Photo By Julianne Sympson | Even when Joint Enabling Capabilities Command personnel’s civilian positions are...... read more read more
NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. - The Joint Enabling Capabilities Command’s reserve component members bring valuable insight, unique experiences and a variety of skill sets from their civilian occupations and previous military assignments. The JECC uses a ‘total force’ construct, in which active duty and Reserve members train and deploy side-by-side, to strengthen the knowledge base of its force and meet mission requirements.
The ‘total force’ construct allows the JECC to pull from its personnel’s broad-range of expertise to create a more tailored, suitable team for mission-specific requirements. In particular, the Joint Planning Support Element, one of JECC’s three subordinate joint commands, relies heavily on their reserve component to provide joint planning capabilities in the functional areas of: operations, plans, logistics, intelligence support and knowledge management.
U.S. Navy Cmdrs. Douglas Harrington and Clayton Kendrick-Holmes and U.S. Army Maj. Mark Robertson, three JPSE members, represent the diverse experience reserve members bring to the command.
From driving ships as a Merchant Marine officer to leading future mariners as a head football coach to providing financial planning advice to high net-worth clients, these men bring a wealth of expertise that increases the corporate knowledge the JECC brings to joint warfighter requirements. Harrington, Kendrick-Holmes and Robertson joined the JECC based on its worldwide joint mission and are among the strong pool of reserve personnel the command has recruited to fill critical positions.
Harrington brings an unique perspective of the JECC’s higher headquarters, U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), by serving as a shipmaster in the U.S. Merchant Marine. In his civilian position, the Arlington, Mass., native, most recently supported the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs.
“My previous work experience in the military and my current occupation in the Merchant Marine enhances the maritime planning experience I can bring to the JECC team,” said Harrington. “In my civilian capacity, I have worked closely with USTRANSCOM’s numerous military and civilian customers which takes preparation and careful coordination to build those cross-functional relations.”
Additionally, during his 26 years in the U.S. Navy, Harrington has gained real-world experience carrying cargo for USTRANSCOM’s Military Sealift Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and served for a year supporting Multinational Forces- Iraq. Several aspects of Harrington’s civilian and military positions overlap which ultimately enhances the expertise he brings to the JECC team as a joint planner.
For Kendrick-Holmes, the head football coach at the State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College, located in Throggs Neck, N.Y., his coaching style is based on the core values instilled in him during his 21-years of service in the military. Much like the operational planning support JPSE members provide when they are fully integrated within a joint force headquarters during real-world operations, Kendrick Holmes uses a similar planning process to ensure ‘mission success’ on game day.
“Similar to a military environment, football requires lots of coordination and effort to get a large group of people moving in the same direction towards a common goal,” said Kendrick-Holmes. “As the head coach of SUNY Maritime, I am ultimately responsible for building my team, sharing my vision with my coaching staff and maintaining that day-to-day interaction with the students so that the team can execute plays and reach their full potential on and off the field.”
Kendrick-Holmes’ leads by example and is fully committed to every effort he supports; two qualities that the JECC looks for in both its active duty and reserve component personnel. A prime example of Kendrick-Holmes’ steadfast dedication is the 2010 mobilization which required him to deploy to Afghanistan during the middle of a record-breaking season. While he was humbled when his story made national news on ESPN and NBC’s the Today Show, Kendrick-Holmes wanted to show his players the devotion he had for his team, but more importantly, the responsibility he had to serve his country when called to duty.
Another leader in his own right, U.S. Army Maj. Mark Robertson works with high net-worth individuals, small business owners and professionals by providing financial advice and planning support. He serves as a certified financial planner and also leads his own firm, RDJ Financial Architects, located near Las Vegas, Nev. In his civilian role, he assists clients in defining their financial objectives, creating financial plans and monitoring their portfolios’ progress which are skills that can also be applied during joint operational planning for real-world operations.
“Being able to think outside the box and find innovative solutions to meet objectives, either in helping a client with their financial planning or in support of joint planning during a real-world operation, is a value-added skill,” said Robertson, who has also served in the military for 20 years.
The highly-experienced reserve members bring a strong sense of commitment to serve and their high-quality expertise makes them a good fit for a variety of missions. Together with the JECC’s active duty personnel, the ‘total force’ brings expertise from across a broad range of professions and enhances the command’s ability to successfully meet the high operational tempo of the JECC’s global mission.
| Date Taken: | 08.05.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 08.05.2013 14:05 |
| Story ID: | 111359 |
| Location: | NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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