By Mass
Communication Specialist 2nd Class Theodore Quintana, Navy Office of Community
Outreach
YOKOSUKA, Japan- A Longwood, Florida, native and 2003
Del Mar High School graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft
carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Bao Vu is an aviation boatswain's
mate (handling) aboard the aircraft carrier operating out of
Yokosuka, Japan.
A Navy aviation boatswain's mate (handling) is responsible
for operating, maintaining, and performing organizational maintenance on
ground-handling equipment used for moving and hoisting of aircraft ashore and
afloat.
Vu is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly recalls
memories of Longwood.
“I’ve learned the meaning of
discipline and I’ve brought that with me into my military service,” said Vu.
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.
“Being forward deployed is very fast paced and it leaves no
room for rework so it makes me very efficient at what I do,” said Vu.
Vu is also proud of receiving a Navy Achievement Medal for
being an exceptional building manager in his last command.
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, Vu and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last
beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
"I love my job and it gives me a sense of pride being
on the flight deck,” said Vu. “Becoming a second class petty officer has built
me into a leader and a more organized person.”
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.