FLY NAVY!

As a Navy Flight Officer, I specialized in carrier-based anti-submarine warfare. I earned my Navy commission through the Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) program in Pensacola, FL, that, for better or worse, was immortalized in “An Officer and a Gentleman”.

I accumulated approximately 1,000 flight hours in the cockpit and 200 carrier landings during two deployments to the Persian Gulf, one aboard USS Ranger (CV-61) and one aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65). I was qualified or certified as a Mission Commander, Nuclear Weapons Loading Officer, Electronic Counter-measures Officer, Tactics Officer and Assistant Safety Officer.
 

Navy Flight Officer Patch

Tactical Coordinator Patch

Viking “Centurion” Patch

From Carnage to Crew

“The system that guides the way in which all of that raw talent is molded into skilled aviators is called NATOPS, the Navy’s acronym for Naval Aviation Training and Operations Standardization. NATOPS exists for the very good reason that, before it was created, the Navy was killing pilots and obliterating airplanes at a gruesome, unsustainable pace. This is relevant to our discussion on leadership because NATOPS and the tight crew coordination and collaboration it requires are built around a shared vision, full engagement, and precise execution at every level.

This approach starts with naval aviation overall, and continues through the ranks to include every individual aviator and sailor who has a role to play in safely launching, operating and recovering aircraft at sea. NATOPS itself arose from two convictions, forged in crisis: that there must be a single best way to complete complicated, dangerous tasks in a naval aircraft, and that the best people to define and document that best way are those who are fully engaged in doing it successfully today.

The Navy, like organizations all over the world, was faced with an apparently unsolvable challenge: How to cut costs, adopt rapidly advancing technology, and update its “we’ve always done it this way” culture, all while becoming more effective at its core mission — taking the fight to the enemy. It was obvious that the first priority was to stop the ongoing slaughter of hundreds of its carefully selected, highly trained personnel every year.”

Excerpt From: D.L. Brouwer. “The Return on Leadership.” iBooks.

The Brouwer Group LLC is an authorized seller on Amazon, and individual copies (both hard cover and Kindle) of “The Return on Leadership” are available there. Bulk purchases may also be made through Amazon, but for orders of 30 or more, please submit the form below and we’ll work out the details.