We had an exciting and very well attended meeting this week where our guest speaker was Bethlehem’s own Rear Admiral Scott Pappano. The Admiral spoke about not really having a direction in life and thought the military would be a good place to figure it out. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1989 and fast forward 34 years later. He’s still there. Initially he was a submariner, but now he builds the submarines he used to command.  As it turns out Pennsylvania, and Bethlehem in particular, has over 570 suppliers of what is needed to build the submarines. Bethlehem houses Lehigh Heavy Forge, which is among beneficiaries of $51 million in Navy supplier development funding spent since 2018.

 

Admiral Pappano shared that the Navy is one of the first lines of defense, always trying to keep conflicts an away game. He also spoke about recruitment and how that remains a challenge with an all-volunteer military. The submarine industry is seeking to hire 10,000 skilled workers per year over the next 10 years and the Navy offers a range of disciplines that teach these career skills.

 

 

This visit was a great start in preparing for our Tastes & Tunes event this year honoring BattleBorne. Please remember to get your tickets, sponsorships and auction items! All forms are on our website.

 

We now have all but 1 committee chaired. Thank you to all who stepped up. If you are interested in being on a committee or helping in any way please see the following:

 

We have no speaker scheduled, but look forward to enjoying the extended networking time and the opportunity to share what's been done - and still needs doing - with Tastes & Tunes.