Last week I had the chance to pass out some length-of-service awards to civilian members of the command here at Pax River. There were quite a few 30 and 35-year awards and even some 40-year certificates signed by Navy Secretary Mabus. I also stopped at a retirement lunch for a woman who completed a 43-year career in civil service, as well as having served in the Naval Reserve for 23 of those years. I had the honor of presenting her with a civilian service medal. I really appreciate the opportunity whenever I can recognize folks who have given that much of their working career to serve the United States. It also gave me a chance to realize that none of us would spend 25, 30, 35, 40, or more years doing something we didn’t love. Every civilian member of NAWCAD is as “Navy blue” as any of us who wear the uniform every day. You are all a humbling group to work with!

At the same time we recognize those folks, we need to consider the individuals on the front end of their careers. A few weeks ago, VADM Architzel and many of the SESs from NAWCAD and NAVAIR attended the Engineer and Scientist Development Program (ESDP) annual picnic lunch. While meeting and talking with the young engineers, I was not surprised by the enthusiasm they showed for the organization and the aspirations they have for their roles in the second century of Naval aviation. The future of NAWCAD will be in good hands, as long as they stick around. This brings me to part two of the civility discussion we started here last week.
 
Over the past few months, I’ve become aware that some of the uncivil conduct we are seeing has escalated well beyond any acceptable behavior. To make matters worse that offensive conduct is being aimed at some of our younger teammates, including minority and female employees who we depend on to carry this organization forward. There is a difference between cussing in the workplace and the following conduct that has been reported within our organization: 

•  A female engineer was assigned tasks below her abilities and outside her job   description,  while not being allowed to perform what she considered appropriate engineering tasks given to her male peers.
•  A male employee apparently believed his behavior would be acceptable to his peers when, while in the workplace, he continued to ask a female co-worker for a date after she had refused.
•  Words with negative social meaning were repeatedly and intentionally used by a supervisor to refer to a minority employee when speaking to other employees.
•  A person’s culturally relevant hair style was referred to in a derogatory way by individuals senior to the employee.
•  An IPT leader was loud and abusive to team members who worked in an isolated office area. 

All these reported incidents have been dealt with by the supervisory chain of command when folks demonstrated the courage to report them, but peer pressure, supervisory integrity and a sense of cultural shame should have prevented them before they occurred.
 
Just writing these things makes me angry. As a father, I don’t want my kids to have to face these types of incidents when they enter the workforce. As the Commander, I’m concerned the ESDPs I mentioned earlier are going to take their talents elsewhere if we don’t put a stop to the problem. If they and their peers decide to leave because of uncivil workplace behavior, our bright NAWCAD future fades quickly.
 
As a result of these and other incidents recently, we’ve come to understand we have a problem that we need to deal with immediately and no matter how angry I feel I can’t do it alone. In fact I know that whenever NAWCAD leadership is around, most folks ‘are on their best behavior’. What we have to address is the character of NAWCAD, you know, what we do when we think nobody is looking. I need your help.
 
Last week, I said it’s time we start making people feel ashamed for displaying uncivil behavior. For the events listed above, shame just isn’t enough. I need your eyes, ears, and courage to let your supervisory chain of command know when these types of things are happening in the workplace. If the problem involves a supervisor then go up the chain until you reach someone you are comfortable with to discuss the issue or get in contact with one of the NAVAIR Barrier Removal Teams. Shine a light on the problem. If something approaches the level of discrimination or harassment, strongly consider talking to an EEO counselor about it. They can help by bringing additional resources to the problem even if it doesn’t meet the “complaint” threshold.
 
Vice Admiral Harvey, Commander Fleet Forces Command, wrote “To stand-up, speak out and take action in support of the best interests of the Navy and in support of our core values - honor, courage and commitment - whenever we see those core values threatened or those interests undermined by an individual's behavior, whoever that individual may be and wherever in the chain-of-command that individual resides, is our duty.” We’re all Navy blue.
 
--RM