Photo By Adrian Pacheco | Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe Jr., the director for Portfolio Acquisition (PAE) Executive...... read more read more
How many kids truly know what their parents do for work? Some might have an idea, but perhaps most have a difficult time explaining it.
On this Bring your Child to Work Day, Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) welcomed more than 275 children to the command’s headquarters in Washington D.C., to learn about their parents’ day-to-day job supporting the U.S. Navy’s strategic deterrence mission.
PAE SSP serves as the Navy’s trusted experts in maintaining and sustaining the Trident II D5LE strategic weapon system: the Navy’s premier sea-based nuclear deterrent. As children checked in and filed into the command’s Management Center (MC), they were greeted by the Director for PAE SSP, Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe Jr.
“What your parents do every day is so important,” Wolfe said. “Your mom and dad make sure we’re safe. When your parents close out on their career, I hope you all will be next in line to continue their incredible work.”
After watching a short presentation of previous flight tests from PAE SSP’s 70-year history, the children were in awe of the technological accomplishments and eagerly asked questions.
“I’ve been in the Navy for 38 years,” Wolfe said to a crowd of K-12 students. “Our missiles go four times higher than any satellite we have; and our missiles travel far too – to put it into perspective, it travels further than coast to coast at a speed around 13,000 mph.”
As kids made their way out of the MC, they passed by some of the command’s small-scale ballistic missile submarine models, pointing at the missile tubes and expressing curiosity in some of the boat’s anatomy. As they walked through the halls, browsing and participating at each PAE SSP branch booth, they realized some of these incredible maritime achievements start with basic engineering principles that can be learned in the classroom.
To further support the children’s learning and understanding of PAE SSP, kids were handed a “Qualification Card,” which challenged them to visit as many PAE SSP branch booths as they could and to jot down a couple of interesting facts. The child that completed their card first won a prize. Apart from the reward, this challenge gave kids the opportunity to participate in several specialties that support PAE SSP’s mission, such as negotiating a deal, building a structure with everyday supplies, or launching a small home-made aircraft, among more. Through these activities, children had the chance to see the Navy’s bigger picture and understand how their parents’ role fits into the larger national defense mission.
Near the event’s conclusion, children voted for their favorite PAE SSP branch in the command’s “Kids’ Choice” competition. The winner was two-way tie between the Command Information Office and the United Kingdom Liaison Office.
Although Bring Your Child to Work Day comes once a year, SSP team members hope it left their children with a better understanding of what they do in support of the nation’s deterrence capabilities and warfighters around the world and under the sea.
SSP is responsible for sustaining the strategic weapon system (SWS) on the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) and supporting the integration of the D5LE weapon system on the new Columbia-class SSBNs. Looking to the future, SSP is actively modernizing the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad through the development of the D5LE2 SWS and pioneering regional strike capabilities of the future through development of the nuclear-armed sea launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) and the non-nuclear hypersonic conventional prompt strike system (CPS).
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2026 10:27 |
| Story ID: | 563501 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, PAE SSP Employees Bring Their Children to Work, by Edvin Hernandez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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