Photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Gary Ward
PEARL HARBOR – A 2011 Deer Valley High School graduate and Glendale, Arizona, 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 Rachel Gates is an electronics technician aboard USS John P. Murtha, currently operating out of San Diego.An electronics technician is responsible for radar and communications gear aboard the ship as well maintaining the ship's internet.
Gates applies the lessons she learned from Glendale to her work in the Navy.
“Being a four sports athlete taught me team work and responsibility and taught me how to listen to my coaches,” said Gates. “It helped me learn to follow orders and take responsibility for myself and learn how to work well with other sailors.”
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.
“I hope to gain better knowledge and learn from the other nations,” said Gates. “I want to see how this all played out since this is my first RIMPAC.”
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.
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, Gates and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“Since joining the Navy, I have learned I am more resilient and much stronger than I thought,” said Gates. “I also learned I can accomplish more when I put my mind to it.”
Additional information about RIMPAC is available at http://www.cpf.navy.mil