NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Navy sailors on the USS John C. Stennis at the HII Newport News Shipbuilding will be getting several quality-of-life improvements, such as off-ship housing, free Wi-Fi and more access to food.
The changes came after an investigation into the conditions of Newport News Shipbuilding revealed issues that impacted sailors. A 200-page document from U.S. Fleet Forces Command released in May, following the deaths by suicide of four sailors from USS George Washington, said infrastructure at the shipyard is "insufficient."
The report said, "This directly contributed to poor sailor quality of service and morale."
During a Quality of Service Semi-Annual Report Roundtable on Monday, Navy leaders spoke about the changes.
"I'm incredibly proud of the work that the Navy has done so far to improve Quality of Service for sailors, but there is an enormous amount of work that remains to be done," Rear Adm. Scotty Gray said during the meeting. He is the lead for a team that aims to establish standards, measures and evaluation of quality of service.
Among the changes, he said routine appointments are available to sailors within 10 days, and they can also be seen on the same day for sick calls, and urgent and emergency care.
Additionally, HII Newport News Shipbuilding has permanently embedded mental health care professionals on all carriers and hosts quarterly mental health fairs to ensure sailors are aware of all the resources.
Other changes include a lowered number of sailors per room, improved reliability of HVAC systems, kitchen improvements and completed refurbishment of the gymnasium.
The Navy is also working on increasing access to healthy food, busing options and plans to transform the HII Newport News Shipbuilding contractor-run canteen into a 24/7 main market.
Their research also confirmed that the work of industrial maintenance is unsatisfying and undercuts interest in the service. They are now exploring policy options to manage and limit first-term sailor assignments to ships.
One of the most important updates is addressing the needs of sailors when it comes to technology. "Today, we've added free Wi-Fi on the USS Stennis and Huntington Ingalls (HII) and are embarking on a pilot program to determine the feasibility of increasing Wi-Fi access across the waterfront."
Gray also spoke on how conditions got to where they are, "we decided we were going to take risks in the short term and not fund some of the programs to the levels that we had previously. That's what was the right thing to do for the Navy and the nation...." he explained.
"But as we continue to do that over a longer period of time, we began to accumulate more and more risk which oftentimes goes unrecognized."
When asked about the impact the changes have had on sailor suicides he said, "We kicked this thing off six months ago, and it took us a little while to get up and running and organized. So I think it would be premature for me to say... there's a tremendous amount of work that remains to be done. The effectiveness of it will play out over time, but I feel very confident that the things we're doing are beginning to make a difference."
