Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Matthew Harkless, lead electrician assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Crew 103 Pre-Commissioning Unit Detroit, hugs his niece after delivering the game ball at Comerica Park during the pregame festivities Aug. 26, 2015, as part of Navy Week Detroit.
America’s Navy is coming to Detroit in 2017, one of 15 cities selected to host a Navy Week, one of the Navy’s signature outreach programs.
Detroit is scheduled for Aug 28 to Sept. 4, coincident with the Thunder Over Michigan Air Show, and is designed to give area residents an opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people and its importance to national security and prosperity.
Plans for the weeklong celebration include:
• The Navy Parachute Team, the Leap Frogs.
• Navy Divers and Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams.
• Navy Band musical performances.
• Senior Navy Leadership.
• Namesake Sailors.
• USS Constitution.
• Navy simulators and other interactive displays.
• Visits to area schools.
• Community service projects and events with local organizations.
• Visits with local veterans.
Chief Fire Controlman Jeremiah Stellpflug, defensive systems operator assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Crew 103 Pre-Commissioning Unit Detroit, stabilizes a support beam during a Habitat for Humanity community relations project in Macomb County as part of Navy Week Detroit in 2015.
Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s signature outreach effort into areas of the country which do not have a significant Navy presence, with 195 Navy Weeks being held in 71 different U.S. cities.
“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 Cmdr. John Gay, Director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach, which plans and executes the Navy Week program.
“Because the Navy is concentrated primarily 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 focus a variety of outreach assets, equipment and personnel on a single city for a weeklong series of engagements with key influencers and organizations representing all sectors of the market.
“During a Navy Week, 75 to 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, Navy Office of Community Outreach Event Planning Department.
“We bring in as much of the Navy as we can. The Navy Parachute Team, bands, divers, Seabees, USS Constitution, EOD teams, crews of ships and submarines that are named after a city or state or have a tie to the area, hometown Sailors, interactive displays and equipment, and Navy recruiting assets all have participated in the Navy Week program.”