Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Brian Glunt | Hull Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Jondanae Garza, from Las Vegas, poses for a...... read more read more
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USS Gerald R. Ford’s Women in Engineering: We Can Do It!
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian T. Glunt,
USS Gerald R. Ford Public Affairs
ADRIATIC SEA (June 21, 2023) – It’s the credo that reinforces the iconic image of ‘Rosie the Riveter’ bearing her arm, asserting the notion that women are just as capable to perform in job fields predominantly filled by men. This image has inspired generations of women to pursue careers in professions, specifically engineering, that have been historically reserved for men.
Approximately 30 women, assigned to the 180-person engineering department aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), continue to make strides for future generations of female Sailors in the engineering field.
As Gerald R. Ford’s damage control assistant (DCA), Cmdr. Amanda Miller, from Willis, Texas, is responsible for overseeing damage control efforts in the event of a casualty, as well as making preparations for and maintaining the damage control readiness throughout the ship. Serving more than 10 years of her 25-year Navy career in the engineering field, she now supervises five work centers consisting of repair lockers, all self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) onboard, damage control suppression systems, chemical, biological, and radiological defense (CBRD), list control systems, and damage control petty officers (DCPOs), among many additional responsibilities.
“The accomplishments I am most proud of within the engineering field have been on this tour,” said Miller. “On previous tours, you go in, learn the systems, maintain and operate. Day-in and day-out. The unique thing about this tour is that [Gerald R. Ford] is new, so we have had to make sure that our damage control integrity, the integrity of the damage control program and its systems, stay intact as the modernization efforts are made.”
Miller further explains her biggest accomplishment as DCA has been the modernization and implementation of the digitized Advanced Damage Control System (ADCS) into the newest aircraft carrier’s infrastructure. As the Navy’s newest class of aircraft carrier, the Ford-class reduced the amount of legacy communication tools needed during damage control efforts in favor of the ADCS. Furthermore, CVN 78 has the same amount of real estate to maintain and the same amount of fire protection needed, all while operating with 20 percent less personnel than a Nimitz-class carrier.
“To go computerized with plotting has been an effort for more than a decade within the Navy. When I got here a year and a half ago, [the ADCS] didn’t work and people were trying to do legacy damage control plotting and phone talking and trying to make it work. So, in the last year we’ve had four software updates and multiple visits all the way up to the program office, getting ADCS up to par to meet our damage control needs. It was super vital that this system worked and it’s working wonderfully. This system is now being implemented and is going to be used in the future because we made it work.”
Along with the employment of the ADCS, Miller also noted the Joint Qualification Requirement (JQR) for the system, an extensive training and qualification standard prepared by CVN 78’s damage control division, to be utilized throughout the rest of the Navy.
With Gerald R. Ford’s crew of approximately 2,400 Sailors (sans air wing), women make up roughly 21 percent, or approximately 500 of CVN 78’s personnel.
Another woman setting the bar in engineering while assigned aboard Gerald R. Ford is Chief Warrant Officer 2 Angela Cruz, from Santa Maria, California. Cruz serves as the auxiliary technical assistant, or Aux Tech, and is responsible for the mechanical operability of equipment from the ship’s anchor to the rudder that supplies potable water, air conditioning and hydraulics. Beginning her 17-year naval career as an electrician’s mate fireman recruit (E-1), she knew she wanted to be a chief warrant officer (CWO) early on because she wanted to be as “salty” and as “gritty” as the ones at her first command. She eventually worked up the enlisted ranks to chief petty officer when she made the decision to continue working with her hands as a chief warrant officer, rather than continue on a more administrative path as a senior enlisted leader.
“I would have kind of been going away from the engineering aspect and more so toward the management and leadership of Sailors, which I do like,” said Cruz. “But, troubleshooting has always been my heart. Engineering, working with equipment, working with my hands, I’ve always loved that, so the warrant officer route was best for me.”
For some, small accomplishments have huge impacts on how they view their careers. For Cruz, one of her most memorable accomplishments was as simple as fixing a light as a young Sailor.
“I was a fireman recruit and knew nothing of electricity. I knew nothing of nothing,” said Cruz. “I had never even changed a car battery before. So when I tested the lights and they came on, I was so proud. But other than that, the accomplishment I’m most proud of was recovering my [previous] ship from a main space fire, which allowed us to make it home from deployment after we were stuck overseas.”
Engineering isn’t always as innovative as implementing groundbreaking damage control systems or as heroic as mending a ship in order to return home after major casualty. Often times, engineers go unnoticed and without thanks for the modern conveniences they maintain, like the vacuum collection holding transfer (VCHT) onboard maintained by Hull Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Jondanae Garza, from Las Vegas. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to take care of the VCHT, or in layman’s terms, the ship’s sewage system. But hull maintenance technicians (HTs) aren’t always fixing the plumbing. These engineers are also responsible for fabricating anything the ship needs for repairs. They are the welders, braziers and manufacturers of parts needed to maintain the ship’s hull integrity.
“I really like working with my hands. HT-wise, the engineering field interested me because of the welding. I didn’t know I was going to be dealing with sewage when I first started. But the majority of the first half of my career, all I did was welding, but then I got stationed aboard [Gerald R. Ford] and was taught the sewage part, which was fun.”
Before her six years in the Navy, Garza started her mechanical career by learning to fix cars with her dad.
“I’ve always been interested in this stuff since I was little,” said Garza. “I would go with my dad whenever he was going to fix cars or doing stuff around the house and I would just watch him. I always thought it was cool.”
After being sent to an advanced hull maintenance technician training school in welding, Garza is now one of the most qualified advanced welders onboard.
“Being able to learn something I’d never thought I’d be able to be good at, which is welding, has been one of my biggest accomplishments,” said Garza. “Never in my life would I have thought that I’d be welding. Me being able to graduate that school, which is one of the hardest schools in our trade, is probably one of the biggest accomplishments I’ve ever made.”
The accomplishments of these three women could not have happened without the years of hard work, inspirational guidance and dedication they have put forth into their career field. So if there are any women out there reading this who are interested in an engineering career, pay close attention to these engineers’ words of wisdom:
“Sometimes a girl isn’t going to have the physical strength that a guy would use to move something, so they’re going to, perhaps, use other ways to accomplish tasks,” said Miller. “So I think we can capitalize on different experiences and different backgrounds to come up with more solutions than just the easy ones. Don’t give up. It’s not always easy. Things get better. Believe in yourself and remember why it is – what it is – you’re doing, your driving force or motivation. So when things get difficult, go back to that.”
“Honestly, it’s physically and mentally challenging,” says Cruz. “Just because you come in already doubted. You come in underestimated. So if you have to work twice as hard to prove yourself, then go for it. But if you are coming in expecting not to get dirty, then don’t come in to engineering.”
“My [job] is not female dominate whatsoever, but a lot of the female engineers I’ve met are some of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” said Garza. “It just shows that women can do this too. I’ve known a ton of female welders who never thought they could do it and yet here they are in the Navy proving people wrong and that we can do it.”
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) is conducting a scheduled deployment in support of interoperability and maritime security. The GRFCSG provides and inherently flexible naval force capable of deploying across combatant commands to meet emerging missions, deter potential adversaries, reassure allies and partners, enhance security and guarantee the free flow of global commerce. In total, the GRFCSG is deployed with more than 6,000 Sailors across all platforms ready to respond globally to combatant commander tasking.
Gerald R. Ford is the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier. As the first-in-class ship of Ford-class aircraft carriers, CVN 78 represents a generational leap in the U.S. Navy’s capacity to project power on a global scale. Ford-class aircraft carriers introduce 23 new technologies, including EMALS, AAG and Advanced Weapons Elevators. The new systems incorporated onto Ford-class ships are designed to deliver greater lethality, survivability and joint interoperability with a 20% smaller crew than a Nimitz-class carrier, paving the way forward for naval aviation.
For more information about the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), visit https://www.airlant.usff.navy.mil/cvn78/ and follow along on Facebook: @USSGeraldRFord, Instagram: @cvn78_grford, Twitter: @Warship_78, DVIDS www.dvids.net/CVN78 and LinkedIn at USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).
| Date Taken: | 06.23.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.23.2023 12:16 |
| Story ID: | 447841 |
| Location: | ADRIATIC SEA |
| Hometown: | CONROE, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, US |
| Hometown: | SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 544 |
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