Summer at Great Lakes Recruit Training Center is no time to kick back. Nearly half of the year's 54,000 recruits enter in June, July, August, and September-the "summer surge." Beginning on page 34, Great Lakes Commander Rear Admiral Dave Polatty discusses what he thinks is a fundamental shift necessary in how naval leaders should think about sailors in an all-volunteer force. Following his commentary is a look at all new sailors' rite of passage-Battle Stations. This coverage is, in part, a reflection on how the Navy is meeting the Chief of Naval Operations's challenge to fight the "war for people." On the 90th anniversary of Great Lakes training, we salute all the instructors and recruits-- some of whom are pictured on the cover tackling a Class Bravo fire.
With the 1 September deadline for submissions to the Naval Institute's Enlisted Essay Contest approaching rapidly, summer is the time for putting thoughts to paper or disk. The contest is open to all active-duty, reserve, and retired enlisted professionals, from the rawest recruit-who may have a response to Admiral Polatty-to the seasoned veteran who has left the Great Lakes experience far behind.
Great Lakes will continue to loom large on the Naval Institute's screen: next year we will publish two significant additions to your professional library. The first is the special centennial edition of The Bluejackets Manual, still included in the bookbag of each Great Lakes recruit as it has been nearly continuously for 100 years. The Naval Institute secretary-treasurer who signed off as The Bluejackets Manual's first publisher in 1902 was none other than Edward L. Beach Sr., the father of novelist, historian, and retired Navy Captain Edward L. (Ned) Beach Jr. We also will publish Honor, Courage, Commitment: Navy Boot Camp by Jack Leahy. Mr. Leahy followed a group of young recruits from start to finish. Both revealing and compelling, the book promises to educate all of us to the new realities of Navy recruit training.
One of the new realities of the Naval Institute is a bigger electronic footprint. While we have long had a feature called eForum on our website (www.navalinstitute.org), we were not satisfied with either the content or the way it worked.
We have revamped eForum, with the help of a number of serving naval professionals, and invite you to participate. Tactical problems will beg for solutions-the best of which will be published later in Proceedings and Naval History. We will post discussions sparked by commentaries and articles in Proceedings and in our books, and ongoing discussions about anything of significance to the sea services. Our first author chat with Ward Carroll of Punk's War came off without a hitch in late May; we look forward to similar efforts with a number of our authors and columnists.
July is the month to start gathering 25 signatures of members in good standing if you would like to add your name to the slate for election to the Board of Directors. To be eligible, you must be on the active-duty list of the Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard and a Naval Institute member for at least five years. Please send your biography and the signatures to me by 1 August. The Nominating Committee-Navy Rear Admirals Dan Bowler and Jay Cohen and Commander Ward Carroll-will add your name to the ballot. I'd like to hear from you.