OKC native participates in maritime warfare exercise
A 2014 John Marshall High School graduate and Oklahoma City native is serving in the U.S. Navy and participating in the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, aka RIMPAC.
Seaman Alfonzo Cole is an operations specialist aboard USS William P. Lawrence, operating out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
A Navy operations specialist is responsible for maintenance and small boat operations.
“I’m looking forward to working with different ships and the foreign navies,” Cole said. “It will be interesting to see how they operate.”
According to Navy officials, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain relationships critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
The theme is “Capable, Adaptive, Partners,” Navy officials said. The participating nations and forces will exercise a wide range of capabilities and demonstrate the flexibility of maritime forces. These capabilities range from disaster relief and maritime security operations to sea control and complex war fighting.
The training program includes amphibious operations, gunnery, missile, anti-submarine and air defense exercises, as well as counterpiracy, mine clearance operations, explosive ordnance disposal and diving and salvage operations.
The Department of the Navy’s Great Green Fleet yearlong initiative also will play a major role in RIMPAC. The initiative highlights global operations using energy conservation measures and alternative fuel blends to demonstrate how optimizing energy use increases resiliency and operational readiness. During RIMPAC, almost all participating units will operate using an approved alternate-fuel blend.
Twenty-six nations, 45 surface ships, five submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate in the exercise. This year’s exercise includes forces from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, People’s Republic of China, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“We are wrapping up a deployment. We’ve conducted exercises with many foreign navies, and this pulls it all together. This is a capstone event for our 7th Fleet deployment,” said Cmdr. Walter C. Mainor, commanding officer aboard USS William P. Lawrence.
“Our visit to Hawaii has been well-deserved rest and relaxation for our crew. Our most important asset is our sailors, and the job they do day in and day out is so important. The average age onboard is 25, and the expectations we have for them are so great. They just continue to exceed them.”
Cole said, “Our crew is the best. I love our captain. The whole small ship environment feels like a family.”
Challenging living conditions build strong fellowship among the crew, Cole said.
“While serving in the Navy, I have learned that for every action, there is a reaction and I think of my actions first now,” he said.