Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Samantha Oblander | SOUTH CHINA SEA (Feb. 10, 2022) Cryptologic Technician (Technical) 2nd Class Ethan...... read more read more
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A Napa, Calif. native and 2016 graduate of Vintage High School is serving aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114).
Petty Officer 2nd Class Ethan McNeelan is a Cryptologic Technician (Collection), also known as CTR, serving aboard USS Ralph Johnson, forward-deployed to Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan.
“Ever since I was a kid I wanted to join the military,” said McNeelan. “I originally wanted to join the Army, but when I began exploring the various recruiting offices, the Navy seemed like the best fit out of the three services I inquired with.”
Every job in the Navy is different and McNeelan described what his job encompasses and why he chose it.
“I chose CTR because I wanted to work in intelligence and it’s been a great fit,” said McNeelan. “I’ve really enjoyed my work so far. CTRs are analysts of many specialties. We can provide indications and warnings of enemy contacts in the ship’s vicinity to the ship’s tactical action officer, as well as the greater strike group itself for self-defense. CTRs also collect and process radio frequency signals, write reports on various intelligence topics, and conduct in-depth analysis and research on new and old information to contribute to the national intelligence community.
Every rate is a single piece of the puzzle that is the United States Navy and McNeelan explained why his rate is vital to the Navy’s mission.
“CTRs can work anywhere,” said McNeelan. “You can find us carrying out our duties on ships, subs, planes, as well as on shore. We are the only rate to handle our specific subset of intelligence and information gathering and without us, the greater intelligence community would falter. Not only that, but we play a critical role in the self-defense of our ships.”
With almost every job in the world, you can probably find something to love about it and for McNeelan, being a CTR is no exception.
“The best thing about my job is that I have the privilege to work with so many smart people and I am constantly learning new things,” said McNeelan. “This job was very surprising to me because it doesn’t matter if you’re the most senior person in the rate or if you’re the most junior person; everyone can learn from everybody, regardless of rank. Wherever I go, I’ve always managed to find one or two people who know their jobs so well and have everything about their professional and personal life squared away. It’s funny, because whenever I think I’m in the best place I can be, I find one of these people and realize that I still have so many things to aspire to and achieve.”
While learning from others is important to McNeelan, one of the things he’s proudest of accomplishing since joining the Navy is how he used his own experiences learning to help teach other Sailors in his field.
“After earning my Enlisted Information Warfare Specialist pin and having to create many of my own study materials, I decided to study to become designated as a subject matter expert for my command’s portion of the program,” said McNeelan. “This meant that I was now able to train others and sign their books. Beyond that, I was able to create better quality study materials so more people could earn this warfare pin for themselves. The best part of this undertaking was being able to personally pin two of my best friends when they earned theirs.”
Even when you have a group of people you can turn to to learn from, sometimes experience is the best teacher you can have and McNeelan shared one of the most important lessons he’s learned throughout his time in the Navy.
“If you find yourself in a poor situation, or what you deem to be a poor situation, always make the best of it,” McNeelan said. “Any time spent sitting around being upset about things is time wasted and will ultimately get you nowhere. Find some form of positivity and make that poor situation work in your favor.”
USS Ralph Johnson recently shifted homeports from Everett, Wash. to Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka and McNeelan is enjoying his time both at his current command and in Japan.
“Being here is pretty fun,” McNeelan said. “There’s tons of good food and incredible sites to see, of course. Plus, being on a ship is so different and in a lot of ways, more fun and exciting that shore duty was. I’m definitely happy that I decided to reenlist and got to experience all of this.”
Ralph Johnson is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet is the largest forward-deployed fleet and routinely operates and interacts with 35 maritime nations while conducting missions to preserve and protect critical regional partnerships.
| Date Taken: | 02.21.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2022 20:06 |
| Story ID: | 417351 |
| Location: | YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 203 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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