Forged by diverse and challenging opportunities throughout a 29-year Navy career, Captain Matt Hawkins considers his current role as Reserve Chief of Staff (RCOS) for Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) to be his most defining, as he leads a force redesign amidst a surge in operations across both the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command areas of responsibility.

Having been already tasked to align Reserve manpower to mobilization functions, real-world events highlighted the necessity of a reorganization for both the Active and Reserve components.

This realignment reflects an effort to better prepare Reserve Sailors to support Maritime Operations Centers (MOCs) in the event of a crisis and the practical reality of a mass-mobilization.

As a native of Jacksonville, Florida, and third generation Sailor, Hawkins says a driving force to stay in the Navy has been the opportunity to take on diverse jobs and the people he has worked with over the years. After assuming duties as RCOS in February 2023 and starting the reorganization in January 2024, he credits much of the project’s success to be the hard work of his staff and different stakeholders.

“I did not do this force design in a vacuum, by myself. It was absolutely a whole of staff effort and there were many Sailors that did some serious heavy lifting,” said Hawkins.

He credits Capt. Grant Miller, Reserve Information Warfare lead, Capt. Kacey Lorson, logistics lead, and Capt. Kate Walker, his then Reserve Fleet Command Center (FCC) director, with providing critical inputs and coordination with their Active duty counterparts along with the Reserve operational level of war (OLW) leadership to make the vision executable.

Much coordination was needed in order to grow the enterprise from 14 to 17 commands and 500 to 673 billets. Commander, Naval Reserve Forces Command (CNRFC) and various enlisted and officer communities had to be included in their discussions to create commands, move, modify and add billets.

“What I didn’t initially fully understand was how many external stakeholders there were in the process,” commented Hawkins as he reflected on the process.

As Hawkins and his staff dug deep into mobilization billets and structure of units, they encountered several more challenges. One hurdle was realigning billets which required very defined roles and responsibilities that did not exist before.

Another challenge was communicating the importance of change to the original units that would now be focusing on specific MOC functions rather than being designated to perform exercises, with the goal being to create training efficiencies that will enhance warfighting readiness.

Although the Reserve force remains warfighting focused, the redesign never lost sight of the warfighter.

“We always kept in mind that there was a human aspect to this,” said Hawkins. “These changes will have real effects on individual Sailors and their families because their jobs and mobilization billets have changed.”

These types of challenges are not uncharted territory for Hawkins who hires contractors and handles personnel conflict resolution as a program manager at Serco, Inc., in his civilian career.

On Jan. 1, 2025, the roll out of the redesign went live with the creation of new units and movement of several billets-- but the work continues with outside stakeholders to finalize all of the
changes.

To ensure decisions for the force design are the most advantageous, Hawkins and his team will receive feedback from leadership as Reserve Sailors perform in exercises and provide real-world support this year.

Once feedback is received, the new design can be adjusted as necessary.

“Theoretically, we’re never done with force design because we are always reassessing and adapting,” said Hawkins.

When not busy with work, Hawkins enjoys spending time with his wife-- a retired P-3/P-8 naval flight officer, and their two children. He also considers himself an ultra-runner when his joints and schedule allow him the opportunity.

As Hawkins looks back on the hard work that it took for such a large and defining project, he is hopeful that this is just the beginning of a new chapter of warfighters.

“I’m primarily focused on setting the table,” said Hawkins. “Getting the right manpower in place so that when we fill those billets with people, we have a structure in place to continue to optimize our warfighting readiness.”

NAVEUR-NAVAF and Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conduct a full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with Allied and interagency partners to advance U.S. national interests, security and stability in Europe and Africa.