reach a broader audience and to best meet the needs of the U.S. Navy. Mega Rust combines five annual meetings and conferences:

U.S. Navy and Industry Corrosion Technology Exchange, "Rust" Conference

Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command's Fleet Corrosion Control Forum

Naval Shipyard Coatings Group Meeting

USCG Coatings & Corrosion Control Tiger Team Meeting

U.S. Navy Submarine Preservation Conference

 

This conference brings together government, military, owners, operators, shipyards, research facilities, and coatings manufacturers and suppliers to discuss issues pertinent to the preservation industry.

 

The goals of the conference are to:

Present the Fleet and industry's needs in areas of preservation,

Highlight new and innovative preservation technologies/methods, successful applications of new products, research and development, preservation of materials, environmentally compliant processes and lessons learned,

Develop and maintain an infrastructure to provide essential feedback loops between the Fleet and industry that will facilitate the transfer of technologies presently available,

Focus on partnership opportunities between the Fleet and industry and  

Provide training opportunities to Fleet and industry

 

For additional information on the conference, registration, sponsorship or exhibiting, please go to

http://www.navalengineers.org/events/individualeventwebsites/MegaRust/Pages/ASNELandingPage.aspx .

WHEN:           June 14-16, 2011

WHERE:         Joint Expeditionary Base, Little Creek-Fort Story

 

The Multi-Agency Craft Conference (MACC) provides a forum for open exchange and discussion about boats and craft between Government agencies and the maritime community.  The primary focus is the dialog between the DoD and other Government agencies on common issues unique to boats and craft in their service.  The types of craft discussed range from Army & Navy service craft, Navy and Coast Guard patrol boats, to Naval Special Warfare and Marine Corps combatant craft.  Craft types include RIB's, patrol and insertion craft, landing craft, utility craft and special purpose craft.

The conference serves as a way to capitalize on the joint nature of today's military environment.  No service can afford to re-learn lessons that another service has already solved, whether it pertains to operations and tactics, an equipment solution, maintenance practices, or evaluating and implementing new technology.  Each organization has a valuable corporate background that can greatly assist other activities.  The conference leverages larger returns from the combined efforts of the relatively small boat communities in each service.  Within each service, boats and craft remain low on the funding priority list and the conference helps prevent different agencies from expending funds solving a common problem.

Industry participants are a vital part of the MACC.  Industry participants are not treated simply as exhibitors, but rather as attendees and their participation in the discussions is encouraged.

For additional information on the conference, registration or sponsorship, please go to

4/13/11 – VSRF Monthly Board Meeting held at Colonna’s Shipyard at 11:30 a.m. This meeting is open to all supervisors and foremen to discuss the information collected on last month’s Supervisor Survey. You must RSVP in order to be included on the pass list. For additional information, please call 233-7034.

 

4/16/11 – 5^th Annual Lego Shipbuilding Competition held at Nauticus. For additional information, please call 233-7034.

 

4/20/11 - ASNE Tidewater Section Dinner Meeting held at the Springhill Suites, Newtown Rd., 1800-1900 Social Hour, 1900-2030 Dinner and Program. The Guest Speaker is RDML (Sel) David Gale, Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Centers. 

 

Please make your reservations for the dinner meeting no later than noon
the day before it's scheduled at www.asne-tw.org.

The committee met March 14 to put together the March/April newsletter. The committee meets the second Monday of the month at 1:00 p.m. at QED Systems, Inc. at 4646 N. Witchduck Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.

 

At the March meeting, Jim Stricker, NOAA discussed funding problems caused by the continuing resolution and the mismatch of budget cycles between NOAA and the Department of Commerce. Capt. Michael Malone, USN, reported that an FFG availability in Mayport was canceled, and USS Gunston Hall was in the queue for cancellation due to the continuing resolution. The committee meets the first Thursday of the month at 9:30 a.m. in the Troutman Sanders conference room, 150 Main Street, 16th Floor, Norfolk, VA 23510.

 

At the March meeting, the committee discussed the NSRP Environmental seminar BAE Systems will be hosting in June. Larry Brittain from HEPACO has volunteered to be the co-chairman of the committee. Brian Gensler spoke on the recent USCG/EPA facility spill response exercises. Recent DEQ inspections have placed a greater emphasis on Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans. The committee meets on odd-numbered months on the second Thursday of the month at 9:00 a.m. in the United Coatings Corp. Training Room, 650 Chautauqua Avenue, Portsmouth, VA 23707.

 

 

 

The committee met in March. John Davis, Crofton Diving, volunteered to chair the 2011 VSRA Safety Seminar. There will be an OSHA 5400 course May 3-6, 2011. Standard Item 009-88 concerning initial opening of CHT lines was discussed, and comments were requested. Contractors were advised to review their contracts to determine which fiscal year’s Standard Items are being invoked. The committee meets the second Thursday of the month at 9:00 a.m. in the United Coatings Corp. Training Room, 650 Chautauqua Avenue, Portsmouth, VA 23707.

                                                                                                

At the March meeting, the committee discussed the RAPIDGate system. Government site surveys will take place in April, and the Mid-Atlantic Region may implement the system by the end of the year. Regional Security has received a directive to conduct background checks on personnel who even request a one-day pass. The committee meets the second Tuesday of the month at 10:00 a.m. in the United Coatings Corp. Conference Room, 650 Chautauqua Avenue, Portsmouth, VA 23707.