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Sustaining our warfighting advantage requires a dedicated team of experts committed to Fleet readiness. Among these experts is Onsite Representative Jad Graves, who is known for his superb work ethic, problem-solving skills, knowledge of submarine systems, and dedication to the mission and the Fleet.
Jad is from Camp Wood, Texas, where his grandfather worked on offshore oil rigs after retiring from the Navy. Growing up, Jad was fascinated by his grandfather's stories of traveling the world and the interesting people he met. His grandfather encouraged him to take up diving in high school. “I'd always ask him, what's the best job to have on the oil rig?” said Jad. “He said, ‘The divers have the best jobs.’”
Inspired by his grandfather’s service, the events of September 11, 2001, and his goal of becoming a Navy diver, Jad enlisted in the Navy after finishing high school. He served as a specialized Navy Diver supporting Special Operations Forces. His duty stations included the Navy Experimental Diving Unit, the Mobile Diving Salvage Unit in Hawaii and both SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams.
He served as a team leader for the Navy’s first certification of a flyaway saturation diving system, which included its first 1,000-foot, open-ocean saturation dive in 37 years. According to a current coworker of Jad’s who was a trainer for the dive, “It was an extremely high visibility, high profile dive. No second chances. Jad was handpicked.” Jad retired from active duty as a chief petty officer after 20 years of service. He then went to work at Keyport as an onsite representative contractor supporting the fleet. In 2023, after a year as a contractor, he landed his current civilian position, in which he continues to support the Fleet in a similar capacity.
Jad's direct support for the certification and on-time delivery of mission-capable assets aligns to the first and second Naval Sea Systems Command Enterprise Strategy Lines of Effort: “Accelerate Force Generation" and "Generate Readiness.”
Jad recently served as lead test director for an effort to develop and execute a rapid certification process for a Fleet asset. His team was nominated for the 2024 “Point of the Spear Support (Team)” Command Award for its work on this effort.
Jad’s coworkers praised his dedication and expertise.
“Jad is an extremely motivated individual whose level of knowledge […] is instrumental to our team's mission and goals,” said his supervisor. “He's definitely a team player who thinks outside the box to overcome obstacles and keeps all of us informed on a practically daily basis.”
A coworker added, “Jad is a go-to guy who hits the ground running. He attacks everything head-on, identifies a problem, finds a solution, and then works toward resolving it. He's got a very uplifting, positive personality.”
Outside of work, Jad is a dedicated husband and father of four, an outdoorsman and a conservationist who serves as a committee chairman for a major conservation organization. He also jokingly refers to himself as an "aspiring offshore fisherman and boat repairman." He describes his mission in life as passing on a better world to his children and the Sailors who follow in his footsteps. -KPT- Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport is headquartered in the state of Washington on the Puget Sound, about 10 miles west of Seattle. To provide ready support to Fleet operational forces at all major Navy homeports in the Pacific, NUWC Division, Keyport maintains detachments in San Diego, California and Honolulu, Hawaii, and remote operating sites in Guam; Japan; Hawthorne, Nevada; and Portsmouth, Virginia. At NUWC Division, Keyport, our diverse and highly skilled team of engineers, scientists, technicians, administrative professionals and industrial craftsmen work tirelessly to develop, maintain and sustain undersea warfare superiority for the United States.
| Date Taken: | 04.20.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 04.21.2026 10:23 |
| Story ID: | 563107 |
| Location: | KEYPORT, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 12 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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