Community Relations (COMREL) Project in Jamaica

St. Christopher’s School for the Deaf was an amazing place to visit. I was teaching sign language on the ship to interested Underwood sailors even before I knew there was going to be a COMREL and was very excited about the prospect of holding an event at this school. The Jacksonville-St. Augustine area, where I live and close to Mayport where the Underwood is stationed,  has the distinction of being the largest deaf community in the entire country, and my wife works at a school for the deaf. After being married for 16 years, I’ve been able to learn a great deal of American Sign Language, and so the experience at St. Christopher’s was made even more incredible and I knew that I would be able to bring some of my skills to the table. At the school we received a warm welcome, but once I started signing with them I could tell that they were even happier to have us there. Being able to converse with them in sign definitely put them at ease and created a very warm atmosphere between us. The other sailors and I distributed stuffed animals, played basketball, and communicated with the kids. Some of the Underwood sailors that had been a part of my American Sign Language classes were even able to carry on short conversations with the students! It was great seeing the sailors having so much fun with the kids, and seeing the kids genuinely happy that we had come to be with them for the day. I’d say that this day was the best I’ve ever had in my entire 18-year Navy career.  

V/R

IT1 (SW) Maitland

The experience for me at the St. Christopher School for the Deaf was one of the greatest moment’s I’ve ever had. Despite the fact that my signing wasn’t the best we were able to communicate through means other that signing. The facial expressions and smiles and hand gestures said more than enough for me. They were glad to have us there and we were glad to be there for them. IT1 Maitland was the main point of contact for signing as he is very skilled at it and he helped us make the experience even that more pleasurable. For me this was an unforgettable day because I left feeling proud that that could bring so much joy to kids and young adults and I didn’t even have to say a word. Their expressions of gratitude and thanks said it all.

V/R

OS1(SW) Parrish

International Maritime University of Panama

On June 27th, four shipmates and I visited the International Maritime University of Panama. They included EM2 Rodriguez, ET3 Delafuente, BMSN Garcialorenzo and MC3 Pikul, who came to take photos. The students invited us over to tour their compound and academy after we’d given them tours of the ship for the past two days. We were picked up at 0845 by Mr. Eddie Munoz who is a retired ENC and who works over at the academy now as the head of the cadets. He picked us up at the front gate at Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and we headed to the academy.

We were given a tour of the compound. It was a pretty good-sized facility. Then they showed us their navigation simulator, which is pretty cool. I loved it. We saw their engineering plant simulator. It wasn’t a full-hands-on experience, but it was pretty close.

We also had a couple question-and-answer sessions with the students there. They asked us how life was at sea because these are first year cadets who haven’t been to a ship and most of them don’t have any sea-going experience. They had a lot of questions about life at sea and how the food is on a ship and how many people are on our ships; a lot of basic questions. One of the classes we saw was a class of future engineers, so they were talking to Petty Officer Rodriguez about what kind of engineering plant we have and what it’s like to work as an engineer. They were also curious about the places we’ve visited, how long we’ve been in the Navy, and some of the most fun things we’ve done in the Navy.

We got to sit down with the director of the academy and he told us how much he appreciated us giving his students tours of our ship so they could see something different. He thanked us for that and wished us a good tour around the compound.

The academy provided us lunch.  It was steamed rice, lentils cooked in a sauce, and beef chunks with a sauce that had carrots and celery in it. They have cadets there who are going to be top-siders who are going to be kitchen crew. They have chefs teaching them how to cook and about sanitation. They also have a program to provide free lunch and breakfast to cadets who come from less fortunate backgrounds.

Before we left we saw how their afternoon formation. It’s set up like a military academy with different companies and a student chain-of-command.

Petty Officer Delafuente used to be in an honor guard rifle team in high school so he was able to show their rifle drill team some stuff that he used to do. Overall it was a pretty good day. We were there for probably five or six hours.

We recognized some of the students who’d come over to see us on our ship and when they saw us at the academy, they greeted us and asked how we were doing and how we liked their facility. They were very happy to show us their side of the sea-going life. They were very proud of their academy and very eager to show everything off.

Their simulator was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is completely different navigating with their system than it is using ours. They have a very minimal bridge team and it was just very different. When you see something different like that you understand that there is more to it than just how we navigate the seas.

I had a great time showing them around our ship and I had an amazing time checking out their academy. If I ever had the chance to get one of their navigational simulators, I would totally buy one. That is the coolest thing I’ve done in a long time. It’s like a video game with five screens in front of you, giving you a panoramic view and they had 20 different ports you could simulate pulling into. You can choose the weather conditions and the sea state and they had different maritime ships you could drive whether it was a ferry, a tug, a car carrier, a grain ship. It was completely amazing. I want one of those things for my home now.

Visiting the academy gave us a chance to see how other countries do things. We have a set way of doing things and a lot of other countries follow a similar model. It’s good to see how they do it and the differences, because sometimes you might be able to take something away from it. 

V/R

BM2 Jason Funk

International Maritime University of Panama

On June 27th, four shipmates and I visited the International Maritime University of Panama. They included EM2 Rodriguez, ET3 Delafuente, BMSN Garcialorenzo and MC3 Pikul, who came to take photos. The students invited us over to tour their compound and academy after we’d given them tours of the ship for the past two days. We were picked up at 0845 by Mr. Eddie Munoz who is a retired ENC and who works over at the academy now as the head of the cadets. He picked us up at the front gate at Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and we headed to the academy.

We were given a tour of the compound. It was a pretty good-sized facility. Then they showed us their navigation simulator, which is pretty cool. I loved it. We saw their engineering plant simulator. It wasn’t a full-hands-on experience, but it was pretty close.

We also had a couple question-and-answer sessions with the students there. They asked us how life was at sea because these are first year cadets who haven’t been to a ship and most of them don’t have any sea-going experience. They had a lot of questions about life at sea and how the food is on a ship and how many people are on our ships; a lot of basic questions. One of the classes we saw was a class of future engineers, so they were talking to Petty Officer Rodriguez about what kind of engineering plant we have and what it’s like to work as an engineer. They were also curious about the places we’ve visited, how long we’ve been in the Navy, and some of the most fun things we’ve done in the Navy.

We got to sit down with the director of the academy and he told us how much he appreciated us giving his students tours of our ship so they could see something different. He thanked us for that and wished us a good tour around the compound.

The academy provided us lunch.  It was steamed rice, lentils cooked in a sauce, and beef chunks with a sauce that had carrots and celery in it. They have cadets there who are going to be top-siders who are going to be kitchen crew. They have chefs teaching them how to cook and about sanitation. They also have a program to provide free lunch and breakfast to cadets who come from less fortunate backgrounds.

Before we left we saw how their afternoon formation. It’s set up like a military academy with different companies and a student chain-of-command.

Petty Officer Delafuente used to be in an honor guard rifle team in high school so he was able to show their rifle drill team some stuff that he used to do. Overall it was a pretty good day. We were there for probably five or six hours.

We recognized some of the students who’d come over to see us on our ship and when they saw us at the academy, they greeted us and asked how we were doing and how we liked their facility. They were very happy to show us their side of the sea-going life. They were very proud of their academy and very eager to show everything off.

Their simulator was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is completely different navigating with their system than it is using ours. They have a very minimal bridge team and it was just very different. When you see something different like that you understand that there is more to it than just how we navigate the seas.

I had a great time showing them around our ship and I had an amazing time checking out their academy. If I ever had the chance to get one of their navigational simulators, I would totally buy one. That is the coolest thing I’ve done in a long time. It’s like a video game with five screens in front of you, giving you a panoramic view and they had 20 different ports you could simulate pulling into. You can choose the weather conditions and the sea state and they had different maritime ships you could drive whether it was a ferry, a tug, a car carrier, a grain ship. It was completely amazing. I want one of those things for my home now.

Visiting the academy gave us a chance to see how other countries do things. We have a set way of doing things and a lot of other countries follow a similar model. It’s good to see how they do it and the differences, because sometimes you might be able to take something away from it. 

V/R

BM2 Jason Funk