Navy evolving under watch of North Georgian

As warfare continues to evolve, the U.S. Navy will evolve along with it, meeting new challenges with a more-nimble worldwide presence, says Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Rick West.

The Rising Fawn, Ga., native should know. He recently was appointed to the highest enlisted position in the entire force, serving as a liaison between the 600,000 enlisted sailors below him and the policy-makers above him at the Pentagon.

“I go around and make sure that (the enlisted personnel) have the things they need to get their job done,” Master Chief West told reporters, editors and editorial columnists Tuesday at the Times Free Press. “I am their voice.”

He is in Chattanooga for Navy Week, a community outreach and recruiting mission that coincides with the Riverbend Festival.

Master Chief West is spreading the message that things have changed since he joined the Navy during the Cold War in 1981. Because the Army’s and Marines’ ground forces have been taxed from repeat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Navy has become more of a cooperative, amphibious service that can augment units from the other branches to help them perform land-based duties, he said.

In fact, Master Chief West said, the Navy now has 14,000 troops on land supporting the war effort, including some who patrol the rivers inside Iraq. That’s more than the total number who are fighting seaside, he said.

Among those are two Chattanooga-based Navy reservists who are attached to an Army unit guarding an internment facility in Afghanistan, according to Commander Matt Heck, who is over Chattanooga’s Navy Operational Support Center on Amnicola Highway.

Of course, many sailors are contributing to other parts of the Navy’s overall maritime strategy, Master Chief West said. The Navy constantly is performing humanitarian missions and policing waterways that are important to worldwide commerce but often infiltrated by pirates.

“Our Navy will always be relevant,” he said. “If you were to ask me about the Navy right now, I’d tell you it’s an any mission, anytime, anywhere Navy. We’re ready 24/7.”

To be at the forefront of this force is a huge honor, Commander Heck said.

“To have him representing this area of the country is great,” he said. “It’s just representative of the quality people we have in Southeast Tennessee. They didn’t pick someone from Annapolis (Md., the site of the U.S. Naval Academy).”

The master chief was a 17-year-old Northwest Georgia High School graduate who had never seen the ocean when he decided to enlist. Since then, says his wife, Bobbi West, he’s taken posts everywhere from London to Hawaii, earning respect from family and fellow sailors along the way.

The career submarine man estimates he’s spent about nine of his 46 years under water.

“He really, really cares about the sailors,” said Mrs. West, a fellow sailor who has retired from active duty and now works as a civilian administrator in the Navy’s criminal investigation unit. “Everything he does, he really means it.”

He’s inspired the couple’s 21-year-old son to become a Navy diver, Mrs. West said, and his 18-year-old brother likely won’t be far behind.

Master Chief West has garnered enough respect in Washington, D.C., to be called to meet with President Barack Obama twice since his Dec. 15 appointment. Mrs. West, meanwhile, was invited to have tea with First Lady Michelle Obama a few months ago to discuss issues related to military families.

Both the president and Mrs. Obama have shown a genuine interest in improving the lives of military personnel, the Wests said.

Among upcoming changes are a new GI Bill set to go into effect this August, Master Chief West said.

Being able to offer expanded educational benefits during a tough economic time is “helping our recruiting numbers and helping our retention,” he said.

Attrition in the Navy is the lowest it’s ever been, he said.

“I can tell you we’re postured recruiting-wise to make sure that, when the economy does make that turn (to better times), we’re still ready to execute.”