By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Robert Zahn, Navy Office of Community Outreach
SASEBO, Japan – A Paducah, Kentucky, native and 2013 Paducah Tilghman graduate is serving in Japan in the U.S. Navy aboard USS Germantown.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Darius Garnett is a ship's serviceman aboard the ship operating out of Sasebo, Japan.
A Navy ship's serviceman is responsible for managing and operating all shipboard retail and service activities such as the ship's store, vending machines, barber shops, laundry, and tailor shops.
Garnett is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly recalls memories of Paducah.
“Something that my football and track coach, Coach Wyatt, told me, ‘we are creatures of habit so make that the habit, to choose to create a creature that you want to be,’” said Garnett. “This helps me today with everything I do, like cutting hair, working out, whatever it is I’m doing, make it a good habit.”
Garnett thus far has been an active member of the morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR) community. He received a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal from the captain for his help in organizing two Mt. Fuji trips, skiing trips, two command picnics, and a holiday party. He feels great to know that there are other, especially his superiors, who noticed and appreciated his work. He did not expect to be acknowledged for his work but when he was he felt proud.
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.
“The operational tempo here is fast paced. This is the type of work that will make you or break you,” said Garnett. “What’s good about being deployed here is that you get to see another side of the world and meet some incredible people. Joining the Navy has made me mature more than I would have outside of the Navy. I’ve learned a great deal of leadership since I’ve been in the Navy.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Garnett and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“I’m the ship’s barber, so my favorite part of my job is the close interactions I get with the crew, and especially my chain of command, all the way up to the Captain. When they’re in my shop they become more vulnerable about opening up about themselves,” said Garnett. “I like it because I get to know more about all of them on personal level.”
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.
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.