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    Naval Network Warfare Command Celebrates Women’s History Month 2022

    NETWARCOM Celebrates Women's History Month 2022

    Photo By Jason Rodman | Vice Adm. Kelly Aeschbach, commander of Naval Information Forces (NAVIFOR), Ms....... read more read more

    SUFFOLK, VA, UNITED STATES

    03.04.2022

    Story by Joshua Rodriguez 

    Naval Information Forces

    SUFFOLK, Va. – Naval Network Warfare Command (NETWARCOM) joins the Navy in celebrating Women’s History Month throughout the month of March.

    The observance month event was held at the Hall of Heroes at the Suffolk DoD Complex March 4, highlighting the 2022 theme “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope,” a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history.

    Vice Adm. Kelly Aeschbach, commander, Naval Information Forces (NAVIFOR) opened the event with opening remarks on the contributions of women in Information Warfare (IW).

    “I can’t help but personally reflect on our own legacy, and how the inclusion of women has made us more capable, more competitive, and more effective,” said Aeschbach. “I’ve said this before, people are, and have always been, our most valuable weapons system. And women have been at the forefront of information warfare since its inception.”

    Women have been at the forefront of IW since before IW was considered a term. For example, women cryptologists worked around the clock to crack the German U-boat enigma codes in World War I and the Japanese Naval codes in World War II. Women have provided combat intelligence for every major conflict since the Cold War. And uniformed and civilian women are providing information warfare expertise today across every platform and command, afloat and ashore.

    “We don’t have to look too far to see how women have time and again chosen to serve, and how that choice has made us sharper, bolder, and better,” said Aeschbach. “In this way, Women’s History Month is not just about what we’ve done. It’s about who we are. Women’s history is our history.”

    Master Chief Petty Officer Information Systems Technician Gene Crozier, senior enlisted leader, Naval Network Warfare Command (NETWARCOM) highlighted the impact women have had in his Naval career.

    “My first LPO [leading petty officer] was a female, my first Chief Petty Officer was a female and my first division officer was a female LDO [limited duty officer] ensign,” said Crozier. “While at the time I was not aware of mentorship, I was very much aware of their leadership.

    “The examples set by these three women early in my career was and remains the most influential, and frankly the highest standard of demonstrated professionalism,” said Crozier. “They have been the standard I have held myself and every subsequent leader to.”

    The event also included two guest speakers who shared their experiences and the impact influential women have had for them in their Naval and post-Naval careers.

    The first guest speaker was Denetra Hampton, founder of Nurses by Nurses Productions and 22-year Navy Veteran, and a former United States Naval Nurse Corps Officer, who shared vignettes about various influential women through history and today. In keeping with the 2022 theme, Hampton discussed women that have played an intricate part in the healing and promotion of their communities; locally, nationally and globally.

    “The first women to serve in the United States Navy were nurses, called the ‘Sacred Twenty’,” said Hampton. “We now witness the pen of history writing women as the face of an entire pandemic response. Who is helping lead the effort? Nurses!”

    The "Sacred Twenty" was a group of nurses who were the first female members to ever formally serve in the United States Navy representing the Nurse Corps. Officially formed in 1908, the Sacred Twenty made broad contributions during wartime, including training of field nurses and disease treatment and providing education programs for nurses abroad and professional publications to the field of nursing.

    “The nursing profession is 85% women, and I am proud to have served in the United States Naval Nurse Corps,” said Hampton.

    The second guest speaker was Capt. Elizabeth M. Adriano, commander, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Cherry Point, reiterated how this year’s theme resonated with her as a Navy Medical Corps officer.

    “Centuries of women have paved the way, pushed ahead with relentless determination so that I may promote healing and provide hope to the women of this century,” said Adriano.

    “It meant the world to me to be invited back to NAVIFOR to participate in the women’s history month observance,” said Adriano. “I had the honor and privilege to serve as the inaugural Force Surgeon for the TYCOM and met some amazing men and women during my two-year tenure. It felt like coming home.”

    Information warfare is a wide-ranging community that includes communications, networks, intelligence, oceanography, meteorology, cryptology, electronic warfare, cyberspace operations, and space experts, among many others.

    NAVIFOR’s mission is to generate, directly and through our leadership of the IW Enterprise, agile and technically superior manned, trained, equipped, and certified combat-ready IW forces to ensure our Navy will decisively DETER, COMPETE, and WIN.

    For more information on NAVIFOR, visit the command Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NavalInformationForces/ or the public web page at https://www.navifor.usff.navy.mil.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 03.04.2022
    Date Posted: 03.10.2022 13:58
    Story ID: 416187
    Location: SUFFOLK, VA, US

    Web Views: 338
    Downloads: 0

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