Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC) hosted an Engineering Duty Officer Road Show for all interested EDOs within the Hampton Roads area onboard Naval Station Norfolk, Jan. 24.

The conference featured guest speakers Director, Fleet Maintenance, U.S. Fleet Forces Command Rear Adm. Mark Whitney; and Director, Fleet Maintenance, U.S. Pacific Fleet Rear Adm. Stephen Williamson, who were introduced by MARMC Commanding Officer Capt. Daniel Lannamann.

"This is a great opportunity to interact with some flag officers, senior officers, and some folks who are maybe a little closer to where you are [in your career], to talk about being an engineering duty officer," said Lannamann.

Whitney began by addressing the importance of an EDO's role in the Navy.

"The value of the engineering duty community is high," said Whitney. "As you know, in pretty much everything we buy, maintain, and eventually dispose of, there are ED fingerprints on it from beginning to end -- and that's very well recognized in the value that we bring to the United States Navy."

He focused his discussion on what is currently going on within the fleet and within the ED community.

"We are right where we need to be from a numbers perspective and are healthy in our promotion boards, so it's a very good time to be in our community and that just continues on," said Whitney.

There is a consistency in the message from the flag officers in that the ED community -- EDs should be striving for the "brass ring," according to Whitney.

"For many of you here in the room, [the brass ring] is something left to be obtained; and for some of you, you're there now, and that's command," said Whitney. "That is the brass ring - being in command."

Whitney turned the floor over to Williamson, who began by discussing the recent Engineering Duty Guiding Coalition (EDGC) survey.

"The leads of the survey teams said, 'What would really be helpful is if you could keep some of these questions from happening -- if you would make an opportunity to come out and see us,'" said Williamson. "So, Admiral Whitney and I really want to make that happen as we travel up the east coast, gathering information to pass along."

Williamson concentrated on three themes -- the mentoring program, work/life balance, and detailing.

"There were many comments about the mentorship program ranging from, 'I don't understand it' to 'It's the greatest thing ever,'" said Williamson. "Brand new to the ED community or brand new to an industrial activity, the mentorship program was set up to make sure you know what you are doing when you get to that activity and you are navigating your way through it."

An ED will always be assigned a mentor when he or she arrives at a new job to discuss not only career management, but also to discuss work balance and stress management.

"A good mentor will have frequent interactions and frequent discussions with their mentee," said Williamson. "As you get more senior and you are able to meet more people, change your mentor if you want someone who will make sure you are balanced all the way around."

When talking about work/life balance, Williamson stressed the importance of balance.

"Work/life balance does not mean how many hours you worked," said Williamson. "I guarantee your fitness reports are not representative of who worked the most hours -- that's not how it works. At that level (usually below the commanding officer), you need to make sure you have that discussion with the people you work for, that you find that right balance."

The final topic Williamson addressed was how flag officers select officers for specific detail.

"We are going to look at the way folks are picked for tours," said Williamson. "We tell all officers, 'Once you go through your qualification tour, go do something else.' If an officer tells us he or she is trying and can't get in, we want to go correct that -- we don't want to stifle anyone based on their degree."

The floor opened up for questions during the end of the conference, giving junior officers a rare opportunity to receive answers, face-to-face, from Whitney and Williamson.

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, visit http://www.navy.mil/.