From Phoenix to Baton Rouge, America’s Navy will come home to 15 cities across the country in 2016 as part of the Navy Week program. Navy Week will “sail” into Baton Rouge on its last stop, Oct. 31-Nov. 6.
“Navy Weeks are designed to help Americans understand that their Navy protects and defends America on the world’s oceans, that their Navy is deployed around the world around the clock, and is ready to defend America at all times,” said John Wallach, NAVCO’s deputy director. “Because the Navy is concentrated primarily on both coasts, we’re challenged to communicate our mission away from fleet concentration areas. The Navy Week program helps us do that.” Navy Week offers a glimpse into how the men and women of the United States Navy serve the American people. What’s it like to be deployed at sea for six months? How does the Navy contribute to world peace and security? What new technologies is the Navy currently developing? These questions and many more will be answered at Baton Rouge Navy Week.
Baton Rouge Navy Week
Baton Rouge Navy Week will coincide with the Greater Baton Rouge State Fair and will focus a variety of events, equipment and personnel for a week-long series of engagements with the public, key influencers and organizations representing all sectors of the community.
“During a Navy Week, 75-100 outreach events are coordinated with corporate, civic, government, education, media, veterans, community service and diversity organizations in the city,” said Lt. Cmdr. Brett Dawson, NAVCO’s event planning department head. “We bring in as much of the Navy as we can. The Blue Angels, the Navy Parachute Team, bands, divers, Seabees, EOD teams, crews of ships and submarines that are named after a city or state or have a tie to the area, hometown Sailors, medical personnel, environmental displays, USS Constitution Sailors and equipment, and Navy recruiting assets all have participated in the Navy Week program.”
Navy Week cities are chosen based on a variety of factors, including Gallup data on Navy knowledge and awareness, Navy recruiting data, demographic information, namesake ties of ships and submarines, past outreach history in the market and geography, to ensure events are dispersed across the country.
Navy Week will be a great opportunity for the Baton Rouge community to get involved and show support for America’s armed forces. We will post a full schedule of events as soon as it becomes available. Navy Weeks in the past have include the Blue Angels, Navy Leap Frog parachute team demos, Navy Band performances, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) dive tanks, flight simulators and SEAL fitness challenges.
Last year’s Navy Week program helped commemorate the Navy Reserve Centennial. There were 12 Navy Weeks across America that reached nearly 100 million Americans through more than 1,500 individual outreach events.
For more information on the Navy Week program, visit http://www.outreach.navy.mil.
The Baton Rouge event page is not yet updated with a schedule but can be found here—> http://www.outreach.navy.mil/Navy-Weeks/Baton-Rouge
Sources & photos: outreach.navy.mil