YOKOSUKA, Japan- A Kansas City, Kansas, native and
2014 Piper High School is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier
USS Ronald Reagan.
Seaman Carlos Garcia III is a culinary specialist aboard
the aircraft carrier operating out of Yokosuka, Japan.
A Navy culinary specialist is responsible for operating and
managing Navy messes and living quarters established to subsist and accommodate
Navy personnel.
Garcia III is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly
recalls memories of Kansas City.
“The best part about serving on the Reagan is that I know I am
bettering myself and doing it for everyone back home,” said Garcia.
Moments like that makes it worth serving around the world
ready at all times to defend America’s interests. With more than 50 percent of
the world's shipping tonnage and a third of the world's crude oil passing
through the region, the United States has historic and enduring interests in
this part of the world. The Navy's
presence in Yokosuka is part of that long-standing commitment, explained Navy
officials.
Named in honor of former President Ronald
Reagan, the carrier is longer than three football fields, measuring nearly
1,100 feet. The ship, a true floating
city, weighs more than 100,000 tons and has a flight deck that is 252 feet
wide. Two nuclear reactors can push the
ship through the water at more than 35 mph.
Powerful catapults slingshot the aircraft off the bow of the
ship. The planes land aboard the carrier by snagging a steel cable with an
arresting hook that protrudes from the rear of the aircraft.
Sailors’ jobs are highly varied aboard the carrier. Approximately 3,200 men
and women make up the ship's crew, which keeps all parts of the aircraft
carrier running smoothly -- this includes everything from washing dishes and
preparing meals to handling weaponry and maintaining the nuclear reactors.
Another 2,500 men and women form the air wing responsible for flying and
maintaining more than 70 aircraft aboard the ship.
Ronald Reagan, like each of the Navy’s aircraft carriers, is
designed for a 50-year service life. When the air wing is embarked, the ship
carries more than 70 attack jets, helicopters and other aircraft, all of which
take off from and land aboard the carrier at sea.
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets,
Garcia III and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last
beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“Since I was a kid, I always wanted to join the Navy because
my father and godfather were in the Navy,” said Garcia.
Seventh Fleet, which is celebrating its 75th year in 2018,
spans more than 124 million square kilometers, stretching from the International
Date Line to the India/Pakistan border; and from the Kuril Islands in the North
to the Antarctic in the South. Seventh Fleet's area of operation encompasses 36
maritime countries and 50 percent of the world’s population with between 50-70
U.S. ships and submarines, 140 aircraft, and approximately 20,000 Sailors in
the 7th Fleet.