A time-honored change of command ceremony was held at the submarine piers for Naval Submarine Support Command (NSSC) at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Apr. 11.
Cmdr. Brett Fillmore, commanding officer of NSSC, was relieved by Cmdr. Larry Ollice.
The ceremony’s guest speaker, Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Rear Adm. James F. Caldwell Jr. praised Fillmore for his exceptional performance while in command of NSSC, and welcomed Fillmore to his next duty station as part of Caldwell’s headquarters staff.
“Brett, thank you for your commitment to the Submarine Force. I am expecting the same leadership you’ve demonstrated to continue on my staff,” said Caldwell.
Fillmore said he is proud of having had the opportunity to be in command at NSSC and working with a fantastic team of Sailors.
“The work of one impacted the work of the whole, and so we learned to put the command above self, not unlike how Sailors perform aboard ship. On the strength of one link in the cable, dependeth the might of the chain. In so doing, we lived a philosophy; and we succeeded in supporting submarines by being a submarine command. We engaged, we invited, we bridged, we learned,” said Fillmore.
During the ceremony, Fillmore received the Meritorious Service Medal for his performance as the commanding officer of NSSC from December 2010 to April 2013.
As Ollice assumed command of NSSC, he thanked Fillmore for turning over a great command and an even greater crew.
“NCCS is in awesome shape. I’ve been here for three years. But not until you are really in NSSC do you understand the dedication and the hard work that these Sailors do to support our submarines. I look forward to leveraging what Brett already started, and make things even better for the fleet,” said Ollice.
The mission of NSSC is to provide quality operational support for Pearl Harbor homeported submarines, their crews, families, and the staffs of Submarine Squadron 1 and Submarine Squadron 7 in the areas of operations, material, weapons, communications, supply, medical, legal and religious programs.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, April 12, 2013; Image: US Navy