Oakland Native
Participates in World’s Largest International Maritime Warfare Exercise
By Mass Communication
Specialist 1st Class Electa Berassa, Navy Office of Community Outreach
Photo by Mass Communication
Specialist Senior Chief Gary Ward
PEARL HARBOR – A 2013
Hercules High School graduate and Oakland, 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 3rd Class
Martin Nunley is a ship’s serviceman aboard
USS Lake Champlain, currently operating out of San Diego, California.
A Navy ship’s serviceman is responsible for providing customer
service and morale on the ship by providing services such
as the ship's store, barber shop, and laundry.
Nunley applies the lessons he
learned from Oakland to his work in the Navy.
“I learned to treat everyone
with respect growing up in Oakland,” said Nunley.
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,”
according to Navy officials. 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 will be nice meeting people from all the
different countries while here at RIMPAC,”
said Nunley.
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 most proud of advancing in rank in the military so far,” said Nunley.
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,
Nunley and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond
their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“I feel like I try to evolve
every year as a person and the Navy has helped me
with that,” said Nunley