Chattanooga Honors Military at Riverbend Festival During Navy Week

Photo By Vaughan Dill | 180613-N-SH284-1483 CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (June 13, 2018) The Navy Fleet Forces Band performs on the Coke Main Stage at Riverbend Festival Military Appreciation Night as part of Chattanooga Navy Week. Navy Weeks are designed to connect the public with Navy Sailors, programs and equipment throughout the country. Every year, America's Navy comes home to approximately 15 cities across the country to show Americans why having a strong Navy is critical to the American way of life. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Vaughan Dill/Released)  

CHATTANOOGA, TN, UNITED STATES

06.13.2018

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Vaughan Dill 

Navy Public Affairs Support Element, Det. Northwest

CHATTANOOGA Tenn. – The city of Chattanooga welcomed military members to its Riverbend Festival by hosting a Military Appreciation night, on the Coke main stage along the Tennessee River at Ross’s Landing, and featured, the United States Fleet Forces ceremonial band playing patriotic music, as part of Navy Week, June 13.

During the ceremony, Rear Adm. Paul Pearigen, commander, Navy Medicine West, and chief of the Navy Medical Corps and Memphis, Tenn., Native enlisted more than 20 future Sailors and 15 future soldiers, swearing in the new service members.

With more than 48 families and thousands of spectators in attendance, the future Sailors and Soldiers, currently members of the military Delayed Entry Program, raised their right hand and took their Oath of Enlistment.

Retired Navy Captain Mickey McCamish, who retired in 1992 following 26 years of service, served as an event organizer and keynote speaker.

“Riverbend is Chattanooga’s number one event as voted on by the people, so therefore Chattanooga is such a patriotic town,” said McCamish. “It really only makes sense to do it [Military Appreciation Night] from the platform that the people chose as the number one event.”

Tennessee has 9,000 active duty sailors, including sailors from Chattanooga. During the event, Pearigen recognized six Sailors participating in Navy Week who are Chattanooga hometown natives.

“It means a lot to come back and see how Chattanooga has grown and get to mingle with the people here and let the public see what the Navy does, It’s important. This is my first Navy week, I’ve never done one but when I saw Chattanooga come up on the list I immediately volunteered,” said Senior Chief Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Brian Cummings, assigned to EOD Mobile Unit TWELVE and Chattanooga native. “It was a great opportunity to volunteer and come and show my friends and my local community members what the Navy does.”

“In the state of Tennessee, the motto is the volunteer state. It earned that from the fact that it did volunteer heavily in the civil war. That environment has continued throughout the years, where volunteering for the military has become a natural thing,” stated McCamish. “It’s a way of life with us Tennesseans. I’m a good example of that, my father was in the military, he was in WWII, and it’s become a way of life, its become something that we want to do. We value freedom and we value serving our country.”

Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy's principal outreach effort in the areas of the country without a significant naval presence. More than 212 Navy Weeks have been held in 76 different U.S. cities.

For more information about Navy Week, visit http://www.outreach.navy.mil/, or follow the hashtag #NavyWeek.

• Date Taken: 06.13.2018
• Date Posted: 06.16.2018 13:09
• Story ID: 281240
• Location: CHATTANOOGA, TN, US
• Hometown: CHATTANOOGA, TN, US
• Hometown: MEMPHIS, TN, US