USS Jason Dunham Departs Greece

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Deven King, USS Jason Dunham Public Affairs

SOUDA BAY, Greece (NNS) -- Guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) departed Souda Bay, Greece, after a scheduled four-day port visit, Aug. 22.

This was the ship's second visit to Souda Bay on its maiden deployment and Sailors took the opportunity to relax and explore the area.

"The last time I was here I did some of the Morale, Welfare and Recreation tours so this time I just went to the beach and walked around town and tried to experience the culture on my own," said Operations Specialist Seaman Chelsea Jefferies. "The people are very friendly and the country is beautiful."

Other Sailors spent time at a nearby recreation center, which featured a baseball field where Jason Dunham's officers and chief petty officers faced off in a game of softball.

"The commanding officer and I were joking with each other about a game [between] the chiefs and the officers, and the executive officer caught wind of it," said Master Chief Ray R. Chamberlain, Jason Dunham's command master chief. "Pretty soon the whole wardroom got involved. The chiefs mess just remained silent until game day."

The chief petty officers' mess won the game in the 10th inning with a final score of 10-9.

"It was an opportunity to let our hair down, have some fun and show the crew it's okay to have events where senior and junior Sailors can compete," Chamberlain said. "It helps build a sense of community and emphasizes that it's one ship, one fight - and it was great beating the officers."

The port visit also consisted of Sailors conducting boarding procedure training, force protection exercises and an ammunition onload.

"It was hot out and it was delicate work, but we got everything aboard safely," said Fire Controlman 2nd Class Nick Sauble. "We're loaded up and ready to go."

Jason Dunham is on a scheduled deployment in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility.

USS Jason Dunham Junior Enlisted Training Team Pushes Young Sailors Toward Advancement

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William Jamieson, USS Jason Dunham Public Affairs

USS JASON DUNHAM, At Sea (NNS) -- The Junior Enlisted Training Team (JETT) aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) is helping junior Sailors study for advancement during the ship's maiden deployment, Aug. 8.

 JETT is organized by and for the junior enlisted Sailors of Jason Dunham in order to maximize advancement through professional military knowledge training courses and study sessions.

"I want every Sailor who comes to a JETT meeting, to first and foremost, learn how to study, what to study and then I want them to take that knowledge and pass it on," said Information System Technician 1st Class Lawrence Mikel, program manager. "When these young Sailors become 1st Class Petty Officers, I want them to remember that their biggest and most important responsibility is to the young Sailors they lead."

 During the bi-weekly meetings, one Sailor will be designated as instructor and lead attending Sailors in a chosen topic related to professional military knowledge or study skills.

 "We have many junior Sailors from many different rates aboard, and we wanted to do something that could help all of them study for advancement," said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Shantell Allen. "We organized these meeting around different areas of professional military knowledge pulled directly from the advancement exam bibliographies. Our goal is to give each Sailor, no matter what their community is, a leg up in studying for advancement exams and help them in furthering their Navy career."

 Some of the Sailors directly attribute the JETT study sessions to being prepared for their upcoming advancement exams.

 "It is always easier to stay motivated and study in a group that is supportive like JETT has been," said Ship Serviceman 3rd Class Matthew Thomson. "They always covered a really broad range of topics from naval heritage to basic seamanship to study skills. I felt prepared when I took the exam and saw questions we had studied. It's a great way to spend your time for self improvement, especially on deployment."

Jason Dunham is on a scheduled deployment in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility.

USS Jason Dunham Celebrates 365 Days DUI-Free

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William Jamieson, USS Jason Dunham Public Affairs

USS JASON DUNHAM, At sea (NNS) -- Guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) celebrated a milestone by reaching 365 DUI-free days while on its maiden deployment, Aug. 6.

According to Command Master Chief Raymond Chamberlain, a robust command culture of responsibility and the personal pride of the crew were the main contributing factors to the ship's DUI-free year.

"This achievement is a great example of Sailors looking out for Sailors," said Chamberlain. "This crew takes the reputation of their ship personally and it shows when you can reach this type of milestone. The word proud doesn't come close to expressing what I feel for every last one of them."

In order to help foster a command climate of responsibility, Jason Dunham employs the Arrive Alive program, which provides Jason Dunham Sailors with a number that can be called to provide the Sailor with a safe ride home.

Senior Chief Electrician's Mate Michael Jordan, command Drug and Alcohol Programs Advisor (DAPA), said he and Chief (select) Gas Turbine System Technician (Mechanical) Dwayne Williams, assistant DAPA, focus on the Arrive Alive program and the leadership of Jason Dunham Sailors resulted in command primed for success.

"Chief (select) Williams and I looked back at situations where Sailors had gotten DUIs and we realized the reason they didn't use the Arrive Alive program and ended up with a DUI in almost every case because they were afraid of reprisals," said Jordan. "So the command as a whole refocused their efforts towards educating our Sailors about the Arrive Alive program and reinforced the message that they weren't going to get in trouble by using te [program] and it really made a difference."

Because of their success, Jason Dunham Sailors strove even harder to maintain their claim to be DUI free.

 "I had Sailors coming up to me and telling me how many days it had been since the last DUI," said Jordan. "They really took ownership of their reputation, and they have a lot to be proud of."

To celebrate the ship's DUI-free year, the ship's supply department provided a cake and a special meal of steak and crab legs.

Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jobdavid Santiago said the galley Sailors were proud to be able to honor the crew's achievement.

"This meal is for everyone because everyone had a part in making sure we stayed DUI free," said Santiago. "We don't want this to be the last one. We are proud of how far we have come, but we want to keep going."

Jason Dunham is on a scheduled deployment in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility.

USS Jason Dunham Takes Part in VBSS Exercise

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William Jamieson, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Public Affairs

USS JASON DUNHAM, At Sea (NNS) -- Members of the visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) conducted a simulated boarding of training support vessel Prevail (TSV 1), May 6.

The boarding exercise was conducted as a part of the Carrier Strike Group Eight composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) to provide hands-on training to VBSS team members before Jason Dunham's upcoming deployment.

"When you do one of these exercises, you never know what to expect," said VBSS team member, Ensign Ryan Kelly. "You have to rely on your training and the other team members, and that is exactly how it is in a real-world situation."

As part of the exercise, the team members boarded Prevail after Jason Dunham established bridge-to-bridge communications and determined Prevail qualified as a vessel of interest.

Once aboard Prevail, team members encountered a crew that was "uncooperative" and discovered contraband, including drugs and weapons.

"At that point, we knew we were going to have to detain the vessel," said team member, Quartermaster 2nd Class David Rodriguez. "We phoned back to Jason Dunham and had them send over the ship-control team."

A ship-control team takes control of detained vessels and consists of damage control, deck and engineering personnel fully capable of controlling and managing any situation a vessel might encounter while transiting to the nearest port.

"We were fully prepared to take control and stay on the ship for 24-48 hours," said ship-control team member, Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Ronald Virgin.

After the ship-control team demonstrated their ability to navigate and control the ship both teams were called together for debriefing.

"We had a successful boarding and learned a lot during the exercise," said Kelly. "We just want to keep this momentum going into our deployment. We can't know what we might see out there, but I think we all realize we can trust each other during a boarding. That's all you can really ask."

Jason Dunham is a part of Carrier Strike Group Eight, which is underway conducting a COMPTUEX in the Atlantic Ocean.

Warfare Center Plays Key Role in Newest Destroyer Combat Certification

By Troy Clarke, Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Public Affairs

ATLANTIC OCEAN (NNS) -- USS Gravely (DDG 107) and USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) completed Combat Systems Ship Qualification Trials (CSSQT) in the Atlantic Ocean March 17, with technical support for the ships' live-fire missile exercises from NAVSEA warfare centers.

Experts from NAVSEA's warfare center divisions at Corona, Calif., Dahlgren, Va., and Port Hueneme, Calif., assessed key certification milestones at the Navy's Joint Warfare Assessment Laboratory (JWAL) in Corona, including the newly installed combat system upgrades to the Navy's Aegis missile defense system aboard Gravely and Jason Dunham.

"This CSSQT is a great example of how we bring together the many engineers and analysts from the warfare centers, as well as industry partners, in a single location at the JWAL, to provide the integrated picture of how our ships perform during qualification trials," said Capt. Jay Kadowaki, NSWC Corona Division commanding officer. "The JWAL is a key tool for the team of experts who provide the collaborative assessment the fleet needs."

CSSQT testing verifies combat and weapon systems performance for the new, converted or modernized ships, and NSWC Corona leads the CSSQT collaborative analysis teams, overseeing its data management. This capability allows the team to deliver overnight risk assessment reports for each day's air defense raids and live-firing test events. The assessment team also provides ADW weapon system performance directly from the JWAL for any fleet exercise around the world.

"Real-time, secure satellite communication gives the JWAL a powerful capability to connect the assessment team to the test ship, test conductors and decision-makers," said Performance Assessment Department Head Dan Bergstrom. "This is the nucleus for the Navy's collaborative analysis efforts."

Bergstrom said JWAL's secure global connectivity enables rapid feedback to the acquisition community and program managers, so they have the information needed for test and evaluation decisions, as well as the data to provide to the Aegis technical community for fault detection and fault isolation.

"CSSQTs are vital to ensuring our ships and their crews have the combat and weapons systems they need to execute their missions," said Program Executive Office for Integrated Weapons Systems (PEO IWS1) Combined Test and Evaluation Manager, Dean Kimelheim. "While the ships are conducting the tests at sea, our ashore team provides them and the acquisition community, rapid feedback on how they're performing as they go through the testing and qualification trials."

Kimelheim said CSSQT testing encompasses three to four months of ship equipment grooming, crew training and warfare-area testing. The last phases of CSSQT include Surface Warfare (SUW) testing and Air Defense Warfare (ADW) testing periods, culminating in live missile-firing tests.

"NSWC does the full spectrum of research, development, test evaluation and engineering, and whatever the U.S. fleet needs for offensive and defensive systems within surface warfare," said Naval Surface Warfare Center Commander Rear Adm. Jim Shannon. "NSWC is not just one place; it's comprised of 10 major commands geographically situated across the United States. This CSSQT is but one example of how we're integrated into a single NAVSEA team across the country."

NSWC Corona command is one of the Navy's newest federal labs and serves as the maritime service's independent assessment agent. It is responsible for gauging the warfighting capability of weapons and integrated combat systems.