Association of Naval Services Officers

A 501c3 nonprofit supporting Latinos/Hispanics of all ranks in the U.S. Sea Services!

Public Affairs Officer

Call for Nominations for ANSO Board of Directors

ANSO members,

We are assembling the slate for the annual election of the ANSO Board of Directors (BOD) and we are issuing a call for nominees for positions due for rotation, and for nominees to fill out-of-cycle vacancies. BOD positions are critical to our mission success and we need all positions filled.

Per Article III, Section 4, of the ANSO Operations Manual, the positions up for election this year, for a 2-year term, are:

  • President
  • Secretary
  • Membership Coordinator
  • Judge Advocate
  • Public Affairs Officer

Current out-of-cycle vacancies (also two-year terms):

  • Service-wide Representatives
    • USMC Enlisted Representative
    • USCG Enlisted Representative
    • USN Enlisted Representative
    • US Merchant Marines Representative
  • Treasurer
  • Western Region Vice President

To have a broad representation on the Board, we are looking for nominees from among the active, retired, veteran, officer, enlisted, and civilian ranks, and who serve(d) in the USN, USMC, USCG, Merchant Marines, or NOAA.

A nominee must be a member in good standing and be interested in the Association’s leadership and decision-making process. The Board controls the assets of the Association, establishes policies, and initiates, implements, and executes whatever measures it deems necessary to further the interests of the Association. For more details on our elections process and criteria, please refer to our OPMAN and ByLaws, which are located under the Resources page on our website (NOTE: you will need to login to the ANSO website to access the Resources page and the nomination form). Board experience is NOT required. This is a great opportunity to gain executive level leadership experience.

If you would like to nominate someone or submit yourself for consideration, please submit your nomination via the ANSO Nomination Form  on our website (NOTE: you will need to login to the ANSO website to submit a nomination). You will need to include a one page biography, with a picture that can be used on the ballot, and a brief statement of what the candidate has done to further the goals of ANSO. Also, please check with your nominee to ensure they will serve.

In considering potential nominees, geography need not be a factor. Most business is conducted virtually, except for the annual Board meetings, held during the National Symposiums twice yearly on the East and West coasts.

The deadline for nominations is 30 October 2023. After the closing date, we will validate the names for the ballot from those nominated and members will vote for nominees in each category. Elections will be held electronically on or about 15 November. The election results and new BOD officials will be announced at ANSO’s December symposium in San Diego on 5-7 December.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please get in touch with me or our Vice President, LCDR Rolando Machado.

We are at  your Service,
Sincerely,
Roy Love, CAPT, USN (Ret)
President Association of Naval Services Officers (ANSO)
¡Adelante con ANSO!

Happy Birthday America!

ANSO Familia!

We wish you and your families a very happy and safe 4th of July. And to all our brothers and sisters on duty today and everyday, thank you for keeping the watch. Happy Independence Day!

ANSO President 2023 ERS Message

CAPT Roy Love, USN (Ret) invites everyone to the upcoming Eastern Region Symposium. Participation can be in person or virtually. Register today!

CAPT Roy Love, USN (Ret) invites everyone to the upcoming Eastern Region Symposium. Participation can be in person or virtually. Register today!

Memorial Day 2023 / May 2023 Message

Memorial Day 2023 / En Familia, May 2023

As we approach Memorial Day and take time to remember and honor service members who sacrificed their lives to defend our rights and freedoms, the Association of Naval Services Officers invites members and associates to pause, offer reverence, and reflect on their legacy. The memory of Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, Soldiers, and Airmen who served our country until the end is still alive. There are many lessons to learn from each of them.

Historically, Memorial Day goes back to the years after the Civil War. On 5 May 1868, General John A. Logan released General Order No. 11 and provided guidance on the observance. The order states: “The 30th of May, 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.” Opportunities to decorate our fallen heroes’ gravesites are available around the world. The most traditional is decorating with flowers. However, others use flags, painted rocks, or coins as a remembrance. Symbols of this strong bond and connection are endless.

In the second paragraph of the Order, General Logan highlights the purpose of the observance, “We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tells us, for the purpose, among other things, ‘of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion.’ What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes?” By keeping their legacy alive, speaking their names, and bringing to our memories their honorable service, we preserve and strengthen the relationships that inspire us to keep serving.

While many cities, veteran organizations, and public entities put together special memorials to bring communities together in honor of our Service Members who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. These observances provide a sacred space and time to connect with intentionality. Some Service Members and Veterans may prefer to pay their respects on their own, in private, in silence, and acknowledging the journey of grief and impact of the loss of a friend, a brother, or sister, in arms. Whether in public or private, through an organized event, or in your unique way, honor the legacy of those who have gone. Their lives never end, and their sacrifices are always remembered.

The invitation to sacrifice for someone else is a challenging proposal. Many qualify the worth of actions according to personal gains. Service and sacrifice shift the focus from self to the good of neighbors, communities, and nations. Running into service and sacrifice requires commitment and vision. Author and poet Charles Bukowski wrote a powerful poem about the meaning and purpose of sacrifice:

“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery-isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.”

This legacy of service and sacrifice is what we honor on this Memorial Day and what serves as an inspiration to live a life dedicated to service and sacrifice.

Pause. Remember. Honor.

April 2023 Message

En Familia, April 2023

April and May celebrate the valuable contributions of military families. April is the month of the military child and May honors military spouses. Those in uniform and retirees know how much military families sacrifice for the nation. Military families make a difference daily by responding to a call they did not volunteer for and supporting their Service Members without fully understanding the complexities of military life.

The military lifestyle requires constant changes, increased adaptability, multiple moves, and high levels of flexibility. Resilience becomes an integral part of the heart of military families. Every set of orders generates uprooting and replanting cycles impacting homes, friends, hobbies, schools, and other activities. Military families find ways to remain fruitful through the challenges of deployments, exercises, long hours, training, and demanding lives. While the journey is full of requirements, military families find a way to move forward.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III recently released a plan to strengthen the well-being of military families and the U.S. military force. This plan described the following six lines of effort:

  • Universal prekindergarten at Department of Defense Education Activity schools. Congress is helping identify funding for this program.
  • Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts for Service Members. Dependent Care FSAs will partially alleviate financial pressure affecting Service Members with dependents.
  • New military parental leave benefits. The new parental leave benefits offer 12 weeks of paid, non-chargeable leave to Service Members welcoming a child through birth, adoption, or long-term foster care.
  • Improvements to the Exceptional Family Member Program. The DoD plans to make the EFM program work more effectively for military families.
  • Expanded spouse eligibility for My Career Advancement Account financial assistance. This helpful program will cover E-6 and O-3 military spouses in obtaining a license, certificate, or associate degree.
  • Portability and best practices for professional licenses. The DoD plans to keep advocating for military families holding professional licenses facing challenges in portability after moving while executing orders. The goal is to increase employment opportunities for military spouses after relocation.

ANSO joins in these military families’ observances. Part of our Latino/Hispanic heritage is the value of family. The most recent U.S. Census data highlights how 90% of Latino/Hispanic parents share meals frequently with their children (Mayol-Garcia, 2022). Family meals together increase positive youth outcomes and lead to improved family functioning. As Service Members from a Latino/Hispanic heritage, building lasting memories with our families becomes foundational. These are the times to share our values, discuss what gives meaning and purpose in life, and express the importance of sacrificial living as the basics of military life.  

En Familia, ANSO celebrates, honors, and appreciates military families!

Mayol-Garcia, Y. (October 11, 2022). 90% of Hispanic Parents Shared Frequent Meals With Their Children. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/10/family-dinner-more-common-hispanic-and-immigrant-families.html

From https://www.defense.gov/spotlights/military-spouse-appreciation/

CAPT Albert Angel, USN

My ANSO Story

My name is CAPT Albert Angel and I am a Naval Intelligence Officer currently assigned to the Office of the Naval Inspector General in Washington DC. My ANSO story is typical of many Hispanic Sailors serving in the Navy today. I am the son of immigrants and my parents were determined to build a better life the United States. My mother emigrated from Guadalajara, Mexico while my father emigrated from Bogota, Colombia. My sister and I were born in Southern California and spent the first few years of our youth in an immigrant community in Los Angeles, speaking mostly Spanish (our first language) until we moved to the suburbs five years later.  My father worked as a gardener until he retired and my mother barely graduated high school but they instilled in us the belief that we could accomplish anything we set our minds to and that education was the key to success. There were two events in my youth that shaped my desire to join the Navy. It all began in 1981 when I was 10 years old and met Mr. Rick Gribble, a former Naval Submariner who graduated from the US Naval Academy Class of ’75. He was my Sunday School teacher and would be the mentor who planted the seeds that would bloom into my lifelong Navy journey. Three years later, my parents were naturalized in the summer of 1984 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. I had never seen them as proud and happy as they were when they took their oaths of citizenship. My dad was a man of few words but he told me and my sister that America was the greatest country in the world and that you can never go wrong by serving her. I guess my sister and I took his words literally because she would retire as a Marine Corps Master Sergeant and I will reach 30 years commissioned service in June 2024.

During my career in the Navy I shied away from joining ANSO until I reached the rank of LCDR and was the Executive Officer at Navy Information Operations Command in San Antonio, Texas. It was during this time that ANSO was holding its annual symposium in San Antonio and a young LT “guilted” me into not only joining but becoming a life member as well. I had no excuse for not being active with ANSO since I was very familiar with ANSO since my days in Annapolis. I was the Vice President of the Latin American Studies Club and ANSO hosted a lunch for graduating Naval Academy seniors with the Hispanic Caucus in the Capitol. I wasn’t necessarily trying to avoid ANSO but kept putting off committing to the organization until the “right tame” came around. Since then I have embraced my ANSO membership and truly enjoy the mentoring opportunities, such as with the Naval Academy Latin American Studies Club, and I look forward to supporting the newly appointed ANSO leadership in the DC chapter. I have been blessed throughout my career with the opportunities to continue studying, traveling, and working with the finest Sailors in the world. My parents are proudest of my academic accomplishments and opportunities to travel since joining the Navy, especially since they didn’t have the same opportunities to see the world. During my career as a Surface Warfare Officer and Naval Intelligence Officer, I’ve completed eight deployments, including two ground deployments with NATO in Afghanistan and the United Nations in North Africa. I’ve traveled to 73 countries across six continents and even got to sail on the USS CONSTITUTION during 4th of July celebrations. The Navy has been very good to me and my family and ANSO is an opportunity to give back and share with the next generation the many opportunities to those who want to serve and succeed in our great Navy.

Biography

IT1 Karen Gonzalez, USNR

My ANSO Story

AT1 USN to IT1 USNR. ANSO was the missing link that helped me establish the Hispanic Sailor Association onboard USS Harry S. Truman. Their legitimacy helped us get the support we needed to obtain support from the chain of command. ANSO helped develop my leadership skills by giving me the opportunity to serve as Vice President for the Norfolk Chapter, and also gave me the unique opportunity of conducting an interview with Univision NY. This interview led to two more interviews during Hispanic Heritage Month. ANSO connected me with Hispanics Inspiring Students’ Performance and Achievement (HISPA) and I was able to volunteer virtually as a mentor for Middle School students. I can’t speak enough great things about ANSO and they will forever hold a special part in my career.

March 2023 Message

En Familia, March 2023

Women’s History Month began as a single week (the week of 7 March 1982, as authorized and requested by Congress), becoming a month-long observance in 1987. Year after year, this is a time to acknowledge and celebrate all the contributions of women to our nation and our world. Women throughout history have been a force of change and transformation. Most of that impact has been minimized or ignored during most periods of our recorded history. Every Women’s History Month observance is a new opportunity to change this narrative and share the real stories.

The theme for 2023 is Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories. The National Women’s History Alliance, the organization that advocated establishing this observance, picked that theme and explained how “From the earliest storytellers through pioneering journalist, our experiences have been captured by a wide variety of artists and teachers. These include authors, songwriters, scholars, playwrights, performers, and grandmothers throughout time.”

In previous En Familia messages, we have discussed the importance of sharing our stories and the impact of active listening in interpersonal interactions. Considering this theme, we celebrate all the women who have taken the creative and innovative role of communicating the stories and narratives of women worldwide with courage and determination. Many names come to mind, particularly powerful trailblazers that have changed our Sea Services in the last few decades.

Building platforms for women to continue sharing their stories and narratives for themselves and on behalf of other women is an effort that demands intentionality and advocacy. ANSO keeps developing spaces for these narratives, particularly Latinas’ stories, to be known, shared, and publicized. These stories provide encouragement and strength to new generations of leaders and visionaries.

During this month’s celebration, stop, connect, and listen to some of these stories. Many organizations offer platforms and spaces for voices to speak loudly and clearly. Stories transcend boundaries creating common languages of resilience and connection.

We celebrate all women and what they bring to the fight!

ANSO Women’s History Month 2023 YouTube Playlist

February 2023 Message

En Familia, February 2023,

The month of February honors and recognizes the journey of Blacks in our nation. The history of social injustice and marginalization is contrasted with the narratives of so many who have found a way upward and forward. We celebrate their lives and contributions this month as we reflect on this year’s Department of Defense Black History Month theme, “Inspiring Change.”

Department of Defense 2023 Black History Month Poster

February also celebrates Presidents’ Day. The history of this federal holiday goes back to President George Washington, as a celebration of his birthday. While this was not his intent or goal in any way, Washington’s supporters decided to keep his legacy by celebrating his birthday. It became a federal holiday in 1879. The holiday was moved from 22nd February to the third Monday in February 1968 as Congress passed a law to increase the number of three-day weekends (more 72s!).

Photo Source: History.com

A long-lasting tradition on this federal holiday has been upheld by the U.S. Congress. First done in 1862, it has been consistently done by the U.S. Senate since 1893. The House of Representatives ended the practice in 1984. Every year on George Washington’s birthday, a member of the Senate is selected to read the Washington Farewell Address. This year it will be read on February 27 at 3pm EST and will be broadcast live via C-SPAN2.

The Washington Farewell Address was written by Washington and a few of his supporters to notify the public that he was not running again for office after his second term. He never delivered this address in person, but it was printed in newspapers. His farewell projects a message of unity and reveals his hopes for our nation.

In one segment, he declares:

If benefits have resulted to our country from these services [presidential terms], let it always be remembered to your praise and as an instructive example in our annals that, under circumstances in which the passions agitated in every direction were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situation in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as well acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation  which is yet a stranger to it.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Website, Washington’s Farewell Address Transcript

Take a minute and read the entire address, particularly paying attention to the clear messages directed to all the citizens of our great nation.

December 2022 Message

En Familia December 2022,

The beginning of the new year connects with the celebration of the birthday of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Our nation stops early in the year to reflect on Dr. King’s life, efforts, and contributions on behalf of civil rights through nonviolence. His powerful messages, even after these years, provide seeds of wisdom that propels the listener to action. 

On 12 September 1962, Dr. King delivered a speech at the Park-Sheraton Hotel in New York City during the centennial anniversary of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. One of the most powerful lines in this speech says, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” While the statement speaks for itself, there are three elements for our ANSO members to consider carefully. 

(Image Source: New York State Museum)

  1. There is risk in life: The fears and concerns of not fully knowing the whole staircase will be there. The desire to know how long, how steep, or how much of an effort it will take are questions that may rise to the surface. Still, taking the first step, with limited knowledge, opens the way to a new reality and fresh opportunities. It’s a matter of taking the risk and moving on. 
  2. Grounded in trust: Faith comes from trust, confidence, or deep persuasion. While the word has a strong religious connotation, it portrays trustworthiness. Used in Dr. King’s sentence, faith creates tension to conceive a sense of trust when there is uncertainty about the staircase. Still, faith is what it takes to move on during this tension. 
  3. More than one: Considering this sentence, the appearance of this walk is an individual journey. However, trusting implies being in a relationship of some sort. This relationship reveals the true nature of this sentence we have faith, take first steps, and climb the way up with others. Dr. King believed in this concept and lived by it. During the civil rights movement, marching was a way to join forces as an expression of nonviolence. 

After the meaningful experience of our Western Leadership Symposium and the motivational messages of our presenters, Dr. King’s challenge is the perfect springboard to jump in 2023. Leadership, mentoring, coaching, and sponsoring are some of the first steps to take on this journey of investing in the present and future of our Sea Services. We may not know the whole staircase, but we know we are not alone on this journey. Join your local chapter, take the initiative, and participate in some of the events available this year while inviting others to join the journey. Together we build our strong ANSO family.