MILLINGTON, Tenn. – U.S. Navy sailors from across the fleet are headed to Pennsylvania for Harrisburg Navy Week, May 20 to 25, to volunteer in the community and discuss why the Navy matters to the Susquehanna.
While many of the sailors are from all over the country, this Navy Week will carry special meaning for visiting sailors from the area, including Petty Officer 1st Class Dirk McGarvey, a native of Altoona.
McGarvey graduated from Glendale Junior/Senior High School in 2008. Upon joining the Navy, McGarvey quickly found that many of the skills and values forged in Altoona were the same as those needed to succeed in the Navy.
“I joined the Navy around 24 years old, so I had been to college and worked in the civilian world,” McGarvey said. “Having that experience set me up with a lot of knowledge and helped me become a better sailor.”
McGarvey, who joined the Navy 11 years ago, is assigned to the future USS Bouganville.
“I joined the Navy to give a better life to my kids,” McGarvey said. “I was newly married and at the time had two kids. I wanted to give a better life to my kids and create more stability. I needed the Navy in 2014, and they gave me a lot of opportunities and a lot of chances throughout the years.”
McGarvey is part of the first Navy Week to be hosted in Harrisburg. Navy Weeks are a series of outreach events coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO) designed to give Americans an opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people, and its importance to national security and prosperity.
“Pennsylvania doesn’t see a lot of Navy presence, as compared to places like San Diego and Norfolk,” McGarvey said. “People may not know a lot about the Navy’s day-to-day operations and/or history. I haven’t met very many people who have joined the Navy who are from PA.”
Today, McGarvey serves as an engineman.
“I am an engineman, my day-to-day deals a lot with the running and the upkeep of diesel engines on board the ship,” McGarvey said. “There are different platforms of ships throughout the fleet that use diesel engines for propulsion and for auxiliary power to keep the lights on. A lot of my job is the preventative and corrective maintenance of pumps, motors and testing of the engines.”
McGarvey has had many opportunities to excel in the Navy and sees military service as more than just a job – it represents a chance to become a better person.
“My proudest accomplishment in the Navy varies from command to command,” McGarvey said. “I am at my fourth command, from getting my first ship through a deployment without any problems, to when I was an instructor and helped a lot of junior sailors graduate from school and continue into the fleet. Most recently, my greatest accomplishment is finding a design flaw in my ship and receiving a medal for my work. I am currently on a pre-commissioning unit for a ship being built down in Mississippi. We will, upon completion, be delivered to Norfolk, Virginia.”
Also, McGarvey attended College at Triangle Tech in Dubois, Pennsylvania, and received his associate degree in maintenance electricity. McGarvey is currently taking online college courses to earn his associate degree in cybersecurity at Southern New Hampshire University.
McGarvey is grateful for the Altoona community and for those who helped make a Navy career possible.
“I would like to thank my kids,” McGarvey said. “If I didn’t have their support and if I wasn’t doing it for them, I wouldn’t have my drive and support to do what I am doing.”
Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s flagship outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, providing the public a firsthand look at why the Navy matters to communities like Harrisburg.
Sailors from USS Gettysburg and the future USS Harrisburg, the second ship to be named for the capital, will be participating in events throughout the week, including the Harrisburg Navy Week proclamation ceremony and the Camp Hill and Gettysburg Memorial Day parades. There will also be public performances throughout the week by the Navy Ceremonial Guard bayonet drill team from Washington, D.C., and U.S. Navy Band Northeast’s Brass Band and Woodwind Quintet. There will also be demonstrations by the U.S. Navy Leap Frogs parachute team and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. Sailors will also volunteer with community service groups in the area.
More highlights from the week include Navy displays at the National Civil War Museum, activities at the Friday-Sunday Harrisburg Senators baseball games, participation at the Big 33 Football Classic Fan Fest and Pregame, and demonstrations, displays and performances at the Air Dot Central PA Airshow.
For a list of public events, visit https://outreach.navy.mil/Navy-Weeks/Harrisburg-2026/.