By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Theodore Quintana, Navy Office of Community Outreach
SASEBO, Japan – A Saratoga, New York, native and 2017 Hadley Luzerne High School graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy forward-deployed in Japan aboard USS Germantown.
Fireman Maxwell Sicker is a damage controlman aboard the ship operating out of Sasebo, Japan.
A Navy damage controlman is responsible for performing organizational and intermediate level maintenance and repairing of damage control equipment and systems.
Sicker is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly recalls memories of Saratoga.
“The best part of my job is working with different types of equipment,” said Sicker.
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.
“Everyone here is really nice and understanding they do the best to help you with whatever you need,” said Sicker. “The Navy has given me guidelines to live by. They have showed me what real work is and it has turned me into a team player.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Sicker and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“Serving in the Navy means a lot of hard work and long hours but it is all for a good purpose,” said Sicker.
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.