Seapower May09.QXD 4/23/09 1:23 PM Page 112
IN MY OWN WORDS
Lt. Cmdr. Mark West
Operations Officer, USS Freedom
San Diego
to try and make sure everyone is
used properly. On this crew, a chief
is very important but there are times
they have to realize they will be a
line handler, just like me.
I am still adjusting to this role, as
there are times when I forget that I
need each of my chiefs to have different roles. I also expect more of my
petty officers because we don’t have
room for people not to be doing their
jobs to the best of their ability.
U.S. NAVY
I have been on the ship only
once, in Wisconsin, but we train in
San Diego on a daily basis. The
USS Freedom has two crews, one
here and one in Norfolk, Va. The
latter has the ship right now.
Ialways expected to rise [to] where I am now, which
is the first operations officer for the 379-foot USS
Freedom, the lead ship of the Freedom [class of] Littoral
Combat Ships (LCSs). I have held this position for 13
months. My previous job was as the first lieutenant on
the USS Germantown.
I think it’s important for people
to not believe all the things they
have heard about the USS Freedom
and the USS Independence. The [LCS] program is alive
and well and it will be in many ways the future combat
ship of the Navy.
My best memory of the ship so far was the commissioning ceremony that took place on Nov. 10 in Milwaukee, Wis. There was a really warm and welcoming
feeling we got from the people and they really made us
feel at home.
Looking back, as I am 41 years old, if you would
have asked me a decade ago if I thought I would be
where I am now in the Navy, I would have said yes. But
20 years ago it would have been a definite no. I was an
enlisted fireman, a troublemaker, and never thought I
would spend several decades in the military.
This job is totally different than my previous one. On
the USS Germantown I had a 120 people working for me,
whereas in this job I only have eight, and six of them are
E-7 [petty officers] and above. It’s a leadership challenge
For me, joining was never about getting commissioned, but rather getting as much education as possible. After getting my associate’s degree, I decided I
wanted my bachelor’s degree as well, and the Navy’s
enlisted commissioning program really gave me the
opportunity to go to school full time. ■
“This job is totally different than my previous one. On the USS Germantown I
had a 120 people working for me, whereas in this job I only have eight, and six
of them are E-7 [petty officers] and above. It’s a leadership challenge to try and
make sure everyone is used properly. On this crew, a chief is very important but
there are times they have to realize they will be a line handler, just like me.”
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SEAPOWER / MAY 2009
