SASEBO, Japan – A Hayward, California, native and 2001Chabot High Schoolgraduate is serving in the U.S. Navy with the forward-deployed unit, Naval Beach Unit 7.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Philip Cuaresma is a culinary specialist operating forward in Sasebo, Japan.
A Navy culinary specialist is responsible for operating kitchen and dining facilities, budgeting for food service management, and ensuring morale aboard the ship.
Cuaresma is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly recalls memories of Hayward.
“I learned from my friends back home to look after yourself, how to be responsible,” said Cuaresma. “Basically, bringing myself up through processes sometimes you may not know how to do something, but you have to find a way to do it yourself, look it up, ask questions, that’s how you’re responsible.”
Cuaresma thus far is proud of his supervisor role in the galley. He enjoys training the new people who come in. When he sees their progress, he is glad to see that he can trust in them getting the job done. He feels he can leave them in the galley alone and they will do the job the he would do it.
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.
“The difference in deployments here are the port visits,” said Cuaresma. “To me I love being deployed here. I love Japan. I want to build a family here. I want them to experience a culture like Japan.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Cuaresma and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“I love the freedoms that the U.S. provides, it’s that type of freedom that I want to represent,” said Cuaresma.
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.