Photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Gary Ward
PEARL HARBOR – A 2006 McKinney High School graduate and McKinney, Texas, 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 1st Class Earnest Hightower is a boatswain's mate aboard USS John P. Murtha, currently operating out of San Diego.A Navy boatswain's mate is responsible for training, directing, and supervising personnel in ship's maintenance duties in all activities relating to marlinespikes, decks, boat seamanship, painting, upkeep of ship's external structure, rigging, deck equipment, and life boats.
Hightower applies the lessons learned from McKinney to working in the Navy.
“My hometown is a melting pot," said Hightower. "Everyone talks to each other. We all communicated with each other and I carried that into my military career.”
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 nice to see other ships and have conversations with other nations about our Navies and cultures and to see my friends that live here,” said Hightower. “It will be great for my sailors to see the training cycles and that the ship can do great things as a united front.”
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 am proud of seeing my junior sailors achieve greatness and it makes me feel good that I mentored them and helped them succeed,” said Hightower.
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, Hightower 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 everything to me," said Hightower. "I get to give back to my country that has given me so many freedoms. I don't have to restrict myself because of my government.”
Additional information about RIMPAC is available at http://www.cpf.navy.mil