Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Donavan K Patubo | SOUTH CHINA SEA (Aug. 30, 2022) Quartermaster 2nd Class Miles Leake, from Grovetown,...... read more read more
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Story by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Donavan K. Patubo
Sept. 17, 2022
Petty Officer 2nd Class Miles Leake, a Grovetown, Georgia native and 2016 graduate of Grovetown High School, is serving aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) while conducting operations in the South China Sea, Sept. 17, 2022
Leake enlisted in the Navy in 2017 and has been serving aboard Higgins since May 2018. His decision to join the Navy stems from a desire to see the world and his family’s history of military service.
“I was going to community college and working at Sam’s Club to pay for school and my car,” said Leake. “One day I was thinking, ‘I’ve been stuck in this town for too long’ and I wanted to get out and see something new. My mom and dad served in the Army and my grandfather was prior Air Force so the military seemed like a good option. I wanted to be different, so I chose the Navy.”
Leake serves as a Quartermaster aboard Higgins. Quartermasters stand watch as assistants to the officers of the deck (OOD) and navigation officers. They also serve as helmsman and perform ship control, navigation, and bridge watch duties. Enlistees are taught the fundamentals of this rating through on-the-job training or formal schooling.
“I chose this rate because it seemed like the most Sailor thing ever,” said Leake. “I knew I’d be charting, navigating, and all that cool stuff. As a Sailor on a ship, it just made sense to be a quartermaster.”
Leake said quartermasters are an integral part of many of the situational evolutions that take place on board and he is particularly proud of the role they play in man-overboard drills.
“When the ship conducts a man-overboard drill, the quartermaster of the watch is in the spotlight,” said Leake. “We have to be on top of our game to get that man out of the water. Something that is taught to us as soon as we begin standing that watch is how to conduct that evolution as safely as possible. If one small thing goes wrong on our side it can create a much bigger problem”.
Leake said he likes to be a multi-functional member of the ship’s crew. Aside from his duties as a Quartermaster he is an active member of the Higgins Second Class Petty Officer’s Association and holds collateral duties in the ship’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) department, Multi-cultural Committee, and Ship’s Nautical or Otherwise Photographic Interpretation Examination (SNOOPIE) team.
“Your career as a Sailor is whatever you want it to be,” said Leake. “You’re not confined to your job description. Nobody is ever going to discourage you from getting a new qualification or doing something new that will make you more diverse. It’s just going to make you better in the end.”
Leake is scheduled to leave Higgins in October. While he is excited to move on to his next duty station, Leake says he is thankful for his time on board Higgins and everything he learned.
Higgins is assigned to Commander, Task Force 71/Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest forward-deployed DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force.
| Date Taken: | 09.23.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.23.2022 03:32 |
| Story ID: | 429921 |
| Location: | SOUTH CHINA SEA |
| Web Views: | 125 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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