Thursday, August 29, 2019

Jefferson Native Serves with High-Tech U.S. Navy Helicopter Squadron

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jerry Jimenez, Navy Office of Community Outreach

SAN DIEGO – Petty Officer 2nd Class Amanda Krause, a native of Jefferson, Ohio, inspired to join the Navy to belong to something bigger. 
Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Brown

Now, six years later, Krause serves with the Scorpions of Helicopter Maritime Squadron (HSM) 49, working with one of the Navy’s most advanced helicopters at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego.

“Working with this command can be busy," Krause said. "It's productive and fulfilling.”

Krause, a 2013 graduate of Jefferson Area High School, is an aviation maintenance administrationman with HSM 49, a versatile squadron that’s capable of completing a number of important missions for the Navy with the MH-60R “Seahawk” helicopter.

“I’m responsible for tracking maintenance that's done on the helicopters," Krause said. "It's a lot of attention to detail.”

Krause credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned in Jefferson.

“I learned to always help others and work hard,” said Krause.

HSM 49's primary mission is to conduct sea control operations in open-ocean and coastal environments as an expeditionary unit. This includes hunting for submarines, searching for surface targets over the horizon and conducting search and rescue operations.

According to Navy officials, the MH-60R is the Navy's new primary maritime dominance helicopter. Greatly enhanced over its predecessors, the MH-60R helicopter features a glass cockpit and significant mission system improvements, which give it unmatched capability as an airborne multi-mission naval platform.

As the U.S. Navy's next generation submarine hunter and anti-surface warfare helicopter, the MH-60R "Romeo" is the cornerstone of the Navy's Helicopter Concept of Operations. Anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare are the MH-60R's primary missions. Secondary missions include search and rescue, medical evacuation, vertical replenishment, naval surface fire support, communications relay, command, control, communications, command and control warfare and non-combat operations.

Serving in the Navy means Krause is part of a world that is taking on new importance in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.

A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, 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.

“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.”

Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community, and career, Krause is most proud of earning a Navy Achievement Medal for managing a Mission Mounted Equipment program.

“It made me feel proud because I properly tracked what I needed to ensure the safety of the people who use the mission mounted equipment,” said Krause.

As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied upon assets, Krause and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes contributing to the Navy the nation needs.

“Serving in the Navy means putting service before self and working together as a team to accomplish one mission," Krause said. "It's very humbling because you learn a lot of lesssons from people who wouldn't cross your path if you stayed in one spot your whole life.”