Wittman receives NDIA's annual expeditionary warfare award

From left: James Boozer, NDIA’s executive vice president; Sinclair Harris, division chairman; Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA); Jim Strock, division vice chairman; Joe Martin, chairman of the division’s science and technology subdivision.

ARLINGTON, VA – Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) received the annual Smith-Turner Expeditionary Operations Award Tuesday, Nov. 19, during the Quarterly Congressional Engagement Series event at the National Defense Industrial Association’s headquarters in Arlington, VA.

NDIA’s Expeditionary Warfare Division gives the honor each year for significant individual contributions to naval national security. Wittman, who was elected to Congress in 2007, is long known as an advocate for a robust Navy and domestic shipbuilding industry. He is ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and co-chair of the Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus.

Noting Wittman’s commitment to naval forces, Sinclair Harris, chairman of the Expeditionary Warfare Division, presented Wittman the award before about 40 attendees of the Congressional Engagement Series.

The Expeditionary Warfare Division is NDIA’s lead to identify, study and resolve warfare and force protection issues in the world’s littoral regions, affecting the strength of the national defense industrial base and the armed services. The division has seven committees: industry, amphibious warfare, littoral and mine warfare, expeditionary unmanned vehicles, C4I in the littorals, sea basing and sustainment, and force protection/anti-terrorism. The division works closely with the head of the Navy Expeditionary Warfare Directorate (N95), the Marine Corps deputy commandant for plans, policy and operations, and the Coast Guard’s assistant commandant for operations. The division’s annual conference attracts participants from government, industry and the military.