Since September 2001, Lieutenant Commander Mike Dillender has worked on the United States Navy's Deep Blue and served as the operations officer aboard the USS Ponce (LPD15). In this interview, Dillender explains how, after September 11th, he was moved from Military Sealift Command to work on Deep Blue, a new organization created out of the remnants of the Quadrennial Defense Review to reexamine all of the Navy's policies and make recommendations for change. He describes how, in the wake of the terrorist attacks, there were several weeks of scrambling, but says that the experience was of great benefit to him by allowing him to witness first hand how change was generated at the top of the Navy's command structure. What's more, he was actually able to personally observe one of those new policies implemented, namely the expeditionary strike group (ESG), during his assignment to the Ponce as part of an ESG. His deployment to the Persian Gulf aboard the Ponce, March through September 2005, was spent primarily acting as an afloat forward staging base in the northwestern portion of the Gulf off the Iraqi coast. He also took part in several training events with local allies, including Qatar, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as operating regularly with coalition forces, such as the British and the Poles. He notes that contacting the people you will relieve before you deploy prevents surprises and allows a smooth transition. Dillender closes by saying that multinational operations are very important, and how Americans interact with the forces of other nations, regardless of each one's particular capabilities, is a key aspect of them and of their success.

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