U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Rusty Pang
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Most Americans rely on weather forecasts to plan their daily routine. The U.S. Navy is no different. With numerous ships, submarines and airplanes deployed in the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s area of operations, sailors stationed at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Hawaii, make it their primary mission to monitor extreme weather conditions in support of the fleet’s daily operations.
Ensign Timothy Ragan, a 2012 Serra Catholic High School graduate and native of Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, has served in the Navy for a year and is one of these sailors serving at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Ragan credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned in Elizabeth.
“Coming from the small town where I grew up, a lot of people's grandparents moved there during the steel era,” explained Ragan. “The towns have banners and pictures of service members on the telephone poles and having the visual made me want to serve as well.”
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center Detachment provides aviation weather support for the INDOPACOM area of responsibility and resource protection to ensure safety of flight and operations for Atsugi, Japan; Commander Fleet Activities Okinawa; Commander Fleet.
As a Navy meteorologist and command duty officer, Ragan is responsible for helping to write message products that are delivered to department of defense assests concerning the intensity of tropical components in the pacific ocean.
A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, according to Navy officials, and that the nation’s prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the world’s oceans. More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the world’s population lives close to a coast; and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea.
“Naval Oceanography defines and applies the physical environment for the entire Navy fleet from the bottom of the ocean to the stars,” said Rear Adm. John Okon, Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. “There isn't a plane that flies, a ship or a submarine that gets underway without the sailors and civilians of Naval Oceanography.”
The U.S. Pacific Fleet is the world’s largest fleet command, encompassing 100 million square miles, nearly half the Earth’s surface, from Antarctica to the Arctic Circle and from the West Coast of the United States into the Indian Ocean.
Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community, and career, Ragan is most proud of graduating from the Naval Academy in May 2018 being commissioned as an officer and was able to shake the president's hand.
“For me, it was a career change," said Ragan. "I was attending a few different schools before I decided to attend the Naval Academy and succeeding in a childhood dream of mine as a kid.”
“Coming from the small town where I grew up, a lot of people's grandparents moved there during the steel era,” explained Ragan. “The towns have banners and pictures of service members on the telephone poles and having the visual made me want to serve as well.”
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center Detachment provides aviation weather support for the INDOPACOM area of responsibility and resource protection to ensure safety of flight and operations for Atsugi, Japan; Commander Fleet Activities Okinawa; Commander Fleet.
As a Navy meteorologist and command duty officer, Ragan is responsible for helping to write message products that are delivered to department of defense assests concerning the intensity of tropical components in the pacific ocean.
A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, according to Navy officials, and that the nation’s prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the world’s oceans. More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the world’s population lives close to a coast; and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea.
“Naval Oceanography defines and applies the physical environment for the entire Navy fleet from the bottom of the ocean to the stars,” said Rear Adm. John Okon, Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. “There isn't a plane that flies, a ship or a submarine that gets underway without the sailors and civilians of Naval Oceanography.”
The U.S. Pacific Fleet is the world’s largest fleet command, encompassing 100 million square miles, nearly half the Earth’s surface, from Antarctica to the Arctic Circle and from the West Coast of the United States into the Indian Ocean.
Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community, and career, Ragan is most proud of graduating from the Naval Academy in May 2018 being commissioned as an officer and was able to shake the president's hand.
“For me, it was a career change," said Ragan. "I was attending a few different schools before I decided to attend the Naval Academy and succeeding in a childhood dream of mine as a kid.”
Being stationed in Hawaii, often referred to in defense circles as the gateway to the Pacific, means Ragan is serving in a part of the world taking on a new importance in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
“Our priorities center on people, capabilities and processes, and will be achieved by our focus on speed, value, results and partnerships,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “Readiness, lethality and modernization are the requirements driving these priorities.”
The Pacific is home to more than 50 percent of the world's population, many of the world's largest and smallest economies, several of the world's largest militaries, and many U.S. allies. The Navy has been pivotal in helping maintain peace and stability in the Pacific region for decades.
Serving in the Navy is a continuing tradition of military service for Ragan, who has military ties with family members who have previously served. Ragan is honored to carry on that family tradition.
“Both my grandfathers served in the miltary, one Army and one Navy but my family is not a military family,” said Ragan. “They did not really talk about their time in the military as they did not make it a career.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Ragan and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“I think I will take the Navy one year at a time and adjust to the change of my career choice,” added Ragan.