By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Electa Berassa, Navy Office of Community Outreach
Photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Gary Ward
PEARL HARBOR – A 2013 Franklin High School graduate and Elk Grove, California, native is serving in the U.S. Navy as part of the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC).
Petty Officer 2nd Class Gabriel Lujan is a fire controlman aboard USS William P. Lawrence, currently operating out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
A Navy fire controlman is responsible for maintaining the ship's weapons systems.
Lujan applies the lessons he learned from Elk Grove to his work in the Navy.
“I grew up around a lot of different people with different backgrounds,” said Lujan. “That has definitely been a huge help to me in the Navy.”
As the world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring safety at sea and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2018 is the 26th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
The theme of RIMPAC 2018 is Capable, Adaptive, Partners. The participating nations and forces exercise a wide range of capabilities and demonstrate the inherent flexibility of maritime forces. These capabilities range from disaster relief and maritime security operations to sea control and complex warfighting. The relevant, realistic training program includes, gunnery, missile, anti-submarine and air defense exercises, as well as amphibious, counter-piracy, mine clearance operations, explosive ordnance disposal and diving and salvage operations.
“It’s really interesting to see how other countries operate their ships,” said Lujan. “It is tactically cool.”
This is the first time Israel, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are participating in RIMPAC. Additional firsts include New Zealand serving as sea combat commander and Chile serving as combined force maritime component commander. This is the first time a non-founding RIMPAC nation (Chile) will hold a component commander leadership position.
“I’m proud to be able to maintain a cohesive and multi-functioning group of people,” said Lujan. “You got to work to do this, and we did.”
Twenty-six nations, 46 surface ships, five submarines, and more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific Exercise. This year's exercise includes forces from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.
As a member of the U.S. Navy, Lujan and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“The biggest thing I learned about myself is that being shy doesn't really get you anywhere,” said Lujan. “You've got to take that leap into the unknown and learn from mistakes so you don't replicate them.”