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(PORTSMOUTH, Va.) -- APL-61, also known as Hotel Texas, celebrated its 22nd birthday on Oct. 17. Hotel Texas has been cared for by James “JJ” Johnson for 20 of its 22 years of service.
JJ started as the sole tech of Hotel Texas in July 1999 after serving in the United States Navy for 24 years. Even after seeing many places while serving abroad, working aboard Hotel Texas has provided JJ with opportunities to see new places and experience new things.
“Wherever it’s going, if we’ve got the contract, I go with it,” JJ said. “I’ve been all over the East Coast with Hotel Texas, including Cape Cod, Florida, and Annapolis, Maryland.”
Being Hotel Texas’ main tech for two decades, JJ carries a very large workload day-to-day. He performs general maintenance, primarily plumbing and electrical, amenities that are crucial for maintaining Sailor morale for the numerous crews that have called the barge home during their maintenance cycle. Regardless of the repetition, JJ says he loves working here.
“I like doing it all,” he said. “I like working hard and I’m good with my hands.”
Jeff Manian, a project manager at Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, says JJ has an excellent work ethic.
“This is a two to three-man job that he does by himself with little assistance,” Manian said. “It’s a welcome relief to have his pride. He is self-sufficient and he takes ownership and personal, professional responsibility for anything.”
Manian shared his personal favorite story of working with JJ. During the winter of 2014, a snowstorm built up approximately 17 inches of snow. Everyone had been sent home or was told to stay home due to the dangerous conditions. Unfortunately, that Saturday night the cover of a heater unit on Hotel Texas was blown off by the storm. JJ, without being asked, drove through the storm at 2 a.m. to fix it.
“That’s customer service,” Manian said. “You can’t pay for that. You can’t put a price on that.”
On top of actually enjoying the work he gets to do, JJ says he enjoys the people he gets to work with.
“I haven’t really had a bad ship that was assigned to the barge to be honest,” he said. “And they all treated me well.”
The people JJ works with tend to like him as well.
“Just being around him brings your morale up,” Rick Cerza, Jr., a project manager at Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, said.
Like most anyone, JJ has days when he just doesn’t want to do the work. However, he tries not to look at it that way.
“I try not to have a bad day,” JJ said. “I try not to think about it. We’ve got things to do, things to take care of. We’ve got to do it; we’ve got to get it done.”
It is inevitable that JJ will get the job done and get it done well, but he can’t stay here forever.
“One day I’m going to have to give it up,” he said. “When that is, I don’t know. I can’t see it being anytime soon.”
Still, with Hotel Texas set to be with GHWB over the next year, it seems the crew will continue to be in good hands.
| Date Taken: | 12.11.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 12.11.2019 16:23 |
| Story ID: | 355347 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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