Warrant Officers Share Navy News
6 August 2009
Fleet Command Warrant Officer, WO Simon Kelly CSM accompanied COMAUSFLT, RADM Nigel Coates AM, on his two night visit to HMAS Toowoomba on operations in the MEAO between 26-28 July 2009.
The time onboard was used to talk with both Senior and Junior Sailors about how they and Toowoomba was coping with the new Operation SLIPPER employment.
Toowoomba’s Ship’s Warrant Officer (SWO), WO Dave Devlin appreciated the time spent with the Fleet Command Warrant Officer highlighting the benefits of these important two-way discussions.
"Not only is it important for me to bring any issues, successes and challenges to the attention of the Fleet Command Warrant Officer so he can assist where possible, but its really important that I glean from him any issues or problems that he has seen developing around the Fleet in general so I can be proactive and make sure we learn from the experiences of others", WO Devlin said.
Fleet Command Warrant Officer enjoyed his stay onboard Toowoomba and said that one of his largest roles is to liaise with the SWO community and provide feedback to Fleet Headquarters on what is working and what the challenges might be.
"I see myself as very much a representative for the ship’s SWO’s at the Command level, so my visit to Toowoomba, currently on operations, was very important in the communications loop", he said.
The subject of New Generation Navy (NGN) was a hot topic of discussion between the two Warrant Officers. WO Devlin was able to report that he had briefed approximately 112 sailors on the Driving Change briefs and was able to report his feedback on those to the Command Warrant Officer.
WO Devlin said there was mixed feedback regarding the Driving Change NGN briefs. Those people that have been around a long time are more sceptical as they say they have heard about previous changes that were going to happen and are wondering what will be different this time.
"I am then able to tell them that New Generation is about implementation and is not a review. The changes are already happening with Plan Train, leadership, culture and with organisational structure ashore. I reinforce that it is not simply a review but rather the implementation of real change for good", WO Devlin said.
WO Devlin went onto say that sailors who have served between the six to ten year mark are more positive and NGN may assist them in whether they give the Navy more years of service or not.
