Vice Adm. Michael Vitale, commander of U.S. Navy Installations Command, talks with Ron Rocha, director of Navy Gateway Inns and Suites, at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan, during a tour of bachelor housing facilities Tuesday. The trip was part of Vitale’s first visit to overseas bases since assuming the post. (J.D. Yoder/Courtesy of the U.S. Navy)
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — U.S. Navy shore installations in the Pacific are unlikely to see financial hardship this year despite a global economic downturn, the officer in command of Navy properties worldwide said Thursday.
Vice Adm. Michael Vitale, the new commander of U.S. Navy Installations Command, spoke with Stars and Stripes while taking his first tour of overseas facilities. The trip included a stop in Sasebo this week with the new commander of Naval Forces Japan, Rear Adm. Richard Wren.
Vitale took command of shore and support facilities in the United States and throughout the world about 100 days ago.
"In comparison with typical years, is [the funding situation] going to be a lot harder? Unequivocally, I can tell you, ‘No,’ " he said. "We are getting more money than we have ever gotten."
The Navy has done some recent budget tightening that has affected other areas and included delaying the transfer of sailors to new duty stations and cuts in Navy re-enlistment bonuses.
Though installations have not taken an immediate hit, the Navy budget tends to be cyclical and funding likely will drop from today’s high to a low point sometime in the future, Vitale said.
Meanwhile, the outlook is good and the Navy is focusing on the Homeport Ashore Program, which aims to build more shore residences for sailors stationed aboard ships, Vitale said.
Construction projects are steaming ahead under cooperation with the government of Japan, including new bachelor enlisted quarters being built in Sasebo, he said.
Vitale gave no specific time lines for completion of the construction projects, but said they are a top priority.
Wren, who took command last month, toured Sasebo, Yokosuka Naval Base and Naval Air Facility Atsugi with Vitale and said he is considering ways to spread funding among Japan bases to improve services.
"The primary thing that I am looking at is the overall quality of life that we have across the bases and how consistent is it," Wren said.
He said Sasebo, with its new exchange and recreation center, has created a standard that should be applied to other military installations.
"Sasebo, frankly in my opinion, is the gem of the Pacific," Wren said. "So I would like to see the other bases come up to that standard."
CNFJ will work with the government of Japan to move funding among installations as part of the Japan Facilities Improvement Program, he said.
The moves could mean upgrading some buildings built in the 1930s and ’40s that can no longer be refurbished, Wren said.
"I don’t see the Navy getting bigger over here in any way, but I do see us having opportunities to refresh our infrastructure."
