SASEBO, Japan – A Hamden, Connecticut, native and 2006 Hamden High School graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy with the forward-deployed unit, Naval Beach Unit 7.
Petty Officer 1st Class Vinny Segatto is a Navy counselor operating in Sasebo, Japan.
A Navy counselor acts as the commands' career counselor. They assist commands in organizing and implementing an enlisted command career development and retention program. They are the commands’ principal advisors on policies and regulations related to Navy career planning matters. They maintain awareness of revisions and initiatives in career development programs through access to Navy directives, references and manuals, experiences, and training.
Segatto is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly recalls memories of Hamden.
“I knew a retired captain through a friend who I saw before joining the Navy and he would tell me ‘choose your rate, choose you fate’,” said Segatto. “That’s the best advice someone has given me because now I’m a Navy counselor, I do love my job.”
Segatto thus far is proud of the command. He states that they have a high reenlistment rate and a low attrition rate. He takes pride in knowing what he does contributes to his sailors’ successes in their Navy career.
Moments like that makes it worth serving around the world ready at all times to defend America’s interests. With more than 50 percent of the world's shipping tonnage and a third of the world's crude oil passing through the region, the United States has historic and enduring interests in this part of the world. The Navy's presence in Sasebo is part of that long-standing commitment, explained Navy officials.
Commissioned in August of 2012, Naval Beach Unit 7 was formed to combine the three forward deployed naval forces detachments in Japan.
Personnel from the command are responsible manning and operating either the landing craft—such as the landing craft air cushion or the landing craft utility—or manage landing operations from the beach.
NBU 7 landing craft serve an important function for the Amphibious Force 7th Fleet in being able to move personnel and equipment from ship to shore.
“It can be very challenging being deployed here because of the long hours and hard work,” said Segatto. “This command is also unique. There are four different departments under one roof. You get to see the different facades of how the overall command works, how in the big picture they all fall into one mission, even though everyone’s doing different things. The other benefits are the things that you learn here and carry with you. If you are capable of being at a forward-deployed command, you’re capable of doing any job in the Navy.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Segatto and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“I was born in Brazil and I joined the Navy to give back to the country what the country has given me,” said Segatto.
Seventh Fleet, which is celebrating its 75th year in 2018, spans more than 124 million square kilometers, stretching from the International Date Line to the India/Pakistan border; and from the Kuril Islands in the North to the Antarctic in the South. Seventh Fleet's area of operation encompasses 36 maritime countries and 50 percent of the world’s population with between 50-70 U.S. ships and submarines, 140 aircraft, and approximately 20,000 Sailors in the 7th Fleet.