By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Robert Zahn, Navy Office of Community Outreach Public Affairs
SASEBO, Japan – A Clarkston, Washington, native and 2008 Clarkston High School graduate is serving in Japan in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Germantown.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jamin Adams is a culinary specialist aboard the ship operation out of Sasebo, Japan.
A Navy culinary specialist is responsible for operating kitchen and dining facilities, budgeting for food service management, and ensuring morale aboard the ship.
“What I learned back home was to remember where you’re from,” said Adams. “Have pride in what you do. You are direct representation who you are and where you're from.”
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.
Commissioned in 1986, Germantown is the second Navy ship named after the Revolutionary War Battle of Germantown. With a crew of more than 900 sailors and Marines, Germantown is 609 feet long and weighs approximately 16,000 tons. Designed specifically to operate landing craft air cushion small craft vessels, Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships have the largest capacity for these landing craft out of any U.S. Navy amphibious ship.
“Being in the Navy has made me more responsible, I’m more accountable,” said Adams.
“I work with a lot of people from all different backgrounds, I enjoy working with people from multi cultures, it’s taught me a lot.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Adams and other Sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“I joined the Navy because it was something I always wanted to do,” said Adams. “I enjoy visiting and seeing new things. I feel proud to serve for my country.”
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.