Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Caroline Lui | DARWIN, Australia (Sept. 11, 2024) – Sailors assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class...... read more read more
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DARWIN, Australia - Sailors assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Dewey (DDG 105) joined personnel representing over 10 partner and ally nations for a sports competition during Exercise Kakadu 2024, in Darwin, Australia, Sept. 11, 2024.
Kakadu is a biennial, Australian-led exercise conducted to enhance interoperability, understanding, and integration between partner nations. The first phase of the exercise was conducted on shore, providing the over 3,000 participating personnel from across the globe with various opportunities to interact face-to-face, culminating in a sports day where teams competed to win the Kakadu Sports Day Perpetual Shield trophy.
"Events like these allow our Sailors to build the kinds of close personal relationships that endure through any kind of future challenge or crisis," said Cmdr. Nicholas Maruca, Dewey's commanding officer. "When we're back at sea, we'll continue to work with each other, because these are not only allies and partners, but friends."
The first event of the day was an above-water obstacle course, which saw teams racing through giant inflatable floating obstacles at Darwin Waterfront, putting their athleticism and teamwork on display. Throughout the Dewey team's race, spectating Dewey sailors shouted raucous encouragement-- and sometimes good-natured ribbing-- from the pier, adding English to the Malay, Japanese, Indonesian, Hindi, Vietnamese, and French commentary heard around the waterfront.
Royal Australian Navy Warrant Officer Corey Short, Fleet Command Physical Training Instructor and Exercise Kakadu 2024 sports day event director, said that sports days are the best opportunity to integrate and communicate at a level everyone can understand.
"We saw Malaysia cheering for Indonesia at the aqua event this morning," he said.
Soccer was up next, with almost 100 players participating across 13 different teams at Darwin's Top End Indoor Sports Center. There, the U.S. Navy was represented by both Dewey and a team of Sailors assigned to the Red Lanters of Patrol Squadron (VP) 10, recently deployed to Misawa, Japan.
Machinist's Mate 2nd Class Dioum Mohamed, the Dewey team's goalie, grew up playing soccer in North Carolina and never thought he would be playing against teams from other countries. Meeting new people, learning about the cultures of different countries, and getting to see new things is good for people, he said.
"I'm talking to some people on other teams right now, going around and saying hi," said Mohamed. "It's cool just to learn a little bit, even if it's small."
Between games, he had the opportunity to chat with a member of the Royal Malaysian Navy Kasturi-class corvette KD Lekir (F 26) team, who taught him a word of Malay that he proudly shared.
"I don't know what it means exactly yet, but I'm about to go back there and talk to him more," said Mohamed.
Gas Turbine System Mechanic 2nd Class William Abruzzese, another Dewey team member, was excited to represent the Navy in what he said was a mini World Cup. Like Mohamed, he had never played soccer against other countries. He was proud that Dewey tied with the French Navy Félix Éboué-class offshore patrol vessel FS Auguste Benebig (P779) team in one game, because "France is known as being the top dogs in soccer."
"On the field, there's good sportsmanship afterwards - and although there's a language barrier with some of the teams, you can tell the respect is still there all around," said Abruzzese.
Although the friendly competition concluded on shore with a volleyball tournament, the exercise will continue with ships coming together at sea to train in areas including surface gunnery, formation sailing, replenishment-at-sea, anti-submarine warfare, and air defense.
U.S. 7th Fleet forces routinely train with partner and allied navies to refine operational proficiency and to improve crisis and contingency response capabilities to ensure stability and security throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
Dewey is assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON)15, the Navy's largest forward deployed DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet's principal surface force.
U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
| Date Taken: | 09.11.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.14.2024 21:10 |
| Story ID: | 480894 |
| Location: | DARWIN, AU |
| Web Views: | 119 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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