Roughead also briefly outlined
his priorities as the Navy’s top admiral: readiness, recruiting, retention
and planning for the future, according to his spokeswoman, Cmdr.
Pamela Kunze.
The Philadelphia Council hosts
the luncheon to commemorate the
founding of the Navy in Philadelphia
on Oct. 13, 1775, at a meeting of the
Continental Congress.
Florida Region President
Joins CNO to Welcome
Comfort Home
Navy League Florida Region President Patricia Du Mont joined Chief
of Naval Operations Adm. Gary
Roughead and a host of other officials aboard the hospital ship USNS
Comfort to welcome it home after a
successful four-month deployment to
Latin America and the Caribbean.
The group flew by helicopter,
landing aboard the 894-foot-long
hospital ship as it was transiting the
Florida coastline to Norfolk, Va.,
and then on to homeport Baltimore,
according to Du Mont.
Aboard ship, Roughead thanked
the crew and welcomed them home
from their humanitarian mission,
which began in June as a major
component of the president’s “
Advancing the Cause of Social Justice
in the Western Hemisphere” initiative. He read a personal letter from
Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice congratulating the crew, and
presented them with a Meritorious
Unit Commendation.
Roughead also helped the crew
celebrate the Navy’s 232nd birthday
with a traditional cake-cutting ceremony on the ship’s mess decks Oct.
12, and administered the oath of re-enlistment to a group of sailors while
off the coast of Miami.
Other VIPs onboard to welcome
the crew included Master Chief
Petty Officer of the Navy Joe R.
Campa Jr.; Dr. Randy Sherman,
chief medical officer of Operation
Smile; Dr. John P. Howe III, presi-
Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, with Patricia Du Mont, Navy
League Florida Region president, during a welcome home visit aboard the USNS
Comfort, which was returning from its recent four-month deployment.
dent and chief executive officer of
Project Hope; Rand Walton, Project
Hope’s director of strategic communication; Gerard Greene, consul
general of the Republic of Trinidad
and Tobago; and Ralph LaTortue,
consul general, Republic of Haiti.
During the mission, Comfort
traveled more than 10,000 miles, visiting
12 nations throughout the region to
bring medical care and assistance to
those in need. The U.S. Southern
Command-sponsored mission was
the first of its kind to the region
according to Adm. James Stavridis,
commander, Southern Command.
The ship was manned by a joint
interagency crew totaling more than
740 personnel. The medical crew
comprised Navy, Coast Guard, Air
Force, Army and U.S. Public Health
Service health care professionals,
along with representatives from
nongovernmental health organizations, such as Project Hope and
Operation Smile. The ship was operated and navigated by a crew of 68
civil service mariners from the U.S.
Navy’s Military Sealift Command.
The ship also carried a Navy
Construction Battalion detachment
that carried out numerous construction and improvement projects during the mission.
Council Members Get
Lake Michigan Cruise
Aboard USCG Surf Boat
Members of the Battle Creek-Kalamazoo, Mich., Council were
treated to a sunset cruise on Lake
Michigan aboard a Coast Guard
47-foot surf boat during a recent
visit to U.S. Coast Guard Station
St. Joseph, Mich.
Twenty council members and
guests met for the council’s monthly dinner meeting in the Michigan
harbor town and were updated on
Navy League activities, including
the Lake Michigan Division of U.S.
Naval Sea Cadet Corps, who drill
at the Coast Guard Station; and
other issues facing the U.S. Navy,
according to Council President
Thomas R. Shaw Jr.
Following dinner, the group proceeded to the Coast Guard station,
located at the mouth of the St. Joseph
River, and was briefed on the history
and mission of the facility by Coast
Guard Chief Boatswain’s Mate Matt
Buckman, officer in charge of the station. Members then donned orange
Coast Guard jackets and boarded the
surf boat, which took them out into
Lake Michigan as the sun set.
The surf boat is a rescue vessel
designed for use in extremely heavy
