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PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) was awarded the Retention Excellence Award, an honor recognizing commands which either meet or exceed required annual retention goals, put forth by U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
The award showcases the work ethic and dedication of both the command and departmental career counselors. Each Navy command is assigned a benchmark for retention, which is tracked quarterly. With exceptional performance, the command will be recognized in the quarterly Retention Honor Roll.
“To me, it’s an award that emphasizes our command’s success, as a whole, when it comes to our Sailors’ willingness to be retained in Naval service,” said Navy Counselor 1st Class Tray Bynam.
To receive the Retention Excellence Award, also known as the “Golden Anchor” Award, the command must be listed on the Retention Honor Roll for two of the four quarters, or have consistently high levels of performance throughout the year.
“Receiving this award means all our hard work paid off and we’re moving in the right direction,” said Navy Counselor 1st Class Anthony Sapanza. “It couldn’t have been done without our team.”
Navy Counselors are not the only personnel responsible for Naval service retention and career development. The responsibility falls on the entire chain of command as well, says Bynam.
“As a command career counselor, we directly report to the Command Master Chief who in turn communicates the information provided to the Executive Officer and the Commanding Officer,” Sapanza said. “The CO ultimately makes the decision on how the career development program impacts the ship.”
The Navy sets standards for retention in three zones: A, B, and C. Zone A represents the retention levels of those with fewer than six years of service, Zone B represents those with six to 10 years, and Zone C represents those with 10 to 14 years. In order to qualify for this award, the command must meet the standards for each zone.
Additionally, the command must fall below a set attrition rate, which is the number of service members who are separated from the Navy before the end of their contract.
“Our jobs as counselors is to motivate and give them resources such as special programs, conversion options, reenlistment incentives and promote career development boards,” Bynam said.
Current reenlistment benchmarks for zone A are 55 percent, zone B are 65 percent, and zone C are 80 percent. These benchmarks measure the effectiveness of our programs and ensure we meet manning requirements.
“The shipyard affects first-term sailors and they can base their naval career easily off of a Docking Planned Incremental Availability (DPIA) period,” Bynam said. “Once they are underway it can become a culture shock to abandon daily activities such as going home every day and attending school, those sailors may not reenlist.”
Despite this, Bush has consistently kept positive retention rates, which is indicative of this strong leadership.
For more news from USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77), visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn77/.
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2020 14:18 |
| Story ID: | 364275 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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