Coontz (DDG 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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CG TI UE SI'IIP'S WORK Sleep is a commodity during any deploy- ment, and the M EF 2-87 wasn't any different People slept whenever, and wherever, they could. After working 18'hours a day, 6 days a week, who could blame them? This page contains just a few of the crewmembers who were caught in the act of catching 40 winks on somebody else's time. See if you can name them, and locate their favorite hiding place to crash out . 61

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EXECUTIVEXNAVIGATIC DIVISIO YNSN Keppel YNSA Field PNSA Hendricks QMSA Stewart PCSA Erickson The Administrative Division consists of many diverse ratings which provide many different services to the ship's crewmembers. The command master chief chief master at arms, the DAPA, yeomen, career counselor, postal clerk, personnelmen, hospital corpsmen and ship'sjoumalist all perform duties which, when combined, are extremely important in carrying out the ship's mission. Reenlistments, school quotas, counseling, updated service records, medical attention, mail service, television and information dissemination would not be possible without the men of Admin. These individuals provided an extremely vital senfice to the ship and played an integral partin keeping a high state of morale throughout the MEF 2-87 cruise. ln addition to their regular duties during the deployment, the yeomen, personnelman and the career counselor stood MARREP watches in the Combat Information Center. The Navigation Division consists ofthe quartermasters, who have the exceptionally important task of accurately iixing the ship's position in the water as she moves from one place to another. During the MEF 2-87 cruise, the importance of the quartermaster rating became highly visible. These men were responsible for over 60 sea and anchor details and plotting over 54,000 miles of tracks while crossing the Atlantic and transiting the Straits of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Suez, the Straits of Bab al Mandeb, the Gulf of Oman, the Straits of Hormuz, the Persian Gulfand the Sassan Oil Fields. Many sleepless nights were devoted to their profession as the ship transited many of these places in the dark. Even though thejob was tiresome at times, the men of Navigation Division had fun, and will fondly remember the experience in years to come. 60

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HE ODERN SEAPGRTH DJ IBGUTI The USS Coontzvisited the oountry of Djibouti twice during the MEF 2-87 deploy- ment, but only for refueling purposes. While the crewmen of Coontz didn't realize any liberty in this African country, they did come to appreciate what they had back in the United States. Djibouti is located right next door to the famine-stricken country of Ethiopia. The United States provides Pb-480 iFood for Peacel shipments to offset the burden of an influx of refugees. The U.S. also provides Djibouti with about 56.8 million in economic aid annually. During its first port visit, USS Coontz provided members and their families ofthe U.S. embassy in Djibouti with basic necessities and supplies which are unavailablein that country.