Photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Gary Ward
PEARL HARBOR – A 2011 Georgetown High School graduate and Georgetown, South Carolina, native is serving in the U.S. Navy as part of the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC).
Lt. j.g. Faith Power is a surface warfare officer aboard USS O'Kane, currently operating out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A Navy surface warfare officer is responsible for the control schedule, plan of the day, training for various ship certifications, manning requirements and officer of the deck watch.
Power applies the lessons she learned from Georgetown to her work in the Navy.
“Being versatile is important because it helps you complete a variety of tasks and enhances your skillset,” said Power.
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.
“I recently completed a training school for missile defense so it’ll be nice to use some of my training that I gained for this exercise,” said Power.
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'm proud of seeing my day-to-day tasks being accomplished each day and how they impact the bigger mission of the ship,” said Power.
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, Power and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“The Navy has definitely helped me learn responsibility and maturity,” said Power. “People come to me as a means or resource to help with completing tasks and having that aspect has helped me grow as a person.”
Additional information about RIMPAC is available at http://www.cpf.navy.mil