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The U.S. Navy is known for defending freedom of the seas with ships such as aircraft carriers, destroyers, and amphibious assault ships. But the navy isn’t limited to just the seas. Sailors can begin their careers in various ways and QM2 Quinton Chrockrem, the navigation department ALPO, walked one that was particularly challenging but rewarding.
“I volunteered for RIVRON (Coastal Riverine Group Squadron),” said Chrockrem. “It’s an expeditionary unit focusing on small boat tactics. The unit focuses on combat-oriented scenarios. In A school, we had an HMCS come in and give a presentation on the command, and at the end of it he asked who was interested, and I raised my hand.”
While a part of RIVRON, Chrockrem was deployed to Afghanistan, Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Guam, Korea, Africa, Alaska, Panama, and the Philippines.
“I think the longest time between deployments was about a year,” said Chrockrem. “The shortest break was about two weeks. I would be gone for a month or two, be home for a week, and then go right back out. The movement between deployments depended on what missions were going on and what they needed us for. Sometimes we would be gone for a month just to do some training operations; other times we’d be gone for three or four months gathering intelligence.”
Not only was there a huge difference in time that Chrockrem was deployed, the experiences between deployments were vastly different. Some operations were humanitarian missions and some were tactical missions.
“My favorite operation was either in Korea or Panama,” said Chrockrem. “In Korea we were doing Citadel Shield, and Panama was a sub escort.”
When Chrockrem was in Panama he was able to relax and enjoy the country. He said they were there for two months on standby to conduct a two day operation.
Chrockrem was also fond of the time that he was deployed to Africa.
“Africa isn’t like what movies portray,” said Chockrem. “It is actually really nice out there. It wasn’t a bad time at all.”
While in Africa, Chrockrem also had some unusual experiences.
“The Africa deployment was pretty chill,” He said. “We had some random things happen out there. The way our boats work is that you have an exhaust underneath the water where it sucks in water, most of it goes back out and some of it goes through the engine to cool it down. We had something blocking the grate of the exhaust and couldn’t figure it out. So me being the lowest man on the totem pole, they sent me in the water to unclog the grates. When I came back up, I actually had a handful of a hand. We had a severed hand clogged in the grates.”
Not all of Chrockrem’s memories were as startling as finding a human hand, but there were many. Chrockrem gained a lot personally from being in RIVRON. He made relationships that no other situation or command could have fostered.
“When you get stuck on a 36-foot boat with eight dudes, you kind of learn about each other,” said Chockrem. “Frustration gets high, but you come out of it really tightly knit.”
The brown water Navy is very different from the blue water Navy. The mission, the environment and the relationships between Sailors are all a huge.
“I’ve been making the switch very slowly,” said Chockrem. “I’ve been leaning on my peers to help me out.”
Chrockrem felt he wanted a change in his career so he transitioned to the blue water navy.
While making this switch he has been using things he learned from the environment of RIVRON to help him along the way.
“You can definitely see the brown water side in the way Chrokrem works,” said QMCM Jonathan Rivera, the navigation department DLCPO. “It’s especially present in the way he treats other sailors.”
There are pros and cons about switching environments so drastically. For Chrockrem, some adjustments are difficult and others prove useful.
“My favorite thing about transitioning into blue water has actually been my rate,” said Chockrem. “With brown water Navy, I was kind of a jack of all trades, EM, GM, MA. I did a little bit of everything. All I knew before about navigation was chart correction and how to lay a track down. So, finally being able to learn my rate after nine and a half years is nice. It’s eye-opening. Being out at sea is a little nerve-wracking sometimes, I kind of want to get back on land sometimes, but it’s not bad.”
The importance he places on relationships with his fellow Sailors is still there. Chrockrem learned this in RIVRON and is practicing and teaching it to the ship by the way he conducts himself. He is helpful, understanding, and an excellent model for junior Sailors. The path that Chrockrem started his career on may not be the same one he’s traveling now, but he still applies the good things he learned from RIVRON to life in the blue water Navy.
| Date Taken: | 01.28.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2021 18:59 |
| Story ID: | 413625 |
| Location: | MEDITERRANEAN SEA |
| Web Views: | 63 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, From Rivers to the Sea, by PO2 Tate Cardinal, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
