Wekiva grad serves aboard a floating airport at sea

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tom Gagnier, Navy Office of Community Outreach.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A 2015 Wekiva High School graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Rebecca Ayala is a logistics specialist aboard the carrier stationed in Newport News, Virginia. As a Navy logistics specialist, Ayala is responsible for supply management on the ship including everything from pencils to aircraft parts.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Rebecca Ayala

Ayala credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned growing up in Orlando.

“I just think it’s important to treat everyone like family and be there for one another,” said Ayala. “It translates well to the community atmosphere of a Navy ship.”

Named in honor of the first president of the United States, George Washington, the carrier is longer than three football fields, measuring nearly 1,100 feet. The ship, a true floating city, weighs more than 100,000 tons and has a flight deck that is 256 feet wide.

Powerful catapults slingshot the aircraft off the bow of the ship. The planes land aboard the carrier by snagging a steel cable with an arresting hook that protrudes from the rear of the aircraft.

George Washington is currently undergoing a four-year refueling complex overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding, a process that includes refueling the ship’s nuclear reactors and modernizing more than 2,300 compartments and hundreds of systems. The carrier is expected to leave the shipyard in 2021 and return to Yokosuka, Japan, as the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier.

A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, according to Navy officials, and that the nation’s prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the world’s oceans. More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the world’s population lives close to the coast, and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea.

Ayala is playing an important part in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.

“Our priorities center on people, capabilities, and processes, and will be achieved by our focus on speed, value, results, and partnerships,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “Readiness, lethality and modernization are the requirements driving these priorities.”

Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community, and career, Ayala is most proud of earning recent Junior Sailor of the Quarter honors.

“It felt good representing the supply department,” said Ayala. “We all work hard, and it was nice to see my contributions noticed.”

Serving in the Navy is a continuing tradition of military service for Ayala, who has military ties with family members who have previously served. Ayala is honored to carry on the family tradition.

“My family has generations full of military service. I'm the first female though. My uncle was a diver in the Navy. He gave me the lowdown on what to expect,” said Ayala.

Sailors’ jobs are highly varied aboard the carrier. Approximately 3,200 men and women make up the ship's crew, which keeps all parts of the aircraft carrier running smoothly -- this includes everything from washing dishes and preparing meals to handle weaponry and maintaining the nuclear reactors. Another 2,500 men and women from the air wing responsible for flying and maintaining the aircraft aboard the ship.

"Our ship’s motto is the Spirit of Freedom, and this motto is evidenced daily in the actions and character of our sailors,” said Capt. Glenn Jamison, commanding officer of George Washington. “The work they are involved in today is difficult, but is vital to national security, to our maritime strategy, and to our ability to provide compassion and aid when and where needed. I am continually impressed by the level of professionalism and expertise demonstrated by the each and every sailor who serves aboard George Washington."

George Washington, like each of the Navy’s aircraft carriers, is designed for 50-year service life. When the air wing is embarked, the ship carries more than 70 attack jets, helicopters, and other aircraft, all of which take off from and land aboard the carrier at sea.

All of this makes the George Washington a self-contained mobile airport and strike platform, and often the first response to a global crisis because of a carrier’s ability to operate freely in international waters anywhere on the world’s oceans.

As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied upon assets, Ayala and other George Washington sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.

"The Navy has shown me my strengths and weaknesses as an individual. It’s a good thing though,” added Ayala. “It taught me how strong I can be mentally, and shown me that I can do anything I set my mind to.”