Week of Valor at the Main Library

To celebrate the City’s Week of Valor, the Center for Adult Learning’s Karen Wishart found inspiration in the Navy’s Professional Reading Program for Leadership Development (http://www.navyreading.navy.mil/). Through this program, the Navy recommends specific titles for Junior Enlisted up to Senior Leaders.

Karen and her co-workers created a book display of reading list titles near the Laura Street entrance of the Main Library, using camouflage and Navy uniform colors to set off the display. They developed a bookmark of titles for customers interested in the Navy Leadership Program. Karen then contacted Military Affairs who put out the word that the Library was looking for someone to talk about books from the list. They were fortunate enough to have two Commanders reply to the invitation.

The first speaker was Commander Jon Singleton (right), a Logistics Officer, who has served in the Navy for more than 18 years. He chose the book, Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10. The book was particularly meaningful to him since he served in Afghanistan where this incident took place. If you have not read Lone Survivor, it is Marcus Luttrell’s recounting of Navy Seal training, the nature of their mission, and the agonizing decision to determine whether the men they met moving across Afghanistan were farmers or Taliban. The book is also about Luttrell’s coming to grips with his order not to summarily execute three local travelers, a decision which ultimately led to the ambush and execution of his entire squad. Commander Singleton’s photographs of Afghanistan and his first-hand accounts of the struggle to distinguish friend from foe were both riveting and terrible.

The second speaker was Commander Scott Smith (pictured left with Karen Wishart). Commander Smith is the Captain of the Naval Frigate, USS Klakring, which anchored at the Landing during the Week of Valor. He chose to talk about the book, Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy. As a captain of a frigate, he pointed to a pin that all frigate officers wear on their uniforms. On it are six stars which represent the original six ships built by the Navy. Commander Smith has sailed extensively throughout the Mediterranean Sea. He brought maps with him to illustrate which countries were active in piracy during the early years of the Navy as described in Six Frigates, then drew parallels to the piracy and shipping problems experienced by some of the same countries today. Retired officers and residents of Fleet Landing attended this book talk; they enjoyed exchanging memories of their service with Commander Smith as much as they enjoyed hearing about the book.

Both of the commanders and those in attendance would like to participate in additional book discussions in the future.