Landmark
August 2016 Volume 7, Issue 5
The Official Newsletter of USS Emory S. Land
EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
ON THE COVER: Landmark
August 2016 Volume 7, Issue 5
The Official Newsletter of USS Emory S. Land
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Capt. Mark A. Prokopius, commanding officer of the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land and Lt. Takana Jefferson, command chaplain, smile at parade-goers during Guam’s Liberation Day parade. Sailors from the ESL volunteered to assist the villages of Asan and Dededo in the construction of their floats and to march with them during the parade. (U.S. Navy photo by MCSN Daniel Willougby)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Ensign Saulsberry paints the float for Asan in preparation of the Liberation Day parade.
FEATURE STORY 4 Network Upgrade
Find out about the ins and outs of the ship’s network upgrade!
8 ESL SAILORS ON THE JOB
ESL Sailors work in their natural habitats and share some thoughts.
14 VOLUNTEERING AT ASAN BEACH ESL Sailors clean-up in preparation of Liberation Day.
22 KEEPIN’ IT 100 WITH MC3 AMADI Find out what the ESL thinks about today’s pop culture.
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CO’s CALL
MC1 Brandon W. Shelander (SW) conducted an exclusive interview with Captain Prokopius. Get a look!
10 COLUMBIA MOORS TO THE ESL See photos from our recent sub guests.
18 LIBERATION DAY MEMORIAL Memorial commemorates lives lost on island during WW2.
24 BLOOD DRIVE
Sailors donate blood to Naval Hospital Guam.
30 CHAPLAIN’S CORNER Chaplain Jefferson has a new message for the crew.
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EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
BEHIND THE UPGRADE:
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MC3 JASON AMADI
STORY AND PHOTOS BY:
27 SAILORS’ DEDICATION TO EXCELLENCE
Sailors assigned to the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) began a large scale network and computer upgrade onboard July 11. Twenty-seven Sailors from the Automated Data Processing division (ADP) are working alongside 12 civilian contractors to upgrade the ship’s network, operating system, and install more than 400 new network computers.
itsr jacob dylewski verifies serial numbers for the old computer equipment “We’re going from a Common PC
“IT REALLY STARTS WITH OUR LEADERSHIP: OUR DIVISION OFFICER, OUR CHIEFS AND OUR FIRST CLASSES. THEY’VE TOLD US FROM DAY ONE IT WASN’T GOING TO BE EASY. THEY’VE BEEN ABLE TO REMAIN POSITIVE AND SO HAS OUR SHOP. THAT’S DEFINITELY MADE THE WORK DAY A LOT BETTER.”
-IT3 Ryan Critchelow
Operating System Environment (COMPOSE) 3.0.1 environment to a COMPOSE 4.0.1 environment,” said Information Technician 1st Class Jason Howard, ADP Assistant Leading Petty Officer. “While the upgrade is going on, it’s not going to be fun, but in the long run we’re going to have a lot smoother operating system and a lot smoother environment to work in.” The upgrade has increased ADP’s workload and will result in longer working hours for their Sailors. ADP Sailors and civilian contractors remove all the old computers from spaces throughout the ship, strip them, load them onto pallets and send them off to be tended to by the Defense Logistics Agency Dispositions Services. “The entire process is going to take two months. We’re not only upgrading the servers, operating system and the workstations,
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EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs onboard with us right now who have experienced this. They can give us pros and cons of what they went through to make our process smoother. Also, the civilian team who worked with Frank Cable is pretty much the same team with us now,” said Howard. Upgrades of this nature are nothing new to Chief Information Technician John itsn alex luebke gathers old computer towers and monitors set to be swapped out.
we’re also upgrading a couple of our other
Scott, leading chief petty officer of ADP. He has overseen many of them in his Navy career and mentally prepared his Sailors for the rigors of the task at hand.
functions that we have,”
“Every
said Howard.
command I’ve been
“Pushing out all
at, we’ve done one,”
the new computers is
said Scott. Normally
the first step. Then we
for us, we get pulled
have to load the new
in two directions.
operating systems and
We have to do the
put them in the new COMPOSE environment. It’s a massive undertaking. Right now we’re looking
Sailors take apart computer equipment in preparation for it being sent to the Defense Logisitics Agency Dispositions Services.
at minimum 12-hour work days. We muster at 6:50 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. is when start leaving. When everyone else is just getting out of their racks, we’re already hitting the grind.” Emory S. Land stands to benefit from the experience its sister-ship USS Frank Cable (AS 40) gained during its successful upgrade.
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“We’re lucky to have personnel
PC refresh and the server refresh. We inventory everything that’s getting ready
to go off and everything going on. On the server side we make sure we back up every server we have on board, including all the data, files and folders, then we disassemble the servers, put in new hardware and put everything back together.” Scott believes his Sailors have responded well to the increased workload and feels it’s a valuable training opportunity for them.
“We usually do weekly training, but this evolution compressed months of training into a very
workstations, operating system and network are in place.
short window,” said Scott.
“It was almost heartbreaking for me because
Many of the Sailors
we’ve worked a lot on
in ADP have never been
those old hard drives.
part of a massive upgrade
They’ve caused a lot of
before, but they see the
pain for us. But it’s cool
benefit in the experience.
to finally be able to say
“The majority of
we’re done with them
people from our shop
and hopefully with this
are straight out of ‘A’
new upgrade a lot of
school” said Information
those minor bugs will
Technician 3rd Class Ryan Critchelow. “When you get
IT1 York disassembles computers during be gone. the ongoing network and systems upgrade. Despite the extra
here you realize you don’t know a lot about this ship
work, many within the division are enjoying the
and its systems and from there it’s really baptism by
experience and understand what it means for the
fire. You learn everything as you go. Now with this
ship.
completely new upgraded system we’re basically going to have to re-learn everything.”
“This is my first time doing all of this,” said Information Technician 3rd Class Stephen Carsello.
Critchelow says the experience has been made “It’s really kind of fun learning about these new easier by having a supportive chain of command that
systems and this opportunity will help our careers in
keeps morale high throughout the division.
the long run. It’s become quite the task, but I feel it’ll
“It’s really not too bad for us. It really starts with our leadership: our division officer, our chiefs
be good for the ship.” “It’ll definitely make our job easier,” said
and our first classes. They’ve told us from day one it
Carsello. We have a better operating system. Each
wasn’t going to be easy. They’ve been able to remain
computer will have more RAM, more processing
positive and so has our shop. That’s definitely made
power, more hard drive space and they’re smaller.
the work day a lot better,” said Critchelow.
Everything is new. Who doesn’t like new toys?”
For Critchelow, it’s been hard to say goodbye to equipment he’s worked on for so long, but he expects things to go smoother once the new
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EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
ESL SAILORS PUTTING IN THE WORK Photos by MCSN Daniel Willoughby
“I got a pocket...a pocket full of sunshine.” HTFA Jacob Jackson (left) “Today is where your book begins... the rest is still unwritten.” HTFN Charles Zrzavy (right)
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“I really miss the weather back in New York, it’s a lot better in my opinion. I used to play basketball, it’s one of my passions. I also really like doing music production. Responsibility is the most important value I’ve learned in the Navy. People depending on you makes you work harder.”
“I feel like Guam is just like my home in Hawaii. I used to fish, dive and surf back home, and I can still do it here. The most important value I’ve learned since being in the Navy is integrity. It’s always better to do the right thing. -HTFN Brenden Adachi
-MRFA Shafieq Nanton
“I miss my family back in Jersey. I used to work at “Freedom Schools,” as a teacher’s assistant. Working there, I really learned that kids are the future, so we should give them opportunities to develop. It’s kind of like that in the Navy you have to develop into a leader before you are one.” -YN3 Curtis George
“I am from Los Angeles. What I miss most about LA, is the dry heat. It’s pretty hard to adjust to the heat out here. The most important value I’ve aquired in the Navy so far is being thorough with everything.” -YN2 Josselyn Escobar
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EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
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USS COLUMBIA MOORS ALONGSIDE Photos by MCSN Daniel Willoughby
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Asan
Beach Clean Up Photos by MCSN Daniel Willoughby
Migrants frrom the Middle East keep making the dangerous journey to Europe-- whether they are wanted or not.
ESL Sailors clean up Asan Beach in preparation of the Liberation Day memorial service.
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EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
Left: Chaplain Jefferson poses for a photograph during the clean-up. Jefferson helps coordinate most ESL community service events.
Bottom: 16
YN2 Escobar paints a pillar of a gazebo at Asan Beach. Escobar regularly participates in ESL community service opportunities.
Top: Bottom:
Sailors help restore a gazebo on Asan Beach. The group poses for a photograph at the end of the cleanup. Landmark AUGUST 2016
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EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
Asan Landing Memorial ceremony Photos by MCSN Daniel Willoughby
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Top Left: A member of the Guma Kinalamten I TaoTao Tano blows into a conch shell during the opening ceremony for the memorial. Top Right: Chaplain Jefferson leads guests in prayer to close the memorial. Left: The Guma Kinalamten I Taotao Tano dancers open the memorial with a performance. Bottom Right: Ray Tenorio, acting governor of Guam, speaks to guests.
LEFT: Families of those who fell during WW2 place flowers to commemorate their sacrifices. Top Right: Ray Tenorio, acting governor of Guam, and Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo pay their respects to those lost in WW2.
EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
KEEPIN’ IT Ever wonder what your shipmates think about today’s meaningless pop culture issues? Well we’ve got you covered. Every month we’ll interview 100 Sailors and civilian mariners to see where they stand.
W/ MC3 JASON AMADI
wHO SHOULD BE SITTING ON THE IRON THRONE AT THE TIME OF THE GREAT WAR? 100 90 80
INTERESTED IN THE GAMES OF THE upcoming summer olympics?
70 60 50
100
40
90
30
80
20
70
10
60
0
50
WHAT dAENERYS Cersei IS GAME OF TARGARYEN lannister THRONES
40 30 20 10 0
No Interest
Moderately Interest
Very Interested
EXPECTATIONS FOR SUICIDE SQUAD? 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
It’ll be good?
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It’ll be bad
It’ll be just better than batman v. superman (bad)
JON SNOW
DON’T FORGET TO BRING YOUR “A” GAME!
SPORTS DAY AUGUST 5TH Landmark AUGUST 2016
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EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
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A BLOODY GOOD DAY TO DONATE PHOTOS BY MC3 MICHAEL DOAN
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I donatee= blood every chance I get. “I donate It’s a way to help blood every and I like to help chance I get. people.
It’s a way to help and I like to help people.”
-MM3 Kerrick
“I had surgery two years ago and I required blood. So it was nice to be able to give back what I was given. I continue to donate blood every chance that arises.” -ENC Scholefield
“ I think it’s great to have easy access onboard for Sailors to donate who can’t go to the hospital to donate. I am very grateful for this opportunity.”
-BM1 Womack
EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
CAPTAIN’S CALL Captain Mark A. Prokopius Commanding Officer USS Emory S. Land (AS 39)
How did it feel to be part of Liberation week here on Guam? It was an honor to participate in several events throughout the week. I think the most powerful event I witnessed was the Asan beach memorial ceremony. The memorial honored those who endured the Japanese occupation, including both survivors and those that lost their lives. I was honored to have met and presented a command coin to a U.S. Marine who stormed ashore at Asan beach on Liberation Day. What are your thoughts on the computer refresh and network upgrade? It’s a necessary evil. On one hand, working without connectivity and the network has been challenging at times. However, our Automated Data Processing division has done a good job of setting up a temporary work group to bridge the gap. On the other hand, the upgrade was necessary because our computers were too old to support necessary network upgrades. One aspect that I have enjoyed, if for no other reason than nostalgia, was our reversion to hardcopy message traffic routing. That’s the way we used to route message traffic when I was a junior officer – in a binder with action blocks for required personnel. What can you tell our readers about the services we provided the USS Columbia, which recently moored alongside Emory S. Land? Columbia came in for some emergent repairs. We were able to support those repairs and help return them to their deployment.
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Did you partake in the Fourth of July festivities? I did. I thought the whole weekend was a job well done by Naval Base Guam. The Three Days Grace concert on Thursday night was the highlight for me. I also attended the Hanson concert and fireworks show on the Fourth. I thought it was a great idea to light the fireworks off from a barge in the harbor – it made for quite a show. What events are on your radar for August? August will be busy. We will be the lead maintenance activity for a long and challenging continuous maintenance availability. And we also have to prepare for two important external inspections that will begin at the end of August and continue into September: an audit by NAVSEA 08 and our anti-terrorism/force protection certification. I am confident that we will be up for the tasks at hand.
Capt. Mark A. Prokopius, commanding officer of the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39), and Joana Margaret C. Blas, mayor of Asan village, wave to parade-goers during Guam’s Liberation Day parade. (U.S. Navy photo by MCSN Daniel Willoughby/RELEASED)
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EMORY S. LAND Public Affairs
C
haplain’s orner
Lieutenant Takana Takana Jefferson Skelton Lieutenant Command Chaplain Chaplain Command USS Emory Emory S.S. Land Land (AS (AS 39) 39) USS
Strength of the Pack
W
hen I was in Officer
We exceeded the exceptions of that goal
side-by-side, marching side-by-side and
Development School,
through the many hours given by those who
sweating side-by-side. The same way we
our chief gave us a quote
volunteered to help decorate the floats, those
fought side-by-side to liberate Guam in 1944.
by Rudyard Kipling as our motto. Through
who baked in the hot sun to march in the
We are now a part of the continued history
our time together we embraced the quote and
parade, and those who did both.
and legacy of Guam as we placed third in the
had it placed on our class t-shirts.
Parade with our sister village Asan-Maina.
we had transportation to and from the event,
pack is the wolf, and the strength of the
Sailors who took photos in order for us to
for all of our sailors who supported directly
wolf is the pack.” While there are different
have lasting memories and Sailors who
and indirectly. I am very proud and blessed
interpretations and meanings, I take it as
provided water as well as food to keep us
to serve as your chaplain. Remember, we are
there is strength in numbers.
going. It was a collective effort that could not
the pack that gives the wolf its strength and
have been accomplished any other way.
protection.
It states, “The strength of the
We have to support each other
There were Sailors who ensured
collectively in order to accomplish a common
goal. The lone wolf never survives. July 21,
sister villages of Dededo and Asan-Maina
2016 was the 72nd Annual Liberation Parade.
and embodied the theme of revitalization of
We, USS Emory S. Land, were given a goal.
the land and people of Guam by working
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We have become the bridge for our
I say a very deep-hearted thank you
The Official Newsletter of USS EMORY S. LAND (AS 39) Commanding Officer Captain Mark A. Prokopius Executive Officer Commander Brian C. Rednour Command Master Chief CMDCM (SS/NAC) William L. Greene Public Affairs Officer Lieutenant Bradley Newsad JAGC Leading Petty Officer MC1 (SW) Brandon Shelander Layout & Design MC3 Jason Amadi Journalism MC3 Jason Amadi MC3 Michael Doan MCSN Dan Willoughby