Mission Journal 3 — Roger Garcia: Mission Day 4: Thursday, December 8th, 2005
Decompression Day
The first half of the Navy mission for class 06–10–SAT will end today and we must return to the surface. In keeping with my previous 2 journals I will not write about today’s events. However, we must give credit where credit is due. The 5 Navy saturation divers, MDV Green, ENC Irish, HM1 Janssen, BMC Lawrence and BM1 Kane worked and performed as the professionals they are. As a former Navy diver myself it makes me proud to come from the same roots.
I want to focus again on what’s “behind the scene”. All too often there are people in the so called “high places” who set policies, procedures etc… These people tend to make decisions without ever seeing the facility, without ever doing the job and sadly, without ever even talking to the people that do the job which are affected by the policies they set. You can’t lead a team if you don’t know what the team’s job and needs are. As a retired US Navy Chief Petty Officer and being in several leadership positions during my career, there are 4 things that I quickly learned; 1– Set the example; 2– Train your people properly; , 3– Talk to your people and find out what they need to do the job; and finally 4– Give your people the time and tools to do the job properly.
I bring this up because today, decompression day, I met Karen Kohanowich, Program Officer for NOAA’s Undersea Research Program (NURP), and Ruth Kelty from the National Center for Coastal Ocean Science. Two women in leadership positions within NOAA who decided to “walk on the deck plates” of Aquarius to see her, learn about her and talk to the crew.
I say Hoo Yah!