PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - Petty Officer 3rd Class Joao Mota, a native of New York, New York, serves aboard USS Somerset, a U.S. Navy warship operating out of San Diego, California, and participating in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in and around the Hawaiian Islands.
 |
| Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jerome Fjeld |
Mota graduated from Fox Lane High School in 2016.
The skills and values needed to succeed in the Navy are similar to those found in New York.
“The lessons I learned growing up are to treat people with respect and to be patient,” said Mota. “These are two lessons that have paid off in the Navy because you meet so many different people from different places and it’s not always easy to find common ground.”
Mota joined the Navy five years ago. Today, Mota serves as a culinary specialist.
“I initially joined the Navy to be able to go to school, but it has become an adventure,” said Mota. “Having the opportunity to travel and experience new cultures is incredible.”
As the world’s largest international maritime exercise, approximately 29 nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, over 150 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel will participate in RIMPAC 2024. This exercise 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 2024 marks the 29th exercise in a series that began in 1971.
The theme of RIMPAC 2024 is “Partners: Integrated and Prepared.” 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.
Mota plays an important role in the exercise.
“It’s very interesting to see all of these different navies from around the world come together for RIMPAC,” said Mota.
Mota serves a Navy that operates far forward, around the world and around the clock, promoting the nation’s prosperity and security.
“Serving in the Navy means so much to me,” said Mota. “I think of the people who came before me and I am inspired to follow the same path.”
Mota is grateful to others for helping make a Navy career possible.
“I want to thank Chief Petty Officer Adrian Ramilo, who has always been an inspiration, and Senior Chiefs Bugayo and Maniego for being my mentors,” added Mota. “I want to give a special thanks to my fiancee, Dorothy-Ann Dirck, who is a culinary specialist first class stationed in San Diego. She has always been supportive of me and is always inspiring me to succeed.”
Mota is looking forward to their next adventure in the Navy and hopes to continue their education along the way.
“I’m transferring to Seattle to be a recruiter in November, so I’m very excited about that,” said Mota. “I earned my Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist pin during the deployment and I am hopeful of pursuing a bioengineering degree on shore duty.”
Hosted by Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, RIMPAC 2024 will be led by Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet, Vice Adm. John Wade, who will serve as Combined Task Force (CTF) commander. For the first time in RIMPAC history, a member of the Chilean Navy, Commodore Alberto Guerrero, will serve as deputy commander of the CTF. Rear Adm. Kazushi Yokota of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force will serve as vice commander. Other key leaders of the multinational force will include Commodore Kristjan Monaghan of Canada, who will command the maritime component, and Air Commodore Louise Desjardins of Australia, who will command the air component.
During RIMPAC, a network of capable, adaptive partners train and operate together in order to strengthen their collective forces and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific. RIMPAC 2024 contributes to the increased interoperability, resiliency and agility needed by the Joint and Combined Force to deter and defeat aggression by major powers across all domains and levels of conflict.
More information about RIMPAC is available here: https://www.cpf.navy.mil/RIMPAC/