By Navy Office of Community Outreach
Public Affairs
NORFOLK – A 2002
Wolfson High School graduate and Jacksonville, Florida native is
serving in the U.S. Navy with Naval Beach Group TWO (NBG 2).
Petty Officer
2nd Class Gabriel Lopez is a hospital corpsman with the beach group operating
out of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
A Navy hospital
corpsman is responsible for patient care of the sailors at the command.
“I enjoy the
medical aspect of my job,” said Lopez. “I did not want to be in the medical
profession before I joined, but I love it now.”
Commissioned in
1948, NBG 2 is designed to organize, man, train and equip
forces to execute, combat support, and combat service support missions.
NBG 2 is made of
four commands, Assault Craft Unit TWO (ACU 2), Assault Craft Unit FOUR (ACU 4),
Amphibious Construction Battalion TWO (PHIBCB 2), and Beach Master Unit TWO
(BMU 2); who have their own individual missions that assist to ensure the
overall mission of NBG 2 is complete.
Lopez
serves with BMU 2 who provides Naval Beach Party Teams (BPTs) for deployment in
conjunction with Expeditionary Forces in order to provide beach and surf zone
salvage and to facilitate the landing and movement over the beach of troops,
equipment, supplies, and the evacuation of casualties, prisoners-of-war, and
non-combatants.
“I like the type
of operations that we do,” said Lopez. “We are able to go out on the beach a
lot which makes it is a unique command.”
Approximately 30
officers and 300 enlisted men and women make up the beach group. Their jobs are
highly specialized and keep each part of the command running smoothly. The jobs
range from operating boats to maintaining engines and handling weaponry.
"The Sailors here never cease to impress me with
the effort they put into their daily work," said Capt. Jeffrey Hayhurst,
commodore commander of NBG 2. "Their dedication and hard work make me
proud to be in command of Naval Beach Group Two."
Although NBG 2
is made up of four separate commands, they all work together to complete their
mission of providing the Navy personnel and equipment to support an
amphibious operation or exercise.
These exercises can include evacuation of American citizens
from a hostile territory, delivery of food and medical supplies after a natural
disaster, the bulk delivery of fuel or fresh water from a ship anchored off the
coast through a pipeline to a shore facility, and nearly any other task that
involves moving from ships offshore to the beach.
“I have learned
to be more responsible since joining the Navy,” said Lopez. “I really understand
what honor, courage and commitment is.”
As a member of
the one of the U.S. Navy’s most unique commands, Lopez and other NBG 2 Sailors
understand that they need to have the ability to complete a variety of missions
to help keep America safe from enemies foreign and domestic.