WILMINGTON — As part of a broader goal to showcase the U.S. Navy in markets away from its fleet concentration areas, Wilmington has been selected as a location for its Navy Week program.
Navy sailors from across the U.S. will be coming to the Port City during the week of April 1–7 “to show the Navy to the community,” according to a release sent by Navy spokesperson Jackson Brown on Thursday.
About 75 outreach events will feature senior Navy leadership speakers, sailors from the oldest warship afloat — the USS Constitution — demonstrations by divers and explosive ordnance disposal teams, a band performance, and information from the Office of Small Business Programs.
According to Brown, the Navy Week program has been the military branch’s primary outreach effort into areas with little Navy presence. Since 2005 there have been 210 Navy Weeks held in 74 U.S. cities.
“Navy Weeks are designed to help Americans understand why having a strong Navy is critical to the American way of life,” said Cmdr. Linda Rojas, director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO), which carries out the Navy Week program. “Because the Navy is concentrated primarily in select locations on both coasts, we’re challenged to communicate our mission away from fleet concentration areas. That’s where the Navy Week program comes in.”
Navy Weeks, Brown said, focus a variety of “outreach assets”, equipment, and personnel on a single city for a week-long series of engagements with important leaders and organizations representing all sectors of the local market.
“The 2019 schedule is exciting for us,” said Lt. John Stevens, NAVCO Navy Week program manager. “We’re outside the continental U.S. for the first time in our program’s history as we travel to Puerto Rico, we have the potential for some ships joining us in our coastal markets, and we’ll be taking the program to new places like Grand Junction, Colorado.”
Navy Week will move to Puerto Rico the following week.
