Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) Adm. Michelle Howard visited Naval Station (NS) Guantanamo Bay, Dec. 15-16.
During the visit, Howard toured the Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay (JTF), enlisted barracks, pier facilities, and the desalination and power plant.
She also conducted an all-hands call for more than 500 Sailors, Coast Guardsman and Marines stationed at NS Guantanamo Bay.
During her speech she touched on the importance of increasing the percentage of females in the military from the current percentage of 17 to 25 percent in order to normalize relationships within the Navy and create better command climates.
Along with the gender integration I want to touch on environment and relationships. We need to create climates where folks are used to dealing with and understanding each other’s cultures and differences.
She also shared with the audience the results from the most recent sexual assault survey.
We learned that we have had less sexual assault in the last year than we have had in the previous two years, however we still had 5 percent of women and 2 percent of men report some type of sexual assault over the last year.
After discussing gender integration, environment and relationships she touched on cyber culture.
She noted the importance of better educating the Navy team about the operational impact of cyber in order to transform the culture.
Following her remarks, Howard took questions from the audience, which ranged from big Navy issues to NS Guantanamo Bay specific issues.
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Press release, Image: US Navy