GW SHs provide service to crewmembers

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON, SOLOMON SEA , AT SEA

06.28.2015

Courtesy Story

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73)

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Shayla D. Hamilton
USS George Washington Public Affairs

SOLOMON SEA – Ship’s Servicemen (SHs) aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) work together to provide shipboard services to the crew daily.

Ship’s Servicemen are responsible for managing and operating all shipboard retail and service activities. These services include operating two ship’s stores, two barbershops, laundry and a tailor shop. SHs are also responsible for maintaining financial records and accounting systems.

“Ship’s Servicemen are your key to all things retail on the ship,” said Chief Ship’s Serviceman Tigidankay A. Kamara, sales division leading chief petty officer. “The SH can do it all. They are your barbers, your tailors, your cashiers, your shelf-stockers.”

With more than 5,000 Sailors to serve, maintaining inventory and procurement databases play a vital role in keeping popular items on the shelves and in vending machines.

“We live up to our name,” said Ship’s Serviceman Seaman Daniel Lemus, from Las Vegas. “We are servicemen, serving service members. We are here to provide our shipmates with as many of the necessities as we can. Whether it be workout gear, snacks or souvenirs for their families back home, we do our best to keep the shelves stocked with the things they like.”

SHs also play a role in maintaining shipboard morale; directly through offering services and indirectly through benefits that Sailors receive from Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR). All proceeds generated from the ship’s store and other services provided by ship’s servicemen, go to the ship’s MWR, which result in discounted tours, hotels and funding for various social events.

“We are so privileged to be a source of health and comfort on the ship,” said Kamara. “It’s nice to put smiles on the faces of our shipmates everyday. We do our very best to keep stores stocked with items suggested by the crewmembers. It gives us great pleasure to know that our hard work is noticed and appreciated.”

George Washington and its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, are on patrol in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. George Washington will conduct a hull-swap with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) later this year after serving seven years as the U.S. Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, Japan.

• Date Taken: 06.28.2015
• Date Posted: 07.02.2015 05:57
• Story ID: 168441
• Location: USS GEORGE WASHINGTON, SOLOMON SEA , AT SEA
• Hometown: LAS VEGAS, NV, US