Essays sought on what it means to be shipmate

Essays sought on what it means to be shipmate
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Oct 23, 2007 6:13:03 EDT

You can look up the word “shipmate” in Webster’s Third International Dictionary — it appears after “shipmast locust” and before “shipment” — but the Navy wants to know what it means to sailors. So the sea service has announced an essay contest called “What Being a Shipmate Means to Me,” and is seeking 75-word submissions from the fleet.

Pacific Fleet Master Chief Tom Howard announced the contest Friday; winning entries will appear on the Navy’s and Pacific Fleet’s Web sites and in the official All Hands magazine. Any sailor in any command may submit an entry.

“In 75 words or less, sailors are encouraged to explain their personal definition of shipmate and what it means to be a shipmate in today’s Navy,” the announcement said.

Howard said in the Navy statement that he and the Pacific Fleet chief’s mess saw the contest as a natural extension of its liaison job between high officials and sailors.

“It is our responsibility to our commanders and to our Navy to listen to our sailors and to provide advice to Navy leadership,” Howard said. “So, we thought, who better to define ‘what being a shipmate means’ than our sailors — our sailors who are willing to sacrifice everything.”

Entries can be sent via e-mail to cpf.fleetfeedback@navy.mil, the Navy said, or mailed to What Being a Shipmate Means to Me, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, c/o FLTCM (SW/AW) Tom Howard, 250 Makalapa Drive, Pearl Harbor HI 96860-3131.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/navy_shipmate_essays_071022w/



uhc comment: Putting on my sarcasm hat, it appears the Navy's PR budget was cut and they are trying to come up with something good to sell the Navy. Or perhaps morale is low and they need to boost the troops.