{"id":274403,"date":"2024-09-10T14:49:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T14:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=274403"},"modified":"2024-09-10T17:16:49","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T17:16:49","slug":"it-takes-team-work-to-open-essex-gym","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=274403","title":{"rendered":"It Takes Team Work to Open Essex Gym"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN DIEGO (August 16, 2024) After being closed for nearly two years due to a drydocking selected restricted availability (DSRA) maintenance period, the main gym aboard amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) reopened, August 16, 2024.<\/p>\n

From floor repairs to new equipment, a new gym onboard Essex has been a long time coming. At the beginning of the gym project, when the old, worn-out gym equipment and floor mats were removed, it was discovered that the gym flooring was corroded and floor repairs became the main priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deck was super corroded in two areas, on the starboard (right) side and in the middle of the gym,\u201d said Sara Krise, Essex\u2019s afloat recreation specialist, or more commonly known as Fun Boss.<\/p>\n

Fun bosses run the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) programs on ships and are responsible for the programming of recreational events, sports and special events and activities for military personnel serving at sea to help reduce the stress of deployment and improve morale. One major MWR program is the gym.<\/p>\n

With a high quality and well-maintained space a primary concern, said Krise, it was important that proper maintenance be performed before any new floor mats and gym equipment were brought in; which meant that the entire floor needed to be properly sanded and painted.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, due to a rushed deadline, paint not drying correctly and the wet paint accidentally being walked on, a month\u2019s worth of floor repairs needed to be done twice. In the Navy, something as simple as painting a floor takes a lot more steps than simply paint-to-floor. Between finding volunteers to help, coordinating the closing of specific spaces on the ship and getting approval for cold-work (painting) so that it doesn\u2019t interfere with hot-work (welding), a month\u2019s worth of work took about four months, according to Master at Arms 1st Class Michael Norval, who graciously volunteered his time to help.<\/p>\n

According to Krise, Norval wasn\u2019t originally involved with the work in the gym. When it became apparent that the floors in the gym needed to be redone, she reached out to the Security department simply because they own the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cMA1 Norval did an amazing job at ensuring the deck was resanded and repainted,\u201d said Krise. \u201cHe sort of, just, took it upon himself to make sure the work got done, which was fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norval recruited two Sailors specifically to help, Operations Specialist 3rd Class Yajaira Espinoza Soto and Airman Mika Dotterweich.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked these two Sailors to help out because they are the most motivated and reliable and they have a similar drive as I do to make sure the job gets done,\u201d said Norval.<\/p>\n

Espinoza Soto and Dotterweich are currently assigned to security as part of in-port security forces (ISF), where their primary responsibility is armed watch standing to protect the ship and their fellow Sailors. All of the assistance they provided was performed during their breaks in-between watches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really wasn\u2019t much of a bother, you just have to take initiative and work together as a team,\u201d said Espinoza Soto.<\/p>\n

Dotterweich had much of the same sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re coming into work, you\u2019re going to be working no matter what,\u201d said Dotterweich. \u201cI\u2019d rather be helping someone out during my off time, plus, it helps the time go by faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

An upgrade of about $170,000 in new gym equipment and about $200,000 in new floor mats is no small feat. Lt. j. g. Jonathan Contreras, who helped with the MWR program, assessed the equipment needs of the gym and placed the order for the new equipment through Deployed Forces Support Program (DFS), Krise coordinated with Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) to ensure a crane was available to assist with the onload of the new gym equipment while also working with Capt. Russell Everitt, executive officer of Essex and Master Chief Charles Parker, command master chief of Essex, to coordinate ship\u2019s personnel to assist with bringing on the new equipment.<\/p>\n

The onload and placement of the new gym mats would have taken the MWR team 36 hours to complete, according to Chief Air Traffic Controlman Erin Gladwin, MWR\u2019s \u201cFun Chief\u201d onboard Essex.<\/p>\n

When the duty section of the day pitched in to help, that was cut down to only a two-hour working party. In addition, NAVSUP was able to crane all of the new gym equipment from the pier to the flight deck of the ship, and volunteers of the ship\u2019s crew hand-carried it down to the hangar bay and up two flights of stairs to the gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a lot of teamwork from junior enlisted all the way up the ranks to senior officers to get the gym ready at the level it was completed at. Even though it wasn\u2019t mandatory, a lot of people took time out of their schedule to make it happen,\u201d said Gladwin.<\/p>\n

Krise has enjoyed revamping the ship\u2019s gym and aspires to make it custom to Essex.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy intent with the gym is to make it one-of-a-kind,\u201d says Krise. \u201cWhile gyms are all kind of the same, I want to make it custom-tuned to the Essex with the best equipment and best placement of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the future, Krise plans to order additional equipment to continue filling out the available space in the gym. She is also considering the idea of having a few \u201cmini gyms\u201d around the ship, dependent on approval from departments who own specific spaces, to allow for even more opportunities for Sailors to get a quick workout in.<\/p>\n

Now that the gym is open, Krise is already planning events such as an \u201cAloha Challenge\u201d, which runs from September 9 to September 30 and encourages Sailors to run, row or bike 25.21 miles to win a prize, mirroring the fact that Hawaii is 2,521 miles away from San Diego. She also plans to initiate \u201c1,000 Pound Clubs\u201d and other events to encourage camaraderie with fellow shipmates and to help Sailors feel proud of the gym.<\/p>\n

For Norval, the gym is one of the most important departments of the ship and it means a lot to the crew as a whole to have the gym open again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two most important departments that I see, that are kind of the heart of the ship, are the galley and the gym. The galley is the left ventricle and the gym is the right ventricle; and I love this ship. I love every Sailor on this ship. I think that they\u2019re all excited for this and that the opening of the gym will increase morale,\u201d said Norval.<\/p>\n

Essex is home ported in San Diego conducting a maintenance period to upgrade and refurbish many key systems aboard.<\/p>\n

For more news from USS Essex, follow us on Facebook, and Instagram at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/USSESSEX, https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ussessex_lhd2\/
or visit https:\/\/www.surfpac.navy.mil\/lhd2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO (August 16, 2024) After being closed for nearly two years due to a drydocking selected restricted availability (DSRA) maintenance period, the main gym aboard amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) reopened, August 16, 2024. From floor repairs to new equipment, a new gym onboard Essex has been a long time coming. At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":274405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=274403"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":274406,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274403\/revisions\/274406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/274405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=274403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=274403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=274403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}