By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Robert Zahn, Navy Office of Community Outreach
SASEBO, Japan – An Onalaska, Wisconsin, native and 2016 Onalaska High School graduate is serving in Japan in the U.S. Navy aboard USS Germantown.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Jacob Morgan is an operations specialist aboard the ship operating out of Sasebo, Japan.
A Navy operations specialist is responsible for operating the communications, radar, and navigation equipment that tracks ships, aircraft, and enemy missiles and communicates tactical information to supervisors and other operators.
Morgan is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly recalls memories of Onalaska.
“My first job, Festival Foods, I learned a lot of responsibility and how to deal with situations on my own," said Morgan. "I worked there for over two years. It helps me today because it gives me initiative to get the job done.”
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 Sasebo is part of that long-standing commitment, explained Navy officials.
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.
“At first, I was homesick but after overcoming that and making friends, doing my job, it became easier to serve overseas," said Morgan. "You are so much closer to any threats. We always have to be ready. We are the first responders. But you know that we’re doing this for a bigger cause.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Morgan and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“My favorite part of serving here is being in Japan,” said Morgan. “There’s a lot of things to do here in Japan.”
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.