Story by Emily Casavant, MARMC Public Affairs Office
Electricians Mate Nuclear 1st Class Steven Eckelman, a two-year veteran at Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC), joined the Navy eight years ago out of Loveland, Colorado.
Realizing that his calling was not behind a university desk, but somewhere brand new doing something he’s never done, lead him to become a skilled submarine electrician in the United States Navy.
“Frequently we’ll have things like motor controllers or power generation equipment that may have a fault,” said Eckelman of his work duties. “Sometimes it can be pretty technically challenging.”
Working in code 270, Eckelman’s focus is on naval submarine electrical systems. A normal day at MARMC may have him troubleshooting on a pier side submarine, training other Sailors or studying a new system in a manual from the tech library. One project even sent him to Maine.
“I got to travel to Portsmouth, Maine and do a Static Automatic Bus transfer install on a submarine, the USS Cheyenne,” said Eckelman.
Recently, Eckelman assisted the USS Albany (SSN-753) with isolating grounds for critical equipment. He is also the leading petty officer in his code.
“EMN1 Eckelman led Code 270 training through our inspection and had zero discrepancies,” said Leading Chief Petty Officer, Master Chief Pendergraft. “As Leading Petty Officer, he led his division through a ‘Clean the Base Event’ and he is always volunteering to travel to assist other codes.”
In his two years at MARMC, Eckelman has been gaining more in-depth knowledge of electrical workings via the command’s technical library, new experiences and his coworkers.
“One of my civilian counterparts, Mike Wild, goes very in-depth into the workings of electrical components that I might not have known very well before,” said Eckelman. “He’s really improved my technical knowledge of discrete electrical components.”
Eckelman plans on leaving the Navy in 2024 and beginning a civilian career in the electrical field. He has been taking advice and inspiration from the civilians that he works with on a daily basis here at MARMC.
“I enjoy working with all of the civilians,” said Eckelman. “Since I’m getting out of the Navy, I’m looking at how they do things and they’re very helpful. There’s plenty of people around here that can provide you with the assistance that you need to be successful.”
Eckelman is hoping to build a life in Wyoming working with power generation or electrical grids. MARMC thanks him for everything he has done and wishes him success in his future endeavors!