Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Gregory Johnson | SOUTH CHINA SEA (April 17, 2025) – Sonar Technician (Surface) Seaman Chase Couch,...... read more read more
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SOUTH CHINA SEA (April 17, 2025) – An Oak Hills, California, native and 2021 graduate of Oak Hills High School is serving aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69).
Sonar Technician (Surface) (STG) Seaman Chase Couch enlisted in the Navy in 2019 and is now forward-deployed aboard Milius to Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan.
“I had been working in retail for about a year at the time I started looking at military service,” said Couch. “My uncle was in the Coast Guard and was recommending taking a look at the military, so I looked my options and thought the Navy was the best fit. I really like to travel, even going back to my days working in retail, taking road trips and stuff like that, so that’s the main reason why I landed on the Navy.”
As an STG aboard Milius, Couch is responsible for tracking underwater contacts and collecting intelligence for navigation and fire control teams to defend the ship from what lies in the depths.
“STG was offered to me when I was processing in, and it really did appeal to me,” said Couch. “I didn’t know much about it, but it seemed like a job that was intellectually and technically challenging to the point where you could use your mind as much as anything else.”
Couch talked about his impression of the Navy after his first two years of service.
“It’s a very different experience than what most people in the world will ever have,” he said. “Getting underway, going topside and seeing the water; you also get really close to the people you work with. You do everything together – work together, stand watch together, eat together, work out together. You really forge brotherhoods and sisterhoods and I think that’s a good thing.”
Couch offered a word of advice for those who are thinking about military service.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to travel and get to see other places and experience cultures that a lot of people just don’t get to see,” said Couch. “It comes with difficult challenges and there are highs and lows, but at the end of the day, you get to do so many things that so many people have never done. I think it’s definitely worth it.”
DESRON 15 is the Navy's largest forward-deployed destroyer squadron and the U.S. 7th Fleet's principal surface force. It is forward deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
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: | 04.17.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.20.2025 00:03 |
| Story ID: | 495713 |
| Location: | SOUTH CHINA SEA |
| Hometown: | OAK HILLS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 99 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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