Kadngott Valappil Mohanan

In my service at kuwait , I was responsible for a vast array of equipment and tasking. My primary duty was to keep the AEGIS SPY 1(D)V Radar mission ready at all times. To accomplish this, I was employed with weekly preventative and corrective maintenance on equipment such as:

(1) Radio Frequency Monitor

(3) -45 kV High Voltage Power Supplies

(4) -17kV High Voltage Power Supplies

(2) Final Power Amplifiers

(1) Signal Processor

• (1) Auxiliary Cooling Skid.

Although maintaining radar was my primary duty, it was far from my only responsibility. My collateral duties outside of being a technician included:

• Repair Parts/Supply Petty Officer - A liaison to the division for all repair parts and supplies. The "RPPO" is responsible for ordering and replacing faulted equipment. It is the RPPO's duty to ensure that all equipment and supplies arrive in a timely fashion, and are operational. This enabled the repair and correction of over twenty casualties during my time on the USS GRAVELY.
• Assistant Work Center Supervisor - As second in command of the work center, the assistant work center supervisor will assume the duty and responsibility of work center supervisor in his absence. The assistant "WCS" is responsible for the current status and operability of the SPY 1(D)V Radar.
• Divisional Food Service Attendant - Food Service Attendant or "FSA", is a collateral duty for sailors to gain experience in customer and food service. In my six month period as an FSA, I served meals to the crew, operated the ship's scullery and trash compactor system, and maintained cleanliness and sanitization of the ship's mess decks and kitchen.
• Duty and Withstanding - Being attached to a warship means being prepared to defend it twenty-four hours a day. To ensure the safety and security of the ship, USS GRAVELY employs duty sections. Each section is comprised of 1/6th of the ship's crew that remains on board each day. Every duty section must be prepared to defend the ship in case of any possible threat. To prevent this, various watches are manned daily to keep a vigilant eye on the ship and her surroundings. The watches I was qualified to stand were:

Petty Officer of the Watch

• Assistant to the Officer of the Deck
• In charge of granting/denying access to the ship
• Manages the quarterdeck deck log

Messenger of the Watch

• Gathers reports for the officer of the deck
• Representative of the quarterdeck
• Reports the ship's status to the Commanding Officer

Topside Rover

• Mobile sentry
• Walks about the ship and reports any threats or abnormalities
• Reports to the Anti-Terrorism Officer

Contact Sentry

• Grants/denies access to the ship's pier
• Reports to the ship's quarterdeck
• Assisted vessel leadership in developing drills and procedures for on-board emergencies and implementing training procedures for crew members.