PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - Petty Officer 3rd Class Jackson Vanderpool, a native of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, serves aboard Airborne Command and Control Squadron 113, 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.
Vanderpool graduated from Beachwood High School in 2020.
The skills and values needed to succeed in the Navy are similar to those found in Fort Mitchell.
“My hometown instilled a strong work ethic in me. While in Fort Mitchell, I worked multiple jobs while attending school,” said Vanderpool. "It's also taught me the value of teamwork, coming together with my friends to tackle challenging games like Minecraft. Over five years, we've managed to beat it twice now. Which is a testament to our teamwork."
Vanderpool joined the Navy four years ago. Today, Vanderpool serves as an aviation structural mechanic.
“I joined the navy to pay for college,” said Vanderpool. "I want to go to school for architecture to specialize in designing homes."
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.
Vanderpool plays an important role in the exercise.
“My role during RIMPAC is to perform maintenance on our jets,” said Vanderpool. "My impression of RIMPAC is that it's a good time. I feel it's rewarding to understand the significance of words like aloha and mahalo through cultural immersion."
Vanderpool 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 provides me with a great stepping stone to start my life,” said Vanderpool.
Vanderpool is grateful to others for helping make a Navy career possible.
“I would like to thank Aviation Structural Mechanic 1st Class Jenson,” added Vanderpool. "He was my last Leading Petty Officer and played a significant role in my naval career."
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/