{"id":203805,"date":"2015-06-09T04:00:53","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T18:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=203805"},"modified":"2015-06-09T04:00:53","modified_gmt":"2015-06-08T18:00:53","slug":"aboard-the-uss-milius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/aboard-the-uss-milius\/","title":{"rendered":"Aboard the USS Milius"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"USS<\/a>
USS Milius is an Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer. Aboard her are over 300 sailors. (Frauline S. Villanueva)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The USS Milius is on its way to Hawaii today after staying four days at the Port of Saipan but before they left, I was lucky enough to get permission to go aboard.<\/p>\n

\"USS<\/a>
USS Milius is helo-capable, meaning helicopters can land on the ship to serve purposes such as delivering mails, bringing in personnel or refueling. (Frauline S. Villanueva)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While most of its crew was enjoying the island\u2019s great beaches, serene sceneries, and exciting adventures, I was able to tour the decks and galleys of the destroyer.<\/p>\n

It was my first time to go on a naval ship (and a giddy kid was I) and was greeted by sailors who seemed to me very proud of their ship and to serve on board. Among them was Command Master Chief William Houlihan, who helped me get around.<\/p>\n

As a naval ship, Milius is one of the smaller ones, but all the same a great ship. It is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, whose mission is to \u201cprovide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities in support of the nation\u2019s maritime security strategy.\u201d It operates as part of strike groups or underway replenishment groups but can also function independently.<\/p>\n

Our first stop was its upper deck where the huge MK45 5\u201d\/54-caliber gun is mounted. Over on its south side is its flight deck where it\u2019s capable of landing helicopters in order to transfer mail, equipment, and people to and from the ship.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The bridge of USS Milius where the ship is commanded. (Frauline S. Villanueva)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Located in various strategic positions are several more of its weaponry, including two MK41 vertical launching systems, Tomahawk cruise missile system, Harpoon cruise missile system, and two Phalanx close-in weapon system, among others.<\/p>\n

Tough on the outside, \u2018city\u2019 on the inside
\nOn the outside, Milius seems intimidating\u2014as a naval ship should be. But on the inside, as Houlihan said so himself before we went in, the ship is \u201clike a small city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the many cabins, nooks, and crannies of Milius is a barbershop, which explains how Navy service members avoid being scruffy sailors despite being out at sea for too long.<\/p>\n

There are also a number of spaces turned into gyms for those who want to work out and keep fit. Houlihan pointed out that small ships like Milius shouldn\u2019t have gyms, unlike bigger aircraft carriers, but they just have to make use of whatever space they can. Not only do they have weights but few pieces of gym equipment as well.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The mess deck is where sailors whose pay grades are E6 and below eat and relax while underway. (Frauline S. Villanueva)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the ship\u2019s tight halls and passages, it\u2019s easy to be claustrophobic and bump your head while going up one of the stairs. After banging my head on one of the metal floorings, I was told I could then call myself a sailor as sailors won\u2019t be sailors without going through that, too.<\/p>\n

There is also a room that can pass for a mini-library but has many purposes such as being a conference room, prayer room or a place where dads or moms record themselves reading books to their little ones to send back home. Ain\u2019t they sweet?<\/p>\n

More sweet for the sailors aboard is their mess deck where everyone can spend their break times to eat. Here, they can also watch movies or even play video games. Those under pay grade E-6 and below all use the mess deck while those from E-7 through E-9 eat and do their own recreational activities at the CPO Mess.<\/p>\n

The mess looks like a diner and aside from soda dispensers, a sundae-maker caught my eye. However, officer Houlihan said it is no longer functioning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like to tease them with the idea that there is ice cream,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Over at the ship\u2019s galley is where the food is prepared. When underway, cooks prepare four meals a day. And with them feeding a ship of over 300 hungry sailors, no wonder Houlihan noted that they are the \u201cmost hardworking\u201d in the ship.<\/p>\n

Knowing some sailors
\nOne of the cooks on board is a Filipino named Llewelyn Llanera. Before even coming to the ship, I already heard about her cooking from operations officer Lt. Jessica Poniatoski. She swears Llanera\u2019s lumpia are amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all love it,\u201d Llanera said, \u201cSometimes we have adobo, sinangag. They like it. Once in a while we serve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from Pinoy-style food, Llanera says Wednesday is burger day on the ship. They also have Taco Tuesdays and Pizza Night on Saturdays.<\/p>\n

At 21, this is Llanera\u2019s first deployment after three years of being in the Navy. She wakes up at four in the morning and works through eight in the evening. She said it\u2019s not easy to be on board but she enjoys being with her crew.<\/p>\n

Llanera tells me that every time they pull in is the best moment for her. But one of memory she wouldn\u2019t forget in her young navy life is \u201cWog Day.\u201d It is a longstanding tradition in ships and serves as an initiation rite.<\/p>\n

\u201cSailors who cross the equator for the first time, anybody who\u2019s never crossed the equator on a navy ship or at all, is typically referred to as a pollywog or a wog. And once you cross, you\u2019re a shellback. There\u2019s a ceremony in every ship that initiates pollywogs to shellbacks,\u201d Houlihan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery ship will make the effort to get close to the equator, so that we can cross the equator, just for that purpose. But we\u2019re always operating in that area, not like we\u2019ll go a thousand miles out of the way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Better community
\nBeing small has its advantage. For one, destroyers\u00a0are considered fast warships. But what makes the USS Milius different from the bigger ships is its community and the camaraderie that they build with each other.<\/p>\n

That is exactly why out of 23 ships, 2nd class Petty Officer Brian Hewitt, 28, chose Milius.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s smaller so it\u2019s better community on the ship. You know everybody. I talked to a couple of my buddies that I went to boot camp with [who] went to the bigger ships. They can\u2019t just bump into their command master chief and have them know their names,\u201d Hewitt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ship has a level of camaraderie that you won\u2019t find anywhere else. They just get along, there\u2019s a great deal of respect,\u201d Houlihan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The USS Milius is on its way to Hawaii today after staying four days at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":203807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5220,5185,5221,5222],"class_list":["post-203805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-arleigh-burke-class","tag-jessica-poniatoski","tag-llewelyn-llanera","tag-wog-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}