Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Carlos Hopper | 200123-N-HI746-1086 DIEGO GARCIA, British Indian Ocean Territory (Jan. 23, 2020)-...... read more read more
Logistic Specialist 1st Class Aaron C. Lewis, a native of Mesquite, Texas, is the materials management Leading Petty Officer (LPO) for Navy Support Facility (NAVSUPPFAC) Fleet Logistic Center (FLC) Yokosuka Detachment Diego Garcia, he is also the only Basic Swimming and Water Survival qualified Sailor on the island to administer the third, second and first class swim qualification tests.
As the materials management LPO, Lewis is responsible for the management oversight of more than 7,000 line items. He ensures performance standards are being met for personal property, Consolidated Hazardous Material Reutilization and Inventory Management Program, Hazardous Material, and Material Control.
Lewis said that what they do at FLC ensures the process is smooth and the turn-around is timely for both materials and services for their customers.
“We are a customer service rate at our core,” said Lewis. “The most important thing about my job is quality assurance. Everything we do here gets reported directly to NAVSUPPFAC and then higher up to “big Navy”, any error or oversight at our level would not look favorably on us representing FLC Yokosuka.”
In respect to his job, the easy explanation is as follows. “Simply: I have many warehouses. In these many warehouses are many shelves. On each of these many shelves are many items. My boss has a list of all of these items. Other people count the items and I make sure they count the items correctly.”
Lewis is also small craft operator qualified and is a Basic Swimming Water Survival instructor.
He was previously stationed at the Rescue Swimmer Schoolhouse in Jacksonville, Florida where he earned an American Red Cross Lifeguard certification.
He taught there for three years, teaching survival related topics such as pool safety regulations, small boat operations, personnel recovery amongst other topics, and eventually earning the title of Master Training Specialist.
As a small craft operator, Lewis was the lead coxswain in operations such as: recovery of personnel from parachute operations in open-ocean, transfer of goods/information, personnel conducting dry deck shelter operations in various submarines, rescue boat operator during joint operations with Edison Chouest Offshore and training new vessel pilots.
“Greatest achievement? I’d say it’s a toss-up between being Small Craft Operator qualified and becoming a Basic Swimming/Water Survival Instructor,” said Lewis. “In both, I got to teach new skill sets to Sailors. Whether I was teaching someone to navigate waterways in Pearl Harbor or teaching Sailors to float in the base pool, I feel like teaching comes naturally to me and I enjoy sharing the knowledge I have.”
Lewis has been in the Navy for 15 years now, he said he loves the change of pace and he enjoys travelling, “I can honestly say I’ve seen the world.”
| Date Taken: | 02.04.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2020 03:53 |
| Story ID: | 361930 |
| Location: | DIEGO GARCIA, IO |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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