By U.S. Naval Forces Central Command
5th Fleet Public Affairs
MANAMA, Bahrain – The Reserve Officers Association (ROA) presented Lt. Chris Burns of Combined Task Force (CTF) 56 with the Outstanding Navy Reserve Junior Officer of the Year award in Washington D.C., Feb. 11.
Burns, who joined the Naval Reserves in 2005 after six years on active duty, deployed as part of Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit (MIUWU) 105 to Kuwaiti Naval Base in October 2006 as MIUWU's Training Officer. In April 2007, Burns was selected to transfer to CTF 56 to stand up the Operations Department.
"CTF 56 didn't exist a year ago," Burns said. "We put it all together. We've accomplished a ton through this reorganization."
The CTF 56 Current Operations Officer, Burns sees the award as recognition of all CTF 56 has achieved since its inception in 2007.
"It's not just me, it's what we have all achieved here," he said. "I take this award as a celebration of what we have all done."
Burns credits the Sailors of MIUWU 105 and CTF 56 with achieving the ROA honor.
"I was lucky to be working with good people who supported me," he said. "That's how it works in the Navy."
Capt. Gary Windhorst, Commander, CTF 56, described Burns as one of the critical reservists who make up the Navy's expeditionary forces.
"CTF 56 and the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) are comprised of 47 percent reservists," Windhorst noted. "They simply cannot meet their mission requirements without properly trained and ready reservists. Lieutenant Burns is an absolutely indispensable member of my staff. His performance is a credit to himself and the Naval Reserves."
CTF 56 provides support to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet by coordinating theater-wide expeditionary combat warfare missions in order to plan and execute 5th Fleet objectives, tasks and missions.
CTF 56 functions as Commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Forces Command (CNECFC), and provides administrative oversight to all Navy expeditionary combat forces operating in the Central Command area of responsibility.
NECC is a global force provider of adaptive force packages of expeditionary capabilities to joint warfighting commanders. NECC serves as a single manning functional command to centrally manage the current and future readiness, resources, manning, training and equipping of the Navy Expeditionary Force.