Contributed by Chief Mass Communication Specialist John Sorensen, Navy Office of Community Outreach
Coarsegold native Petty Officer 3rd Class Noah Cahill is serving in the U.S. Navy as part of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise.
Cahill serves as a nuclear electronics technician aboard the USS Charlotte, currently stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As a nuclear electronics technician, Cahill is responsible for operating the nuclear reactor aboard a nuclear-powered submarine and maintaining its control subsystems.
By serving in the United States Navy, Cahill is part of a team that is taking on a new importance of focusing on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.
“To me serving means I’m a part of the maritime defense the Navy offers to our ally countries,” said Cahill. “Most wars are won or lost at sea and we can be anywhere any time we are needed.”
RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity to help foster and sustain cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring safety and security at sea. During RIMPAC, partners train and operate together in order to strengthen their collective forces and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific. This year’s exercise includes forces from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
“At RIMPAC, I think it’s very cool that we are interacting with all these different countries,” said Cahill. “That’s not something that happens anywhere else.”
The exercise contributes to the increased interoperability, resiliency and agility needed to deter and defeat aggression by major powers across all domains and levels of conflict. RIMPAC 2022 is the 28th exercise in the series, with the first exercise taking place in 1971.
This year’s theme is Capable, Adaptive, Partners. Twenty-six nations, 38 ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC 2022 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The participating nations and forces will exercise a wide range of capabilities ranging from disaster relief and maritime security operations to sea control and complex warfighting. The relevant and realistic training portion of RIMPAC 2022 includes gunnery, missile, anti-submarine and air defense exercises, as well as amphibious, counter-piracy, mine clearance operations, explosive ordinance disposal and diving and salvage operations.
“We have a very rigorous training program we call the “Nuclear Pipeline,”” said Cahill. “I’m very proud to have gotten through those two years of training so I’m ready for the job the Navy has asked me to do.”
As a member of the U.S. Navy, Cahill and other sailors carry on a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing a strong Navy the nation needs.
“My service in the Navy is for the people back home,” added Cahill. “Help give them a country they can live in and love.”