One, life is precious, and every day is truly a present. June 2021
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV
The writer of this extremely popular text begins with a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. Then the writer starts to name all the events in life that there is time for and season. It almost appears as if the writer is looking back over their life and reflecting on all they have seen and experienced. As a result of the reflection, we have Ecclesiastes chapter three. Unfortunately, the text usually is heard at a funereal. I think there is so much more we can learn from the reflections of the writer.
One, life is precious, and every day is truly a present. It is in the moment we create our memories and future reflections. How amazing if we took more time to be present and not worry about what is coming next. We are writing our eulogy from the moment we awake. It is a matter of what do we want our eulogy to say? While gathering, things are excellent, and yes, we should have a legacy to pass down to our future generations. Have we become consumed with gathering and obsessed with the future? We should be careful not to allow our collecting to overtake the enjoyment of our present relationships.
Two, everything has a beginning and an end. It is how we view the changes and transitions in our lives that matter. We all know that we cannot stay in the military forever, at the same duty station, or be in a particular position for an extended period. What does life like for us who are experiencing a transition in our journey? Are we excited about new opportunities, adventures, and relationships? How do we embrace the next phase of our lives with newfound excitement?
The writer appears to write out of their personal experience. I encourage us to take this text and come from our personal experience and a place of excitement and joy as we know the opportunity for the impact we have for each season in our lives, even if it is only for a moment! We never know what the seeds planted today will yield in tomorrow’s harvest.
Blessings,
Reverend Takana L. Jefferson, United States Navy, Chaplain
Students Rewarded With Navy Scholarships
News4’s Aimee Cho reports on some seniors at Columbia Heights Educational Campus who received Navy scholarships.
BUILDING TOUGHNESS & RESILIENCY THROUGH ADVERSITY – Webinar Event
Thanks and Bravo Zulu to the Terrific Tidewater Chapter of NNOA for putting this event together.
It is a rare and special chance to hear from two of the three officers who rose to the highest level of our Navy. You don’t want to miss it.
Saturday 12 June from noon to 1330 EDT.
Register by emailing:
LT Linda McMillan at ljmcmillan1212@gmail.com
CDR Desmond Walker at desmond.walker@outlook.com
Naval Postgraduate School Important Events
Shipmates!
Please don’t miss these important events coming from our Naval Postgraduate School. I believe that understanding the Future Force and Intelligent Autonomous Systems is essential for all members of the Sea Services. Details are below.
Admirals, Generals, and Senior Executives,
I am emailing to invite you to two virtual events co-sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Executive Education and Naval Warfare Studies Institute. These events are specifically created for senior leaders and focus on a specific emerging technology with critical warfighting implications – Intelligent Autonomous Systems.
Intelligent Autonomous Systems, including robots and drones, will be an ever-increasing site on battlefields of the 21st century. If attacks like the one on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities in 2020 served as a wake-up call regarding the potential strategic effects of IAS in a limited surprise attack, the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict demonstrated what these kinds of capabilities might look like integrated into military operations during a highly-kinetic conflict. Numerous reports state that Azerbaijani drones were “game-changing.” Whether ISR, long-range strike (including loitering munitions), electronic warfare, EOD, logistics, or force protection, the IAS revolution is not coming – it is here.
Considering the complexity and the potentially revolutionary impact Intelligent Autonomous Systems will have on all aspects of naval readiness and warfighting and considering your critical role in guiding our services as we integrate these technologies into our concepts and exploit them via capability development, NPS would like to support you by offering two related events on IAS:
1. 25 May 2021 from 1200-1300 PDT/1500-1600 EDT : A public lecture-style presentation by the Chief of Naval Research, RADM Lorin Selby, entitled “Re-Imagining the Future Force.” This event is a part of the Secretary of the Navy Guest Lecture (SGL) Series. The event will feature a presentation by RADM Selby followed by extensive time for Q&A.
2. 1 Jun 2021 from 1000-1200 PDT/1300-1500 EDT : A panel discussion on IAS and the implications for the Navy and Marine Corps followed by Q&A. The panel consists of:
• Dr. Tim Grayson (moderator) – Director of DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office
• VADM(Ret) Luke McCollum – WalMart’s Vice President for Logistics Services
• Ms. Dorothy Englehardt – Director for Unmanned Systems, DASN Ships
• Dr. Karen Myers – Director of Stanford Research Institute’s AI Center
• Dr. Phil Root – Deputy Director of DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office
The combination of these two events – the CNR’s lecture and Q&A followed by the panel and Q&A on naval use cases, concepts, and capabilities related to Intelligent Autonomous Systems – is intended to provide you a solid foundation in this emerging technology and as well as insights on its impact to future naval warfighting. NPS and the Naval Warfare Studies Institute is excited to offer you this opportunity in support of your efforts to change our Navy and Marine Corps in ways that better adopt, adapt to, and integrate emerging technologies for combat advantage.
An RSVP is not required for event #1, the SGL – merely connect to the NPS live stream site (http://www.nps.edu/watchlive) at the time of the event.
An RSVP is not required for event #2, the panel discussion – please click on the MS Teams link provided below to connect a few minutes before the event.
Microsoft Teams meeting (IAS Panel)
Click here to join the meeting
Thank you in advance for your attendance and participation.
Very respectfully,
Winli
__________________________
Ms Winli McAnally
Director
Center for Executive Education
Naval Postgraduate School
wmcanall@nps.edu
mcanallyw@nps.navy.smil.mil
http://my.nps.edu/web/cee