@font-face { font-family: “?? ??”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria Math”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { }
Meet the new commanding officer of Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach and Navy Munitions Command CONUS West Division—Captain Noel J. Dahlke, who assumed command on Aug. 25 at the Change of Command ceremony on board the Seal Beach station. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of family, friends, Navy personnel, and dignitaries from area city governments and agencies.
Captain Dahlke is a San Diego native, and he and his wife Shamby have two teenage children. They already love Seal Beach. “I love what I’ve seen of Seal Beach and the surrounding community. Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive, and the town is beautiful. This area has been a really pleasant surprise. And I’m a San Diego native, so I know my beach cities.”
The Navy and Seal Beach have a long and rich history, with a substantial population of aerospace and technical experts for the Navy to draw from. Captain Dahlke said, “I’ve really been impressed with the workforce here. The weapons station has an especially high ratio of civilian employees, and many of them have been here for decades. The amount of corporate knowledge I’ve seen has just been amazing. It has definitely helped me get up to speed quickly.”
Captain Dahlke assumed command from Captain Martin “Tripp” Hardy III, who had been commanding officer for more than four years—which is a long tour at any Navy assignment. Hardy has retired. “Captain Hardy and the whole weapons station team have been doing a great job, and I don’t see any reason to make big changes. We have a world-class record of safety, environmental stewardship and constant improvement. I want our Sailors and civilians to focus on continuing their outstanding support to the fleet, and preparing us for the future,” Captian Dahlke said.
The new commanding officer graduated in 1994 from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy through the NROTC program. In May 1996 LTJG Dahlke earned his wings as a Naval Flight Officer (NFO) and reported to the S-3B Viking Fleet Replacement Squadron, VS-41 “Shamrocks,” in San Diego for initial training.
From 1997-2000, he was assigned to VS-21 “Redtails” embarked on USS Independence (CV 62) and USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) as part of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) FIVE based out of Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan. There he served as the NFO Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) Officer and qualified as a Level IV Mission Commander. In June 2000, he rejoined VS-41 as an instructor, fleet NATOPS evaluator and curriculum model manager.
In 2002, LT Dahlke served on the flag staff of Commander Carrier Strike Group SEVEN as the Strike Ops Officer, deploying aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). He then attended the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California and graduated in June 2005. From 2005 to 2008, LCDR Dahlke completed his Department Head tour with VS-31 “Topcats.” He deployed once again aboard USS John C. Stennis with CVW NINE, where he qualified as a Command Duty Officer Underway and as a CVW NINE Maritime Strike Lead. He has over 600 carrier arrested landings in S-3B Vikings. For his joint assignment, he reported to the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), Honolulu, HI in February 2008 where he served as Operations/Action Officer for the Transnational Security curriculum. While assigned to APCSS, he screened for operational command.
He commanded Patrol Squadron (VP) 26 “Tridents” from May 2011-May 2012 and during this time he deployed once again to the 5th Fleet AOR supporting Operations New Dawn and Enduring Freedom as CTG 57.1/57.2. He has logged over 3,100 flight hours in P-3C and S-3B model aircraft.
His most recent tour was as Deputy Commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia, located at Naval Support Activity Bahrain.
Captain Dahlke’s awards and decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Meritorious Service Medal (2), Navy Commendation Medal (2), Navy Achievement Medal (3) and various theater deployment service medals, ribbons and leadership awards, including the Commander, Naval Air Force Senior Leadership Award— 2007 and S-3B NFO of the Year—2007.
He holds an MBA from Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, with a Financial Management subspecialty. He also earned his Joint Professional Military Education Phase I and is a graduate of the APCSS Advanced Security Cooperation Course with an East Asia subspecialty.
CAPT DAHLKE SPEECH
As I stand here and prepare to address you all, I’m reminded of a comment I heard a few years ago about the “new guy.” The “new guy” at a change of command is kind of like the dead guy at his funeral. We are both expected to be present but neither one is really expected to speak.
With that said, my comments will be brief but I would be remiss if I didn’t take a few moments to welcome and thank the guests for attending and also to address the men and women of Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach and NMC CON US WEST with some thoughts on the way ahead.
RDML Rich, BRIGADIER GENERAL Reddicks, Brigadier General Lathrop, Region SW Staff, state and city officials from the cities of Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Cypress, Los Alamitos, Westminster, Long Beach, and NORCO, Distinguished CAPTAINS (to include my former bosses), Guests, and to the men and women of NAVAL WEAPONS STATION SEAL BEACH and NMC CONUS WEST, greetings and a personal warm welcome. Thank you for attending today’s change of command ceremony and the retirement ceremony of an outstanding American and Naval Officer, CAPT Tripp Hardy and his wife Grayce from the United States Navy.
To echo Tripp’s opening remarks, thank you to the Navy Band Southwest and the Pacific High School Color Guard for your support and performance. To the CoC crew (to include the groundskeepers), I know it’s been awhile since the base has had to do one of these … 50 months in the seat right Tripp? But the place looks great and thank you for your time and effort to put together a class act ceremony, it is much appreciated.
To my family and friends, thank you all for being here today to celebrate this special day. My wife, Shamby and I have been blessed with an outstanding support group and it starts at the homefront. To my parents, retired Master Chief Bill Dahlke and mother Lila, my in-laws, retired Master Chief Tom Farrell and Susan Farrell, my sisters Sheri Dahlke, Sheilla Shipman and my brother in-law retired Chief Charles Shipman, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend. As some of you probably picked up on, I have some fathers and a brother in law rich in naval experience and leadership. I have learned tremendously from each of them.
To my wife Shamby and our two wonderful teenagers (JT and Julia). Every day I count my blessings as your husband and father. Sham, here we go again … the late night phone calls from the command, well let’s just say to all of the late night (fill in the blank) that comes with responsibility, authority, and accountability of command. I could not do this without you and your sage advice and counsel.
To my son and daughter, you guys are awesome. Resilient and confident in every way, overcoming adversity that sometimes come with a military lifestyle, I have always said you guys never got a vote with this lifestyle but you have lived it well, thank you. JT, as you go off to CAL POLY POMONA this fall, I know you will use many of the skills you learned from a military upbringing and I hope it will guide you well. Julia, I know you didn’t want to miss school today but we all must sacrifice, I’m glad you came.
To my extended family and friends, what a wonderful excuse for a reunion. It’s great to see guests from Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, and yes even from the country of Bahrain. I have known some of you for over 35 years. You were there for me when I got married, my promotions, my squadron change of command and now this special event. I couldn’t ask for a better group of family friends. You keep me grounded and I value our friendships. As I look out across the crowd, I see my former Skippers and Commodores, bosses, and squadron mates from past commands (Redtails, Topcats, Shamrocks, NMAWC, NAVCENT staff, and even a MadFox). I have learned so much from each and every one of you. You honor me with your presence. I look forward to catching up with all of you.
To our wonderful neighbors at Seal Beach, Fallbrook, and NORCO, we have many shared interests and I look forward to meeting you, working with you, and continuing our enduring partnerships and friendships to forge a brighter future together.
I’m inheriting quite an impressive team from CAPT Hardy and I look forward to an outstanding tour. As my boss has already mentioned, the talent in our sailors and civilians is what will continue to give us a competitive advantage to succeed in combat operations. I want to leave Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach and NMC CON US WEST sailors and civilian employees with some of my thoughts on the future, mission readiness, and entitlement. It’s no secret, we live in an ever changing and complex operating environment.
Having just served in the Middle East, I have seen the kinetic side of the Navy mission. The missions performed from this base to include DET NORCO and FALLBROOK and throughout the NMC CON US WEST locations enable the kinetic chain we see over the horizon by our naval forces.
The future is filled with many opportunities riddled with challenges and threats. As we will continue to face tightening budgets and fiscal constraints, I ask you to continue to focus on your tasks at hand, rally your teams to execute the little things perfectly and the bigger things will take care of themselves. We will take manageable risks with some mission readiness to support the improvement of others, and the improvement of the Navy overall. To do this, I need every sailor and every civilian employee to be on their A-game. What does that mean? To me, it means to be professional, innovative, and proficient in what you do. My charge to you is entitlement.
You are entitled to a safe and secure base. You are entitled to have leaders that are attentive and responsible stewards of our assets and natural resources. Finally, you are entitled to a great leader. Unfortunately, that’s not me … but you are getting a leader that will wake up every day that strives to be one. So that’s it. We have taken a pause for a change in leadership and send CAPT Tripp Hardy and Grayce to shore one last time (at least until he climbs back aboard that powerboat he’s got). Let’s continue to stay on task, be safe and always look to support the missions of our tenants. I truly look forward to working with each and every one of you. Thank you.
Gregg T. Smith contributed to this story.
