Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew M. Rivard | Airman Apprentice Contessa Barfield, an aviation electronics technician, participates...... read more read more
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CARIBBEAN SEA — Service members of all branches and guests on board USS Wasp (LHD 1) may not have had the opportunity to sit in the sand or put their feet in the water, but that did not stop them from enjoying the activities and food at Wasp's first steel beach picnic of its Southern Partnership Station deployment.
"The steel beach picnic is good to have to build crew morale and to give the ship a break during a pretty arduous time away from families," said Chief Petty Officer Allen Bowman, an aviation mechanic and IMO2 division officer.
The hangar bay was filled will the smell of barbeque and competition. No matter the military or civilian rank, activities and food were open to everyone. There was basketball, ping pong, sumo wrestling, a life-sized chess set, box hockey, and even a grappling competition. With a D.J. keeping the beat moving, service members were given the chance to prove that the military can dance — or at least attempt to.
For some, like Lance Cpl. Ruben Guerrero attached to Security Cooperation Marine Air Ground Task Force, this was his first experience with a steel beach picnic.
"This is my first time on a ship and I expected it to be out to sea all the time with nothing fun to do, but then to have this, a bunch of people getting together ... the food's good, activities are good, and the music's alright," said Guerrero. "It helps relieve some of the stress and the tension on us. We are working non-stop here on the ship and having some down time is beneficial to us."
This was also a first for Petty Officer 3rd Class Karen Henderson, an intelligence specialist and Coast Guard member embarked for this deployment.
"I think it's fun - I think it's good for the morale of the ship and it's a nice thing to do for the crew all together," said Henderson. "It's a change from everyday life on the ship."
When all was said and done, the Wasp chiefs, with help from the ship's culinary specialists and the MWR division, put on a nearly eight-hour event. Every branch of the military, as well as members of various government agencies, could be seen mingling and enjoying the festivities — as well as the 1,200 pounds of chicken, 200 pounds of hot dogs, 480 hamburgers, 1,200 sodas, 800 bottled waters, and 1,600 bottles of various juices.
Wasp and the SCMAGTF are working alongside Mayport-based Destroyer Squadron 40 during a three-month deployment to build and instill interoperability and cooperation between U.S. and partner nation naval forces through a variety of exercises as part of Southern Partnership Station.
| Date Taken: | 10.18.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 10.19.2009 20:33 |
| Story ID: | 40363 |
| Location: | USCENTCOM, AT SEA |
| Web Views: | 400 |
| Downloads: | 291 |
This work, WASP Makes Waves with Steel Beach Picnic, by PO1 Amie Gonzales, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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