Today our speaker is Chief of Staff Submarine Group 10. The underwater defence of our country is impressive… We are "Combat Ready to Preserve the Peace"… The young men I see here at the base are averaging 20 years old to 40 years old. They are so proud and respectful of our old guys. They are in great shape! A COB sat with us at breakfast and I couldn’t believe how much he ate! He told us he has 2 children, one Air Force and one Navy. He is an empty nester at age 40. I thought to myself, "He’s 40, looks great and is in great shape." At age 40 he is chief of a "boat" a nuclear submarine! Something I learned today: Men introduce themselves as Alaska gold or Alaska blue. The submarines are under the water about 11 months a year but with 2 separate teams. So when they dock for refitting or maintenance a whole new team gets on in a "crew exchange" and "qualifies on all systems." A month later, they are "off again." It’s an interesting life … Definition of a submariner… "A person who operates sh** you can’t" … Submariners have attitude!
CO of Georgia and CO of New Mexico, Captain George Perez has served for 34 years and has been CO of Kings Bay for a year. Iraqui Freedom and Afganistan are under his belt and he wants to talk about "our submarines at Kings Bay!" Our strategic concerns are Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. No kidding. He said "you who finished WWII, and served during the Cold War, we are right back where we started." We are pushing development to stay ahead of Putin who is testing ballistic missiles during exercises and breaking treaties, in a global power competition… "This is the world our submarine force is operating in, but it is still is ours!" I’d say, sleep well tonight and know "America’s best have your 6"… God bless you. Angels with you.