Rear Admiral David W. Titley can call the Capital District his hometown, but a lot has changed here since his last visit.
The admiral was in the area on Thursday and Friday, April 26 and 27, as part of the Navy’s 50/50 Program, an effort that pairs 50 senior Navy leaders with 50 cities. He’s a Schenectady native, which provided him with a hometown connection – one of the elements the Navy was after for the initiative.
Trips like Titley’s are aimed at developing relationships among national and local leaders and provide opportunities to educate inland areas about how the Navy functions.
“As soon as you get away from the coast…the knowledge of what the Navy does is very small. There’s just simply not a lot of understanding,” said Titley.
Titley is assistant deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance and director of the Navy’s climate change task force. His last trip to the Capital District was in 1980, when he was married.
“It was, let’s face it – tough times. GE was downsizing…I remember downtown Schenectady as just a lot of vacant buildings. Now you go down there with sort of the Renaissance around Proctors and the nightlife … you can kind of feel that sense of renewal and optimism, I think it’s great to see for the district,” he said.
Titley met with first responders in Schenectady on Thursday among other stops, including at Mayor Gary McCarthy’s office.
Being a Navy man, the trip wouldn’t be complete without stepping aboard the USS Slater, the destroyer escort from WWII docked near downtown Albany.
“It was just an amazing visit. … What makes it amazing is you look at those World War II vets and Vietnam and Korean War vets who man it and— the word ‘inspirational’ may be overused somewhat, but it really is inspirational.”
The Veterans Affairs Hospital also made quite an impression him.
“What I was really impressed with there was they just opened the women’s care (unit) for female veterans, and I think that is really going to help a portion of our veterans who frankly, I’m not sure have always gotten fully the quality of medical care. … It’s great to see that the VA is recognizing that,” Titley said.
He also spent time touring the GlobalFoundries plant in Malta, and described that as a “very impressive operation.” When asked what the biggest change for the area has been since his last visit, there was no hesitation.
“Clearly GlobalFoundries. … It’s this, ‘Hey, what can we do and how are we going to do it to get things sort of going again … part of this post-traditional industrial economy that’s not only the Capital District but much of the northeast and Midwest,” he said. “It’s a huge economic transition.”
Titley said other regions are also targeting manufacturing industries. For example, in Mississippi’s Gulf Coast communities are aggressively seeking foreign auto manufacturers to “come down to the south, ”touting strong ethics and a lower cost of living as draws.
“I think there are many places in America that are taking a look to say ‘Hey what could be our niche? What could we do to try to produce good high paying sustainable jobs for our fathers and mothers – sons and daughters?’”Titly said.
Since he was a kid, Titley has had a strong interest in meteorology and later, navigation. He has served for over 10 years at sea, including a tour as navigator aboard USS Farragut and tours as an oceanographer aboard the USS Belleau Wood, USS Carl Vinson, Carrier Group Six and the U.S.7th Fleet.
He has given talks to many leaders worldwide on the subject of climate change.
“There’s pretty convincing evidence that the climate is changing, ”he said. “In about 20 years we’ll start seeing at least a few weeks with basically no ice at all in the Arctic in the summer. We don’t think from a Navy perspective that will have a huge impact on the economy but what will is … by2050 we may start seeing as much as two or three months of the year with basically no ice or very little ice in the Arctic.”
This scenario would for instance make the Bering Strait more of “vital interest” in world trade. And, Iceland would have the potential of becoming like Singapore with the changing “arteries of commerce.”
In addition to touring the area’s military and industrial institutions, Titley’s tour included a stop at the Round Lake Fire Department.Taking an active role in the community where you live is “part of citizenship,”he said.
“You talk with these folks, all volunteers, salt of the earth just Americans wanting to help out their community. …You got the feeling that everybody is trying to do what is best for the community,” he said of his visit to the firehouse.
After wrapping up his visit, Titley headed back to Washington D.C. and the Pentagon.
