YOKOSUKA, Japan- A Reform, Alabama, native and 1998
Pickens High School graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft
carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
Chief Petty Officer Lewis Thomas is a yeoman aboard
the aircraft carrier operating out of Yokosuka, Japan.
A Navy yeoman is responsible for performing clerical and
administrative duties for service members.
Thomas is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly recalls
memories of Reform.
“One thing that I learned growing up is that a man accepts his
responsibility no matter good or bad,” said Thomas.
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.
Thomas is also proud of getting promoted to chief petty officer.
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, Thomas and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last
beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
"The Navy has made me a better father,” said Thomas.
“It taught me structure and commitment. Serving in the Navy to me means that I
get a chance to do something that not many people get to do and it helps me
provide for my wife and kids, Janay, Jayla, Jalan and Denae."
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.