USS San Juan Celebrates Month of the Military Child

Courtesy Photo | 240404-N-N0869-1004 BREMERTON, Wash. (Apr. 4, 2024) USS San Juan (SSN 751) celebrated the Month of the Military Child by hosting a “Bring Your Kids to Work Day.” Machinist's Mate 1st Class Patrick Wurster prepares his daughter Sydney to make an announcement from the control room. Going to work with their parents helped the children understand a day in the life of their submariner parent, while providing them a better understanding of what their loved ones do while they are out to sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Yeoman (Submarines) 3rd Class Cody Jones)  

UNITED STATES

04.29.2024

Courtesy Story

Commander, Submarine Group Nine   

USS San Juan (SSN 751) celebrated the Month of the Military Child by hosting a “Bring Your Kids to Work Day” April 4.

Children of Sailors assigned to the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS San Juan (SSN 751) joined their submariner parents for a fun-filled day onboard the boat at Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton. The children completed 15 submarine qualification tasks while onboard, including conducting two engineering seminars, operating Naval Firefighting Thermal Imagers and making a contact report from the bridge.

According to San Juan’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Justin Hoff, sounding the submarine klaxon, and laying in their parents’ rack ranked high as favorites from the child participants. Upon completing the “required” submarine tasks, Hoff presented each child with a certificate and card designating them as an honorary submariner. Afterwards, crew members and their families celebrated with a pizza party, arts and crafts and bowling at the MWR Bremerton Recreation Center.

Going to work with their parents helped the children understand a day in the life of their submariner parent, while providing them a better understanding of what their loved ones do while they are out to sea. The San Juan, which was commissioned on Aug. 6, 1988, is a Los Angeles-class fast-attack nuclear submarine which generally conducts six month deployments.

The silent sacrifice of military children is immeasurable. Right now, there are roughly 1.7 million dependent military children across all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. About one million of these children are children of active duty service members like those on USS San Juan. The remaining 700,000 dependent military children are children of guard or reserve units. Over 650,000 of these military children are ages five or under.

• Date Taken: 04.29.2024
• Date Posted: 04.29.2024 18:32
• Story ID: 469809
• Location: US